The Falcons have two road primetime games in 2016, against the Saints early on for Monday Night Football, and then the Buccaneers for Thursday Night Football. The question is how Atlanta's going to fare against their two hated rivals in those games, and for a look at how the team has played under the spotlight,
2015: One win, one loss
The Falcons started the 2015 season with a Monday Night Football game against the Eagles, which was expected to be a battle between a Super Bowl contender (Philadelphia) and an up-and-coming team. The Falcons won that game fairly handily (though they let Philly crawl back in), starting off Dan Quinn's season in perfect fashion.
In Week 6 on Thursday night, though, the team suffered its first loss against the hated Saints, with some of the mistakes that doomed the season cropping up throughout.
2014: One win, one loss
The Falcons absolutely stomped the everloving crap out of the Buccaneers this year on Thursday Night Football, finishing up at 56-14. That was easily the most fun I had that season, and probably the best moment out of the 2013 and 2014 seasons, in general.
Against the Packers on Monday Night Football, they ultimately lost but nearly rallied back from a huge deficit, finishing with a 43-37 loss. This was, despite it being a loss, probably the second best moment of the 2014 season because it showed the team still had some tenacity. Sadly, they didn't finish the year that way.
2013: Four losses
The Falcons had five primetime games after their great 2012 season, which turned out to be a mistake given how mediocre the team was this year. It didn't go very well.
They lost to the Patriots in Week 4 on Sunday Night Football, the Jets in Week 5 on Monday Night Football (featuring a catastrophic season to Julio Jones that ended his season, no less), the Saints in Week 12 on Thursday Night Football, and the 49ers on MNF in Week 16. God, what a tire fire that year was. The Packers game was flexed, as an alert reader pointed out.
Wrapup
I don't think previous years tell us a ton about how the Falcons will fare in primetime, but looking back, it's cringe-inducing how poorly the Falcons have fared under the bright lights in recent years. Let's hope for a 2-0 record this time around.