Atlanta Falcons Move Up in ESPN's Week 10 NFL Power Rankings Despite Loss

The Atlanta Falcons seem to find new and interesting ways to lose games in the Raheem Morris era. They are 5-11 in their last 16 games under the second-year head coach and 3-5 on the season.

They dropped Sunday's contest to the New England Patriots 24-23 in historic fashion, becoming the first team in at least 60 years to post six sacks, force two turnovers, throw three touchdowns, not turn the ball over... and lose. Previously, teams had been 44-0 in such situations.

In the past 10 years, teams had been 64-0 when finishing a game +2 on turnovers and +5 on sacks as 92.9's Mike Conti researched on Pro Football Reference. Such teams are now 64-1.

The culprit? Besides, continuously abysmal special teams? 3rd Downs.

The Falcons were 1 of 10 on third down, while the Patriots were 8 of 12.

An optimist might say that being put into a position to win a game that 64 straight teams had previously won is the sign of a stronger team than Morris's recent record might indicate.

That was ESPN's take in their Week 10 NFL Power Rankings. The Falcons moved up a spot, from No. 26 to No. 25, despite the loss in Foxborough.

The Falcons hit the road for Germany this week to take on the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts were almost on the other side of history last week. They committed a whopping six turnovers in Pittsburgh and nearly pulled out a victory before ultimately falling 27-20 on the road to the Steelers.

That the 7-2 Colts are only 5.5-point favorites in this game is a testament to the Jekyll and Hyde nature of the Atlanta Falcons. They are 4-1 against the spread this season as underdogs, and 0-3 straight up as favorites this year.

Falling to 3-6 looks like an insurmountable hole for the Falcons to climb out of, but in the spirit of not saying the next game is the most important one for Atlanta, ESPN's Marc Raimondi chose the Buccaneers as the Falcons' most important remaining game.

"The Falcons have lost three straight and are third in the NFC South," Raimondi wrote on ESPN. "So, any playoff discussion has to be put on the backburner for the moment. Atlanta does have the light part of its schedule -- with games against the Panthers, the Saints and the Jets -- coming over the next month.

"If the Falcons can take care of business in those contests, then the 'Thursday Night Football' matchup with Tampa Bay will have serious divisional implications. Right now, though, Atlanta badly needs to string some wins together before a once-promising season goes down the drain."

It's hard to picture a team with 30-0 and 34-10 losses on their resume to the Panthers and Dolphins, respectively, playing consistently enough to win three straight against anyone.

But the Falcons started 6-3 last year before collapsing, so maybe it's time for a reversal of fortune for the Birds.

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