The Falcons haven’t been atop the NFC South in a long while. A couple of times early in the year they’ve managed to grab hold of a temporary lead that they haven’t been able to hang on to, but nearly halfway through the season? Absolutely not.
That changed tonight. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers continued their recent run of lousy play, dropping one against the Baltimore Ravens and moving to 3-5. That’s enough to give the Falcons sole possession of first place in the NFC South.
As ESPN’s Mike Rothstein notes, that’s the first time they’ve been at the head of the division this late in the year since 2016, which was a pretty good year.