Watch: The Atlanta Falcons Ride Gets Worse After the Bye Week
Two months ago, the second half of the Atlanta Falcons schedule looked set up for the team to take control of the NFC South while sharpening their edge for postseason play. Six of their eight games after their bye pit the Falcons against their division rivals.
Now, with the Falcons having reached their bye week, they’re 1-7 and just looking to survive the road to Week 17 while there’s still enough rubber on the tires to get across the finish line. Let’s look forward to what we can expect from that road.
The New Orleans Saints are the Falcons first opponent out of the bye week. They had quarterback Drew Brees out with an injured thumb and there was no telling where the Saints would be when he got back. Well, they’re in first place in the division at 7-1 after turning their first half schedule into road kill.
The Carolina Panthers will be next. Until last week when they were pasted by the San Francisco 49ers the Panthers hadn’t let losing Cam Newton to a foot injury slow them down. Undrafted free agent quarterback Kyle Allen has been keeping their path to the playoffs open.
The way the Falcons have played so far in 2019, there’s no reason to expect them to win even one of the four games scheduled against those two rivals.
In December, the Falcons have games coming up against the San Francisco 49ers and Jacksonville Jaguars. The 49ers have been burning up the track as the legitimate Super Bowl contenders that the Falcons imagined themselves to be before Week 1. Also, with the team’s record against the AFC the past couple of years and the Jaguars competing for an AFC playoff spot, that game isn’t getting counted as an automatic win anymore.
There are only two more realistic possibilities for wins left on the Falcons schedule, their games against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Despite having a top-flight offensive mind in head coach Bruce Arians to work with, quarterback Jameis Winston can officially be tagged as a complete bust. Despite that, considering how awful the Falcons have been on defense this season, it’s unlikely the team does more than manage a split.
The Falcons have not tripped over the finish line to a season in such bad shape since 1967 when they finished 1-12-1 and 1968 when their final record was 2-12. The problem is, those were the years when the Falcons were still an expansion quality team. This squad does have talent on it and can’t fall back on the injury excuse like they could in 2018.
You don’t need to be a graduate of Sesame Street to see that the Falcons sputter to the 2019 finish line with two wins, three if every break falls the Falcons way and they pull off an upset somewhere in their final eight. Based on the team’s first half performance, that’s all that can realistically be expected.
Considering that the Falcons will be only three years removed from their 2016 Super Bowl team, the ruin that has become their season in 2019 is unacceptable.
