The Falcons finished in a first-place tie in the NFC South.
Before anyone gets excited, that doesn’t mean they’re going to the playoffs. The Carolina Panthers are the division champions, holding the tiebreaker over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Falcons, with the best head-to-head record among the three teams.
The Falcons (8-9) ended on a high note, with a 19-17 win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. That capped the disappointing season with a four-game win streak and inherent momentum heading into next season, along with a litany of “what-if” questions about what could have been.
Here are five quick takeaways from the Falcons’ season finale:
Sacks record
It starts with the defense, which has had a good string of game where they’ve kept the Falcons in games. This was no different, with the pass rush keeping the pressure on Saints quarterback Tyler Shough.
They had two sacks in the first half, they set a new franchise record after back-to-back sacks by rookie James Pearce Jr. in the third quarter.
Pearce has 10.5 sacks and becomes the first Falcons player with double-digit sacks since Vic Beasley recorded 15.5 in 2016.
Overall, the Falcons are second in the NFL with 57 total sacks this season. That’s quite the improvement for a team whose biggest question mark was whether they’d be able to pressure the quarterback.
Special teams makes a play
The Falcons got a big play from special teams after pinning the Saints back inside their 15-yard line and with a three-and-out, New Orleans had to punt.
Jammie Robinson got through the middle of the line and was able to block the punt, and Feleipe Franks recovered at the 5-yard line. From there, the Falcons got in the end zone on a 5-yard pass from Cousins to Drake London to take the early lead.
Special teams has been an overall concern this season, so getting a positive play to help set up the offense is a definite plus.
Defense, defense
Beyond the sacks and pressure on the Saints, the defense also came up with the biggest play of the game, the interception by Dee Alford in the fourth quarter that ended a Saints rally.
The defense also had an early turnover to help set the tone. A fumble recovery by Xavier Watts ended a drive, but the Falcons weren’t able to convert.
For the most part, the defense has been steady during the recent winning streak, and the secondary didn’t give up enough big plays to hurt them.
Play-calling
It’s been a familiar refrain this season to say that the Falcons have been conservative and a bit predictable in their play-calling this season.
That continued Sunday, with an opening three-and-out and some bland play-calling overall. There were the normal predictable first-down runs by Bijan Robinson and not throwing the ball downfield to try to get penalties for pass interference, or just opening up the safeties to that possibility.
It’s a concern, as the Saints were focusing on Robinson and not letting him gain big chunks on screens or rush for long gains. Seeing that, there didn’t seem to be an adjustment to try something different.
Book it, Zane
It’s not a foregone conclusion, but it’s close enough. Zane Gonzalez looks like the starting kicker for next season. That’s not to say that the Falcons shouldn’t invite another kicker to camp to provide competition — they absolutely should — but the struggles of the past few seasons of uncertainty.
The limitations under Younghoe Koo meant going for it on fourth down instead of getting a comfortable field goal. Gonzalez had four field goals Sunday, and the 51-yarder seemed easy.
That’s how good teams with dependable kickers operate, and the Falcons seem to have found theirs.
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