NFL: 5 teams we’d be dumb to count out as playoff contenders

This franchise seemingly exists to break your hearts. If you’re the betting type, any wager you place on the Atlanta Falcons rarely pans out for you in the Dan Quinn era. Yet, this is an NFC South franchise we just can’t quit just yet. The team still has Matt Ryan at quarterback, Julio Jones at wide receiver and added Todd Gurley as its star running back for at least one seasons.

Perhaps no team in the NFC benefits more from the expanded playoff field than the Dirty Birds. Atlanta has gone 7-9 the last two seasons, but did finish the 2019 campaign on an impressive 6-2 run thanks in large part to a completely revamped coaching approach on defense, headlined by Raheem Morris and Jeff Ulbrich. If this team could get out of its own way, this is a playoff team.

Though Atlanta is not favored to win the NFC South, the Falcons have won it in three of the last times there has been a presidential election in the United States. Not since 2000 have the Falcons missed the postseason in an election year either. They should be better than the rebuilding Carolina Panthers this fall, and may challenge the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Two other wrinkles that serve Atlanta this year are it will be Tom Brady’s first season in Tampa Bay and Drew Brees’ inability to understand what Black Lives Matter is all about could be issues for two of the Falcons’ biggest rivals. Can the Falcons win the division? Sure, but let’s not count on it. However, the Dirty Birds have the talent to be a top-six or top-seven team in the NFC this year.