Since the bye week, the Atlanta Falcons have looked like a different team than the one that went into the week off with uncertainty at the quarterback position and is riding a three-game losing streak. Two games later, they sit atop the NFC South after two consecutive wins and have a chance to push themselves over .500 for the first time since Week 7.
Coincidentally, the opponent they faced that week will be the same one they match up with on Sunday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With the Falcons clinging to a one-game lead over the 5-7 Buccaneers for first place in the division, Sunday's game has a playoff feel, as a loss for either side will put them behind the proverbial eight-ball.
"Each and every one of these games is a playoff game for us, we want to be able to continue to roll each and every week and keep making the arrow keep going up," Falcons edge rusher Bud Dupree said. "You don’t want to be one of those teams that it’s getting late in the season and the arrow starts going down; you always want to be one of those teams where the arrow pointed up; it’s great we got to show that. We just got to build on it next week, another home game, continue to go out there man and play with a different gear."
The Falcons have already had that feeling of a downward trend. Following their 2-0 start to the season, the Falcons suffered defeats in six of their next eight games, including a three-game skid that dropped them out of first place, despite having a 2-0 record against their divisional opponents.
Yet, even with the perfect record against the NFC South, the Falcons needed to beat the New Orleans Saints right after the bye week to reclaim the lead in the division, which would, in turn, get the "arrow" pointing in the upward direction.
They beat the Saints and managed to "stack wins" with a defensive slugfest game versus the New York Jets, where Atlanta scored the only touchdown of the day in the 13-8 win. Sunday's win over the Jets felt similar to the Week 7 victory over the Buccaneers.
Both games were low-scoring affairs, except the major difference was that the game came down to the defense, which was able to keep the Jets from scoring and seal the victory.
Both the offense and defense will have to play their best in December if the Falcons are going to clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2017.
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