Atlanta Falcons: Bye Week Could Not Come at Better Time
By Kit Anderson
The Atlanta Falcons lost their first game of the season last week at home to a surprisingly physical and fast Bills team. As they head into their bye week it could not come at a more perfect time for a beat up and unmotivated team.
Calling the Atlanta Falcons unmotivated may seem harsh but it is not hard to see that the Falcons are playing down to their opponents and not to their potential. Wipe away last week’s loss with questionable calls and to many key injuries to re-count and you still have the near loss to the Chicago Bears.
On the other hand you have the same team that blew out the Green Bay Packers at home in what many thought would be a revenge game for the Pack. Instead the Falcons blew the Packers off the field early and slowly and mechanically controlled the clock.
While you could argue that some key injuries influence the effort against the Bills there is no questioning that the games against the Lions and Packers were better played on all fronts.
The Falcons are a better team than the Bills or the Bears forget the game scores and look simply at the rosters and the team’s efforts against other teams and you will see that the Falcons have fallen into a post Super Bowl trap of playing to their opponent.
For that reason the bye week for the Falcons could not have come at a better time it will be a chance to allow some key injuries to heal and for Dan Quinn to motivate and refocus this team back on giving their best effort week in and week out.
Not that it isn’t all but a forgone conclusion that this team is headed back to the playoffs with a talented roster. It is simply that the talent and direction this team is headed is evident to the players and well as the media and fans leading to some distraction and looking further down the road then they should be at this point in the season.
Next: Braves Off-season Targets
The Falcons will face the Miami Dolphins after this week’s bye in a game that will put a young defense against a struggling Miami offense and a statuesque Jay Cutler.