As the Atlanta Falcons gear up for the new season, here are five of the biggest question marks before the 2020 campaign begins.
As an important upcoming season is soon to begin with the 2020 NFL season for a number of teams around the league, this year will be even more important for the Atlanta Falcons. After a pair of disappointing seasons the last few years in Atlanta, the Falcons will hope to flip the switch and continue to improve in 2020 with the start of a fresh season and some new faces joining familiar staple players on both sides of the ball.
In the last two campaigns, Atlanta has missed the postseason while finishing below the .500 mark and having its season come to an end much earlier than planned and hoped to lead into the regular season.
Mirroring the result in the 2018 season, the 2019 campaign a year ago resulted in the Falcons finishing with a record of 7-9 overall and being left out of the playoff field for a second consecutive season. That’s a record and a streak Atlanta will aim to change in 2020.
With the 7-9 record, which included the Falcons finishing the year strong with winning four straight and six of their last eight contests, Atlanta finishing second in the NFC South Standings behind the first-place and 2019 division champions New Orleans Saints, while tying the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for second and finishing just ahead of the Carolina Panthers at the bottom of the NFC South.
With the high hopes of building off of the late-season positives from last year, the Falcons will have a tough test during their regular-season schedule, especially given the fact that the rest of the division also improved this offseason and this could just be one of the top divisions talent-wise in the entire NFL.
Along with Atlanta, the Saints, Buccaneers and Panthers all added to their high-powered and potent offenses this offseason. New Orleans will continues to have a solid offensive group, while Tampa Bay added the likes of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski and Carolina signed former Vikings and Saints quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to lead the offense alongside Christian McCaffrey.
With an important season lying ahead for the Falcons here in 2020, there are plenty of questions that have come up leading into the new year. Before the regular-season schedule begins, let’s take a look at five of those burning questions surrounding Atlanta this year.