Atlanta Falcons could get screwed again by NFL scheduling

The Atlanta Falcons had a tough schedule to start the 2019 season and they could be in danger of being dealt yet another difficult slate of games to start the 2020 season.

In the first eight weeks of the 2019 season before their by week, the Atlanta Falcons ended up facing five playoff teams and a total of six teams with a winning record. As we all know, the team ended up starting the season with a 1-7 record, with that lone win coming against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2.

For the second consecutive season, the team started off slowly and didn’t pick it up until the season was basically over. The schedule during the second half of the 2019 season was significantly easier, but that may not be the case this upcoming season.

The schedule overall looks even more intimidating than last seasons. The Atlanta Falcons play the NFC North, the AFC West, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Seattle Seahawks. This is a very difficult schedule for the most part, and adding the annual six division games could possibly make the upcoming season that much more difficult. Where these games are scheduled is the key. It could make or break the season.

Ideally, the Atlanta Falcons would get the opportunity to play the Carolina Panthers at least once early on, as well as the Las Vegas Raiders or Los Angeles Chargers. The Atlanta Falcons could then face off against the Detroit Lions or the Denver Broncos.

The team needs to come out of the gate fast and effective and having a lighter schedule to start the season will be the key to this. Having lighter games at the end of the schedule would do wonders as well. It is important to have the schedule evenly balanced throughout the 17 weeks.

I am not saying the Atlanta Falcons will for sure win against all of these teams, I am just looking at the teams mentioned and their respective body of work in 2019, which ranges from mediocre to downright bad.

There are very few opportunities for the Atlanta Falcons to play mediocre teams and even fewer opportunities to play bad teams in 2020, so they need to take advantage when these opportunities arise. The trend of losing in embarrassing fashion to AFC foes has to come to an end because it has been ongoing since 2017. Especially this season against a weak AFC West outside of the Kansas City Chiefs, the team needs to at least take three out of four wins from that division.

The schedules will be set in stone Thursday at 8 p.m. and fans can only hope that the scheduling is kinder to the Atlanta Falcons this time around.