Atlanta Falcons: We Shouldn’t Have To Hide The Obvious
By W. M. Lawson
The Atlanta Falcons (3-2) looked to come out of the early bye week on fire. Instead, they came out and got torched late at home.
Yes, it was just a few short days ago this was written. Mea culpa. There is nothing worse than the weather vane fan. One week, after a win, that fan’s team is world beaters. Next week, after a loss, fire everyone. Next week, wash, rinse, repeat. It’s tired and washed. But, here I am. Here we are. Our Atlanta Falcons, have just wasted an opportunity, and rightfully so, cast doubt on the team.
After those first three games, they’d both eked out wins and dominated. It seemed that February was behind them. Then, inexplicably, they lose back to back games at home to weak sauce AFC East teams. Oh, and they had an early bye week between them.
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You can’t clean that up. It’s ugly. But, that isn’t even the reason fans are sullied and worried. It’s how they lost.
Dan Quinn coached teams, thus far, have shown at least three characteristics since he’s hit town: 1. Speed. 2. Tenacious effort. 3. Physical. They’ve been bereft of all of those in the last two games.
The hope after the Buffalo loss was that they took things for granted, got a little banged up, but they’d fix it during the bye week. Not even close.
Miami ran through Atlanta. That is a short headline and summation of things this past Sunday. No telling what their YAC was. I’m too disgusted to look it up.
Look, this is an incredibly talented team. Dan Quinn is a good coach. We’ve already seen that. The season is neophytic still, but losing two home games in the NFL hurts, regardless of the season.
This isn’t a bang session on our beloved Atlanta Falcons. It is a realization, both public and personal, that this team has issues. And this writer never thought that effort and physical play would be some of the issues that a Dan Quinn team would exhibit. We’ve never seen lack of effort and focus from a Quinn team in Atlanta. Now we have.
Next: Atlanta Falcons: Collapse Against the Miami Dolphins
The Durty Birds have New England next. In fact, the next three games are on the road. We’ll find out what this team is made of. And that’s not a writer’s device or cliché. It’s a fact.