Atlanta Falcons: 3 Things to watch for in Preseason Week 1
By Derek Snyder
The Atlanta Falcons head will head north to face the New York Jets on Friday, August 10th in the first weekend of the 2018 NFL Preseason.
Believe it or not, the Atlanta Falcons are just under one week before they’ll be back in action against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. While we won’t get to see a ton of the team’s starters go up against Gang Green, we will have the awesome opportunity to see some of the Falcons younger and less-experienced players go at it. Needless to say, at this point in the year, any kind of football action is more than welcome.
It seems like it’s been forever since the Dirty Birds were beaten by the Philadelphia Eagles last January – thank goodness. Since then, the Falcons have added a few key pieces to their roster in hopes of overcoming some of their reoccurring woes from 2017.
While most of those key pieces will be rookies, everyone has high expectations for them heading into the 2018 season. You show me a team who’s in the thick of the NFL Playoff race in December and I’ll show you a team who has multiple rookies contributing in large ways.
Don’t forget, when Atlanta won the NFC Championship game a few seasons ago, they had numerous first-year guys on the field. Fast forward two more years, with players like Deion Jones and Keanu Neal becoming the “veterans”, the Falcons have obviously found themselves in a very favorable position.
However, before the Falcons can start their journey back to the postseason, they’ll have to play some preseason games first. With that said, here are three things to watch for in their match-up with the Jets in Week One.