A 2-3 start to the season had Atlanta Falcons’ fans worried about the future.
But after a rough beginning the Falcons may have finally turned their season back around, culminating this past week when they throttled the Jacksonville Jaguars 41-14 on the heels of a comeback win over the Carolina Panthers.
Now the Falcons sit at 9-5 and are currently in line for a wild card birth, which is a surprise based on their start to the season.
I once had the Falcons going to the NFC Championship game, and while for awhile this season it looked as if they might not even make the playoffs, now there might be a shot that they can turn it around and make a deep run into the postseason.
Let’s break down the Falcons’ season so far.
They dropped their first game to the Bears and lost their third game of the season to divisional rivals Tampa Bay.
But after those two losses they have only lost to good teams that they probably should not have won anyways.
In week five they fell to the Packers 25-14 in a rematch of last season’s divisional playoff matchup.
Then the Falcons lost to the Saints in week 10 in a tough overtime loss.
Then in week 13, the Dirty Birds fell to the Houston Texans 17-10.
Their last three losses came to teams that have a combined record of 34-8. Not that there is no shame in losing these games, but if you look at the Falcons as of late, they have been defeating the teams that they are supposed to.
The Falcons will get a rematch with the Saints when they travel to New Orleans this Monday. Mathematically, the Falcons still have a shot at winning the division, but in all likelihood they will finish up as a wild card team.
And let’s not forget that the defending Super Bowl Champions were a wild card team last season.
The Saints might be one of the hottest teams in the NFL right now so it will certainly be a tough matchup for the Falcons on Monday night.
But if they play like they have been playing then they will have a good chance of pulling through.
I am still not convinced that the Falcons will go deep into the playoffs, but they are definitely playing much better as of late and are opening the eyes of everyone across the league. It is an exciting turnaround to a top team that had a surprising slow start to their season. The Falcons came into this season with high expectations, and now after their rough start they might be poised for a great finish.
Tyler Rollason is a Winder-Barrow High School graduate and mass communications major at the University of West Georgia. You can e-mail comments about this column to tyrollason@yahoo.com.
