“Soar, You Mighty Wing’d Beasts” – The Falcons at their Bye

Look – can I be honest here for a second?

A Week 5 bye is hardly something to measure a team against unless they are 4-0 or 0-4.

The Falcons at 2-2 are the worst kind of temperate because of how they got here:

• Week 1 – lost to the Bucs by 3
• Week 2 – beat the Vikings by 16
• Week 3 – shut out 30-0 by Carolina
• Week 4 – beat Washington by 7

The outliers are the fact that they beat backup QBs for their wins and got rolled by the Panthers. 

Bijan Robinson is the monster I predicted in my preview, and Tyler Allgeier is also getting some quality touches. The clear star is Robinson – he sits at 314 yards on the ground and 270 yards through the air, but is currently on pace for 1,335 rushing yards and 1,148 receiving yards and he was named NFC Offensive Player of the Month. Provided he holds up to the pounding he’s going to get as the #1 option, that’s a solid foundation to build on.

But in terms of the team as a whole, they sure don’t look two-and-two:

Being 25th in terms of points scored versus 14th in points allowed isn’t a firm recipe for success, but it shows progress over last year. They’re playing everyone tightly on defence, and people are raving about the defensive rookies & their impact already. 

But the turnover ratio is exposing a weakness on the side of the ball supposed to be scoring the points, and that’s what seems to be holding them back. If memory serves,

the offence has gotten a lot of yards only to choke it away in the Red Zone, which explains their yardage & points rankings. Multiple sites keep talking about Penix still developing chemistry with his receivers, which is not a great sign. Hell, the league’s propaganda site has him as their 22st ranked starting QB

right between Spencer Rattler (#21) and Kyler Murray (#23). That’s a perfect example of damning with faint praise, because at least he’s above Carson Wentz and Geno Smith (Tier 6… of 7!).

Also, they cut Younghoe Koo!

With all that in mind, they come out of their bye & host the Bills on Monday Night, a team angry about pissing away the game versus the Patriots. It won’t be the best measure of their evolution – current odds are Bills  by 4.5; O/U is 49.5 – but their next four should be able to tell us whether they are for real or pretenders for another year. In a row they are:

• At the Niners – a sentient Injury report
• Home to Miami – hot trash!
• Away at New England – Drake Maye!
• In Germany versus the Colts – Oktoberfest!

If they can survive that, their reward is getting the Saints, Panthers & Jets all in a row. They could emerge from that stretch in a wildcard position.

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Beyond all of that, I want to end by showing you pictures of the Jameson tour in Midleton, Ireland, just outside of Cork. It’s the actual distillery, not that shifty “Tasting Experience” they have in Dublin. Suffice to say, any alcohol tour that starts with a walk through a secret doorway of bottles is a good tour.

It finished with a four-sample tasting of various lineages

that makes the gift shoppe and their high-end bottles

a torturous experience.

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Anyway, the tour is highly recommended, and the Falcons will likely still finish 10-7 as long as they keep handing the ball off & Penix doesn’t get concussed like Tua did. They’re not making the playoffs, but for a couple of weeks in December they’ll make the “In the hunt” category. That’ll tie Arthur Blank over to the New Year.