Will the Falcons fly or fall in 2021?

The Atlanta Falcons to me, with the ever present duo of Quarterback Matt Ryan and Wide Receiver Julio Jones, have always been a pretty consistent outfit.

With their last play-off appearance coming in 2017, they are hungry to get back to the post season. A feat they would have hoped to made with former head coach Dan Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff – who both parted company with the Falcons earlier in the 2020 season.

In come Arthur Smith and Terry Fontenot, a new era in Atlanta.

Smith arrived from Tennessee, where he was the offensive coordinator. Smith was key to the success of comeback quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Fontenot served in various roles with New Orleans, Atlanta’s division rivals. So far, since the two have been placed in charge, we have seen over social media that they’ve struck a bond which is a positive one, looking from the outside in.

If we go back to the title of this article, will the Falcons fly or fall in 2021. It might not be a case of either. They could be fairly mediocre but I believe they will improve from their unusual record of 4-12 from 2020.

The draft is a big chance for Smith & Fontenot to impress before teams start digging around in free agency. There is a lot of speculation that the Falcons will take a quarterback with the fourth pick. They could take BYU’s Zach Wilson and have him sit behind veteran Matt Ryan for a year or longer. This would make sense with Atlanta having secured their future with Wilson.

The main issue of 2020 was the team’s defence, so maybe addressing that with a defensive pick in the first round would be more feasible. There are some good defensive options going high in the first round – most noticeably for Atlanta, cornerbacks Patrick Surtain II and Caleb Farley. Or even edge rusher Gregory Rosseau.

It isn’t too much of a big job either, get the defence going again and then the offence will run like clock work. The scheme Smith was a part of in Nashville was fantastic, the play action plays were key to the success of the Titans’ main three, Tannehill, Henry and Brown.

I think more of a fly season is on the cards for Atlanta in 2021, when you look at the success they have had in the past, a fresh scheme all over the Falcons staff should lift the efforts of the team. Both young guys, Smith and Fontenot so there is a lot of success due for the dirty birds.