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It's been 10 years now since the Atlanta Falcons peaked as an organization. Their 2016 squad was by far the best in franchise history and they should have gone all the way.
During the regular season Kyle Shanahan's offense made mince-meat of practically every opponent they faced, with Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman holding down an excellent and underrated run game, Matt Ryan threw touchdown passes to a dozen different receivers on how way to a well-deserved league MVP award.
The Falcons went 11-5 during the season, including four straight wins to finish the schedule. In the playoffs, they rolled over the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers en route to the Super Bowl, where they dominated Tom Brady and the New England Patriots for three quarters. Atlanta's 2016 team has been named the fourth-best team in NFL history to never win a ring by Pro Football Focus.
It's easy to blame Dan Quinn's defense for the 28-3 collapse that followed, but it's worth pointing out that the defensive backs put in somewhere near 100 snaps total and had to be utterly exhausted by the final drive. That defense was also wildly inexperienced for the occasion, with four rookies starting against Brady, who was in his bag as well as he ever had been.
Injuries to the offensive line didn't help matters, but if Kyle Shanahan had called two or three more runs in the second half - even if they wound up going backwards - the Patriots likely would have run out of time before they could finish their comeback.
Only the infamous 2007 Patriots, the 2023 49ers and the 2015 Panthers were ranked higher on PFF's list.
This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: Atlanta Falcons 2016 team among PFF's best to never win Super Bowl
Continue reading...
During the regular season Kyle Shanahan's offense made mince-meat of practically every opponent they faced, with Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman holding down an excellent and underrated run game, Matt Ryan threw touchdown passes to a dozen different receivers on how way to a well-deserved league MVP award.
The Falcons went 11-5 during the season, including four straight wins to finish the schedule. In the playoffs, they rolled over the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers en route to the Super Bowl, where they dominated Tom Brady and the New England Patriots for three quarters. Atlanta's 2016 team has been named the fourth-best team in NFL history to never win a ring by Pro Football Focus.
It's easy to blame Dan Quinn's defense for the 28-3 collapse that followed, but it's worth pointing out that the defensive backs put in somewhere near 100 snaps total and had to be utterly exhausted by the final drive. That defense was also wildly inexperienced for the occasion, with four rookies starting against Brady, who was in his bag as well as he ever had been.
Injuries to the offensive line didn't help matters, but if Kyle Shanahan had called two or three more runs in the second half - even if they wound up going backwards - the Patriots likely would have run out of time before they could finish their comeback.
Only the infamous 2007 Patriots, the 2023 49ers and the 2015 Panthers were ranked higher on PFF's list.
This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: Atlanta Falcons 2016 team among PFF's best to never win Super Bowl
Continue reading...
