Halfway through the season, the Atlanta Falcons are a playoff team

The Atlanta Falcons have not had a good year overall, losses to Washington, Philadelphia, and Carolina are the clouds over their season. It is just hard to look past those three games.

However, in a conference that does not have a team that has set itself apart from the rest—besides a couple teams—the Atlanta Falcons are sitting with the last seed in the playoffs.

Do not look now, the Atlanta Falcons would make the playoffs right now

Somehow, someway the Falcons are holding onto the last seed in the playoffs.

Last year, the NFL introduced the seventh seed into the picture, resulting in the top seed having the only bye week during the playoffs, it allows for an extra game and more action. It has been received mostly with praise, and certainly, if the season ended right now, Atlanta Falcons fans would be praising it immensely.

Beating the Saints is proving to be a huge feat and one that could change the season around.

Looking at the playoff picture, with the win over New Orleans on Sunday, Atlanta holds the last playoff spot.

They would take on the Green Bay Packers, who would likely blow the Falcons out if we are being honest. Seeing Aaron Rodgers go against the Falcons defense would be a thing of nightmares, he would tear them apart as they have no pass rush to pose any threat.

Meanwhile, the  Cardinals would be the one NFC team with a bye week, the Buccaneers would take on the Saints, and the Cowboys would take on the Rams.

This week should give us an idea of if the Falcons could compete with any of these teams as they will be taking on the Cowboys on Sunday. If they can hang with Dallas, which is unlikely, then they might be able to hang with a couple of the playoff teams.

The moral of the story, the Atlanta Falcons are in the middle of a playoff race, they need to take advantage of every week by winning as many games as possible.