By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

There were a lot of similarities between last year’s Falcons team and the Panthers team from the year before.

Both were NFC South teams that started the season off as afterthoughts when it came to Super Bowl contenders, yet wound up playing in the title game. Both had high octane offenses, led by MVP winning quarterbacks, maximizing the potential fans had been yearning to see.

So, after the Panthers took a nose dive last season, it was almost in the cards for the Falcons to follow suit. If last season was Atlanta’s version of “The Wall”, you couldn’t blame fans for wondering if this would be “The Final Cut.”

Funny thing about sports, and I imagine it’s one of the reasons you enjoy it, is even when things work out almost exactly as you expect them to, the outcome somehow winds up to be completely different.

In the case of Atlanta, we’re basically a quarter of the way into the season and the product you’re seeing on the field is not anywhere near the level you saw last year. I know it’s still the beginning of the season and there have been some significant changes- the departure of Kyle Shanahan being a major one- but it still doesn’t feel like the Falcons are playing at the level they should be up to this point.

They were fortunate to beat an inferior team in Chicago on what amounted to be not so much a defensive stand as much as it appeared to be the Bears thought they were in the middle of a highly contested game of Hot Potato.

And while the call at the end of the Lions game was absolutely the correct call, it still feels like Atlanta got lucky, once again.

I admit they looked good against Green Bay, but the Packers are so decimated with injuries, I’m waiting for them to start signing players from the nearest penitentiary.

That said, the Falcons did win all those games, which is something not many other teams in the league can say at this point.

Sure, the win at Chicago was ugly, but isn’t winning those type of games supposed to be the sign of a champion?

Yes, the Packers have more players injured than you would see at a running of the bulls, but they still have Aaron Rodgers, and the Falcons did beat them soundly.

And as lucky as they were to defeat a Detroit team that loves to play with fire as much a pyromaniac, Atlanta did what they had to do in order to leave the Motor City with a victory.

Up until now, whether or not the Falcons are where they should be with their play on the field is rather irrelevant, considering they keep winning and are currently in first place in the NFC South.

But, if you were to ask me right now if I thought Atlanta was regressing this season, or if they were likely to repeat as NFC Champions, I’d give you the same blank, clueless stare I give my wife anytime she asks me if I know to how cook Quinoa. I have absolutely no idea, because they seem to be doing both, simultaneously.

All I know is if winning games is the deciding factor on how successful your season is going, and I think we’re in agreement that in Atlanta’s case it is, then the Falcons are certainly making a strong argument for the latter.

And in the end, isn’t that where you want to be?