Falcons - Texans reactions from The Falcoholic staff

We didn’t come here to deliver hot takes, but the Falcons brought to the hot takes to us. We’re only doing our duty.

The 2019 Falcons are toast if this is who they are

Let’s not mince words here. Sunday’s loss was a demoralizing frying pan to the face in a season with no shortage of those and was abhorrent for the talent this roster has. The coaching staff is failing this team right now, and the players on the field are either ensnared in a quagmire of terrible scheming or are, on a whole, just not playing to their potential, sans always-reliable guys like Grady Jarrett, Julio Jones, Deion Jones, Mohamed Sanu and, yes, Matt Ryan. We don’t know exactly what will become of this team, but they’re playing these games like they’ve already lost before the first whistle. Changes will come because of this, barring a miracle turnaround. Until that happens, this team does not deserve your attention or your precious Sunday afternoons. They look done right now. - Cory Woodroof

The Atlanta Falcons are a black hole

You are drawn to the Falcons, in spite of your better judgement, because of how impressive they seem from the outside. Over time, you float along, drawing closer and closer to the howling throat of the thing, never realizing that there is a point you’ve crossed that prevents you from getting away or seeing your own doom clearly. Then pfffft, you have been turned into spaghetti by the sheer suckitude of this football team.

Make no mistake: The Falcons suck right now at a level physicists would have trouble quantifying. They suck on offense, where they can’t run and make criminally poor use of their best receivers. They suck on defense, where they can’t do anything right of late. And they kinda suck on special teams, but at least less so than they do on offense and defense. The result is that this team is going to look drastically different a year from now barring a turnover that looks frankly impossible at the moment. We’re just along for the ride, waiting to be shredded finer and further. - Dave Choate

Hello darkness my old friend

Dan Quinn stared at his 1-3 record and looked at his tough upcoming schedule and thought the team definitely needed even more of the same. It’s like déjà vu of the 2014 season, except without the handful of huge statement wins Mike Smith put together between inadequacy (2-0 against the Saints, 56-14 win over the Buccaneers). Even 2014 Smith never produced stinkers like the Texans game. Five years later, the Falcons are almost assuredly more talented yet an even worse team. Nearly every single offseason move has come back to bite the Falcons. Quinn’s defense is too basic. His players don’t care. Before the game I said this was Quinn’s last chance to bounce back, retake his team, and retake the season to save his job. Instead, the team got worse. It’s time to move on from Quinn. - Matt Chambers

Quinn’s tenure is Atlanta is over

More than anything, Week 5’s loss to the Texans showed that Dan Quinn has no answers and no solutions. Faced with a must-win game at 1-3, Quinn delivered the worst defensive performance of his tenure (and possibly his career). Houston QB Deshaun Watson posted a perfect 158.3 passer rating, an 84.8% completion percentage, and threw for 5 TDs as Atlanta allowed 53 points and nearly 600 yards. The defense looked lost, confused, and totally unprepared for the Texans. Even the run defense fell apart in this one, allowing 4.9 YPC on a whopping 34 attempts. At Watson’s post-game press conference, he broke down the entire Falcons defensive scheme in about 90 seconds. I think that pretty much says it all. - Kevin Knight