The New Orleans Saints got revenge for the game they dropped against the Atlanta Falcons earlier this season. They outclassed the Falcons on both sides of the ball as they cruised to a 30-20 victory. New Orleans did outplay them, but Atlanta did plenty to ensure they did not have a shot in this game. This Atlanta roster needs an overhaul, and the performance on Sunday showed just that. They are not ready to contend with the big boys in the NFL. So, that begets the question: What do the Falcons need to do to be a contender again? Right now, the Atlanta Falcons must focus on this disappointing end to a long season.
Atlanta Falcons 2021 Season Comes to Disappointing End
“How To Get Dominated by Your Biggest Rival”
The Atlanta Falcons did everything in their power to lose this football game. Taysom Hill left the game with 6:21 left in the second quarter. Even with that, he ended as the leading passer with 107 yards and a TD. How is that possible? Easily. Atlanta got road-graded for almost 40 minutes of the game. The Saints had the ball for 39 minutes, 17 seconds. The Falcons? 20 minutes, 43 seconds.
The Saints ran 71 plays against a weaker, less physical Atlanta defense. Forty-six of them were rushing plays. Atlanta was helpless to stop the Saints rushing attack as they allowed 195 yards on the ground, 146 of them belonging to Alvin Kamara. The first time the Atlanta Falcons allowed 190+ rushing games back-to-back since 2002.
But that’s not all. No, no. The Atlanta Falcons offense did nothing to help their struggling defense. The Falcons had two back-to-back drives where they committed a turnover on the first play. While further keeping a tired and defeated defense on the field. Matt Ryan and Mike Davis both looked bad behind this offensive line. The entire Atlanta Falcons team gave a disappointing performance to end the season.
No Job is Safe
There are so many holes to fix in this upcoming off-season. Two of them being the defensive lines and linebacking corp. Well, two linebackers in particular. Deion Jones and Brandon Copeland.
Deion Jones was once one of Atlanta’s staples under Dan Quinn. However, lately, Jones has looked uninterested and not the player necessary for this defense to take that next step. On the other hand, Copeland gives his best effort and is sometimes in a position to make a play for the defense. At least at first. Then he proves that he does not have the physical capabilities to contend with the speed of today’s NFL.
Dante Fowler Jr. Had another game where he did not register a sack. Even with $1 million in incentives on the line, Fowler could not find a way to get to either Hill or Siemian.
The 2022-2023 schedule will be much stronger than the schedule from this season. Falcons fans can only hope that the talent on the team can follow suit.
Main Photo: Embed from Getty Images
