Atlanta Falcons still hoping for offensive breakout in NFL playoffs
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Time is running out for the Atlanta Falcons to regain their identity as one of the most explosive offenses in the modern era of the NFL.
Or maybe, after 16 regular season games, there’s simply enough data to indicate this is a fundamentally different team than 2016, when the Falcons scored the seventh-most points in a season in NFL history and were on the verge of a Super Bowl title before a stunning collapse against the Patriots.
But for the Falcons, who are the only NFC playoff team from last season that made it again this year, there’s a still a lurking hope that their offense — which largely has the same personnel — can break out at any point. Saturday night’s NFC wild card game against the Los Angeles Rams would be a good place to start.
“When we get our chances as players, we’ve got to make plays,” quarterback Matt Ryan told reporters this week.
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There are plenty of differences for Atlanta going into these playoffs compared to last year, when their offense caught fire in late November and stayed hot, scoring 36 and 44 points against Seattle and Green Bay to win the NFC. This year, the Falcons have done it a different way, winning six of their last eight games but scoring 30 or more points only twice in that span (and only four times all season).
Though Atlanta’s young defense has matured into a top-10 unit this season, scoring nearly 12 points per game fewer on offense (33.8 to 22.1) has made it feel like far more of a grind to get to this point. The Falcons are hoping last week’s 22-10 win over the Carolina Panthers was the kind of breakthrough performance to launch them into a playoff run.
“In the grand scheme of things, we’ve developed a great deal of resiliency as a team and fought through a lot to get to this point and there’s been some ups and downs, some tough losses, some tough wins, a lot of games that came down to the last possession,” offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian told reporters this week. “So to see us play the way we played this past week and winning the turnover battle and controlling the clock, converting third downs, it was a cool team effort to see that come out in Week 17 as we head into the postseason.”
Because the Falcons still have less production with the same offensive weapons around Ryan — receivers Julio Jones and Mohamed Sanu, along with a running game led by Devonta Freeman — Sarkisian has dealt with significant criticism for much of the season.
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Scrutiny on the former Washington and USC coach, who only had one year of NFL experience in 2004 before Dan Quinn hired him to replace Kyle Shanahan, has died down a bit as the Falcons steadied themselves after a 4-4 start.
“The things that we’re doing well like our third-down percentage offensively, we’re pretty strong in that way,” Quinn said. “One of the things that has really bit us this year is turnover margin. To get into the plus, you have to create takeaways. We’ve had games in the minus or zero, so often, when you can give our offense two or three more possessions a game, that’s a real factor. Last week we were plus three and wanted to throw a pool party.”
But there have still been some problems in the red zone, where the Falcons rank 23rd in the NFL, scoring touchdowns 50% of the time. Even against the Panthers last week, they had to settle for five Matt Bryant field goals, including three from inside 35 yards.
If somehow Atlanta can start turning those into touchdowns, the Falcons could suddenly become a dangerous team in an NFC, where there isn’t much playoff experience.
“We have to find ways to create explosive plays,” Sarkisian said. “Whether it’s been in the run game or the passing game, we’ve been good at that this year and ultimately finishing our drives when we get to the red area is going to be big when you play really good teams, and we’re playing a really good team Saturday night.”