The Falcons have dominated the matchup over the past decade.
The Atlanta Falcons maintained their head to head superiority against the Las Vegas Raiders last week, and now they welcome a second straight opponent whom they have a winning record against in the New York Giants.
In 26 all time matchups, the Falcons just come out on top with a narrow 14-12 record, which is helped by recent times.
New York is one of the very rare teams Atlanta actually dominated in the ‘60s and ‘70s, when they themselves were putrid. The Falcons won five of the first six all time matchups through 1978, and all but one of those victories came by one score.
The Giants returned the favor in the ‘80s by winning five of the next six through 1988, before a very strange phenomenon happened where these teams met just one singular time throughout the entire 1990s, and it just happened to come when the Falcons had their best ever season in 1998 (Atlanta won that one).
This series has been a game of runs, as three straight Falcon wins, in 2002, 2003 and 2004 were met with four straight Giants wins between 2006-2012, including a 24-2 victory in the only playoff matchup between these two teams.
The pendulum swung back in Atlanta’s direction following that playoff defeat in the 2011 Wildcard card (which the Giants eventually parlayed into a Super Bowl title), as the Birds have won four of the last five matchups between 2012 and the conclusion of the Matt Ryan era in 2021.
Last Meeting
It wasn’t an ideal start to new head coach Arthur Smith’s tenure as the leader of the Falcons, as he lost his first two games in charge in the 2021 season but had an opportunity at a bounce back against the struggling Giants, who were also 0-2.
It wasn’t the best start to this one either, as Atlanta’s offense struggled to get out from neutral, punting the ball on each of their first five possessions. Luckily, New York’s offense led by Daniel Jones didn’t find the end zone, although they did kick two field goals in that span.
The Falcons finally got on the board late in the first half when Matt Ryan found Olamide Zaccheaus for a touchdown from four yards out, helping them go into halftime with a narrow 7-6 lead.
The punt fest continued into the second half as every single third quarter possession ended with a punt for both teams before New York broke through with a short Saquon Barkley touchdown in the fourth quarter. Atlanta answered with a monstrous 16-play drive which burned over 8 minutes off the clock and was capped off with a Ryan touchdown to Lee Smith from one yard out to tie the game at 14.
After the Falcons defense stopped New York in its tracks when they got to midfield, thanks to a Dante Fowler strip sack, Ryan was given a chance for a game winning drive which he took advantage of. A 25-yard pass to Kyle Pitts was the fatal blow which put Atlanta into field goal range for a last second Younghoe Koo kick, one which gave Arthur Smith his first ever win as a head coach in the NFL.