The Falcons are losers of two straight, and it seems the city of Atlanta is crumbling beneath Raheem Morris.
Going into the bye week, the club is coming off their worst loss of the season, getting trampled by the Broncos and Bo Nix, who put up 400 yards of offense and scored on six of eight drives. It wasn’t even competitive.
Before that, the Falcons waltzed into New Orleans against a Saints team that had just fired their head coach following their seventh consecutive loss of the season. However, Darren Rizzi brought new life to the club. That and, well, Younghoe Koo uncharacteristically missed three field goals.
The Falcons enter the bye week with their tails tucked, injured, and embarrassed; however, they’re still in the driver’s seat of the NFC South with a path to host the first playoff game in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, marking the end of a seven-year postseason drought.
If the Falcons go .500 over the final six games, finishing with a 9-8 record on the season, the second-place Buccaneers would need to go 6-1 to top their rivals. Even considering their favorable schedule, that’s difficult to do.
Though it’s been hard to watch the Falcons over the last couple of weeks, they control their own destiny, and they’re headed for the playoffs. However, a postseason berth alone isn’t a “success” if you ask beat writer Josh Kendall.
“No, and here’s why: Since last year’s disastrous season finale against New Orleans, the Falcons have behaved like a team that expected to be more than that,” Kendall replied to a question asking if a first-round loss in the playoffs is a success. “When Arthur Smith was fired, team CEO Rich McKay said he and team owner Arthur Blank believed the team was ready to compete “at the highest level” and needed a head coaching change to do that.”
“The Falcons’ draft strategy — taking a quarterback for the future instead of a pass rusher in the first round and using two picks in the top four rounds to take developmental defensive linemen — suggested they believed they had the players to win now. Trading for edge rusher Matthew Judon and signing free-agent safety Justin Simmons in training camp were presented as moves that would shore up weak spots that might put a low ceiling on this team’s potential.”
Yes, the investment warrants higher expectations. The Falcons gave Kirk Cousins $180 million, Darnell Mooney $39 million, Justin Simmons $9 million, and a third-round pick to the Patriots for Matt Judon. That’s a lot of money and draft capital.
I understand Kendall’s sentiment, but let’s face reality: this is a flawed football team. Anyone expecting at least one playoff win hasn’t been watching the Falcons closely. You never know which version of this team is going to show up week to week.
The coaching change and resources poured into the roster may lead Josh Kendall to have higher expectations for the Falcons in the postseason, and that may have been the consensus thinking before the season, but through eleven weeks, I don’t know how you can still align with that narrative.
Hell, let’s just talk about the two entities in this equation — the Falcons and Kirk Cousins. Neither is exactly the model for postseason success, and they’re supposed to find it immediately upon getting married?
For me, the first home playoff game in Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a success. Returning to relevance is a success. Let’s walk before we run. Yes, I agree, we should never lower expectations, but let’s adopt a bit of realism, please.
