There is no doubt that the Atlanta Falcons have one of the toughest schedules in the NFL this season, largely due to their absurdly tough road schedule. Not only do the Falcons play five playoffs teams on the road, but they also have to face three Super Bowl MVPs on the road – Drew Brees, Tom Brady, and Patrick Mahomes.
That is a lot to ask of anyone, let alone a team led by a coaching staff that is a win or get fired situation.
However, there is plenty of reasons to believe that brighter days are ahead in 2020. No one is saying win a Super Bowl type of year, but as we have seen over the years, playing great ball and making the playoffs can be a great combination to surprising the league with an NFL title.
Coming off of back to back losing seasons will make any fan base lose patience with the current status of a franchise. After coming so close in 2016, the Atlanta Falcons have taken several steps backward and fans just want to see this franchise take giant leaps forward in terms of success.
There are three reasons to believe that the Atlanta Falcons will shock even the smartest NFL experts in 2020 and make the playoffs. They are seen as the third-best team in the NFC South and even if true, there is no reason that this division won’t have three teams in the playoffs like they did in 2017.
Here are the three reasons that the Atlanta Falcons will be among the seven playoff teams in 2020.
Sure, this reason could be seen as nonsensical but that will not make this reasoning any less true. Since the start of the 21st Century, the Atlanta Falcons have made the playoffs in every single Presidential election year, which includes three times under Matt Ryan.
The most astonishing aspect of this, in three of the four Presidential election cycles, the Falcons have made it to the NFC Championship game.
In the 2004 playoffs, the Atlanta Falcons won the NFC South and finished with a record of 11-5. They beat the Rams in the Divisional playoffs but lost in the NFC Championship game to the Eagles on the road.
During Matt Ryan’s rookie year in 2008, the Falcons again went 11-5 but finished second in the NFC South. They faced the Arizona Cardinals during Wild Card weekend and lost 30-24 in the desert.
The 2012 playoffs really felt like the year the Falcons were going to win their first Super Bowl. Tony Gonzalez had already announced his retirement before the year and the Falcons found themselves with a 17-0 lead in the NFC Championship game at home against the 49ers.
As we all know, the defense let the 49ers back into the game and the birds would lose 28-24.
Finally, we have the 2016 Presidential election year and the surprise run to the Super Bowl. No one expected the Falcons to be as good as they were in year two under Dan Quinn. Not only did the team go 11-5 but they beat the brakes off of the Packers in the NFC Championship game to get to Super Bowl LI.
The Falcons have averaged 11 wins during Presidential election years in the 21st century, they are more than capable of doing it again in 2020.
As we all know, following the 2018 NFL season Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn fired all three of his coordinators – offense, defense, and special teams.
Of the moves that he made that offseason, firing Marquand Manuel was not a popular one from any standpoint. Many believed that Quinn used Manuel as a scapegoat and nothing more. However, most were willing to give Quinn a chance since he was a Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator.
When Quinn announced that he was taken over the defense and not hiring a defensive coordinator, fans were really hopeful that he would not only turn the defense around like he did to end 2016 but he would also get the best out of Vic Beasley.
With the disaster that was the start to 2019, Raheem Morris is now the Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator while Jeff Ulbrich has been moved to assistant head coach and will still work with the linebackers.
Morris has spent his entire career as an assistant working on the defensive side of the ball, except in 2019 here in Atlanta when he was hired to be the passing game coordinator.
He took over the defense after the bye-week. While we have no idea if the Falcons defense can carry over what they found after Morris took over, we are all hoping that he can build on that foundation.
Dan Quinn trying to control the defense and his head coaching duties was an unmitigated disaster. Having him concentrate solely on his head coaching duties and allowing his coordinators to do what they do best seems like a winning solution versus what we saw in 2019.
This was still a bad hire, no matter how someone would like to spin it, Dirk Koetter is a terrible hire. However, the Atlanta Falcons put up nearly 6,000 yards of offense under him in year one and should be even better in year two.
Sure, yards aren’t the issue, scoring is. This team averaged less than 2.5 touchdowns per game in 2019 under Koetter a far cry from 2016 when they averaged more than 30 points per game.
Looking back over Matt Ryan’s career with the Atlanta Falcons, the offense has averaged 6,000 yards, 46 touchdowns, and more than 21 points per game.
The Atlanta Falcons will have better personnel on the offensive line, better running game, and a complete tight end versus those positions in 2019 so this offense should have every tool at the disposal of Koetter and Ryan to put up more than enough points to win close games.
Year three of Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley as a duo should also help get this offense going. If a change of scenery is all Laquan Treadwell needed in order to resurrect his career, the Falcons should be the beneficiary of that added talent as well.
This offense will more than likely start 10 former first-round picks during the season; left guard being the lone exception. 2020 under Dirk Koetter should be much better than 2019 and when that happens, the Atlanta Falcons will very difficult to beat.