The Falcoholic Reacts: Sweet escape

Combining an ultra-dynamic, well-balanced offense with a flawed defense having enough star power not to drown completely feels like an Atlanta Falcons ' winning recipe from a decade ago. It's going to produce incredibly exciting football. It will also enrage fans for how unnecessarily chaotic it should be.

That's one way to summarize the 2024 Falcons. It's a talented, well-experienced team on course to win double-digit games for the first time since 2017. Despite all the victories and highlight reel plays, there are more than enough concerns to leave fans anxious.

Sweeping Tampa Bay is a huge step for the team to get back on top of the NFC South. Based on how the game played out, it shouldn't have taken a final stop on a Hail Mary to secure the win. Several disappointing sequences must be addressed. Self-inflicted mistakes were made. Too many tackles were missed. It's difficult to remember a defensive lineman managing to hit Baker Mayfield in the pocket. As exceptional as both interceptions were by Jessie Bates and A.J. Terrell, depending on forcing turnovers to stop opposing offenses is a dangerous, mostly unsustainable path.

For all the defensive concerns, the offense is becoming one of the most efficient units in the league. They were firing on all cylinders in a game without much margin for error. Kirk Cousins threw dimes across the field to Darnell Mooney and Kyle Pitts. It was refreshing to see Pitts break out and show how prolific he can be. The offensive line played a near-perfect game despite losing Chris Lindstrom in the second half.

These are all great positives as an intriguing matchup against a very desperate Dallas team looms over them. Over 80% of fans feel confident in the team's direction. Another winning streak will be needed to get it back approaching 90%.