How the Atlanta Falcons can learn from the Atlanta Braves

While the Atlanta Falcons are in the early parts of their season, the Atlanta Braves baseball team is wrapping up their regular season en route to the playoffs after they just won their fourth-consecutive division title.

They may play different sports but the Falcons should use the Braves as a road map. They persevered, fought, and overcame a lot in order to be where they are right now with a clear path to the World Series.

Falcons should use the Braves late surge as proof to never give up on the season.

It was anything but a good start for the Atlanta Falcons. In the opening game, they looked like the worst team in the league and it continued through the first quarter of the next game before they showed life. Now they are coming off their first win of the season, hoping to gain another against Washington.

The Falcons’ offense has been stoic, looking like they have absolutely no explosiveness in anything they do. It has been anything but what Arthur Smith wanted, as the team had high expectations for the offensive side of the ball. The defense is what gave them the ability to win their first game.

The Braves’ season went pretty similarly at the start, they started out slow with their offense being extremely disappointing. They had no pop, no consistency, their great players—minus Ronald Acuna Jr.—were nowhere to be found.

In the midst of all of the disappointment came injuries and other issues causing a few of their best players to miss significant time. It was one bad thing after another, but yet they continued to do just enough to stay close with the division-leading Mets.

Where are the Falcons right now? They are a disappointing team, their offense is non-existent despite their talent, and while they may not have any significant injuries—they still have had a couple. 

Hopefully, the trend will continue. The Falcons cannot give up and need to get it going. In an MLB season, you can afford to stumble for a few weeks, in the NFL you cannot with the minimal amount of games that are played.

Atlanta sits in a division right now that is led by the Panthers, followed by the Buccaneers and Saints.

While Carolina might be 3-0, they have not played a good team yet. They will be challenged a lot more and they are honestly overrated at this point, it is a young team that still has holes.

Meanwhile, the Saints are as confusing as anyone, they figure to not be as big of a threat as years past, and the Buccaneers lost their first game and have been challenged in every game this year.

No team in the NFC South has been too convincing so far, much like was the situation with the Braves division for the majority of the year.

The Braves went on to tread water until the trade deadline, where they made a few moves that boosted them into becoming one of the best second-half teams in the league.

They now are the National League East champions for the fourth year in a row.

It was a season that was anything but easy for them. They were a favorite to make the World Series before the season started but were very disappointing for the first half of the season, they endured and it is paying off now and they are not done yet.

We have not even brought up the fact that they lost one of the best players in the league about halfway through the season when Ronald Acuna Jr. tore his ACL. It was a huge blow that seemed impossible to overcome but they started to play their best baseball after.

This should show the Falcons that they can get through anything that gets put in their way, and they should use the Braves as a map to make it through the season.

We do not want the Falcons to lose any players, of course, but past that they can use their home baseball team as a guide on how to make it through a rough season.

Sometimes it is about which team gets hot at the end, not about who plays great for the first few weeks of the season. That rings true for any professional league.