The Falcons' 5 Primetime Games Indicate the NFL Believes Atlanta Will Be Great Again

For the second consecutive year, the NFL has given the Atlanta Falcons five primetime games, tied for third-most in the League behind only the Chiefs and Cowboys. Atlanta will also have a sixth standalone game in the coveted primetime-adjacent 9:30 a.m. ET time slot when it travels to Berlin to take on the Indianapolis Colts.

This can only mean one thing, folks: the NFL knows the Dirty Birds are comin'.

Michael Penix. Bijan Robinson. Drake London. Jalon Walker. James Pearce. The league office saw that Atlanta finally figured out it needed to get some pass rushers and now that we've done that, the other 31 teams are on notice.

Last year, it made sense for the Falcons to get some more primetime games than in previous years because there was some excitement with Kirk Cousins coming in and nobody really knew what Atlanta was going to look like. Now we're running back basically the same script except with a much younger quarterback who has two functional Achilles tendons — just don't ask about his knees.

In all actuality, I'm sure the Falcons will finish 7-10 or 8-9 for the fifth consecutive year, but maybe the schedule makers are trying to tell us something. The NFL believes in the Atlanta Falcons; why can't we all?