The Atlanta Falcons defense killed it during the playoffs

The less said about the way the Falcons lost the Super Bowl, the better. We’re here to talk about the playoff games agains the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers that led us to that point. Specifically, the way a young, seemingly overmatched defense fared.

The Seahawks were a competent offensive team in 2016, while the Packers were a downright terrific one, particularly over the back half of the season. For the Falcons to basically hold both teams in check while the offense was cooking was a terrific sign for the future. Objectively, Atlanta is unlikely to be quite as good on offense in 2017, and the defense will have to pick up some slack if the Falcons are going to avoid falling by the wayside like so many Super Bowl teams before them. With a lot of young, talented defensive pieces and another offseason to improve, I’m feeling good about their chances.

We’ve said it many times over the last couple of months, but let’s say it again. This defense is primed to be pretty good pretty soon. Get me 1-2 quality defensive starters and some depth and I’m hopeful we’ll be talking about next year’s playoff performance this time next offseason.