The Falcons Stumble Into Another Strange Season
Mediocrity is a tough place to live. But there are worse predicaments. Like hoping to get to mediocrity. Like the Atlanta Falcons.
The NFL is designed to help the teams that are down. Those teams can theoretically bubble back up with the help of high draft picks, and with parity as the unofficial league slogan. It's a rare team that cannot find some modicum of success after a few years in the doldrums.
The Atlanta Falcons are a rare team.
No playoffs for eight years. If the league outcomes were totally random, and given that 14 teams make the playoffs each year, from a total of 32 teams, the odds of going eight years with no postseason berths is 1 in 100. That's hard to do. But Atlanta has a history of doing hard things, though only rarely do they do good things.
In 2025, in the NFC South, the "top" three teams each finished 8-9. ( remember, the league holds parity in high regard). Each team had a 3-3 record in the Division. Only Atlanta had a winning record in the NFC, at 7-5. (Tampa and Carolina were both 6-6) The aggregate record for all four teams in tbe NFC South was 30-38. Mediocrity exemplified.
But the Falcons missed the playoffs because they had a lesser record than did Tampa Bay against common opponents. Hard to do that.
Through their ongoing eight year playoff drought, the Falcons have been consistent in one area– they can't get it right at the quarterback position. Since Matt Ryan left, this organization has had a parade of failed applicants for the most important position in all of team sports. Schaub, Mariota, Ridder, Heineke, Cousins , Penix...and now Tua..now Rush.
Not that there haven't been issues at other positions– offensive line, defensive line and of course, plenty of place kicker adventures have all been part of the mix.
But their management of the quarterback position stands out because the Falcons have bollixed it up so thoroughly , for so long and across several administrations. When it comes to evaluating the QB position and plugging in a good player, Atlanta makes cartoon predator Wile E. Coyote look savvy and well- organized. But like him, the outcome usually resembles an exploding cigar.
The pattern early post -Ryan was to find a QB by searching around the edges of other rosters ( Mariota) , or finding a hidden jewel deep in the draft ( Ridder) . More recently they have gotten into the habit of ignoring very significant injury histories for QB candidates, then repeatedly overpaying , thereby taking on that injury risk. Cousins, Penix and now, Tua fit that mold. Cousins tore his Achilles but that did not deter the Falcons from signing him for huge money-180 million dollars six months after his injury. Just six weeks later, they could not resist picking Penix with their hfirst round draft pick, and signing him to a fat contract. Neither QB A was seemingly completely healthy. And both have been reinjured such that Cousins now plays elsewhere ( largely on the Falcons' dime) while Penix has slowly rehabbed his injury to the point where doctors have cleared him to play....but he doesn't feel ready . Hes not sure when he will feel ready. He does say he's getting closer to feeling ready. Meanwhile, Tua arrives from Miami, and has now suffered a non- contact injury in practice which will keep him on the sidelines when Atlanta takes on Pittsburgh this weekend.
The pattern has been that a given admin team launches a new plan, sees it fail to bear fruit, the admin team gets tossed, and a new team comes in, with another illogical plan, and the beat goes on.
Whatever the means, the result as the new season launches is that Atlanta has millions of dollars tired up in three quarterbacks who will not be playing for Atlanta .
That's hard to do.
Among other good questions- why is Tua Tuagavaloa still playing football. He's had four or five concussions already. There's a pretty significant downside to collecting concussions diagnoses like they are ankle sprains. Why the Falcons thought it savvy to bring him here is difficult to comprehend....maybe a corporate concussion.
Of course, the same question could be asked about drafting Penix. And the same question could be asked about signing Cousins to a huge four year deal knowing his Achilles injury was fairly recent and he's 35 years old.
As my former boss used to say " How many times are we going to do this experiment?"
Cue Wile E Coyote again.
So two days ago Tua is announced out for the game because of back spasms. Enter Cooper Rush.
Now --Saturday– we get news that Rush has back spasms- though they still expect him to start against Pittsburgh tomorrow.
To paraphrase the late Casey Stengel, " Can't anybody here stay healthy for this game?".
Next up, rookie Jack Strand. Hopefully he can stay healthy for another day so that the Falcons can field a full team in Pittsburgh. The Brock Purdy story, whereby an unheralded rookie becomes an NFL star, is special because it's so rare. There's a chance that Jumpin" Jack Strand will be the toast of the town in a month. But it's a low chance.
In the meantime, recall that the Birds' D is without Jalen Walker and for the first eight games, James Pierce Jr. So the defense ain't exactly full strength either.
Is it possible that the Falcons could regress from 2025?
That would be hard to do.
But these are the Atlanta Falcons . They can do hard things.
Patrick Conarro
RamblinSports.com