The Falcoholic
After enduring a tough early season schedule that saw them lose to the Panthers, Buccaneers, and 49ers while beating the Vikings, Commanders, and Bills, the Falcons get a brief reprieve before facing off against resurgent Patriots and Colts teams. That comes in the form of the woeful Miami Dolphins.
The Dolphins are terrible, as their record suggests, but are they bad enough that we should expect—nay, demand a Falcons win? In short, yes. Let’s get into it.
The Falcons move the ball pretty well between the 20s but have one of the league’s most frustrating red zone offenses and have way too many low-scoring games for a team with this kind of firepower. They are also, literally across the board, a significantly better team than the Dolphins.
Miami has a decent pass defense but are in the bottom quarter of the league in every other metric you can think of otherwise, which is why they are lucky to have a single win in 2025.
Since the last time the Falcons saw them, the Dolphins have changed quite a bit, so we won’t recount everything. Suffice to say they went from Brian Flores (24-25 as Miami’s head coach) to Mike McDaniel (29-29), but Tua Tagovailoa is still here.
Over this past offseason, the Dolphins traded Jonnu Smith and Jalen Ramsey to the Steelers for Minkah Fitzpatrick, made a splash signing by bringing in James Daniels (who has been excellent in pass protection and merely so-so as a run blocker at guard), Larry Borom (who has been bad at right tackle), Nick Westbrook-Ikhine (who is currently serving as the team’s #2 receiver and has seven catches for 42 yards), and Ashtyn Davis (who has been a reasonably solid starter).
The team also heavily re-tooled their defensive line through the draft, adding Kenneth Grant, Jordan Phillips, and Zeke Biggers; Grant and Phillips have had their moments but have looked like rookies. New starting left guard Jonah Savaiinaea and reserve running back Ollie Gordon have gotten considerable run early on, while the team is hoping Quinn Ewers develops into a capable backup quarterback.
There are some solid pieces here and some solid pieces added, but as their record suggests, this roster is not very good right now as a whole.
This is not a must-win the way the second games against the Panthers or Buccaneers will be. It’s not a really-nice-to-have victory the way the Vikings and 49ers games were. It’s not even a pull-this-off-and-show-what-you’re-made-of triumph the way the Bills game was. No, this is a you-have-to-win-because-your-opponent-sucks sort of matchup, plain and simple.
There are two such games remaining on the slate, against the Dolphins and hapless Jets, and the Falcons have to pull off both games to realistically contend. Not only would it shake the faith of the fanbase and key people in Flowery Branch to lose to these two god-awful AFC East teams, but it would...
