Atlanta Falcons show improvement against the hapless Jacksonville Jaguars

Fittingly for the Atlanta Falcons, their scoreless streak was ended by an early Cordarrelle Patterson touchdown. The early score helped set the tone of the game for an Atlanta team that was far from perfect but showed improvement after getting blown out back to back weeks Part of this improvement is due to who the Falcons were matched up against.

Watching this Jaguars team was as if we were watching the Falcons against a capable team. Jacksonville continually set up Atlanta to succeed and hurt themselves with penalties, turnovers, and poor discipline.

For Atlanta, the biggest positive storyline in this game is just how great Cordarrelle Patterson is for the Atlanta offense.  The Atlanta offense was reliant on Patterson who got the offense started with two first-half rushing touchdowns.

Cordarrelle Patterson is the only thing that keeps this Atlanta Falcons offense from being completely broken

If there is one thing we learned against the Patriots and Jaguars it is how much this offense needs Patterson.  Against the Patriots without him, the Atlanta offense couldn’t move the ball and Matt Ryan took a beating. While the Jaguars are a huge downgrade in competition it is noteworthy the drastic improvement this offense saw when Patterson rejoined the action.

Patterson is so dynamic in an Atlanta offense that is often dull and unable to move the football without him.

On the negative side for Atlanta, it was yet another turnover and struggled-filled day for the Atlanta quarterback. Matt Ryan has not been a good quarterback since beating the Saints and that trend continued on Sunday. While it didn’t directly hurt the Falcons’ chances against an inferior Jaguars team Ryan has to find the consistent level of play Atlanta is used to seeing from the veteran.

Going forward Matt Ryan must find ways to improve despite the fact the offensive line can’t protect him and Cordarrelle Patterson is his only consistent target.  This game gets Atlanta back into the playoff conversation something the Falcons and their fans should soak in ahead of a matchup with Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Bucs.