Coming into the season, the Falcons are a team with mixed reviews. If you ask a lot of fans in Atlanta, they’re the best team in the NFC South and anything less than a home game in Mercedes-Benz Stadium would be a tremendous disappointment. That’s not the case with others.
It seems the pessimistic fans and analysts weren’t too far off because the Falcons fell flat on their faces in the Week 1 opener against the Steelers. It vindicated some of Atlanta’s non-believers.
The Athletic polled five executives, and the Falcons finished ranked 8th in the NFC before the start of the season. If you’re doing the math at home, that would entail Atlanta missing the postseason, but the Falcons did rank as the top NFC South club, so they would effectively punch their ticket to the playoffs in this ranking.
Looking around the division, the Falcons looked as bad as they could’ve while the Saints and Buccaneers looked great. Obviously, opponents have to be taken into consideration, but it still wasn’t a great showing for the Dirty Birds. Maybe the NFL execs knew what they were talking about.
The lowest vote was 4th, while the highest was 11th for an average of 7.4, with the one who voted 4th highlighting the point Falcons fans have been trying to make all offseason.
“People are not giving them enough credit for the quarterback upgrade,” the exec ranking the Falcons fourth in the NFC said. “Their starting quarterback last year (Desmond Ridder) just got cut. The other one (Taylor Heinicke) got traded. Their starting quarterback now (Kirk Cousins) has been to the playoffs — consistently.”
I’m not quite sure anyone could’ve predicted just how poorly Kirk Cousins played in his Falcons debut. The club split the season series with the Buccaneers and Saints last year with Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke starting football games. The hope was that Cousins would help elevate the rest of the club. So far, that hasn’t been the case.
“I do think Atlanta is by far the best team in the division,” an exec slotting the Falcons eighth said. “It’s the best roster. I’m really intrigued to see what Raheem Morris can bring.”
Raheem Morris might be the X-factor that Atlanta has needed, but it didn’t show in Week 1. What really caught my eye is the 11th-place voter questioning the Falcons’ “vulnerable” offensive line and pass rush, “despite efforts to upgrade it.”
It looks like this exec knew exactly what were the Falcons issues before Week 1. The Steelers’ offensive and defensive lines won the day, and it wasn’t particularly close in most instances. The Falcons have a lot to clean up, but that’s just Week 1.
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Photographer: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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