‘Social Media Is the Devil’: Falcons Try to Block Out Noise as Injuries Mount

ATLANTA, GA – The Atlanta Falcons met a familiar end on Sunday, maddeningly dropping another game. Week 11’s finish was only the most recent of five straight games the Falcons have found a way to come out on the bottom of, and fans are letting them hear about their frustrations.

Calls for the coaches to be fired and for players to be benched or released have dominated social media timelines. This team has missed the postseason and finished below the .500 mark for seven straight seasons, and fans are upset.

After 10 games, that streak looks like it will stretch to eight.

“I’d say you do worry about guys responding the right way,” Raheem Morris said after the game. “But there’s no room for excuses, and we won’t make them.”

To their credit, aside from the 24-point beatdown by the Miami Dolphins, the games have been close. The last two took overtime, the loss to New England came down to a missed extra point, and the loss to San Francisco was due to a failed fourth-down conversion late in the game.

Those four teams are a combined 30-13 this season, but that only leads to more frustration from an already disgruntled fan base.

“It definitely sucks,” running back Bijan Robinson said on Sunday. “The biggest thing we have to do is stay off social media. That’s such a worldly thing. It’s just controlled by the devil, and if it gets in this locker room, that’s what divides locker rooms.”

But what if the devil has already made his way inside?

Left guard Kyle Hinton says he tries to stay off social media, but it isn’t always that easy. If he comes across some of the negative talk online, he just blocks the account. Not every player has the same self-control, he says.

“Some guys, it does get to them a little bit,” Hinton said. “[They] gotta learn to just block them. You can’t let it creep in.”

Chris Lindstrom called it part of the business, but some of the comments these players and coaches receive can be brutal. Fans are restless, and rightfully so. The Falcons have lost five straight games, and they feel closer to picking at the top of the draft than they do getting over .500 this season.

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"Obviously, there are expectations to win games," Lindstrom said. "People are frustrated, which is understandable. We’ve got to get it right."

The Falcons sit at 3-7 after 11 weeks, and the situation is tenuous at Flowery Branch, but there is still a chance that their situation gets worse before it gets any better.

Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and wide receiver Drake London both left Sunday’s game with lower-body injuries that could require them both to miss time. Penix may be forced to miss the season after being put on the injured reserve.

Without those two, the offense was stagnant. Kirk Cousins led them to just 87 yards of offense and scored just six points as the Falcons allowed the Panthers to overtake them in the second half. They managed to tie the game late, but went three-and-out in overtime, picking up just four yards.

Morris said postgame on Sunday that it is his job to bring positivity and instill confidence in the locker room, but it is up to those players to make sure this spiral stops soon.

They won’t find any of that on social media.

“That's the key thing,” running back Tyler Allgeier said. “Not worrying about outside the building. Just making sure we're great within.”

Players insisted the locker room remains intact and there is still belief in this coaching staff. Every man who spoke after the game said the connection was still there between players and coaches. But a lot can change down the stretch, but their odds of reaching the postseason have dropped to just 2% and they have the chance of checking out.

"I think that's a credit or a reflection of the quality of the locker room and the character," Cousins said. "There hasn't been a dip of any kind, and I think that speaks volumes about the group we have. And it's also, I think, why there would be a belief that we can get back going in the right direction, because I think it is a group with a lot of character.”

Will this connection hold? The final seven games will put that to the test.