Second Look: Grading the Falcons first half of 2019

Coaches – F

We wrote after week four that Dan Quinn needed to be fired. Many thought that was premature, instead, it turns out we clearly saw what others were not at the time. The schemes are garbage, there are seemingly no adjustments and the coaching staff is refusing to get the younger guys involved.

There is no reason that Qadree Ollison and Deadrin Senat are not on the active roster moving forward. Neither can be worse than the players that are currently active and not producing and at this point the Falcons should want to see exactly what they have for the future and evaluating all aspects of this team.

This coaching staff will survive the season but will be gone almost as soon as the final horn blows in week 17.

Special Teams – C

The special teams have been fine – not great or bad, just fine. The biggest issue is Matt Bryant missing more kicks in the first eight games than he did all of last season. Matter of fact, Bryant has missed five field goals through the first eight games this season after missing six total in the 29 games he kicked between 2017 and 2018.

Like many, we lobbied to bring Matt Bryant back after a terrible preseason by Falcons kickers. Moving forward either the Falcons don’t need a kicker or if they do use Bryant, he should not attempt kicks from any further than 45 yards. Given that the Falcons are a 1-7 team, they should be aggressive and not attempt another kick all year; either punt or go for it on fourth down.

With eight games and all six NFC South games left, the Falcons have something left to play for in terms of pride, but nothing left in terms of playoff hopes. Winning games in the second half of the season will do nothing more than cost the Falcons draft position and at this point, if they do not want to go into a full-on rebuild, they need a top-four draft spot in 2020 in order to get back to contending sooner than later.