Falcons' Spiraling Season Still Salvageable?
Arthur Smith was close to winning his first home game as Atlanta Falcons head coach in Week 4 against the Washington Football Team. Instead, the Falcons blew an eight-point lead in the final four minutes and lost, 34-30.
It happens. Comebacks and blown leads are part of sports, and they happen every week in the NFL.
They just seem to happen far too often in Atlanta with the Falcons on the losing end.
That's not Smith's fault. At least not entirely. His play-calling was far too conservative when the Falcons needed first downs to run out the clock.
READ MORE: Where was Cordarrelle Patterson in 4th Quarter vs. Washington?
But he was in Tennessee when the Falcons were blowing leads under previous coach Dan Quinn.
The honeymoon phase of a new head coach, though, will only last so long. That's especially true if your first two games in front of the home crowd are a 32-6 blowout loss and a wasted fourth-quarter lead resulting in a dramatic, four-point defeat.
Judging by all the empty seats already at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on the first Sunday of October, there are a lot of Atlanta fans who already don't believe the Smith era is going to work.
Smith can still change that belief. This seemingly spiraling season is still salvageable. But to do so, the Falcons must win their next two games.
Doing that will get the Falcons back to .500 before their next home game on Oct. 31. Being .500 is obviously not the goal, but the Falcons haven't been at least .500 since Nov. 2018. It's going to take baby steps to heal the Falcons' wounded fanbase, which was hurt again Sunday.
The first step is reaching the .500 mark. Maybe the seats will be filled on Halloween if the fans have the opportunity to see the Falcons move above .500 that day. Atlanta hasn't had more wins than losses in its record since the end of 2017.
Winning the next two games is a realistic goal for the Falcons if they can build upon the good things they did in Week 4 and make more plays in the fourth quarter. It helps the Falcons play the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins next. Like the Falcons, they are 1-3.
The Jets won their first game Sunday in overtime against the Tennessee Titans. Still, the Jets and quarterback Zach Wilson is the offense any reeling defense - a Falcons' defense that has just two takeaways and zero interceptions - would want to face.
Wilson has thrown an interception in every game for a total of eight picks in 2021.
While quarterback Tua Tagovailoa should be back for the Dolphins by the time the Falcons visit Miami, Atlanta will have the advantage of coming off a bye week. Even if Tagovailoa is back, that game will be another opportunity for Dean Pees' defense to play an inexperience signal caller.
There's still a long way to go back to relevance from there, and the scheduling gets tougher starting with the Carolina Panthers on Oct. 31. But beating the Jets and Dolphins give Smith and the Falcons a chance of playing meaningful games in November.
READ MORE: SI.com NFL Draft 2022 NFL Draft Rankings
