Outside of a few impressive performances, like stretches against Green Bay and Carolina, Atlanta has been playing some ugly offensive football. Sunday’s loss against the Vikings was one of the ugliest, despite the score, and one where fans continue to see the same problems. There was hope a new quarterback would provide a spark, and Smith turned to veteran passer Taylor Heinicke in the place of the uneven second-year player Desmond Ridder. It helped the Falcons were playing against a mediocre Minnesota team at home missing its starting quarterback. Or it should have.
New quarterback. Same problems. Sunday’s game went down the final drive, with the Falcons unable to shake a Vikings team forced into playing a quarterback who had just landed with the team days before.