The Atlanta Falcons’ three-year administration, led by head coach Arthur Smith and general manager Terry Fontenot, is critically ill for this reason: Verify the home attendance bottom line.
Which home attendance?
That is, however, speaking comparatively.
Among the 31 other teams, the Atlanta Falcons had the seventh-highest proportion of vacant seats at home games at the end of the first season of that era (2021), according to ESPN.com. The Falcons’ position in 2019, the last NFL season complete before the epidemic, was seven positions lower.
Subsequently, the Falcons saw a decline to the third-highest percentage in the same category the previous year. It is worth noting that the team concluded the 2021 and 2022 seasons with a record of 7-9 and missed the playoffs.
The Falcons started NFL action on Sunday at 4-6 and quickly became the team with the highest percentage of empty seats at home. After those first six games, the average attendance in a stadium that can hold 75,000 football fans was 69,685. This suggests that another 7-9 finish—or worse—is in the cards for the Falcons.
Not good for Smith and Fontenot specifically, nor for the Falcons as a whole, given that twelve other NFL teams were playing at full strength or better throughout that period of the season.
Even worse for the Falcons, in 2017 they paid almost $2 billion to the government to complete the construction of Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
In order to fill seats, the Falcons have thus been creative.
The Falcons weren’t taking any risks, even though the Saints were in town on Sunday for the Atlanta leg of this annual two-game rivalry between southern NFL clubs, which will continue in New Orleans on January 7. Keeping in mind that this is hip hop’s 50th anniversary, they reached out to almost all Atlanta-based artists in the genre to have appearances both before and during the Saints game.
T.I., Jeezy, Quavo, Big Boi, CeeLo, Jermaine Dupri, and Ludacris. The Falcons believed that they had recognized 60 rappers as guests, and judging by the number of people that showed up at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, the campaign was successful.
Kind of.
The turnout of 70,166 for the Falcons was precisely 481 greater than their previous average.
Greetings from Atlanta. where the athletes engage in play.
Cash is not a thing.
Bring them outside.
Does it mean I’m crazy?
whatever suits you.
I’ve never been afraid.
However, maybe a small portion of that marginally (very little) bigger group The Falcons’ typical boost in home attendance on Sunday came from fans who traveled the 469 miles from Bayou Country for the game, which ended with the Falcons defeating the Saints 24-15. The rivalry now stands at 54-54. It was a struggle for control of the NFC South, and since the Falcons and New Orleans have the same record, they hold the advantage in the head-to-head meeting.
They are six (6).
Yes, it is indeed problematic.
With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 4-7 and the Carolina Panthers at 1-10, the NFC South is also in order overall.
The Falcons were unsteady against the Saints, but the Saints appeared more formidable. Desmond Ridder, the quarterback for the Falcons, only learned that his team had ended a three-game losing run after the game, despite their continuous problems with tackling and the forward throw. Adding two more interceptions to his season total of eight, along with six fumbles lost, didn’t help the situation.
After the game, Ridder instructed me and the other reporters, “Go out and get a win, whatever it came, good, bad, or ugly.”
When discussing the last stretch of the season in his post-game remarks, Smith said, “This thing is going to play out.” “There are still six games left. The National Football League will seem like six lifetimes to you.
The Saints, one of the greatest 2023 flops in the NFL, are no different. The Saints were expected to bring back the glory days of quarterback Drew Brees (a perennial Pro Bowl player who won the Super Bowl MVP award in February 2010) after they signed free agent Derek Carr to a four-year contract worth up to $150 million prior to the season. However, their offense could only muster five field goals and no touchdowns against the Falcons.
Rather, Carr, who has been injured often, undid the most of his impressive performance on Sunday (24 of 38 throws for 304 yards) by hitting Falcons safety Jessie Bates with a pick-6 in the first quarter, who then sprinted 92 yards the opposite way to reach the end zone.
That caused just as much excitement in the audience as Ludacris’ performances of “All I Do Is Win” and “Move, trick!” Move aside.
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