Atlanta Falcons: NFC Power Rankings, Week 12

The Atlanta Falcons have lost four of their last five games. How does that impact the Dirty Birds’ standings in this week’s NFC Power Rankings.

As we enter Thanksgiving Week, the NFL is about to hit the home stretch. All 32 teams have now had their byes and roughly 20 teams are fighting for 12 playoff spots. 5 teams seem like locks in the NFL (Arizona, Carolina, Cincinnati, Denver, New England), but there are 7 spots up for grabs with the 15 teams still in it. One of those teams is your Atlanta Falcons, who are rapidly losing their grip on the final NFC Wild Card spot.

Entering Week 12, the Atlanta Falcons hold a one game lead over the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the sixth-seed in the NFC. Losing four of five has brought this Atlanta Falcons team that started the year 5-0 crashing down to Earth.

The offense just doesn’t look right. Perhaps deciding to pair OC Kyle Shanahan with QB Matt Ryan was a recipe for disaster and we didn’t want to admit it. Matt Ryan hasn’t looked worse in his eight years as the Atlanta Falcons’ franchise quarterback. This could have something to do with him no longer being in Dirk Koetter’s offense, a system where Ryan absolutely thrived.

However, Atlanta needed more balance on offense and through the ZBS of Kyle Shanahan, the Falcons do run the ball significantly better than they have in years. Let’s hope that RB Devonta Freeman is okay for Sunday’s game versus the Vikings as he enters concussion protocol.

Overall, this was an ugly weekend for the Atlanta Falcons. The team couldn’t afford to lose any ground in the NFC Playoff picture and they did. Here are this week’s NFC Power Rankings.

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