Where do the Falcons stand headed into Week 2?

The Falcons desperately needed a win in Week 1, but alas, that outcome apparently wasn’t meant to be. They needed the win because Arthur Blank’s decision to keep Thomas Dimitroff and Dan Quinn on the payroll required a great deal of buy in and mental gymnastics from the team’s supporters. They literally spent months trying to convince us that they had it under control. That the problems that plagued the team over the first half of the 2019 season were in the rear view mirror. And now it appears, unfortunately, that may not be the case.

Going forward, the Falcons are undoubtedly in a precarious position. If they rack up losses quickly, then there’s a real possibility Dimitroff and/or Quinn are shown the door. The chaos that would ensue from there would be hard to stomach, even if leads to better days for the franchise. In the back of our minds, notwithstanding an offseason full of assurances by the team, we always knew this was a possibility.

While there’s a lot of pressure on the Falcons to win this week, history is definitely on their side. Quinn has never lost a Week 2 game during his tenure as head coach and Matt Ryan has never started 0-2. That has to count for something, right? Right?!

On the injury front, the Falcons are still relatively healthy. Kendall Sheffield has been ruled out for the second straight week, so the secondary won’t be getting reinforcement as it tries to bounce back from an embarrassing performance against the Seahawks’ passing attack. Jake Matthews is officially questionable with a knee injury he suffered in Week 1, and Matt Ryan’s blindside will be extremely vulnerable if he can’t go. That said, he was a limited participant in practice on Thursday and Friday, so there’s reason to be optimistic about his status. Rookie DT Marlon Davidson is still nursing his knee injury (listed as a doubtful) and Charles Harris has been ruled out.

Your thoughts about the state of the Falcons headed into Week 2?