NFL Power Rankings, Week 9: 49ers embarrass Panthers, Eagles shock Bills

30. Atlanta Falcons (30)

All things considered, the Atlanta Falcons deserve some credit for putting up a tougher fight against the Seattle Seahawks than originally expected since this game could have easily been a blowout.

Playing with Matt Schaub while Matt Ryan continues to deal with an ankle injury made it seem like the Falcons would be in for a long afternoon against the Seahawks when seeing how these two teams compared on paper.

And despite failing to show up in the first half of play, it was great to see Atlanta make things more interesting in the second half before coming up short 27-20 in the loss to Seattle.

Schaub of all players was the last quarterback anyone would expect to throw for 460 yards and a touchdown against the defense of the Seahawks, but it still doesn’t take away from the struggles surrounding the Falcons for most of the season.

With only one win to their name heading into November, the pressure surrounding Dan Quinn is only going to continue heating up on a weekly basis since the head coach has been on the hot seat for a few weeks now.

To top it off, the Falcons have to face the red-hot New Orleans Saints following their bye week, meaning there’s a good chance this team will eventually drop to 1-8 in less than two weeks.