- Commissioner’s statement on Ventura, Marte
- Ronnie O’Sullivan: Masters champion ‘felt so vulnerable’ in final
- Arron Fletcher Wins 2017 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event ($140,224)
- Smith challenges Warner to go big in India
- Moncada No. 1 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Braves land 2 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Kingery makes MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- New Zealand wrap up 2-0 after Bangladesh implosion
- Mathews, Pradeep, Gunathilaka to return to Sri Lanka
- Elliott hopes for rain for Poli
This Year’s Atlanta Falcons Are Finally Built to Last in Wide Open NFC
- Updated: November 28, 2016
The idea that the Atlanta Falcons will fade down the stretch is so last year.
Unlike the 2015 roster, this year’s squad has showed a different level of resiliency once adversity surfaced. Atlanta’s performance over the last two contests displays the dichotomy seen from a year ago until now.
In Dan Quinn’s first season as the Falcons head coach, Atlanta opened the season 6-1—including a 5-0 start—only to lose six straight games from Nov. 1 to Dec. 13. By the time the team recovered, the playoffs were out of reach.
The Falcons are now 7-4 and alone atop the NFC South standings after Sunday’s 38-19 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. The victory came after the team’s embarrassing 24-15 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles before its bye week.
Once a team starts to lose, a negative attitude can permeate throughout a locker room and the culture begins to change. A shroud of doubt becomes difficult to overcome when a losses are strung together. The Falcons struggled to find out who they were last season, and it showed in their approach.
The team is completely different this fall, and three large differences can be seen between Quinn’s campaigns.
Positively Mental
Coaches often discuss mental toughness and how it can affect a player’s game.
Can an individual respond after a mistake, or will they let it eat them alive? The same can be said about teams and losses.
The 2015 campaign snowballed on the Falcons. One loss led to another, which led to another and so on and so forth.
Atlanta’s longest losing streak this fall is only two games. The team found a way to respond when the season could have taken a U-turn.
“The answer is it’s a different outfit,” Quinn said in early October, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s D. Orlando Ledbetter. “It’s a different group. We are mentally tougher than what we were. And we have a real ability to reset right after we get back to that process so that’s what’s different from last year to this year.”
Clearly, the concerns lingered since the coach had to answer questions about a potential free fall only five weeks into the season after starting 4-1 overall.
Much to the team’s dismay, the Falcons lost their next two contests to the Seattle Seahawks and the San Diego Chargers. There’s no shame in losing to the Seahawks in Seattle, but the Chargers’ overtime victory once again raised suspicions.
However, general manager Thomas Dimitroff told everyone exactly what type of team this would be in June, per the Talk of Fame Network’s Derek Burns:
I think we have a really interesting nucleus. I like our talent, I like our speed, I like our athleticism. We are becoming more and more adept as the months go on understanding the systems that have been brought into Atlanta. We’re a run-and-hit 4-3 defense that obviously Dan Quinn knows inside out. …
I really believe there’s some high energy on this team that’s going to help us a lot. And I think an extra year under our belt in this system, on the offensive side under Kyle Shanahan and on the defense is going to help us a great deal.
The Falcons could have gone into a tailspin after getting down 32-26 late in the fourth quarter to the Green Bay Packers and lost their third-straight contest. Instead, quarterback Matt Ryan rallied his team and threw a 11-yard game-winning touchdown pass to Mohamed Sanu with …
