The Wheels Have Fallen Off

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Through the first five games of the 2015 National Football League season, the Atlanta Falcons had the look of a team that was ready to contend for the Super Bowl Title. The Falcons were 5-0 and they had four comeback victories under their belts. But over the past two months, things have changed drastically for the Falcons as they have lost six of their last seven games. The Falcons are now 6-7 and they find themselves on the outside looking in as far as the playoff picture in the NFC after they once appeared to be a lock for a trip to the postseason.

After spending the last two years as the defensive coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks, Dan Quinn was hired to be the head coach of the Falcons. Quinn brought with him some of that “Seahawks energy” to the Falcons as they were on a roll in September and early October, but like B.B. King once famously sang, the thrill is gone in Atlanta.

The Falcons have gotten away from what was working for them at the start of the National Football League season which was the ability to finish games along with a sense of urgency. Over the last nine weeks, the Falcons have lost five games against teams that had losing records entering the game. And in two of the last three weeks, the Falcons have squandered leads in the second half of their games.

Devonta Freeman

The Falcons issues begins with their offense which has sputtered in recent weeks. Through the Falcons first seven games this year, running back Devonta Freeman had gained at least 100 rushing yards four times. But the Falcons inability to run the ball recently along with a concussion have limited Freeman recently. Wide receiver Julio Jones is leading the National Football League in receptions (109), and receiving yards (1,426), but Atlanta has failed in having another receiver step up and take some of the work load off of him as the closest player on the team to him in receiving yards this season is tight end Jacob Tamme with 567. Wide receiver Roddy White is the Falcons all-time leader in receiving yards, but at 34-years of age he doesn’t have the same burst and explosion that he did when he was younger as Quinn appears to be attempting to phase him out in Atlanta. Since tight end Tony Gonzalez retired in 2013, the Falcons have lacked a consistent go-to-guy at the position which is showing up in the inconsistency of quarterback Matt Ryan in Atlanta who depended on Gonzalez to bail him out.

On the season, Ryan has thrown 17 touchdown passes while being intercepted 14 times with 7 of those picks coming in the last four games. Ryan has been forcing the football into tight spots while he doesn’t appear to be the calm field general that he was earlier in the year. Ryan was the third overall pick of the Falcons in 2008 and as the franchise’s all-time leader in passing yards, he has seen his fair share of ups and downs in Atlanta.

Matt Ryan

In 2012, Ryan led the National Football League in completion percentage (68.6) while he is only the third quarterback in Falcons franchise history to help the organization reach the NFC Championship Game. But a 1-4 playoff record along with his inconsistent play have helped to put a damper on his legacy in Atlanta as the turnovers this year by him are hurting the team.

In less than one year in Atlanta, Quinn has improved the Falcons defense. Last year the Falcons were ranked last in the National Football League in yards allowed while they entered Week 14 ranked 14th this season. The Falcons defense has forced 20 turnovers this season, but their offense has given it away 22 times which has made things counter productive for them.

In the early stages of this National Football League season, it appeared that the Falcons and Carolina Panthers were going to be battling it out for the top spot in the NFC South. But whereas the Panthers have kept their foot on the throttle as the last undefeated team in the NFL this year, Atlanta has sputtered. And as the Panthers have taken care of their business against lesser opponents on their schedule to wrap up the NFC South Title, the Falcons have struggled. Now over the final four games of the regular season, the Falcons and Panthers meet twice which could all but end Atlanta’s fading playoff hopes: especially when you factor in that Carolina has a very opportunistic defense that forces turnovers while Atlanta’s Ryan has not done a solid job recently of protecting the football. That was further illustrated today when the Panthers defeated the Falcons 38-0 as Atlanta was dominated from the opening kickoff.

When things were great for the Falcons, they were really great. But now as the weeks go by, a situation that was once bad for the Falcons has simply gotten worse.

Source: Pro-football-reference.com

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By | 2015-12-13T16:33:57+00:00 December 13th, 2015|Categories: National Football League|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

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