The Cardinals are getting Kyler Murray back, but the Falcons still badly need a win here.
The Atlanta Falcons are reeling from their second straight loss, and given how dispiriting both losses have been, this pre-bye game against the Arizona Cardinals feels pretty close to a must-win. Get back to .500 with the bye to recover and reset and you can feel like the final seven games might bring better days. Lose and the heat cranks up, the team is two games below .500, and the bye will have to produce answers lest an important season be lost entirely.
To get the win, the Falcons will have to overcome the debut of Kyler Murray and a tough Cardinals defense. They can’t afford to take Arizona lightly, not on the road and not with Murray in the fold, and the Cardinals have played teams tougher than their roster suggests they should be able to. All of that adds up to another potential tough spot for the Falcons, who haven’t been able to take advantage of favorable matchups or major opportunities given them by an easier schedule.
It’s a winnable game for a Falcons team executing at a high level, and that has to happen sooner or later. May we leave this week feeling less angsty and more like the Falcons we expected all along have arrived.
We’ll round up all our coverage for the week right here in this StoryStream, so keep it open!