Where the Atlanta Falcons offense sits a quarter of the way through the season

It is officially a quarter of the way through the NFL season, and with the Atlanta Falcons sitting at 1-3 it can be hard to find anything positive.

With high hopes and high expectations for the Atlanta Falcons to be Super Bowl contenders once again, saying that the start of the season is disappointing is an understatement. With the team being outscored 99 to 70 in the first four games, there is no question why the Falcons are sitting dead last in the NFC South Division.

The team has also been outscored an insane 71 to 20 in the first half of the games thus far. It is extremely difficult to win games when consistently playing from behind. The offense has, for the most part, looked anemic and is clearly having trouble finding the end-zone. The offense is currently ranked twenty-sixth in the league via points scored.

Matt Ryan has made some very uncharacteristic throws, throwing six costly interceptions, just one shy of his season total of seven last year. Aside from the interceptions, Ryan’s stats look good through the first quarter of the season having thrown for 1,325 yards, 8 touchdowns and a completion rate of 70.5%. 

They rank first in the league in passing attempts and second in the league in passing yards. They are also ranked eighth in passing touchdowns, which can make it hard to believe that the team is 1-3 until you see that they are ranked twenty-seventh in interceptions thrown.

For receiving, Julio Jones has had an outstanding first quarter of play, racking up an immense 317 yards, 4 touchdowns, 23 receptions, and an amazing 13.8 yards per reception.  Tight-end Austin Hooper is not far behind Jones with 307 yards, 2 touchdowns, 28 receptions with an average of 11 yards per reception. Mohamed Sanu has 239 yards on 24 receptions, and Calvin Ridley has 207 yards and 2 touchdowns with 16 receptions. Ridley looked strong coming out at the start of the season, and but has since slowed down during the last two games.

Aside from turnovers, the rush attack is the Falcons weak spot on offense currently. They are ranked twenty-ninth in rushing attempts, and twenty-seventh in rushing yards. They have only amassed one lone rushing touchdown through 4 weeks, that coming way of Ito Smith in last Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans.

Devonta Freeman currently has 157 rushing yards on 47 carries with a minute 3.3 yards-per-attempt. Ito Smith is sitting at 74 yards with the one touchdown on 13 carries and a 5.7 yards-per-attempt.

Kicker Matt Bryant has seemed to struggle this season as well, making just three of five of his field-goal attempts, including one critical 35-yard miss. He is perfect on PAT making seven of seven.

All-in-all, if the Falcons can manage to not turn the ball over and somehow manage to get some type of rushing attack, the Falcons should be able to find the end-zone more often moving forward.