By December 9th, there will be plenty of clarity about the Atlanta Falcons. Facing the Broncos, Chargers, and Vikings by then will provide tremendous tests to see how they fare against teams in pursuit of earning a spot in the playoffs.
These aren’t three hopefuls who are significantly flawed or winning in unsustainable ways. These are three of the NFL’s more impressive overachievers winning with outstanding coaching, above-average play in the trenches, and terrific overall team defense. They can dictate games by forcing teams to play how they want to operate. They are well-disciplined on both sides of the ball.