NFL Power Rankings, Preseason Week 1: Rookie QBs steal the show

There was nothing promising to take away from this game for the Atlanta Falcons. They were defeated 23-3 by the Tennessee Titans and while it’s easy to shrug it off and say they were playing all backups — well, so were the Titans.

And not only were the Titans playing reserves as well but both Matt Barkley (54 yards) and Logan Woodside (84 yards) threw for more yardage than A.J. McCarron (36 yards) and Feleipe Franks (16 yards) combined. And once you take away the 31 yards for their five sacks, Atlanta finished the day with 21 yards through the air.

Their lone bright spot was a 52 yard run by Franks, who led the team with 76 yards rushing. If it weren’t for that one play, they wouldn’t have even managed 100 total yards of offense. That’s not good considering this is a team with a notoriously bad defense and an offensive-minded head coach in Arthur Smith who joined Atlanta after a lot of success with the Titans.

Not all is doom and gloom though. Atlanta is rebuilding their team and they’re learning a new system. They still have a couple more preseason games to try and work out the kinks and while their backups weren’t impressive, there’s no doubt they will be better with Calvin Ridley, Matt Ryan, and Kyle Pitts playing.