The Atlanta Falcons are wrapping up their bye week and heading right into a important Week 12 matchup towards the Saints. It will likely be the fourth time within the final 5 seasons the workforce is enjoying New Orleans proper after the bye, and it might be awfully good to get that win towards our most hated rival.
Will Atlanta do it? That doubtless is dependent upon the enhancements they make, however I assumed it was price taking a fast take a look at the current historical past of Falcons efficiency popping out of the bye, after which diving into how Arthur Smith has fared specifically.
Current bye week historical past
2022: 18-21 loss to the Saints
2021: 30-28 win over the Dolphins
2020: 9-24 loss to the Saints
2019: 26-9 win over the Saints
2018: 38-14 win over Washington
2017: 17-20 loss to the Dolphins
2016: 38-19 win over the Cardinals
2015: 21-24 loss to the Colts
2014: 27-17 win over the Buccaneers
2013: 31-23 win over the Buccaneers
2012: 30-17 win over the Eagles
In complete, they’re 7-4 over this time interval throughout their bye weeks. They tended to be actually good popping out of the bye within the Mike Smith period—Smitty’s Falcons had been 6-1 all-time towards post-bye weeks opponents—and merely first rate within the Dan Quinn/Raheem Morris period at 3-3. They’re 1-1 so far after the bye underneath Arthur Smith.
Think about the circumstances of these two post-bye seasons for Smith. Final yr, the Falcons swapped out Marcus Mariota for Desmond RIdder after Atlanta misplaced 4 of 5 video games heading into the bye, lots of them in deeply embarrassing style. Smith had resisted making the change earlier than then as a result of the Falcons had been nominally within the playoff hunt, and predictably, Ridder’s first recreation was a reasonably quiet effort on the highway towards New Orleans, as he handed for 97 yards and ran for simply 38. The workforce closed the hole on the finish thanks partially to a bonkers recreation from Tyler Allgeier, who ran 17 instances for 139 yards and a landing, with Cordarrelle Patterson chipping in over 50 yards and a landing of his personal. Sadly, a protracted Taysom Hill landing go and two landing tosses from Andy Dalton gave the Saints sufficient factors to win.
The prior yr, the Falcons had been dealing with the Dolphins after dispatching the Jets in London and getting an early bye. It was the most effective two-game stretch of the season for Matt Ryan, who posted 300-plus yard, 2-or-more landing efforts in back-to-back weeks; Ryan would solely have yet another 300 yard recreation in 2021 because the passing recreation slowly crumbled to mud, the state it stays in two years later. On that day towards Miami, the Falcons merely outgunned the Dolphins, with a landing seize for Calvin Ridley, 67 yards and a landing for Russell Gage, and a profession recreation that has but to be equaled for Kyle Pitts, who turned seven receptions into 163 yards. Interceptions from Foye Oluokun and Jaylinn Hawkins towards Tua Tagovailoa helped the workforce keep forward to win.
The hope for Atlanta shall be that they’ve the firepower to appear like they did towards the Dolphins a few years in the past, placing up the type of level complete {that a} scuffling New Orleans offense in all probability can’t match. If they will’t get the win popping out of this bye, they could be saying goodbye to any playoff hopes and desires.
