It is no secret that the Falcons are horrible this season. In the wake of starting 0-5, they fired head coach Dan Quinn after five seasons. His time at Atlanta can be summed up with two numbers: 28-3. The Falcons are now 2-6 and it would take a true miracle for them to even sniff the playoffs but how did we get to this point? We can start by looking at last season.
Last season summary
The 2019 season was very mediocre as they went 7-9 but it could’ve been a lot worse. They went into their bye week 1-7 and managed to win six of their last eight games (most of them were against non-playoff teams but a W is a W.) Matt Ryan was decent enough; Devonta Freeman was a shell of himself coming off his injury-riddled 2018 campaign; Calvin Ridley had a breakout season and Julio Jones was, well, Julio Jones. Their defense was slightly improved but the collapse they suffered after 2016 was even more apparent. Dan Quinn missed Kyle Shanahan more than I miss leaving the house without my mask and it has been showing.
Fun Fact: The Falcons’ defense was tied for 7th in the league for fewest plays allowed (985) but, of those plays, 42.8% of them ended up with their opponents scoring which was the 2nd highest in the league.
So what’s going on?
The 2020 season has been nothing but torture for the players, coaches, and fans as the Falcons seem to be addicted to choking away leads. They're suffering from Falcons’ Murphy’s Law: “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong.” However, unlike with the Vikings, I don’t think their quarterback is entirely to blame. Matt Ryan is doing a good enough job airing it out. He’s posting his best QBR (75.8) since his MVP season in 2016 (I forgot he won an MVP lmao) and he and his wide receivers are the only reason this team is relatively competitive. However, I do believe we can look at three reasons why they are where they are.
Their Defense
It’s no secret how atrocious the Falcons’ defense has been since their Super Bowl run in 2016. Their defense has always been their Achilles heel as no matter how many points Ryan and company put up or the size of the lead, it’s almost a guarantee that they would never hold on to it, and that hasn’t changed this season.
Atlanta’s defense has been very nice to opposing offenses this season as they have allowed them to run up the score without much resistance. They’ve allowed 30 points or more on four occasions and only held a team to under 20 points once (Panthers in week 8) in their eight games played this season. They’ve allowed the most yards in the league with 3285 but that mainly comes through the air. Their pass defense has been deplorable as they have allowed the most passing touchdowns (20) and the 2nd most passing yards (2491) in the league.
Their defensive woes can be attributed to the fact that they are unable to get at their opponent’s quarterback. The Falcons are 24th in the league in total sacks (13) although they’re 5th in the league in terms of total pressures and blitzes. They’re getting hurries and knockdowns still, but for some reason, they’re always a split second too late and they can’t seem to finish the job. It could be due to the secondary not being able to cover for long enough or taking too long to get to the quarterback but either way, this is a serious problem.
Atlanta’s biggest problem for the last decade was that they never had an elite pass rusher, the only exception was Vic Beasley in 2016 when they went to the Superbowl. Injuries aside, they need to make some changes to their scheme to get to the quarterback quicker so their pressures can turn into sacks. Speaking of scheme changes, this bleeds perfectly into my next point.
Dan Quinn
So, the Dan Quinn firing was the right move. He was also an average coach, who was able to coast by thanks to the talent around him for years. He was the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks in 2013-14 (during their Super Bowl run) before getting the HC job at Atlanta.
The main reason he got that job was that he was seen as a defensive genius because he was the play-caller for the “Legion of Boom,” but the problem he had was that he tried to copy and paste the same scheme in Atlanta without the same personnel. Gus Bradley ran into the same problem when he had his stint with the Jaguars, if you try to run a system without the proper players you’ll always fail. Quinn’s unchanging defensive schemes in certain situations and his conservative play calling when he has a lead is what ultimately led to his firing.
Another reason why it was the right decision to let him go was that I think his words ran stale in the locker room. After the choking in the Superbowl, two 7-9 seasons, another 0-5 start, and numerous blown leads, I can imagine that his attempts of rallying the troops began to fall on deaf ears. Sometimes players need to hear the same things from somebody else for it to have an effect. As the wise French Montana once said, “change is good for everybody.”
Choking big leads.
Growing up my father always had a saying whenever I did something wrong more than once. He said, “Son, once is an accident, twice is a coincidence but three times is a habit and that’s where it becomes a problem.” I think that saying perfectly sums up the Falcons this season as they always somehow end up stumbling on the final hurdle before they reach the finish line.
The shadow of the blown 28-3 lead in SuperBowl four years ago is still looming over this team and has become a big part of their 2020 season. On three occasions the Falcons have had leads late in the 4th quarter only to see it vanish for one reason or the other.
Against the Cowboys, it was because their team forgot how to pick up a football. Against the Bears, it’s because the backup god “Big Dick” Nick Foles subbed in for Mitchell Trubisky and lit them up. Against the Lions, it’s because Todd Gurley couldn’t let down fantasy owners and decided to cross the goal line instead of stopping before running down the clock and kicking a game-winning field goal. Then again knowing the Falcons they probably would’ve ended up missing it, You know how Falcons’ Law goes.
But aside from poor defense and the suspect coaching of Dan Quinn, I do believe that these three games have ruined the Atlanta Falcons season altogether. Football at the end of the day is about wins and losses, you are what your record says you are. They could’ve been 5-3 and competing for an NFC playoff berth, however, the 28-3 Super Bowl disaster still haunts this franchise as we see it rare its ugly head time and time again.
We often hear that history repeats itself but how often is it that history repeats itself three times in one season I wonder. It’s a beautiful tragedy which sums up the Dan Quinn era in the Atlanta Falcons perfectly
Final Thoughts
The defense showed signs of life against the Panthers in week 8 so hopefully, that carries into the rest of the season. Am I confident that it will? Absolutely not, it’s Atlanta after all, but I don’t mind being wrong. They should be in rebuild mode, but that's going to be easier said than done, but that’s a different topic for a different piece.
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