Atlanta Falcons: Best and Worst Case Scenarios in 2015
By John Buhler
The Atlanta Falcons are looking to get back to their winning ways after two consecutive massively disappointing seasons in 2013-14. Atlanta brings in almost an entirely new coaching staff in 2015 in the hopes of getting back to the playoffs this season. Under first-year Head Coach Dan Quinn, will the Atlanta Falcons have enough ‘grit’ to make some noise as a playoff contender this season? What are the best and worst case scenarios for the 2015 Atlanta Falcons?
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Coach Quinn and his team inherit arguably the most navigable schedule of any team in the National Football League. The NFC South sent a sub-.500 team in the NFC Playoffs in a winner-take-all Week 17 matchup between two 6-9 teams: the Atlanta Falcons and the Carolina Panthers. Carolina came into the Georgia Dome and clobbered the Dirty Birds en route to back-to-back division championships.
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Atlanta also draws a bottom-heavy AFC South, an NFC East that tends to cannibalize itself, resulting in normal 9-7 division champions, and the two other 2014 third place teams in the NFC: the Minnesota Vikings and the San Francisco 49ers. Though the NFL is a league of tremendous parity, I cannot think of any other of the 31 teams that might have an easier schedule than the Atlanta Falcons in 2015.
After going 5-1 in a lukewarm NFC South last year, I would say that is about as good as any team could do in the South. It’s normal for the NFC South Champion to go either 4-2 or 3-3 within the division. No team in the South to me feels exponentially better than the other three so go undefeated in divisional play seems highly unlikely in 2015.
Best case scenario: Atlanta sweeps Tampa Bay and takes 3 of 4 between the New Orleans Saints and the Carolina Panthers, going 5-1. Worst case scenario: Atlanta is swept by Carolina and drops 2 of 4 between New Orleans and Tampa, going 2-4.
In the NFC East, I believe that Atlanta should beat Washington no matter how good or bad the 2015 Falcons are. Best case, the Dirty Birds take 2 of 3 between Dallas, New York and Philadelphia. Worst case, the Falcons drop all three.
When it comes to the AFC South, I think Atlanta tops both Jacksonville and Tennessee but falls to Indianapolis in most projections. How the Atlanta Falcons fair against the Houston Texans is a different story. Atlanta could go either 3-1 or 2-2 against the AFC South depending on that Week 4 matchup with the Texans.
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These two third-place NFC games are crucial for the Atlanta Falcons as they might make or break their season. Wins over both Minnesota and San Francisco are certainly possible and will go a long way towards righting the Falcons. But a loss to either team could keep the Falcons on the outside looking in at a playoff spot. Best case is to win both. Worst case is to split the pair.
So looking at the Atlanta Falcons slate of games for 2015, I feel that the best this team can do is go 13-3, but even that sounds very unrealistic. The worst this team could be is 6-10 once again. That sounds a little more likely than 13-3. If I had to guess, Dan Quinn’s 2015 Atlanta Falcons fall somewhere in the middle with a 9-7, 10-6 record and contend for a Wild Card Berth. Going 11-5 might be enough to win the NFC South.
Next: Atlanta Falcons: Top 5 Players Heading Into 2015
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