3 Reasons the Atlanta Falcons are going to shock teams in 2023

2. Who is there to fear in the NFC?

Jalen Hurts and the Eagles are the only team that is clearly a contender in for the conference in the 2023 season. San Francisco has a great roster but again is facing questions at the quarterback position. Brock Purdy might not be ready to start the season likely leaving the team turning to either Trey Lance or Sam Darnold.

Despite Brock's impressive start to his career none of these three quarterbacks have proven reliable. San Francisco no longer has Jimmy G. to fall back on and regression is completely on the table for the 49ers.

The Vikings, Bucs, Seahawks, Giants, and Cowboys made up the rest of the 2022 playoff field. The aforementioned Bucs are clearly out of the running leaving teams that all have questions about their quarterback getting it done.

Atlanta has an unproven quarterback as well in Desmond Ridder but the reliance on the rushing attack and Ridder's unknown ceiling makes it easy to suggest that the Falcons could beat teams relying on Kirk Cousins, Daniel Jones, Geno Smith, and Dak Prescott.

The Cowboys are infamous for how their seasons have ended the past two years whether it is a quarterback sneak to run out the clock or lining your running back up at center the playoffs haven't been kind to Dak and the Cowboys.

This leaves us with the Giants, Vikings, and Seahawks all teams that overachieved in the 2022 season and could have a straightforward argument made that they will regress. Even if this doesn't prove to be the case there was a clear example of why the Vikings and Giants shouldn't be viewed as NFC contenders.

The conference has never been more wide open and the stage is perfectly set for the Falcons to surprise a lot of people in the 2023 season.