Atlanta Falcons: Will this season actually be any different than previous seasons?

Things feel and sound different with the Atlanta Falcons in 2023. The team was able to grow some young talent last year, add even more young talent, and spend some money for the first time in what feels like centuries.

However, should we really believe that this season will be any different than the last five seasons where the Falcons have a combined 32-50 record?

Will this 2023 Atlanta Falcons team be any different than the last five?

It has been a rough handful of years for the Atlanta Falcons. The last time we saw them in the postseason, they were a couple of yards from taking down the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.

Since then the Falcons have gone 7-9, 7-9, 4-12, 7-10, and 7-10.

Nevertheless, new year, new team, new results. A clean start means anything can happen; another losing season or an exciting and successful season.

As much as everyone wants to say that they know, no one knows what will happen. Think about the start of the 2016 season for the Falcons. No one had any expectations for the team and it started out bad with a loss to a bad Buccaneers team. The Falcons then went on to have an incredible season.

In my opinion, this team does feel different and there is proof of that, the biggest being Calais Campbell. Campbell is a legendary player who could have picked any team he wanted yet he decided to deny Aaron Rodgers’ request to go to New York and signed with Atlanta.

Campbell knows what good teams look like. He played with the Cardinals when they won 34 regular season games in three seasons, he played with the Jaguars when they came out of nowhere and almost beat Tom Brady in the AFC Conference Championship game. And then he was with the Ravens for the past three seasons who won 29 games during that span. Again, Campbell chose this team for a reason—he is searching for a ring.

The same could be said about Jessie Bates. We all know how good the Bengals have been the last two seasons and while money talks, Bates almost certainly could have gone elsewhere for a similar price.

Anyways, while none of us know what will happen, as we stand right now, this season does feel different than years past. In previous years it felt like we were all searching for reasons to be optimistic compared to this year when we have reasons to be optimistic.

Fans know this too, just go look at how many showed up to watch the Falcons practice over the past week. I think we will see that same thing in week one with a rocking Mercedes-Benz Stadium and maybe we will even see a lot more fans at the two home preseason games. 

Again, a lot of things can happen but this feels like a legitimately good team. If I had to pick, I would say that this season will be different.

Falcons still alive in NFC South with seven games left to play

The Atlanta Falcons have flirted with a winning record multiple times this season, but on each occasion, they have fumbled the opportunity away. The team is now two games under .500 with a 4-6 record after ten games.

Despite the Falcons’ shortcomings, a playoff berth is within reach. A wild-card spot in the NFC is still a possibility, although the team’s best shot at making the postseason is to win the division.

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Arthur Smith sticking with Mariota at QB: ‘There’s no situation’

Following last week’s 25-15 loss to the Carolina Panthers, many wondered if the Atlanta Falcons would make a change at quarterback before their Week 11 matchup against the Chicago Bears.

Marcus Mariota had one of his worst games, making some questionable decisions and prompting fans to call for rookie QB Desmond Ridder to take over. Falcons head coach Arthur Smith met with the media on Monday and said he’s sticking with Mariota while the team is still in the playoff hunt.

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Falcons midseason report card: Grades for each position

Through the first nine games of the 2022 NFL season, the Atlanta Falcons(4-5) have been better than most analysts predicted. Not only are they tied for the best record in the NFC South, their running game is averaging 162.9 yards per game (third-most in the NFL).

The Falcons are favored by 2.5 points over the Carolina Panthers (2-7) in Week 10. Before we completely shift gears to Thursday’s game, though, let’s hand out some midseason report cards.

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Falcons will have $74 million to spend in 2023 offseason

After spending years in salary cap hell, the Falcons will have some serious cash to spend when the 2023 offseason rolls around. According to Over The Cap’s projections, the team is slated to have around $74 million in cap space next year.

Only the Chicago Bears ($119 million) are projected to have more money in 2023. Instead of using the trade deadline to try and add a big name, Atlanta offloaded two players who weren’t in the team’s current or long-term plans in Calvin Ridley and Dean Marlowe.

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Falcons off to their best start since the 2017 season

Success is something that has eluded the Atlanta Falcons over the last few seasons, but after a 2-2 start, things finally appear to be moving in the right direction.

While we’re not picking the Falcons to make the Super Bowl just yet, they certainly aren’t the worst team in the NFL, as some analysts predicted prior to the season.

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Bair: How Falcons found a way to ‘outlast,’ ‘overcome,’ vs. Seahawks, why future victories will be contingent on those two abilities

The Falcons did not play a complete game Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks. Not even close.

Not that it matters. Not one bit. Why. They won.

Nobody was thrilled about playing well in losses the last two weeks. No one flying home from Seattle will care about imperfection in the season’s first victory.

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• Instant Replay: What stood out in Falcons win in Seattle
• Tori’s Takeaways: Cordarrelle Patterson, Falcons offensive line make a statement in win over Seattle
• Kyle Pitts fuels Falcons victory over the Seahawks

Those issues are for another day. This experience represents a breakthrough, one the Falcons needed after two tough, losses to start the season that could’ve gone the other way.

They won this one. And while the result is more important than the process here, there are some important characteristics evident while earning this victory.

Grady Jarrett laid them both out nicely in his press conference after a 27-23 victory over the Seahawks at Lumen Field.

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Falcons Daily: ‘Ball aware’ defense creating tons of turnovers, offense not capitalizing enough

SEATTLE – Matthew Stafford connected with Cooper Kupp late in the fourth quarter, converting a third down that would essentially ice an L.A. Rams victory.

Not if Darren Hall had something to say about it. The second-year cornerback stuck with the play and focused as much on stripping the ball than making the tackle. That effort paid off, with the ball ending up free bouncing toward the sideline. Hall got there first, fell on it and gave the Falcons a chance to complete an improbable comeback.

It didn’t end up working out and Atlanta still took the loss, but there were plenty of encouraging signs within that comeback push that provides hope for wins in the future.

Creating takeaways might be the biggest one.

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Nerdy Birds: Kyle Pitts’ impact, Drake London’s arrival, and how the Falcons passing game can take off against the Seahawks

The Falcons are on to Seattle for the second game of their NFC West swing in Week 3. Atlanta returns to the pacific northwest for the first time since 2017 when it defeated the Seahawks, 34-31, in a wild Monday Night Football contest.  These two teams are no strangers to close games with five of the last six meetings at Lumen Field being decided by three-or-fewer points. That includes each of the last three meetings with Atlanta taking wins in 2017 and 2011.

Overall, Atlanta trails 12-8 in the all-time series and Seattle has won four of the past six meetings including wins at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2019 and 2020. The Falcons have beaten the Seahawks in the postseason twice, taking NFC Divisional Playoff wins in 2012 and 2016.

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Nerdy Birds: How Cordarrelle Patterson, the offensive line, and pass rush will impact the Rams game

Falcons head to the West Coast in Week 2 for the first of a pair of NFC West matchups. They’ll battle the Rams in Los Angeles for the fourth time since the team moved back to the city of Angels from St. Louis in 2016. Dating back to 2005, the Falcons have won six of the last seven meetings between the two teams, including postseason wins in 2005 and 2017. The Falcons are 2-0 against the Rams in Los Angeles since the move, with both of those games taking place at the L.A. Coliseum. The Falcons dropped their only game played at SoFi Stadium, a 20-17 loss to the Chargers in 2020.

RELATED CONTENT:

• Inside Tori’s Notebook: Drake London, Grady Jarrett, Marcus Mariota and more
• Falcons release depth chart heading into Week 2
• Bair Mail: On Marcus Mariota, Deion Jones, Tyler Allgeier and more
• Falcons promote tight end to active roster

Despite the loss in Week 1, the Falcons enter Week 2 with a lot to build on both offensively and defensively, starting with Atlanta’s often maligned offensive line.

Let’s take a deep dive inside the numbers relevant to this Rams matchup in Nerdy Birds, our weekly series that highlights the stats-based storylines heading into each game:

In The Trenches

The Falcons offensive line opened the season with an impressive performance against a Saints unit that ranked in the top 10 in total defense (7th), yards per play (4th), rushing defense (4th), and yards per carry (1st) last season. According to Next Gen Stats, the Saints finished 2021 as the NFL’s best defense in rushing yards over expectation, with opponents gaining 208 fewer yards than expected, 133 fewer yards than the second-ranked San Francisco 49ers.

But enough about last year. Let’s talk about how Atlanta’s Week 1 performance on the ground could be predictive of what we’ll see in Week 2.

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