Falcons Hope Week 12 Breakthrough Sparks Late-Season Push

FLOWERY BRANCH – After five straight losses threatened to unravel their season, the Atlanta Falcons didn’t just win in Week 12, they finally exhaled. The locker room felt lighter, the mood steadier, and the message clearer: adversity didn’t break them, it revealed them.

Coaches and players spent Monday discussing how to build on the breakthrough, said defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. 

“After a five-game stretch, the messaging was, ‘adversity is this amazing gift,’ because it tests us and it reveals us. It doesn't change us. It just shows us who we really are,” he explained. “It shows who I am as an individual. It tells me who my teammate is. It tells me who the fellow coaches are. And there's great power in that. Then, even more powerful, is how you respond to that adversity.” 

He said there was a ‘consistent commitment’ to improve during the losing streak, but what they do next will be the crucial step that will dictate who this team will be by the end of the season. 

“That success was a byproduct of a really good week of preparation,” Ulbrich said. “We finally brought all that preparation to Sunday, executed the game plan, and fully started to understand that being at our best when our best is required is just doing your job at the highest level. It's not making things up. It's not putting on Superman's cape and doing something outside of yourself. It's just committing to your 1 of 11. I felt like we did that on a consistent basis on Sunday.” 

Cornerback A.J. Terrell Jr. echoed that thought, saying the team felt like they had been playing well enough to win, but just not quite enough. 

The last three losses came by a combined margin of just 10 points, with two coming in overtime. 

Sunday felt like a long-awaited change in fortune, but now they will be tasked with keeping it going against the Jets and beyond.

“Consistency, not becoming complacent, not being too happy about the win,” Terrell said about how they can keep the wins coming. “But understanding the position we're in, what's real, and knowing what we need to do moving forward.” 

Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson said he saw no change from his players, saying they show up and work hard every day. 

While they were in the midst of their losing streak, Robinson praised this team for how close they were. The adversity revealed that in them and brought them closer together, but now it is up to them to turn it into something tangible and positive through the final six games of the season. 

Even with lifted spirits, the path remains brutal. At 4-7, with playoff odds hovering near zero, mindset may be the Falcons’ last salvageable advantage. 

The odds of a playoff berth are just 2%, according to The Athletic’s playoff simulator, and the NFC South would be their best path. 

They would likely need to win out and still receive some help. The Buccaneers are just 6-5 with an injury to Baker Mayfield, while the Panthers sit at 6-6 with a rather difficult schedule ahead of them. 

The Falcons would need the Panthers to lose at least twice and the Buccaneers potentially three times. However unlikely, the Falcons are not yet completely dead, but the margin for error is next to nothing. 

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The odds are against them, and Sunday will be telling. At this point, all the Falcons can do is focus on the next game on their schedule and continue their search for consistency. Their season now hangs on whether they can bottle the urgency and bring it every Sunday. 

The Falcons finally exhaled in Week 12. Now they’ll find out whether that breath was the start of a second wind, or just a sigh.