Dan Quinn: Can he navigate Falcons' brutal 2016 schedule?

Dan Quinn’s 2015 Atlanta Falcons went 8-8 in his first year as head coach, but how will his team fare with the Falcons’ much tougher slate of 2016 games?

While it didn’t end up this way, part of the reason that the 2015 Atlanta Falcons could have made the NFC Playoffs was that their 16-game schedule this past season was arguably one of the easiest in the NFL at the start of the year.

Atlanta played in a division that sent a sub-.500 team to the NFC Playoffs in 2014 in the NFC South. The Falcons also drew two historically mediocre divisions in their rotation with the NFC East and the AFC South. Atlanta finished third in the NFC South in 2014 at 6-10 and had to play the two other 2014 third-place teams in the Minnesota Vikings and the San Francisco 49ers. Like Atlanta, the Vikings hadn’t made the NFC Playoffs since 2012 and San Francisco was dealing with front office chaos.

While new Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn decimated the NFC East en route to the club’s 5-0 start in 2015, Atlanta then went on to finish 3-8 in the team’s final 11 games, including going 1-5 in NFC South play.

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Quinn and his team obviously went through growing pains in 2015 as the seventh-best team in the NFC, but will need to have a better grip on their 2016 slate of games than the Falcons did in 2015 as the schedule goes from soft to flat-out brutal next season.

Atlanta plays in the NFC South that has the No. 1 Carolina Panthers in this year’s NFC Playoffs and two other teams that swept the Falcons in 2015, the New Orleans Saints and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Dan Quinn’s 2016 Atlanta Falcons need to finish at least 3-3 in the NFC South if they envision a 2016 NFC playoff berth.

The two divisions that Atlanta draws in 2016 are both heavily influenced by the Pacific Time Zone in the AFC West and the NFC West. Half of Atlanta’s road games in 2016 involve significant travel to the Rocky Mountains and beyond: the Denver Broncos, the Los Angles Rams, the Oakland Raiders, and the Seattle Seahawks.

While the San Francisco 49ers and the San Diego Chargers are in disarray, the six other teams in the West Divisions are playoff caliber in 2016. Atlanta is fortunate to draw the Arizona Cardinals and the Kansas City Chiefs at home. However, both West teams are still alive in the NFL Playoffs entering the Divisional Rounds.

Rounding out their slate of 16 games, the Atlanta Falcons draw the two other second-place teams in the NFC in the Green Bay Packers of the NFC North and the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East. Dan Quinn’s Atlanta Falcons thankfully don’t have to go to Lambeau Field in 2016, but a trip to Lincoln Financial Field isn’t a breeze either.

Instead of playing only three playoff teams from the year before like the Falcons did in 2015 with the Carolina Panthers, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Indianapolis Colts, Atlanta will play seven of their 16 games against teams that made the NFL Playoffs (Arizona, Carolina twice, Denver, Green Bay, Kansas City, and Seattle).

So can Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn navigate such a tough 2016 schedule? It helps that Quinn has a strong knowledge of the NFC West from his days in Seattle as the Seahawks defensive coordinator. While that division seems imposing to most teams outside of it, Quinn should get Atlanta to at least 2-2 against his former division in 2016.

In his other eight NFC games, Quinn has coached against all five teams at least once within the last two years (NFC South, Green Bay, Philadelphia). While he struggled mightily in divisional play, Quinn’s teams beat Green Bay to go to Super XLIX last season while he was with Seattle and his 2015 Atlanta Falcons defeated Philadelphia in Week 1 this season. Essentially, he’ll have a strong understanding of what is on all five opponents’ rosters in 2016.

Lastly, Atlanta will play the entire AFC West in 2016. Keep in mind that the 2012 Atlanta Falcons swept the AFC West en route to a 13-3 regular season. While the AFC West has two teams in the AFC Playoffs entering this weekend, that’s not to say that Atlanta can’t go 3-1 or 2-2 against that division in 2016.

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To feel confident about making the NFC Playoffs in 2016, the Atlanta Falcons will need to finish about 10-6 to get either Wild Card spot. While it is possible, Dan Quinn’s 2016 Atlanta Falcons can seemingly do no worse than 3-3 in NFC South play and still make the postseason. Going 7-3 between the AFC West, the NFC West, the Green Bay Packers, and the Philadelphia Eagles is about as good as anybody can expect from their team. Atlanta’s 2016 schedule is brutal.

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Dan Quinn: Can he navigate Falcons’ brutal 2016 schedule?

By John Buhler | Jan 13, 2016

Dan Quinn’s 2015 Atlanta Falcons went 8-8 in his first year as head coach, but how will his team fare with the Falcons’ much tougher slate of 2016 games?

More from Atlanta Falcons