How did the Atlanta Falcons do last season?
The Atlanta Falcons’ were a disappointment this year. They haven’t looked in control since 2017 the year following their Super Bowl meltdown to the New England Patriots. They had a strong 2017 showing that season going 10-6, winning the wild-card and only losing to the eventual Super Bowl Champions 15-10 in that divisional round game. Since then, it has been only sub .500 record seasons and playoff absent football. This year was supposed to be better. Nobody thought that they were Super Bowl bound, yet something about Kyle Pitts second year, the formation of the team and the buzz surrounding it had me thinking they would be a 9-8 or 10-7 type team at least. Instead, they finished 7-10 and 4th in the NFC South division, missing the playoffs once again.
We will get to their health concerns in just a moment, which by the way were average compared to the rest of the NFL. The biggest concern was the fact that Pitts was essentially absent on gameday. I would love to put all the blame on Arthur Smith and the fact that he didn’t use him enough but realistically he only deserves a portion because even games that Pitts got targets he came up with few receptions. A big part of that problem was the lack of consistency at QB which I think we all knew would be an issue with Mariota at the helm. This is abundantly clear when looking at the fact that there was only one game all season that a starting wide receiver or tight end had over 100 yards receiving and that was with Desmond Ridder leading the offense. Luckily, one player doesn’t make a team and the Falcons had others that stepped up including WR Drake London who had that 120 yard receiving game, RB Tyler Allgeier who racked up 1035 yards his rookie season with the team, RB Cordarrelle Patterson who seemed to put on a show with the ball in his hands and Desmond Ridder who took over the starting job at quarterback improving with each start and not throwing any interceptions and ending the season with a QBR of 86.4.
ATLANTA, GA Ð JANUARY 08: Atlanta running back Tyler Allgeier (25) runs the ball during the NFL game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Atlanta Falcons on January 8th, 2023 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire)
Were the Atlanta Falcons healthy last year?
What about their health? The Atlanta Falcons this past season dealt with their fair share of injuries but luckily kept them to a manageable degree. Finishing the season with a 72.0 average Banged-Up Score (B.U.S.) they saw a few of their top talent end up on the sideline for portions of the season. Knee injuries to Cordarrelle Patterson who missed four games following two big 100+ yard rushing games, Kyle Pitts who finished the season on IR after a big hit landed him with a bad MCL Sprain and Marcus Mariota who also finished on IR due to his knee injury all were losses that the Falcons had to adjust to. Luckily for Atlanta players like Ridder, Allgeier and others were able to step up and fill those spots with strong performances.
The Atlanta Falcons Banged-Up Score trend shows an early decline and then steady health right around their average mark before a jump following the bye week and another drop just before the end of the season. This coincides with their average B.U.S. weekly ranking of 18.1/32. This landed them the spot of 2nd in the NFC South in terms of health. In a division that had three teams with the same record it is no surprise that they are all close in health and all dealt with similar adversity through the season. Even though Atlanta was middle of the pack this year in terms of health across the NFL and their record was middle of the pack, they will need to focus on improving this if they want to compete in their division next year which includes teams like the Saints who have been making moves this offseason.
The NFL draft was a great start in which the Falcons drafted top RB prospect Bijan Robinson and look to combine him with Allgeier this season. That’s not all though. They received a C- in nutrition and a D- in strength staff in this years NFLPA report cards. Something that cannot stand if you want health on your side. The medical staff, nutrition and strength room all need to work in tandem to have a positive health outcome. Teams need to provide a system that players want to come get treated, have proper workouts that keep them healthy and the right foods to accomplish their goals personally and from a team view. With the current grades the Falcons have there is little team buy in to two of those three points in the health triangle and should be a big focus for team management. If they can improve on this and get their new guys to buy into the system then they will have an upper-hand going into the 23-24 season.
