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Once you assemble over 50 years of history for your football team, you start to notice interesting trends and patterns. Not all of them mean anything, but some of them are pretty remarkable, and may even portend good things. We’re going to talk about one of those today.
The disparity between the even year Falcons and the odd year Falcons since the year 2000 has been pretty striking, as you can see below.
Even Years: 85-58, 6 playoff appearances, 5-6 playoff record, 3 Conference Championship Games, 1 Super Bowl
Odd Years: 60-79, 2 playoff appearances, 1-2 playoff record
Obviously, very few of these years have been under Dan Quinn, when the team has been .500 or better in each year, with two playoff appearances in three tries. Some of those older teams weren’t loaded the same way this current roster is, to put it mildly. But the Falcons have been a borderline great football team in even years, and much more historically Falcony in odd years. You’ll note that 2018 is an even year, so the question is, will they keep the good times rolling?
The answer, as we’ve suggested throughout the offseason, is yes. There are real juggernauts in the NFC at the moment, but barring major injuries, Atlanta’s going to be one of them. They look to be a good bet to make a playoff push at minimum, and if Carolina regresses in one score games and the Saints can’t repeat their stunning and potent 2017, the NFC South is right there for the taking. In past years, it has been a lack of consistency and fluctuating talent levels driving success or lack thereof in odd and even years, and that should be behind yet another successful even season for Atlanta.
So at the end of the day, there’s no magical alignment of stars and planets that gives the Falcons a better chance of even year success. But the Falcons have been one of the better teams in football over the last two decades of 0s, 2s, 4s, 6s, and 8s, and we’ll hope that luck continues in a 2018 year where this roster is absolutely loaded.