The Falcoholic
The Atlanta Falcons had their chance to climb over .500 and build some momentum heading into a tough matchup on the road against the New England Patriots, and they blew it. Now this game comes with added pressure on Atlanta at a time where they can’t even seem to handle the baseline pressure of preparing for their games properly.
Heading into the year, this seemed like a middle-tier matchup, but it has rapidly become an obvious problem. New England is playing at a high level right now, Drake Maye looks like the best deep-ball thrower in football, and the Patriots defense has limited teams to 20 or fewer points in six of its eight matchups thus far. You do have to bake level of competition in here—the Pats have played the Browns, Raiders, Dolphins, Panthers, Titans, and Saints, and actually managed to lose to the Raiders in Week 1—but it’s obvious this is a team on the rise with the talent to make a real playoff push. The Falcons will have to be incredibly sharp to win, and they just haven’t been the last two weeks and rarely are on the road.
Here’s what you need to know about a scary post-Halloween matchup.
If you were to ignore points scored, you would think these two teams were not terribly far apart. Indeed, the Patriots are not the best rushing team or best team at defending the pass, and you can make the case that some of their success has been due to their relatively soft schedule.
But there’s no point in denying that this is an excellent passing attack, very capable defense, and well-rounded team overall in ways that the Falcons are not. Atlanta’s laboring to get down the field right now, useless in the red zone, and very susceptible to capable opposing rushing attacks; the surface numbers look good but the team is currently in a darker place than all that. The Patriots are, at least right now, definitely a demonstrably better team.
The last time the Falcons saw them, Bill Belichick was still on the sideline and Mac Jones was under center. Suffice to say things have changed a lot.
The big changes over the course of this offseason were still pretty substantial. Looking to give new franchise quarterback Drake Maye a more stable situation, the team fired Jerod Mayo and hired Mike Vrabel, who brought back flameout head coach yet capable offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels for his third tour of duty in New England.
They signed Stefon Diggs to give them a legitimate#1 receiver, added Harold Landry III, K’Lavon Chiasson, and Milton Williams to boost their defensive front, signed longtime Buccaneer Carlton Davis to a deal at corner, adand inked Morgan Moses and Garrett Bradbury to shore up a lousy offensive line. They then spent heavily in the draft to bring in tackle Will Campbell and guard Jared Wilson for the left side of the line, spending a...
