Falcons fans feel a surge of confidence after Week 6 win against Buccaneers

The Atlanta Falcons finally got their second win of the season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and unsurprisingly, hope is on the rise in the fanbase. It’s surprisingly easy to talk yourself into this team, as injured as they are.

Our FanPulse for Week 7 revealed that fan confidence among those we poll every week, which has cratered over the last three games, rebounded after the win. In fact, it rose 16% based on that single performance, which if we’re being totally honest was not quite the lopsided beatdown any of us hoped for. C’est la defense.

Of course, fans are going to need to see a lot more from Atlanta before more than half of those polled feel good about the team, but the bounce is noteworthy. It’s easy to tell yourself that if the Falcons beat the Giants, get a little healthier during their bye, and make some changes on defense to lessen Duke Riley and Jordan Richards’ snaps that they can start making a run. I know because depending on the day, I can talk myself into that very outcome.

That’s a positive note, though, and it beats being a Panthers fan and having fan confidence drop 49% in a single week because of a loss. At least we had a good reason to be down on our team. Oh, and as always...

Will fan confidence rise this week?

The Giants are not good, but a win over them on Monday Night Football would check so many boxes that it almost couldn’t help but buoy fan confidence significantly. They’d be winning in a primetime game against a team with a potent ground attack, for one thing, and they’d have an opportunity to get the likes of Matt Bryant, Grady Jarrett, Derrick Shelby, Calvin Ridley and (hopefully) Mohamed Sanu fully healthy before their next game. Sitting at 3-4 in a struggly NFC, they’d be alive, at the very least.