It was almost one month ago when the Atlanta Falcons were 6-1 and thought of as a sneaky contender in the NFC.
Three losses later, including a 24-21 loss to the banged-up Indianapolis Colts at home on Sunday, the Falcons are just hoping to stay afloat long enough to clinch a wild-card spot in the NFC playoffs.
Also, the Falcons were once a team filled with fantasy superstars who could win weekly matchups by themselves. Now, those are even question marks as the fantasy season winds down.
Let’s take a look.
Matt Ryan
Quarterback Matt Ryan had one of the better starts to a season a quarterback could ask for. In his first four games, he threw six touchdowns to only two interceptions.
Since then, in the last six games, Ryan has thrown nine touchdowns to eight interceptions, with three of those picks coming on Sunday against backup QB Matt Hasselbeck’s Colts. Ryan threw for 280 yards and totaled all three of Atlanta’s touchdowns. But something’s been off with him the last month-and-a-half, and it’s clearly affected the Falcons.
While Atlanta has been spoiled with Devonta Freeman’s performance this year, Ryan’s production is what carries the Falcons. It didn’t help that Freeman left Sunday’s game with a concussion, per NFL.com’s Marc Sessler, leaving Ryan to carry the Falcons himself. But the signal-caller’s done it before.
And against a struggling Colts defense, throwing three interceptions doesn’t bode well for fantasy owners down the stretch.
Ryan’s next three games are all against good defenses in the Minnesota Vikings, Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He’s thrown six interceptions in his last four games, and that number may grow over the next few weeks against these defenses.
Those are three top-10 defenses he is facing. It won’t matter how talented Atlanta’s offense is if Ryan continues to turn the ball over. Your best bet is to consider sitting the 30-year-old until he shows he can lead Atlanta to a win it needs. Right now, it’s not sunshine and daisies in Atlanta.
Julio Jones
After a lackluster month of October, Julio Jones has found his groove once again.
Jones went all of October without recording 100 receiving yards. Even though the Falcons have lost their last three games, Jones has caught 31 passes for 459 yards and one touchdown.
If there’s anything to nitpick about Jones, it’s the fact he’s only found the end zone once during this losing streak. Other than that, he’s been a fantasy godsend for the entire year. Even though Atlanta’s offense hasn’t been consistently great this year, Jones continues to prove that he’s a WR1 option who can carry a fantasy team late in the year.
But just like Ryan fares to struggle in the next few weeks, we’ll see how Jones responds to playing terrific defenses. The last time he faced the Buccaneers he had 12 catches for 162 yards and a touchdown, but he’ll also be seeing a lot of the Carolina Panthers’ Josh Norman on Dec. 13, which will be the first time this year Jones stands across from a shutdown cornerback.
Jones is on a tear right now. Don’t consider benching him, and don’t take him out of your lineup until noted otherwise.
Patrick DiMarco
When Freeman left Sunday’s game with the aforementioned concussion, the Falcons went to a two-back system of Tevin Coleman and Patrick DiMarco.
DiMarco came into Sunday with only one rushing attempt on the year. He didn’t need to do anything but catch touchdowns against the Colts.
The 26-year-old fullback became only the third Falcons tailback in the last 15 years to catch two touchdowns in a game, per ESPN Stats & Info. If Freeman returns next week, this is probably the last time you will ever see DiMarco’s name come up in fantasy discussion.
Do not bother picking him up on the waiver wire; do not consider putting him as your RB1 or even RB2 option. He’s owned in 0.0 percent of ESPN leagues for a reason.
Sunday can be looked at as a figment of your imagination for DiMarco.
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