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The British QB
Writing all things American Football from across the Atlantic

The Falcons Hyperbole Needs To Stop

Vic Beasley finally showed some of his 1st round potential Sunday producing 3.5 sacks (Photo courtesy of The Falcoholic)

There are few people happier than myself that the Falcons are doing well. Our offence has dominated teams over the first few games of the season with a combination of a deadly air attack and a lethal rushing game. We’ve pulled out to a 4–1 record against some very tough opponents and the hype surrounding the Falcons is stratospheric. But let me be the voice of reason for a moment and remind you not to ‘crown their ass’.

Last year the Falcons pulled out to a 5–0 start. I don’t want to dwell on this much, but let it serve as a reminder that although things may seem as though they’re going swimmingly, they are not necessarily. This Falcons team is better than last years and our schedule this year is tougher. This team have showed a lot of promise and potential which Falcons fans have been looking for for a number of years.

The hyperbole has really set in this week. I’ve seen a number of pundits using phrases like ‘the Falcons are the real deal’, ‘Vic Beasley is showing the dominating form the Falcons have been looking for’ & ‘Atlanta could be heading to the NFC Championship Game’. This is off the back of one good game against the Super Bowl champions who were starting a rookie quarterback. People are really getting carried away over this.

The Falcons defence had 1 sack over the first two games of the season. The pass rush was effectively non-existent, something we’ve all been used to seeing forever. We produced 5 sacks against the Broncos and a lot of this came down to the fact that they were starting a rookie at QB who got startled early and often. But our pass rush hasn’t been consistent enough to warrant praise just yet. Our run defence on the other hand has been much improved.

Harking back to last season once again, people said that our offence through the first 5 games looked unstoppable. But the NFL has ways of catching up with you and the NFL caught up with the Falcons big time. Although this years offence is more multi-dimensional, its still hard to get excited by a unit that teased potential last year only to then disappoint.

I’m buying the Falcons as a Wild Card team in the NFC this year. Sooner or later the rest of the NFL will cotton on to the way we play offence. Sooner or later the rest of the NFL will realise that our defence is bang average and rip it up. This is just the way the NFL is and we’ve got the toughest schedule in football. I think an 8–8 finish would be a really good year for the Falcons, although I imagine it would disappoint large swathes of the fan base.

My point is; don’t get too excited about the Falcons yet. Lets see how they play in Seattle. Lets see how they play at Philadelphia. Lets see how they play against the Packers. Lets not stir up hyperbole that can’t be taken back because we played one really good game. Time will tell how good the Falcons will and can be, but for now please don’t blame me for holding my breath.