Overreaction Monday: Falcons are more than just NFC South favorites

I may be biased, but I don't think it is a hot take that the Atlanta Falcons are a fringe Super Bowl contender. Before they traded for Matthew Judon with the New England Patriots and signed Justin Simmons formerly of the Denver Broncos, I had them as the favorites to come out of the NFC South. This was probably the weakest division in the NFC, but we shall see... So what about the Super Bowl?

On the most recent episode of Stacking the Box, Sterling Holmes posed the question to Ian MacMillan about the Dirty Birds. While he too roots for this team, I do think we need to take a good, hard, serious look at the Falcons about what their upward trajectory is. MacMillan may be more bullish on this team than me, but they have the potential to be more than the No. 4 seed in the NFC playoffs.

MacMillan said the only NFC team he would take over Atlanta would be the San Francisco 49ers. I would add the Detroit Lions, but after that, I find the Falcons to be in the same cluster of teams in the NFC as the Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. I would put them ahead of other playoff teams like the Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Rams and the rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Here is the latest episode of Stacking the Box where Holmes and MacMillan unpacked the Falcons.

I am not quite ready to divulge who I have making the playoffs in the NFC, but I may just have to now.

Atlanta Falcons might be a Super Bowl contender more than you think

With a few weeks left before the regular season starts, I reserve the right to change my picks before the season. With that said, I have Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia and San Francisco winning their divisions. My earliest guesses at Wild Card teams are definitely Green Bay, probably Tampa Bay and I am leaning towards the Bears over the Rams ever so slightly. Again, I have to look at the schedules.

What I will do before the end of the month is have MacMillan to come on The Blogging Dirty Podcast to help preview the season, as well as unpack his takes from Stacking the Box. He may operate more in the gambling space than me, but he is a rabid fan of this team, too. We know what we are seeing is undeniable. Keep in mind Atlanta was not a playoff team the seasons prior to get to the Super Bowl.

Right now, I feel a favorable comp to how I feel about Atlanta is in the NFC over in the AFC would be the Houston Texans. I have them winning the AFC South somewhat comfortably, although I like the Jacksonville Jaguars to be as good relatively speaking as Tampa Bay in the division. The only two teams in the AFC I know are better than Houston are the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens.

These two additions have taken Atlanta from a top-16 team in the league to well inside the top-12.