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3 Falcons didn’t drop any passes in 2016, and two of them are gone now

Here’s a sour note for you, with a sweet note to follow.

NFL: Super Bowl LI-New England Patriots vs Atlanta Falcons Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Falcons were so insanely good on offense that almost no stats surprise me, but here’s one that still managed to catch me off guard. The Falcons have a nice cast of receiving options, but they managed to have three receivers get at least 30 targets and not drop a single pass.

I don’t have to tell you that that’s impressive.

The only sour note here? Robinson and Tamme are no longer with the team, which means two of the three players who that managed that feat have gone elsewhere. That leaves the Falcons perhaps a little less sure-handed, though likely not considerably less talented. They’ve still got Matt Ryan throwing the ball, and Julio Jones to take attention off of everyone else.

On the upside, Hardy is still here and ready to step into a similar or larger role, and Austin Hooper has enough upside that you can feel okay about him replacing Tamme, even if he’ll drop a handful of passes. Now if we can just get Julio to soak up 125-150 targets with zero drops and 30 or so touchdowns, we’ll be in business.