Atlanta Falcons take hold of first place in the NFC South

Just as the “experts” predicted, the Atlanta Falcons are sitting alone (technically) at the top of the NFC South division as the month of October comes to a close.

The “experts” as we will refer to them, all predicted that this team would be in the dumps by this time in the season. They wrote this team off, and while they haven’t been among the NFL’s best teams, they are leading their division going into their week eight matchup, and isn’t that exactly what every team asks for?

This is even more proof that absolutely no one knows how the season will unfold prior to the first game kicking off, so writing a team off in August is just downright dumb, and Arthur Smith sure knew that better than anyone.

With the Buccaneers losing, the Atlanta Falcons are at the top of the NFC South

There was one thing that Atlanta Falcons fans wanted on Thursday night, and that was for Lamar Jackson to lead his team to a win over the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay, which is exactly what happened.

Neither quarterback had eye-catching stats, but the only thing that matters is that the Baltimore Ravens beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by a score of 27-22.

Here are the NFC South division standings prior to Sunday’s slate of games:

• Atlanta Falcons 3-4 (.429)
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 3-5 (.375)
• Carolina Panthers: 2-5 (.286)
• New Orleans Saints: 2-5 (.286)

While the Buccaneers have a tie-breaker over the Falcons, this period of time between Thursday Night Football and Sunday’s games, obviously, means that the Buccaneers have lost one extra game so their winning percentage is lower than Atlanta’s.

Here are each of the division leaders in the NFL as we stand right now:

• AFC East: Buffalo Bills 5-1 (.833)
• AFC North: Baltimore Ravens 5-3 (.625)
• AFC South: Tennessee Titans 4-2 (.667)
• AFC West: Kansas City Chiefs 5-2 (.714)
• NFC East: Philadelphia Eagles 6-0 (1.000)
• NFC North: Minnesota Vikings 5-1 (.833)
• NFC South: Atlanta Falcons 3-4 (.429)
• NFC West: Seattle Seahawks 4-3 (.571)

So, yes the Atlanta Falcons might not have the prettiest win percentage but they are still in the lead just like the other seven teams, and that is all that matters.

This just makes Sunday’s matchup at home against the Carolina Panthers even more important, they need to win this game in the worst way possible.