NFL Power Rankings heading into Week 15

Previous: . atlanta falcons. 27. team. 44. <p>Last week, when the Atlanta Falcons lost on the road to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the defeat officially sealed the NFC South for the Carolina Panthers. On Sunday, Atlanta played like a team with nothing to gain, nothing to lose, and, quite frankly a team that didn’t want to even be on the field.</p> <p>What an absolutely gutless performance by the Falcons up in Carolina. Rather than coming out with some pride while facing off against a division rival that knocked them out of the 2014-15 playoffs and helped ensure Mike Smith would be fired as coach, the Falcons went belly up. Newborns put up more of a fight when coming out of the womb than the Falcons did against the Panthers.</p> <p>Arthur Blank should stand up in front of a podium on Monday morning and declare a refund for every ticket remaining this season, because fans deserve better than wondering if they’ll go into a game where the team actually gives a damn.</p> <p>Dan Quinn has officially reached gut-check time with his team. It’s been a slow bottoming out, but on Sunday the team simply quit on the coaching staff, the fans and each other. The Panthers are a good team, but they should never, in a million years, have blanked a Falcons squad starting Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Devonta Freeman and Roddy White.</p>. (6-7)