Falcoholinks: All the Falcons news you need for Tuesday, Sept. 21

Welcome to Tuesday, the start of the biggest football drought of the week. Thursday is so far away that I have an uncontrollable case of the shakes. What in the hell are we supposed to do in the meantime? Read the Falcoholinks, of course.

Here is the latest on the Falcons, in these sweet, readable popcorn chicken-sized bites.

The Saints suck again

In a way, I love Week 1. Every year, Week 1 is an anomaly. Even more so with limited preseason and camp in COVID seasons. Some teams break their arms patting themselves on the back for one successful game. I am looking at you, Philadelphia Eagles, who managed to steamroll a bad team. Of course, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the Saints. There was national news about how this may be the best Saints team ever, as if no one had watched Jameis Winston before.

Well, Jameis happened. The Falcons are farther from 1st place but so are the Saints.

The Falcons still suck but they suck less

After a good night of sleep, our Dave Choate looked back on Sunday’s loss to the Buccaneers. There was a lot more good this week but the Falcons are definitely not quite there yet. More good analysis about what’s better and what’s not.

It was a record-breaking week

The good news: Matt Ryan broke an NFL record :)

The bad news: The Falcons defense broke their own record set last year :(

We didn’t understand this signing...

And now Cordarrelle Patterson is the gem from a very, very limited free agency class. The former first-round bust is enjoying a renaissance on the wrong side of 30 at a new position. Patterson has won our player of the week twice in two weeks — and it is very well deserved.

Matt Ryan is UP this week

Despite some passes he’d like back, we still have the former MVP up from his bad Week 1 performance. In Week 2 under Arthur Smith, Ryan looked more comfortable and more like himself, likely thanks in part to some significantly better blocking despite a more talented match-up. While Ryan is up, some other offensive weapons are down, including the presumed starting running back.

Arthur Smith is happy...ish

Atlanta’s new grumbly head coach had some positive things to say after Sunday’s game, with perhaps the most interesting being his focus on this team battling back. Atlanta got within striking distance of the Super Bowl champs after falling behind. That may not sound like much, but under the backdrop of getting blown out by Philadelphia, this was a sign for optimism.