The Falcoholic
The Raiders have been woeful and are losing key pieces. Can the Falcons take advantage and end their recent slide?
The Atlanta Falcons have collapsed over the last month. There’s no other way to characterize it after a team that was 6-3 and just needed to play .500 ball the rest of the way to be in great shape for a playoff spot lost four games in a row and ceded the top of the NFC South to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Their playoff hopes have dimmed and the discussion around the team has gotten grim, but the season has not yet ended. With four games to go, the Falcons basically need to win out or go 3-1 if they’re really lucky and the Buccaneers start to fall apart to have a chance of taking the South. The good news is that the schedule suggests that outcome is within reach. The bad news is that we’re relying on our beloved Falcons, screwups of a high and constant order, to get that job done.
That job begins with a trip to Las Vegas to face the Raiders, losers of nine straight games and among the worst teams in the NFL by basically any measure you’d like to choose. If they can get a win, the Falcons keep the flame of hope alive and potentially even take back the NFC South lead with a Bucs loss. If they lose, well, things can always get grimmer.
Here’s what you need to know for the matchup.
Many of Atlanta’s statistical strengths have been hollowed out by the last month, when their already somewhat shaky red zone offense cratered and their defense has had a pair of embarrassing efforts sandwiched around a great one. They’re basically an above average offense with real problems inside the 20 and a below average defense with occasional stretches of strong play, and a team that neither forces enough turnovers nor avoids their own.
The Raiders are just garden variety bad. They can’t score and they can’t stop opposing teams from scoring, though their numbers between the 20s on defense are solid enough thanks to some legitimate strengths like their past rush. Brock Bowers and Jakobi Meyers have helped to prop up some bad quarterbacking, but no team is more feckless on the ground than the Raiders, making them an incredibly one-dimensional squad.
The gap between the Falcons and Raiders on paper is not as huge as we’d like it to be, given their respective records, but Atlanta is still the better team.
Having decided to keep interim head coach Antonio Pierce on as their full-time head coach, the Raiders set about trying to make his stint a successful one. They have not succeeded, but that’s not to say the offseason was fruitless.
Brock Bowers is one of the biggest additions. One of the higher-drafted tight ends ever, Bowers has been an outstanding weapon for the Raiders lackluster collection of quarterbacks, the...
