If the Jets game was important for the Falcons because it represented the chance to end a slide and stave off questions about the team’s competency, this upcoming tilt against the Carolina Panthers is critically important because of its NFC South implications. A win here puts the Falcons at 5-3, the Panthers are 5-4, and gets Atlanta into second place in the division.
It could happen! The Panthers are a good football team, but their points scored total for the season goes 23, 9, 13, 33, 27, 23, 3, 17. They have an offense that’s exceedingly vanilla and lacking in creativity, despite just spending a top ten pick on a playmaking running back/receiver, and that means their defense has to be good to win.