After a win against the rival New Orleans Saints and a road victory against one of the NFC’s better teams, the Philadelphia Eagles, one would presume the Atlanta Falcons would be in the top half of ESPN’s power rankings this week – that would be a mistake.
Despite beating the New Orleans Saints on a last-second field goal, the Falcons are ranked 17th, moving up four spots, while the Saints are ranked 14th. The reasoning behind their metrics may prove confusing as they tasked their staff to expand on the defensive improvements each team can make rather than the totality of the ranking.
“The Falcons have the second-worst allowed time of possession (35:28) in the league. Atlanta's defense has been "bend-don't-break" for the most part and has kept the team in games. Opponents have significantly more offensive plays (an average of 276 compared to the Falcons' 215) and first downs (85 compared to 70) than the Falcons. And while the secondary has played great (only the Seahawks have allowed fewer pass plays of more than 20 yards), Atlanta has allowed the seventh-most rushing yards in the NFL (582).” ESPN’s Marc Raimondi wrote.
Atlanta’s defense has been on the field a lot this season. However, look at last Sunday’s game.
In the second half, they limited Saints running back Alvin Kamara to 30 yards on the ground and one touchdown. The Falcons limited an explosive Saints Offense to just 10 points in the second half.
If anything, the time-of-possession narrative should pivot back to the offense that failed to score a touchdown.
NFL.com's Eric Edholm moved the Falcons up just one spot from No. 20 to No. 19. He's not convinced the offense is good enough to warrant a higher ranking.
"Kirk Cousins and Co. are 2-2 and in decent shape, but their offensive issues are far from solved," wrote Edholm on NFL.com. "Offensive touchdowns are still hard to come by, and they aren't likely going to win too many more games this season where they score zero of those. Cousins and the passing game still aren't clicking right now."
Nonetheless, the Falcons should be ranked above the Saints based on the head-to-head victory. They face off against the other NFC South opponent ranked above them in the rankings, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on Thursday Night Football in two days.
