Chiefs-Falcons 5 questions with the enemy: What does 1 amazing Atlanta drive show us?

On Sunday night, the Kansas City Chiefs face the Atlanta Falcons. We welcome Tre'Shon Diaz of The Falcoholic — our sister SBNation site covering the Falcons — for Five Questions with the Enemy.

Justin Simmons has been nothing but reliable. We haven't seen him make the type of impact plays he became known for during his time in Denver — but the safety has not made any mistakes, and it's clear offenses aren't comfortable testing him deep. Jessie Bates has appeared to make life much easier on Simmons.

Simmons's natural leadership qualities have been on display from the moment he arrived. This Falcons secondary was looking rather pedestrian even with the likes of Bates and Terrell, but Simmons has made them a legitimate force.

The Kirk Cousins experience has been an interesting one, to say the least. Week 1 really wasn't about Cousins as much as it was about first-time playcaller and OC Zac Robinson, who rolled out a bush-league game plan that tipped off whether the Falcons would run or pass, didn't utilize any play action and only had Cousins under center once. That situation made Cousins look far more rusty than he was — but he has been rusty nonetheless.

After Kirk completed his first touchdown pass to Darnell Mooney Monday night, something appeared to have changed. While many had been pointing to physical limitations, it actually looks like a majority have been mental. Cousins was not confident in his decision (or new teammates) prior to the second half of the Eagles game, but it appears that things are moving in the right direction. I think the Falcons offense will be able to continue to improve as they become more comfortable in the first-year system.

I think Smith gets a lot of flack from the fantasy community, which needs help understanding just how bad the situation was during most of Smith's tenure. It's a miracle they won seven games in their first two years. Kyle Pitts has eclipsed 1,000 yards and Bijan Robinson had 1,400 all-purpose yards as a rookie, so we've seen some of those picks already flirt with their ceiling. Drake London is the one who hasn't had that type of season yet — and when your quarterbacks are Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ridder, that comes as no surprise.

This offense runs through Bijan — and the utilization has been great. The team wants to use Kyle Pitts as a traditional inline tight end. I don't know what that means for his fantasy stock, but I expect his role to ramp up as the season progresses. Drake London is treated as the team's WR1, and it's going to be on Cousins to feed him. Coaching staffs can only do so much. At some point, players have to execute, and the lack of execution is what tanked these players' fantasy stocks previously.

On offense, Matthew Bergeron. The second-year left guard had a respectable rookie season after transitioning from his college position of right tackle. Now, with a full year of experience under his belt, he looks ready to take off. The Falcons were running left at will on Monday night, and a big part of that was due to Bergeron. His pass protection was the area that needed the most improvement, but he did well starting off against tough back-to-back interior matchups; it will be interesting to see how he fares against Chris Jones and company.

For the defensive side of the ball, I'm going to go with Kaden Elliss, who is the team's Swiss Army knife. Elliss will line up as an inside linebacker, outside linebacker or interior lineman, depending on the scenario. His game reminds me a lot of Leo Chenal's. It's rare that you can find guys who have the ability to do so many different things. The Falcons have been utilizing a lot of 5-man fronts — and on the final play against the Eagles, it was Elliss who got the pressure that caused Jalen Hurts to throw an interception.

I expect the Chiefs to play like the best team in the league. It doesn't matter who they're missing on offense; this is Andy Ried we're talking about. That said, I do believe that Atlanta can give them a good fight. The offensive line has been solid; everyone is finally starting to gel. Beating the Chiefs requires a team not beating themselves first and foremost — and if Atlanta can play their game with no mistakes, then this could be another one-score finish for either team.