Atlanta Falcons showing real commitment to balance in 2016

The Atlanta Falcons offense struggled with basically everything starting in week 6 last season. It was a complete and utter disaster from that point forward. Now don't get me wrong, I like throwing offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan under the bus just as much as the next disgruntled Falcons fan. But truth be told, he's put a far less predictable product on the field this season.

The Mothership's Andrew Hirsh wrote about this phenomenon earlier today. As Hirsh so astutely points out, 8 receivers caught a ball against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and 9 caught a ball against the Oakland Raiders. That's incredible balance, especially from a team that had a bad habit last year of treating Julio Jones like a one-man army. Head coach Dan Quinn isn't downplaying their intentions.

"I think the most important thing is, for the play-caller, you don't have to have a certain player in," Quinn said. "And defensively, they can't just say, ‘OK, if this player is in, you have to be really alert for the pass, or if this player's in, it's more of a run.' With these two guys, it's very balanced in terms of the run/pass when they're in. So that's a real credit to both of them, how hard they work at it, both in the run game and catching out of the backfield."

The important thing here is that Quinn's words and Shanahan's actions demonstrate a real commitment to unpredictable balance. That's not what we're used to, but I'll tell you what, if they stick to it, it might just work. Your thoughts?