Falcons downward spiral: Team drops in week 11…

The Atlanta Falcons went to the Big Easy over the weekend knowing the New Orleans Saints were going to be a dangerous opponent. They had just been embarrassed by the Carolina Panthers and had fired their coach.

Think back to the 2000 season when the Falcons started 0-5 and fired Dan Quinn. Raheem Morris took over and the Falcons promptly hung 40 on the Vikings en route to winning three of four following Quinn’s axing.

Still, the Falcons outplayed the Saints in virtually every metric except the scoreboard. Their failure to turn red zone trips into touchdowns, and Younghoe Koo’s failure to turn field goal attempts into points, ultimately doomed them in the 20-17 loss.

Atlanta dropped to 6-4 but still maintains a 2.5-game lead in the NFC South as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to the San Francisco 49ers, falling to 4-6. However, looking across the rest of the NFL landscape, ESPN dinged the Falcons in their Week 11 NFL Power Rankings, dropping them from No. 10 to No. 14.

Their fall of four spots was tied with the New York Giants for the biggest drop of the week. The Giants went from No. 27 to No. 31 at the bottom of the table. It was the second-straight time ESPN dropped the Falcons the most the week of a loss, with their last loss coming to the Seattle Seahawks.

ESPN’s theme of the week in their power rankings, rather than justifying their picks, was to name a non-quarterback MVP for each team. Falcons beat writer Marc Raimondi made a likely-unanimous pick for Atlanta.

Running back Bijan Robinson,” wrote Raimondi. “No sophomore slump here. Instead, Robinson has emerged as one of the most talented all-around running backs in the NFL. He’s fourth in the league in all-purpose yards (1,079) and fifth in rushing yards (748) despite ceding 35% of the team’s carries to Tyler Allgeier. Robinson has been a big part of the passing game, with the second-most yards after the catch (413) among running backs. Atlanta gambled taking a running back at No. 8 in 2023, but the 22-year-old is already a potential franchise player.” 

The Falcons travel to Denver on Sunday to take on a surprising Broncos team that is sitting at 5-5. The Broncos check in right behind the Falcons at No. 15 in the power rankings, but are currently a 1.5-point favorite to open the week.

The Broncos, like the Falcons, fell victim to the kicking game on Sunday. The Kansas City Chiefs summoned another guardian angel and blocked a 35-yard field goal at the end of regulation to remain unbeaten and escape with a 16-14 win.

The Broncos are playing spectacularly on defense under Vance Joseph. He puts trust in his secondary, including the game’s best cornerback Pat Surtain, and applies pressure to the quarterback. The Broncos have 35 sacks on the season, while the Falcons would need nearly a 50% increase in sacks just to climb out of last place (Atlanta has 9, Carolina has 12).

Rookie Bo Nix has played well the last several weeks, and without a big-play threat, the Broncos offense is content methodically putting together drives. The Falcons have generally conceded the run game and underneath passing to avoid giving up big plays, but they’ll have to devote more bodies to the line of scrimmage to beat the Broncos.

Sean Payton and Nix will be perfectly happy to go on 14-play, 8-minute scoring drives and turn the game over to their defense. Atlanta could count on the likes of the Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys to make mistakes while sitting back in their soft zone.

If they want to stay above the Denver Broncos in the power rankings, they won’t be able to play passively on defense.