Heading into the season the Falcons, in my eyes at least, were going to put up one of the biggest fights for the NFC South that or anyone has seen in a while. But now the Atlanta Falcons are in a rough spot. Currently sitting at 6-9, they are one win ahead of the 5-10 Panthers in the NFC South. We’ve lost games that shouldn’t have been lost (Colts, Cardinals and Titans), but we’ve also won games against teams like the 49ers, Eagles and Saints. Throughout all of these games the Atlanta Falcons have proved to be one of the most inconsistent and tough to watch teams in the NFL. As I watched these games, I painfully tried to uncover the secret to why this team, that went to the Super Bowl a mere 2 years ago, can’t put enough points on the board or keep untalented offenses from scoring. It’s easy to point at the coaches or the strength of schedule(which was tied for 7th hardest heading into the season), but I’ve realized that neither are at fault and that were just going to have to wait out the storm because it’s simply not going to get any better soon.
After this season the right thing to do would be to keep Dan Quinn as head coach for at least another season. As a head coach for the Falcons Dan Quinn is 42-37, which isn’t good for a guy with the crazy amount of talent surrounding him (or maybe lack thereof). I would also hate to see Matt Ryan and everyone else put through another scheme change in such a short time span, which I believe would just prolong our years of failure. What really raises immense interest to me though, is that disappointing after disappointing season DQ has put the Falcons and fans through, major pieces on our team like Julio Jones and Matt Ryan have made it public that they are pushing for Dan Quinn to retain his job. Since the bye week the Falcons are 5-2, with only losses to the Bucs and Saints. This signifies that the coaches and their players are coaching and playing harder than they ever have to keep DQ at HC. After the bye week we’ve also been without players like Julio, Devonta Freeman, Austin Hooper and now Calvin Ridley, which makes me wonder why we are even winning games. After the bye week, we’ve got Chris Lindstrom back, who was one of our first round picks last year. Since Lindstrom’s return the offensive line has allowed 4 sacks and have 302 passing yards per game to go along with 127 rushing yards every game. This is relevant to the thought that DQ deserves another season because although he has talent on the team, he doesn’t have enough where it all starts, on the offensive line. We need a strong OL to truly contend for the competitive South. If Kaleb McGary and Chris Lindstrom can get, and stay healthy, for a continuous streak of games, the Falcons would be in GREAT shape. All these things would help the Falcons but to every good there’s ought to be some bad. It has recently come to light that there’s a possibility that Falcons star starting center, Alex Mack, may retire at the end of the year. Alex Mack is 33 years of age now so not only is this a very real possibility, it will most likely happen in spite of Falcons fans wishes. If Mack does retire it’s not going to be a fun season next year unless we draft an unbelievable center. I would say we could look to free agency but we have an estimated 1 million cap space in 2020, the 3rd lowest next year. Next year we also have Austin Hooper and Vic Beasley Jr. on expiring contracts.
That brings me to the point that I have been getting to this whole article: The Falcons are going to have to overhaul the whole team and build the team up again through the draft. We need a defense and now we have a defensive coach that’ll hopefully make our defense good again. To finish up, the Falcons would be wise to hold onto DQ to prevent further confusion for players, considering that the rebuild will be pretty lengthy. I hope you have enjoyed my analysis on the gloomy and inevitable future of the Atlanta Falcons. Up next will be a mock draft with analysis and predictions on who the Falcons should pick!
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