The Atlanta Falcons - The Robert Downy Jr. of Football?

The 2007 Atlanta Falcons football season could be summed up in one image:



I'll leave it at that.

And 2008 wasn't shaping up to be much better, what with the hiring of the equivalent of your neighbor's dad for a coach. Mike Smith is the most boring name since John Doe, and Michael Turner played second fiddle to an overachieving LT for a couple years. So, we started with an unknown coach and and untested running back. Combine that with a GM whose name no one could pronounce in Thomas Dimitroff - get rid of Rich McKay? - and a goofy-looking rookie quarterback without the last name Manning and you'd be an idiot to pick them to win more games than the 07 Dolphins. Okay, the Dolphins and Raiders. Combined.

But still. This year didn't appear promising, even to the most optimistic of Falcons fans. Namely, not me. I thought Ryan was an idiotic choice, seeing as that ninety-percent of first round QBs end up shooting people or shooting blanks while in the NFL, and...the starter on game one as well? That hadn't happened with the Falcons since Steve Bartkowski in '75.

Fifteen-ish weeks into the season, and I'm eating a little crow. Not only was his first pass a completion but a 62-yard bomb to Michael Jenkins.



At first, I thought it to be the franchise I'd cheered for all my life leaping the short hurdle I'd placed out there, but then everyone else began to talk up the Falcons. People were and are calling it the biggest turnaround for any franchise in league history, and that's saying something. Especially for Atlanta.

What makes this feat more impressive is the fact that the Falcons play in the NFC South, long snickered at but now believed to be one of the toughest, top to bottom. Consider the fact that no team in the conference has lost at home all season to a conference opponent. If you watched the game on Sunday against the Bucs, then you most certainly know that fact. It has been burned into the left side of my brain from the "commentators" repeating it after every down, penalty or no. Now, that stat wouldn't mean diddley if the conference sucked overall. However, the South is 24-2 at home, period. Not too damn bad.

The gist of this post is not to say that the Falcons have made a turnaround. Why would I make that argument? And why would you read it? The overarching question is, What does all of this mean for the Falcons. They're only 9-5. That's excellent, considering. But if they lay a couple of goose eggs in the next two weeks (against Minnesota and St. Louis, respectively), then it will be for naught. 9-7. Blech.

However, with a little help - Please lose, Carolina! - and a perfect two games, they'll end up 11-5. And that is not naught. That is (might be) playoffs, baby! The problem is, the Falcons are TERRIBLE against the Vikings (9-16) and not too much better against the Rams (25-47). Luckily, the Vikings are shaky and the Rams are abysmal. Not to belabor the point, but even if the Falcons can only pull off one of the two wins, it will mean only the fifth ten-win season in the franchise's history.