Atlanta Falcons

Atlanta Falcons overcome adversities; Look like playoff team again

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Atlanta Falcons overcame a lot of adversity and took the Los Angeles Rams to the woodshed on Sunday. It wasn’t a pretty win but we’re feeling good about the playoffs again.

What if I told you the Los Angeles Rams outgained the Atlanta Falcons, picked up more 1st downs, and had more time of possession?

All the above is very true and raises the point that Atlanta was far from perfect this weekend. Realizing this in real time, many fans on Twitter cautioned against getting too excited throughout the game. And while it is true the Rams are a bad football team, its also true that the Falcons won by a large margin without their best overall player.

Credit to the Atlanta Falcons for not falling into a trap at the Coliseum. There was a serious lack of momentum after some key injuries and the loss to Kansas City. With Tampa Bay trending, some feared the Falcons would come out flat on the West Coast. The Rams welcomed back some key starters this week and were expected to play like a team with nothing left to lose. Well, lose nothing but more games and their head coach.

There’s a lot of “yeah, but…” this week if the Falcons allowed the Rams to keep it close. Thankfully, Atlanta did exactly what good teams are supposed to with bad teams, win big. The Falcons forced Los Angeles into a litany of error and capitalized on each mistake. Dan Quinn’s squad came out fired up and it showed on the game’s opening kickoff.

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It sounds a little weird but it was important for the Falcons to win convincingly despite some sloppy execution.  We actually expected sluggish play because of the injuries and recent roster moves. Jake Matthews didn’t look anything close to 100% on a majority of offensive snaps. Dan Quinn risked offensive production in not activating Julio Jones. The recently re-signed Mallichiah Goodman and recently promoted Nick Williams saw significant action. None of it seemed to matter as the Falcons made one big play after another.

The Falcons did fizzle a bit in the 4th quarter, but were allowing some depth players to rotate in on defense.

Atlanta does head into a relatively easy homestretch, but Week 15 will be the last pushover opponent. Dan Quinn should have the confidence to rest Julio Jones, (and potentially Jake Matthews), this week with the lowly San Francisco 49ers coming to town.

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