Atlanta Falcons: No preseason makes building chemistry difficult
No preseason games will impact the Atlanta Falcons on both sides of the ball.
With the NFL and NFLPA deciding to cancel all preseason games due to COVID-19, the Atlanta Falcons are a team that will be severely affected by this decision.
By no means are we saying that this is the wrong decision either. Everyone should understand that asking players to play “free” football games with a prevalent worldwide health pandemic going on would be asinine.
However, this does not mean it won’t affect the Atlanta Falcons in 2020.
There are a ton of new pieces on both the offensive and defensive sides of the football for the Falcons. Having preseason games to build chemistry is vital to the success of teams. As much as fans want to argue, the in four of Dan Quinn’s five-season as Falcons head coach, the Falcons preseason and regular-season success has mirrored each other.
With a new running back, tight end, offensive lineman and receivers on the offensive side in 2020, those six or seven quarters in four preseason games would have been huge for the Atlanta Falcons and offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter.
Atlanta Falcons veterans will help with the steep learning curve.
The good news for the Atlanta Falcons, having a veteran quarterback, receiver, center and left tackle will help tremendously as the team navigates through something that no one has ever been through.
On the defensive side of the ball, they will add five new players to their top 22 in 2020. While they have added a lot of talent, they are still new and won’t have any of the yearly normal offseason activities to help the learning curve.
With all the pressure on the coaching staff in 2020 to win, having to do so without any of typical offseason events to help newly acquired talent will team one of the biggest challenges that Dan Quinn and his coaching staff will face from a professional standpoint.