Atlanta Falcons: NFC South could be decided in week 18

The Atlanta Falcons are entering the most winnable portion of their schedule with matchups against the Panthers, Bears, Commanders, Steelers, and Saints lined up over the next six weeks. Currently, the Falcons hold the second spot in the division while tied record-wise with Tampa Bay the Bucs hold the current tie-breaker.

During the same time, the Falcons will play the easiest part of their schedule the Bucs will be facing off against the Seahawks, Browns, Saints, 49ers, and Bengals. This is by far a much tougher slate and if the Bucs don’t find a way to figure it out offensively splitting these games is best case scenario.

Atlanta has a prime opportunity to pick up ground in the division and make Tampa Bay play from behind the final three weeks of the season. In Atlanta’s final three weeks the slate gets much tougher with the Ravens, Cardinals, and Bucs all scheduled to end the year. With Atlanta’s struggles against running quarterbacks, it is hard to imagine that the Ravens and Cardinals won’t be able to have their way offensively the only question in those two games is can Atlanta win either in shootout fashion?

Tampa on the other hand finishes the year with the Cardinals, Panthers, and Falcons setting up a possible final-week showdown for the NFC South. With the way the Saints and Panthers are playing and the relative ease of the Falcons’ schedule over the next five weeks, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see the Falcons take a two or three-game division lead only to fall to the Ravens and Cardinals and see the division come down to a final week 18 showdown with Tom Brady.

One that very well might be Atlanta’s final chance to give the legend an L against a franchise he has dominated throughout his career. While in seasons past a final-week showdown with Brady’s Bucs would have been decidedly one-sided this isn’t the same Bucs team as Atlanta saw earlier this season. This is a team that can be beaten and that is going to continue to let the Atlanta Falcons hang around in a tight division race that may not be decided until the final snaps of the Atlanta season.