Seahawks versus Falcons: 5 questions about Atlanta for week one

The Seattle Seahawks play the Falcons to start 2020 and here are five questions about Atlanta.

Finally, 12s, it is football season again! To start the 2020 Seahawks year, Seattle will travel to Atlanta to take on the Falcons in a fan-less stadium. To get more information about what to expect from the Falcons this season (and what to expect when the Seahawks play them in week one), I asked five questions to Jeff Benedict from FanSided’s Falcons site, Blogging Dirty.

Which Falcons team will Seahawks face?

12th Man Rising: Are the 2020 Atlanta Falcons closer to the first half Falcons of 2019 or the second half when the team went 6-2 over the last 8 games and why?

Jeff Benedict: I expect the Falcons to build on what they started after the 2019 bye week. General manager Thomas Dimitroff answered all of the questions this team had coming into the offseason and turned the roster over significantly while making vast improvements. New defensive coordinator Raheem Morris has his finger on the pulse of his unit and that will be the biggest reason for their turnaround in 2020.

Matt Ryan’s greatness

12th Man Rising: Matt Ryan has been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL but doesn’t always get the love other quarterbacks do. Where would you rank him among NFL quarterbacks?

Jeff Benedict: Matt Ryan is a future first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback. Matter of fact, this Sunday he has a chance to move past John Elway into 9th all-time on the passing yards list should he account for 290 yards through the air, which I expect him to. Matt Ryan is among the five best QB’s in the game at the moment. He is in the top tier with Russell Wilson, Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, etc.

Falcons defense versus Seahawks

12th Man Rising: How good do you think the Falcons defense will be in 2020 and how do they stack up against the Seahawks?

Jeff Benedict: Raheem Morris is a great coordinator and we saw that at the end of 2019 when they went 6-2 and beat the top 2 NFC seeds on the road. Grady Jarrett and Deion Jones are two of the best defenders in football, with a healthy Keanu Neal, newly acquired Dante Fowler and Takk McKinley who seemed to find his passion for the game this offseason will all combine to be one of the best defenses in football.

The lone area of concern is at corner where the Falcons will rely on a third-year corner in Isaiah Oliver and rookie A.J. Terrell. I expect Russ to go after the rookie early and often Sunday, though I think this defense sets the tone early.

Falcons rookies

12th Man Rising: Since there were no preseason games for rookies to play in, how quickly do you think the young Falcons will help and which draft pick do you think has the chance to help the fastest?

Jeff Benedict: Guys like A.J. Terrell and Marlon Davidson both came from premier programs in college football, which helps. Also, the fact that Terrell has been able to hold his own against Julio and Calvin Ridley in practice is a good thing. The other rookies will come along slowly but these will be the only two that are counted on out of the gate and there is enough reason to believe that they will be fine.

Best and worst cases for Falcons in 2020

12th Man Rising: What do you see as the best-case scenario for the Falcons this year and the worst?

Jeff Benedict: Best-case for the Falcons is 13-3. I think that they split with the Saints and Bucs and then lose one more along the way. Should they have the injury issues that they have had the last couple of years, they could go 6-10 which will result in Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff being fired at season’s end.