It was 21-3 at halftime
and the winning team was completely dominating the losing team. The losing team
came out of halftime and wasn’t able to move the ball against the winning teams
defense and had to punt. The winning got the ball marched down the field,
scored another touchdown and took a 28-3 lead with 8:31 left in the third quarter.
The winning team only needed to hold onto the lead for 23:30 and they would
have won their first super bowl title. The Atlanta Falcons was the team up 28-3
and the other team was the New England Patriots. New England was able to come
back and win this super bowl game 34-28. It was one of the greatest comebacks
in super bowl history for the New England Patriots. How will that game effect
the Falcons going into the 2017 season?
A team can responds in two ways from such a devastating
lost. They could use that as ammunition and motivation to get back to the super
bowl and avenge that lost. They could also never get over feeling as if it was
their game and allow that to hinder their drive for success. Seeing as though
we’re dealing with professional athletes, let’s hope it isn’t the latter. The
Atlanta Falcons will be favored to win the NFC again and it all starts with
that amazing offense.
Matt Ryan was the 2016 MVP award winner. He had an amazing
year and looks to have settled in comfortably as one of the top 5-10
quarterbacks in the league. Ryan will have everyone back from an offense that
was top 5 last season. He will be without offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan,
which will affect the running game. Shanahan is a brilliant offensive mind and
does a great job getting the most out his running backs skill sets. The Falcons
have two good running backs that will suffer slightly from his departure.
One of the Falcons biggest offseason additions last season
was center Alex Mack. The Falcons needed to improve the offensive line as a
whole and getting arguably the best center in the game was a huge upgrade. That
addition paid immediate dividends. In 2016 the Falcons were able to climb from
being ranked 19th in 2015 to ranked 5th in rushing. The
Falcons averaged 3.8 yards per carry and 100.8 yards per game in 2015. They
jumped those numbers up to 4.6 yards per carry and 120.5 yards per game in 2016.
The increased production of their running game is what made that offense so
hard to stop. Adding Alex Mack was a big reason why their running game was much
more effective in 2016. The Falcons still have Devonte Freeman and Tevin Colman
in the backfield. Even with the loss of Kyle Shanahan, this rushing attack will
still be very dangerous in 2017. They’re going to need that running game in
order to keep that potent passing attack going. While most of you give all that
credit to Matt Ryan, it was clearly a collective effort, starting with stud
wide receiver Julio Jones
Julio Jones led the Falcons receiving unit. Hell, he may
led the NFL as the best wide receiver in the game. He is a crazy combination of
size and speed and what really makes him special is his route running. Jones
isn’t the toughest wide receiver so he isn’t out jumping, or taking the ball
from many defensive backs. He will route them up and use that blazing speed to
fly past them. His ability to influence a game is what opens the rest of the
field up for those other weapons.
Muhammed Sanu was another offseason pick up for the
Falcons in 2016 that paid off. He is the prefect compliment to Julio Jones
because he gets dirty. Sanu goes across the middle, battles for the 50/50
balls, and operates in the middle on the field so that Jones doesn’t have to. He’s
a big body receiver that doesn’t have great speed and doesn’t mind going over
the middle. Taylor Gabriel is another weapon that just complements this
offense. Gabriel is pure speed! He can blow the top off a defense and with
Jones and Sanu on the outside, he gets the entire middle of the field to work
in. When he gets the ball in his hands look out, because he is always a threat
to take it to the house. Matt Ryan, the rushing game and this passing attack
are only half the reasons the Falcons were so successful 2016. The other reason
is the improvement of the defensive personnel.
Statistically the Falcons defense didn’t improve from 2015
to 2016 but they added some play makers. The Falcons first round draft pick Keanu
Neal absolutely balled for them last season. He forced 5 fumbles, had 9 pass
deflections and just made play after play. He was a huge upgrade over William
Moore at the safety position. Deion Jones was their second round pick and he
made a huge impact on that defense. He had three interceptions his rookie
season and allowed Neal to be able to roam the field because he plays so great
in space. The falcons don’t have a great defense but they have some good
personnel. We can’t forget about Vic Beasley, who stepped is production up in
his second season getting 15.5 sacks. The
Falcons continued their rebuild of that defense this offseason. These moves may
give the Falcons a solid defense to go with the great offense.
The Falcons moved up 6 spots in this year’s draft to get
Takkarist McKinley, pass rush specialist from UCLA. The idea is to pair him
with Vic Beasley and have an unstoppable pass rush. Their second round
selection was linebacker Duke Riley from LSU. They also bolstered the front
seven by adding Dontari Poe to the defensive line. It appears that the Falcons
are trying to improve that 16th rank run defense. McKinley will
boost the pass rush but Poe is a hole stuffer. Poe will push the pocket, giving
Beasley and McKinley plenty of opportunities to get to the quarterback. McKinley,
Riley, and Poe will make the Falcons tougher up front. Put them with Neal,
Jones, and Trufant and the Falcons have some nice pieces on the defensive side
of the ball.
Vic Beasley, Tarkkarist Mckinley, Dontari Poe, and Grady
Jarrett make up a formidable front four. Deion Jones, Duke Riley, and DeVondre
Campbell make up a good linebacking unit. Keanu Neal, Desmond Trufant, and
Jalen Collins give them a good secondary. They still need to develop solid
rotational players but their starters have the potential to make this a solid
defensive unit. The Falcons don’t need the defense to be a dominate unit they
just need them to hold teams to 20 points or less. The offense can average 30
points per game. If the defense does its job they won’t be in too many
shootouts and they will be able to cruise to wins this season.
Make no mistake the Falcon have brought in some good
pieces on defense but this team will go as far as Matt Ryan and this offense
will take them. This defense did give up 31 unanswered point in the super bowl.
While the offseason addition will make them slightly better they won’t become
the 2001 Ravens in 2017. I expect the Falcons to be in some shootout games. They
will be playing a first place schedule and hope to get MVP Matt Ryan in 2017.
If that Matt Ryan shows up, they will win the NFC South and contend for a super
bowl berth again this season. It would nice to see them avenge that terrible
lost they took last season.
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