Where do the Falcons stand headed into Week 4?

Falcons fans spent the entire offseason looking forward to the NFL season. After a second half turnaround in 2019, the future looked bright. The front office’s execution during free agency and the draft appeared solid on its face. And publicly the Falcons promised us a competitive football team. But we were deceived.

The Falcons enter Monday night’s game at 0-3 with no real direction. They have managed to rack up plenty of points on offense, albeit some in garbage time. But their defense has been consistently porous and, at times, embarrassing. I don’t know that you’ll find many Falcons fans lobbying in earnest for the retention of Dan Quinn or Thomas Dimitroff. But Arthur Blank has been reluctant to pull the trigger, ostensibly believing some kind of turnaround is still possible, notwithstanding the daunting odds and the plummeting confidence of the fan base.

On the injury front, things are dicey. Extremely dicey. David Walker summed it up this way:

David was kidding, but the actual injury report is ugly. Very ugly. 7 players didn’t practice on Thursday, including Calvin Ridley and Grady Jarrett.

Jones did apparently return to practice on Friday, which is encouraging. Even if he isn’t 100 percent, his mere presence on the field is a game changer. The Falcons will trot out Elliot Fry at kicker, which is a bit unnerving, given that he hasn’t kicked in a regular season game.

Look, we are so far removed from the ideal scenario at this point. The road ahead looks bumpy and long, and there’s dense fog clouding our view. That said, I’m sure the team still feels some sense of urgency, because a turnaround is theoretically possible. If the Falcons could somehow rattle off 4-5 wins, they’d be competitive again. That could happen, but it’s unlikely.

Your thoughts about the Falcons headed into Week 4, Falcoholics?