SI

Why Not the Atlanta Falcons? Probably Because Other Teams Are Better

ESPN's Chris Canty has a question after Atlanta's big win.

Kyle Koster

Falcons wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge reacts with running back Bijan Robinson and wide receiver Drake London after scoring the game-winning touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Falcons wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge reacts with running back Bijan Robinson and wide receiver Drake London after scoring the game-winning touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Kirk Cousins threw for 509 yards in an absurdly entertaining Thursday Night Football game that saw the Atlanta Falcons escape with a 36-30 overtime victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The result figures to have significant impact on the NFC South as the Falcons now sit level with the Bucs and hold the tiebreaker going into their next matchup, whereas a Tampa Bay victory would have really put them in the driver's seat in the division.

On Unsportsmanlike Radio this morning, ESPN's Chris Canty reacted to Cousins & Co. re-inserting themselves into a realistic playoff picture and asked "why not the Falcons?"

His point was that there does not seem to be many perfect teams in the NFC. Minnesota is unblemished but everyone has real doubts about the long-term sustainability of Sam Darnold. The Lions are 3-1 yet pundits like Colin Cowherd keep emerging more impressed with the teams that they beat. Philadelphia is a soap opera and Dallas is an even larger soap opera. San Francisco has been besieged by injuries and Bill Simmons keeps wondering if they are the "Year From Hell" team.

Canty is correct in the sense that the Falcons will host a playoff game if they win the division. They could even be a Wild Card team if they don't rise to the top of the South. And there's no rule against they winning a few playoff games on the road.

Why not is such an amazing conceit for a sports radio take that you almost have to respect it. It's literally almost nothing. It's basically saying anything is possible and the future is known. Which ... fair. Very fair.

The thing about the construction of Why Not Team X, though, is that there's a very simple rebuttal. And it's that other teams are probably better. That's the case here. Why not the Lions and why not the Niners are tougher questions to rebut than why not the Falcons. On the bright side, why not the Falcons is far more compelling than, say, why not the Bears or why not the Giants.

So why not say it?

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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