Falcons-Buccaneers preview: How Atlanta can get to 3-2 after Thursday Night Football

The Atlanta Falcons are exactly where they need to be heading into Week 5. At 2-2 on the season, this is the exact record I forecasted for the Dirty Birds. The same feeling applies to my fellow Minute Media colleague in Iain MacMillan of Sports Illustrated. While appearing on the most recent episode of The Blogging Dirty Podcast, we touched on the record ahead of Thursday Night Football in Week 5.

Atlanta got to 2-2 with a last-second field goal off the right foot of placekicker extraordinaire Younghoe Koo. His career-long 58-yarder lifted the Falcons to a thrilling 26-24 victory over the hated New Orleans Saints. For as much as we want to celebrate and do cartwheels in the streets after that huge win, it was always going to be a short week with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coming to town.

Entering Thursday Night Football, the Buccaneers lead the Falcons by a game in the NFC South standings at 3-1 on the year. While they have strong wins over the Washington Commanders, the Detroit Lions and the Philadelphia Eagles, their lone loss on the year came to a Denver Broncos team who still might not be any good. The team seems to go as starting quarterback Baker Mayfield goes.

Let's preview the latest primetime game for the Falcons with Tampa Bay coming to town on Thursday.

Matt Ryan to be inducted into Atlanta Falcons Ring of Honor during TNF

One of the interesting parts of this game will be who gets honored at halftime. For the second time in three weeks, the Falcons will be inducting another member into their Ring of Honor. I was there in person to see owner Arthur Blank inducted himself into the Ring of Honor. Some people may think it was done in poor taste, but Blank has been a pillar of the community and a good owner. Good for him!

Thursday night may be a little mistier as the Falcons former franchise quarterback Matt Ryan gets to see his name forever emblazoned inside of Mercedes-Benz Stadium as one of, if not, the Falcons' greatest player. Iain and I talked about what he meant to the franchise, one that experienced its best years and greatest levels of consistency under this borderline Hall of Fame signal-caller.

We debated his future Canton candidacy, citing guys who will undeservingly get in over him, as well as others who are still waiting their turn for some reason. What I will say to that is where you land matters. Ryan came to a franchise that was in disrepair in the wake of the Michael Vick era. He brought with him a tremendous work ethic, great leadership and the utmost fire and competitiveness.

Honestly, let's retire his No. 2 jersey, too. Now begins the time of convincing the voters he belongs.

Most pleasant surprises for Atlanta Falcons through first four games

During the penultimate topic of Wednesday's show, Iain and I did some The Less I Know The Better. It is a reference to a Tame Impala song of the same name and is also a segment on my college football podcast False Start that I do with my FanSided.com colleague and boss Cody Williams twice a week, and sometimes thrice weekly during the college football season. Go check out that show, if you like.

While we talked about what we were most right about, as well as what we are going to keep getting wrong with this year's Falcons team, I think what we learned came as some most pleasant surprises. Mine was more obvious in that head coach Raheem Morris looks like he is ready this time around. He paid his dues after failing as the former head coach of the rival Buccaneers well over a decade ago.

Morris seems to have embraced being the true CEO-type of head coach that Atlanta needs. He empowers his coaches and cooridinators to make a differnce. Iain's take on the situation is not as optimistic, but I will say he realizes there is some room for growth from the offense in general, and especially from Zac Robinson as a play-caller. He cites the offense as what gets us to the playoffs.

Once again, coaching matters. As the Falcons go about figuring that out, they will grow as a team.

How Atlanta Falcons fans should feel after 2-2 start heading into TNF

I am going to lean on Iain here. He said that we are exactly what we thought we would be through four games. Yes, the Pittsburgh Steelers game was an unexpected loss, but so was the Eagles game being an unexpected win. Beating the Saints last week was crucial. Playing the Kansas City Chiefs close was a pleasant surprise, but who needs to celebrate a moral victory when there are games to win?

Piggybacking on what Iain said, going 3-2 would be huge because it gets Atlanta to 2-0 in NFC South play and 3-0 in NFC play. To be able to win the division, you need to win your games at home. For Atlanta to achieve all that they can this year, they must split their four games with the Saints and Buccaneers by protecting home turf. Winning on the road in either place would be gravy at this point.

See, Iain said that it is not about the threat of being 2-3 that scares him, it is being 1-1 in the division. That means the game coming up in a few weeks down in Tampa becomes a must-win. This team is still trying to figure out its identity. Thus, it is too early in the season to pick games as must-wins. He also pushed back on my thought of the Falcons' schedule easing up. It has gotten so much harder...

Entering the mini bye at 3-2 overall, 2-0 in division and 3-0 in conference would be huge for Atlanta.

What Atlanta Falcons must do to get to 3-2 past Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Without question, the biggest thing the Falcons can do is get Baker Mayfield out of rhythm offensively. Like Kirk Cousins, he is a very streaky player. When he is on, he can play like a top-10 quarterback in football. When his timing is off or he is just not seeing the field well, he becomes one play away from getting benched. He is the difference-maker in this game for the Buccaneers by far.

I cited that Mayfield being not as mobile as Justin Fields, Jalen Hurts or even Patrick Mahomes is a boon to Atlanta's forever weak pass rush. The Falcons defense always struggles with mobile quarterbacks. The other thing Atlanta needs to keep in mind is that they are going up an aerial attack of the Buccaneers that features two star wide receivers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

Atlanta has done a great job of preventing the deep ball from being thrown. The Falcons appear to have the best safety duo in football in Jessie Bates III and Justin Simmons. My concern is how are the Falcons going to cover Evans and Godwin outside the numbers from a physical standpoint. This needs to be a game where A.J. Terrell starts earning that mega contract he signed in the preseason.

The other big thing is being more efficient on third down offensively, and especially in the red zone.