The Atlanta Falcons were playing for a chance to go to the Super Bowl two seasons ago. Last season, they fell off a cliff and didn’t even win six games. Can this team regain its footing and finish in the top two of the NFC South, good enough to get a wild card berth at the very least? We’ll begin to find out. It’s a very important season for this organization, which has to show to the rest of the NFL that it can be resilient in what is going to be a very competitive division.
Strengths
The Falcons have been a franchise dependent on their passing game, and that starts with quarterback Matt Ryan, who has enjoyed a fine career as a pro, just not a career as good as the best quarterbacks in the league. Ryan is not as good as Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Drew Brees, but after those four top quarterbacks, Ryan is probably good enough to rate in the second group of NFL quarterbacks, with Russell Wilson, Colin Kaepernick, and Andrew Luck. Ryan has had good receivers around him during his time with the Falcons. There’s no reason why he can’t get back to where he used to be this season: back in a good groove.
Atlanta just needs to get its receivers healthy. The Falcons watched their best receiver, Julio Jones, go down for the remainder of the season before the midpoint last year. Jones is the player who makes the most acrobatic catches and spreads the field for the Falcons. When he’s healthy, the other receivers can play off him and give Ryan a maximum number of options. A healthy Jones will make the Falcons close to whole on offense.
Weaknesses
The Falcons need their passing game to get back into form, but the real source of concern for them is not Ryan or the receivers. It’s the offensive line. Atlanta was bowled over in the trenches last season. The offensive front was helpless in the face of most defensive lines, not just the good ones. Ryan took a pounding, and he had to bail out on far more throws than he would have liked, a key explanation for why things didn’t fit together in the Falcons’ passing attack.
This is a team that was generally weak up front last year. The defensive line didn’t do nearly as much against opposing quarterbacks. Losing John Abraham to the Arizona Cardinals was a very negative event for the Falcons. They hope that their draft selections and offseason moves have put them in a better position at the line of scrimmage.
Schedule
The Falcons’ AFC games are against the AFC North. Atlanta hosts Pittsburgh and Cleveland while visiting Baltimore and Cincinnati. That’s a tough schedule arrangement. Atlanta would have preferred an easier opponent, Cleveland, on the road, while getting a tougher opponent, Cincinnati, at home. The Falcons might split those four games. They play an early-morning game (early-afternoon local time) in London against Detroit in week eight. Their bye week is in week nine. Late-season road trips to New Orleans and Green Bay will be tough, so Atlanta has to get its work done early.
Outlook
The Falcons are definitely going to be better as long as they are healthy at the receiver spots. They play consecutive road games against Minnesota and the New York Giants in weeks four and five. If they at least split those games, they should be in a decent spot at the bye week. Beating New Orleans at home in week one is extremely important. Because Carolina looks like it’s going to struggle this season, Atlanta will probably have enough talent to win nine games this season.
Pick: Over 8.5
