By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The Atlanta Falcons had a disappointing season in my opinion. Coming off an 11-5 2016 with a Super Bowl appearance they regressed. There was only a one game difference because they finished 10-6 this season.

That one game made a huge difference in playoff seeding. The 2017 team barely made the playoffs, getting the #6 seed. That means every playoff game is on the road. The 2016 team was the #2 seed and both of their playoff games were at home.

The biggest difference was obviously the loss of offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. Atlanta was the highest scoring offense in the NFL last season. They were second in the league in total offense, averaging 416 yards per game.

Shanahan left to become a head coach in San Francisco. Steve Sarkisian replaced him and I thought that was a poor hire when it happened. The offense slipped to eighth averaging 365 ypg. The only thing to look forward to is maybe the team will play better in the second year in Sarkisian’s system. The same thing happened under Shanahan.

The team did improve drastically on defense. The 2016 team finished the season 25^th in total defense. They surrendered 25.4 points per game and 371 ypg. The Falcons jumped to ninth in 2017 allowing 19.7 ppg and 318 ypg.

Head coach Dan Quinn has the defense going in the right direction. I think they can be even better in 2018, possibly finishing in the top five.

Defensive end Takk McKinley was a rookie this season and he played fairly well. He finished the season with 6 sacks and 20 total tackles. Not very impressive but I expect him to make a big jump in his second year.

The same thing happened with Vic Beasley and in his second season, he led the league with 15.5 sacks. He also regressed and only had 5 sacks in 2017. I think the emergence of McKinley will force teams to stop double teaming Beasley and his sack total should go up. I think they can become the best pass rushing duo in the NFL.

Matt Ryan was named the NFL MVP in 2016. He passed for nearly 5,000 yards, 38 touchdowns and completed 70% of his passes. This past season his totals dropped to 4,095 yards, 20 touchdowns and 64.7% completion rate. He also threw 12 interceptions compared to just 7 the previous season.

Ryan has showed us that he is a top ten quarterback for the past decade. He has the potential to be a top five QB once he becomes acclimated to a system. He has elite weapons like Julio Jones and Devonta Freeman to help him.

The best-case scenario for Atlanta in 2018 is to be one of the most balanced teams on both sides of the ball.

The offense needs to return to an elite level while the defense improves. With the young talent added from the last two drafts this should happen.

If the team does not improve next year then I think the championship window for Atlanta is almost closed. It will be time to reevaluate everyone on the roster and possibly start over.