Falcoholinks: All the Falcons news you need for Tuesday, Sept. 28

The Falcons are 1-0 baby! Well, for the last week they are 1-0. Atlanta won ugly against an ugly team, but at least they pulled in their first W of the Arthur Smith era. Let’s recap what is going on with this team.

That wasn’t great but Atlanta won

Like a meal from Applebee’s, who I hope to god is not a sponsor, the Falcons accomplished the ultimate goal but sure did it in a gross and disappointing way. The Falcons won a must-win game but they did it with the quesadilla burger of offenses that was just a nonsensical mixture of ingredients tossed together. Dave Choate broke down how the excitement of the win was muted by an inept offense.

Arthur Smith has tight end plans... for Feleipe Franks

Atlanta’s QB3 was active on Sunday for the first time of the year. The easy guess was we would see some sort of gimmicky wildcat-ish play. We indeed saw some sort of gimmicky wildcat-ish play which failed spectacularly.

But this won’t be the end of it. Franks may get a shot at tight end, or maybe as an offensive weapon.

This is good news for Franks. Baffling for the likes of Kyle Pitts and Hayden Hurst, two established offensive weapons at tight end who have had zero plays designed to get them the football this season.

Maybe best not to look too far into this. Still, no one would be mad to see Pitts get a few plays designed to get him the ball. Like, say, that gimmicky wildcat-ish play they gave to Franks.

Dante Fowler is good?!?!

The expensive pass rusher had a very poor initial season in Atlanta. Perhaps he was slowed by scheme and injury. Still, Fowler put almost nothing positive on film across all of 2020. In 2021, Fowler elevated from an Applebee’s-level pass rusher to something else. Maybe P.F. Chang’s level, folks. He won our Player of the Week and it isn’t an abnormality. We may be entering a Fowler renaissance.

Cordarrelle Patterson is turning into Atlanta’s fantasy gem

I had no idea what to expect from Cordarrelle Patterson. The former first-round pick had only found consistent success on special teams. Now the former wide receiver is Atlanta’s most consistent offensive weapon at running back. This week is no different. He’s getting a ton of opportunities even in the red zone.

Vote for game MVP

Speaking of Cordarrelle Patterson, we have opened up voting lines for game MVP. Patterson is of course included. We have a lot of surprising names pop up this season, and one today is Isaiah Oliver. He flamed out at outside corner but has been an absolute playmaker in the slot. Check out Oliver and other MVP candidates and vote.

The Bucs lost

That is all.