Expectations and excitement were at an all time high for the Atlanta Falcons heading into the 2012 season. Anything short of a deep run into the playoffs would have been considered a big disappointment by the fans, owner Arthur Blank, general manager Thomas Dimitroff, and for head coach Mike Smith and quarterback Matt Ryan.
Luckily, the Falcons jumped out to a hot start, winning their first eight games thanks in large part to a stellar offense; led by Ryan’s 16 touchdown and 6 interception performance in the first half. While Atlanta would go on to lose three of their last eight games, they still played good football: the offense just wasn’t always able to make up for the ineffective and lackluster defense.
Despite finishing the regular season with a loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta still finished the season with an impressive 11-3 record and secured home field advantage throughout the playoffs as the NFC’s No. 1 seed. Ryan finished the season ranked second in the league in passing yards with 5,365, third in passer rating with a 105.2 and fourth in passing touchdowns with 38. But Ryan wasn’t the only player to finish in the top-five in a major category at their position: tight end Tony Gonzalez led all tight ends with 1,059 receiving yards and finished second with 10 touchdown catches, second-year wideout Julio Jones was ranked third among wide receivers with 12 touchdowns and Roddy White was ranked fourth in receiving yards with 1,524. It was clear the weakest link for the Falcons was their defense, which ranked 21st or worst in every major statistical category except for interceptions; which they were tied for fifth-best in the league with 20: something that can be attributed to talented, shutdown cornerbacks Asante Samuel and Dunta Robinson.
Atlanta met the Seattle Seahawks in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. After jumping out to a big halftime lead, the Falcons played poorly in the second half and almost lost the game; if not for an impressive last-second 50 yard drive that set up the game winning field goal as time expired. Ryan was finally able silence critics and win his first playoff game after losing all three of his first attempts. More importantly though; Gonzalez, a sure fire future NFL Hall of Fame member and possibly the greatest tight end ever, was finally able to secure a playoff victory. His first (and subsequently only) such feat in his storied 16 year career.
Much of the same thing happened to Atlanta in the NFC Conference Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers the following week. Atlanta got out to an early lead and their defense was doing a great job of shutting doing Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers’ potent offense. Then, almost predictably; the defense regressed back to their old ways and the offense became stagnant. In the end they didn’t have what it took to stop the 49ers. Sadly, it’s very likely this was the last game of Gonzalez's professional career.
If Atlanta wishes to make it back to the playoffs and hopefully advance to the Super Bowl next year, they’ll need to address their need for a new tight end, their extremely ineffective running game and their pitiful defense. Coach Smith has gone on record as saying he doesn’t “rule out” a switch to a 3-4 defensive scheme next season. The Falcons have most of the pieces to dominate the NFC again next year; the biggest thing they have to address in free agency and this years draft is the defensive side of the ball. An infusion of young or veteran talent is exactly what they need to come back on top.