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So is this one and done for the Falcons?
Can they recover from the collapse?
I think the odds are very slim they repeat and pretty good they miss the playoffs or are a one and done in the playoffs next year.
Let's see, they lost their OC and QB coach along with the inevitable changeover of players and the off season is short.
They just hired Sarkisian to replace Shanahan. How will the Offense change as well as the game planning an play calling?
The core will be tested emotionally. Can they push through it mentally and rediscover that drive to get there again?

The one thing they have going for them is they are young and can maybe use this as a learning experience, but the heartbreak by losing in such a manner will test their mental toughness.

Still a contender, but in a pack of teams with the Hawks, Cowboys, and Packers. Losing the coaching talent will hurt them, but the core of their team is still under contract. Their offensive playmakers should continue to perform and their young defense is only going to get better.

We'll see how FA and the draft play out. I could see the Bucs breaking into this group of contenders, but I don't see any good reason any of the teams I listed above should get worse. None have a bunch of pending free agents or are in cap hell. The Cowboys are over the cap, but getting rid of Romo will do a lot to solve that, so I don't see any reason for one of those teams to regress much.

NorthHawk wrote:So is this one and done for the Falcons?
Can they recover from the collapse?
I think the odds are very slim they repeat and pretty good they miss the playoffs or are a one and done in the playoffs next year.
Let's see, they lost their OC and QB coach along with the inevitable changeover of players and the off season is short.
They just hired Sarkisian to replace Shanahan. How will the Offense change as well as the game planning an play calling?
The core will be tested emotionally. Can they push through it mentally and rediscover that drive to get there again?

The one thing they have going for them is they are young and can maybe use this as a learning experience, but the heartbreak by losing in such a manner will test their mental toughness.

We all know what a devastating loss in the SB can do to a team. One can argue that we haven't been the same team since that heart breaking interception on the 1 yard line.

No this loss guts them for 3 years.

At least Quinn has the guts to dump his DC after the collapse.
It's going to be an adjustment with both the Coordinator positions having new coaches.
I can see it taking a few years to get back on track, but they are a young team and still have the goal in sight.

NorthHawk wrote:At least Quinn has the guts to dump his DC after the collapse.
It's going to be an adjustment with both the Coordinator positions having new coaches.
I can see it taking a few years to get back on track, but they are a young team and still have the goal in sight.

The DC and defense are the least to blame for that debacle.Its a scapegoat move by Quinn.Maybe it was because Shanahan wasn't around to fire anymore.
The D was on the field for 42 minutes and 91 snaps compared to the offense being 21 minutes and 40 something snaps.It was one of the greatest disparity of TOP in NFL postseason history .

Still for nearly 3 quarters they made Brady look foolish, held his offense to 3 points, sacked him 5 times with 7 more knockdowns and added on a pick 6.
They simply ran out of gas in the 4th quarter and overtime against the 2nd ranked offense in the league.Especially with the offense going 1-8 on 3rd downs for the game and wasting excellent field position without killing any clock putting them right back on the field time and again.
It sort of reminded me of a lot of Hawks Bevfool games the past couple of years only worse.

It was on the offense that couldn't score a single point in the last 23 minutes of the game, not so much that defense.

I think this hurts this team greatly. Had they won they would have been a handful for a long time but how do they ever trust a lead again? They will be decent but the NFC field is once again wide open which suits me just fine.

The Pats stopped themselves for much of the first 3 quarters, whether it was Brady misfiring, Blount fumbling, or receivers dropping passes. As much as I hate to admit it, New England was the better all around team.