Checking the Atlanta Falcons Numbers Halfway Through the Season

AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser

Prior to the start of this season, I wrote a statistical analysis of the upcoming Atlanta Falcons’ schedule. Since we are now halfway through the season, I thought this would be a good time to review how they have done thus far. As always, the ultimate determination of success is wins and losses. So far, Atlanta is 5-3 on the season, and they appear to be in good shape to finally break through and have consecutive winning seasons for the first time in franchise history. That’s great news for Falcons fans, but I wanted to dig a little deeper into their performance and analyze their performances compared against their opponents’ averages so far this year. On a game by game basis, these numbers can be misleading, but as more games accumulate, I think it will be good indicator as to the quality of the team.

How Often Have 2 WRs Had Over 200 Receiving Yards in the Same Weekend?

This past weekend, Miles Austin of the Dallas Cowboys and Roddy White of the Atlanta Falcons each had over 200 receiving yards. Seeing that made me wonder how many other times this has happened in the NFL. As it turns out, according to my research anyway, this has happened only 7 times since 1960, prior to this weekend. To see who the other players were, click the link to read the rest of the post.

Falcons-Patriots Week 3 Preview

Matt Ryan

Tom Brady and Randy Moss

Yesterday, I said that the most exciting game of the coming NFL weekend may be the  Sunday Night Football game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Arizona Cardinals. If that’s so, this weekend’s meeting between the Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots should be right up there as well. This game will feature an intriguing matchup between one of the NFL’s budding stars in Matt Ryan, whose rookie season last year was among the best ever, and Tom Brady, considered by many the best QB in the game today, but who was also known for his early career success. Ryan has looked strong so far this year, while Brady has struggled. Will that trend continue, or will Brady return more to his 2007 form?

A Statistical Analysis of the Atlanta Falcons’ Schedule

AP Photo: Michael Turner Runs Away from Detroit Defense

Last year, the Atlanta Falcons were one of the surprise teams in the NFL. In fact, some were even predicting that the Falcons would go winless in 2008, including Peter Schrager of FoxSports.com (whose 2009 prediction for possible winless teams I came across in tlozwarlock‘s post at The Falcoholic). While it may have been a stretch to expect them to go winless last year, I don’t think anyone predicted that they would win 11 games and make the playoffs with a rookie GM, rookie Head Coach and rookie QB (not to mention a first year starter at running back). Never-the-less, the Falcons had a great year last year, with rookie QB Matt Ryan having one of the best rookie campaigns in NFL history.

Coming off of that success, how likely are they to repeat that success in 2009?