Falcons vs. playoff field: unbeaten but seldom tested (with video)
John Abraham, Jonathan Babineaux and Falcons are 2-0 vs. playoff field. (Curtis Compton)
Much has been made about how difficult the Falcons’ schedule was this season and whether, at 13-3, they’re truly one of the elite teams in the NFL playoff field.
We really won’t know the answer to that until we see how they fare Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, and possibly beyond. But here’s one measuring stick, which you may or may not consider relevant. I went through all 12 teams in the playoff field and compared their results against other postseason teams.
The Falcons are the only team that went undefeated: 2-0.
They’ve also played the fewest playoff teams: two (Denver and Washington). Every other team faced between three (Washington) and seven (Minnesota and Houston) playoff teams during the regular season.
The most impressive team: Seattle at 4-1. The Seahawks have beaten Green Bay, New England, Minnesota and San Francisco, and their only loss came to a divisional opponent (49ers) that they later defeated.
Here are the standings vs. playoff teams, ranked by winning percentage.
Atlanta: 2-0 (1.000) (wins: Denver, Washington)
Seattle: 4-1 (.800) (wins: Green Bay, New England, Minn., San Fran.)
Washington: 2-1 (.667) (wins: Minnesota, Baltimore)
San Francisco: 3-2 (.600) (wins: Green Bay, Seattle, New England)
Indianapolis: 3-2 (.600) (wins: Minnesota, Green Bay, Houston)
New England: 3-3 (.500) (wins: Denver, Indianapolis, Houston)
Cincinnati: 2-2 (.500) (wins: Washington, Baltimore)
Houston: 3-4 (.429) (wins: Denver, Baltimore, Indianapolis)
Minnesota: 3-4 (.429) (wins: San Francisco, Houston, Green Bay)
Denver: 2-3 (.400) (wins: Cincinnati, Baltimore)
Baltimore: 2-4 (.333) (wins: Cincinnati, New England)
Green Bay: 2-4 (.333) (wins: Houston, Minnesota)
The Falcons swept eight games against the NFC East and AFC West this season, but only one team in each of those divisions ended up making the playoffs.
The relevance of all this.
We’re about to find out.
By Jeff Schultz
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176 comments Add your comment
Thomas Brown
January 8th, 2013
10:33 am
You have 4 seasons of play in college football designated Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior Football players. Each can be pre-ceded by a Redshirt in the designations, thus 5 seasons. A few players have been injured and the NCAA allows a Medical Redshirt 6th season. It is even possible to be granted 2 of those.
Russell Wilson for his SENIOR FOOTBALL SEASON quit his team NC State and took his 5′ 11″ with 4.5 speed to Wisconsin and he won a play-off game last week knocking off Washington so we don’t face RGIII with partial tears of ACL and LCL. He took advantage of NCAA rule that a graduated player who had not used up his 4-years of NCAA play : Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior Football Seasons, could transfer without 1-year sitting out to another FBS.
It has NOTHING to do with the fact that a Freshman Football Player might be in his Junior year of school, as some are. Aaron Murray GRADUATED last year and started work on his Graduate Degree LAST YEAR, And, his Redshirt Senior year is not until 2013 when he will break all SEC records except David Greene’s UGA record of 42 Wins and be in the Top 10 nationally over-all in all categories.
He will be working on his Doctor’s degree by then. And, that hardly makes him NOT having his SENIOR FOOTBALL season 2013 for UGA.
Russell Wilson is a JOKE of a comparison with Matt Ryan, and you sir are a poster known for his racists’ posts on this blog yesterday morning at 8:22 am.
SawThat1nce
January 8th, 2013
10:34 am
And that the Redskins HC did not take him out of the game, and put their healthy #2 QB into the game to replace him.
Jimmy Foley
January 8th, 2013
10:44 am
Also in the Falcons’ defense, their last 2 playoff losses were to the teams that won the Super Bowl.
Quiet
January 8th, 2013
10:46 am
So the Falcons went 2-0 against playoff teams. So that means you have played 2 teams which have made the play-offs. Seattle has gone 4-1 in the season and then took on Washington last week. So that is 5-1
Seattle’s defensive backfield is back up to full strength and doing well. They may be a little weaker on the defensive line because of the injury to Chris Clemons who is out for at least a year, he will be replaced by a rookie who looks to be a good replacement after looking at the Washington game.
Best of luck with your stats.
The rookie QB that you are down on made his mistakes early in the season. Seattle is out to prove a point because the rest of the NFL and media gives them no credit. Have the Falcons faced Wilson and Lynch at the same time. The Seattle corners are at the top of their game.
Mask of False Bravado
January 8th, 2013
10:52 am
to say that the media gives Seattle no credit is a lie. Do you not get cable or internet access? Seattle is the media sweetheart. Mike Greeenberg, anyone?
Mask of False Bravado
January 8th, 2013
11:02 am
Here’s a different point of view:http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/pete-prisco/21511443/playoff-power-rankings
SawThat1nce
January 8th, 2013
11:05 am
So the seahawks were 4-1,……..and to be honest, the game against the Packers was a G(as in a Give, by the bumbling troop of clowns, aka The NFL Replacement Officials).
And where did those 3 other wins take place? I am pretty sure it was at that giant-boom-box of a stadium that they play their HOME games in.
SawThat1nce
January 8th, 2013
11:13 am
And of those 3 wins (at home), they beat the Patriots by a point(but a win is a win), and kicked the behinds of a 49ers team that was depleted by injuries and had a young QB, whose shine looks like it is starting to wear off .
Answer This
January 8th, 2013
11:22 am
Can someone on here tell me who cant Google? Gosh I get tired of this guy with all this google crap and then he makes like he is the smartest guy in the frigging world! Man I would love for this guy’s computer to crash! Anyway since we know the rules are different for this guy ( As Schultz allows him carte blanche to bash everyone on here without repercusion) lets ban him. Allow him to be the best darn googler in the world! For the rest of us lets talk Falcons!
1. I disagree with that “seldom tested” statement! You dont just get passed 13 wins in the NFL. If you did it would be alot of 13 win teams in the NFL………so enough of that garbarge!
2. Good for Seattle for having the season record of being 4-1 during the season against teams in the playoffs. What award do they get for that? A free pass to New Orleans? NOPE. It does not work like that. So we will see you on Sunday!
3. There are alot of ANGRY BIRDS up at Suwanee today! Be careful what you wish for because you usually get it (except a computer crash or someone getting banned……….but hey he has pictures). If you wanted the ANGRY BIRDS Seattle you will get what you ask for!
4. Last but not least………..all of this talk about what Seattle will do and has done. Nice season, I take nothing away from a up and rising team! However, here is the real deal, I would like to see all of you back here on Monday morning. Win or lose. I will be here, thats what a fan does. Have the guts to pick a team and not lolly gag like some of you clowns have done for 17 weeks ( always providing google stats on why we wont win but never having the heart or man items to pick the other team, yet you show up every week to give us your two cent why from the top down Owner, GM, Coach, QB, etc…. is not built to win a championship). You know who you are and you will respond like you always do with some more gibberish because that is what you do, instead of having the heart and the man items to say perhaps I am wrong, I dont like this team, and I dont need to be on this blog with all of these Falcon fans. Why in the heck would I waste my team on a team I dont like typing and pulling up Google Stats…………………for the last 6 years or more from all accounts!? Is that not crazy nation?
LETS RISE UP!!!!
Time to bring it home!
Thomas Brown
January 8th, 2013
11:25 am
Pete Prisco, Senior NFL Columnist, CBS Sports says
SO WHAT ?
That the Falcons’ Mike Smith and Matt Ryan are 0-3 in the play-offs. What does that have to do with the game against Seattle, who is :
(1) not as good as Denver Broncos
(2) not as good as Atlanta because of Matt Ryan & targets compared to Russell Wilson
(3) not as good as New England Patriots
(4) not as good as Green Bay Packers
(5) not as good as San Francisco 49ers
Then, comes
(6) Seattle Seahawks, hawks, playing twice in 7 days across the country 2,700 mile flights
4 of such flights, not at HOME, again with a QB who doesn’t match-up with Matt Ryan.
I bet Houston and Baltimore would beat Seattle coming twice 2,700 mile flights this week.
That’s 8 in my book because of Russell Wilson 5′ 11″ and 4.5 speed who cannot pass compared to Matt Ryan and his targets. 3 Pro-Bowl receivers Matt Ryan has; 3 of the very best.
Speed and hands of 3, one too many for Seattle, compared to Seattle’s Russell Wilson all 5′ 11″.
No.
Nice story Seattle, but cheater who only left Southern California because he KNEW he had NCAA sanctions taking away his BCS National Championship – the only 1 ever VACATED (Auburn) Pete Carroll. That’s the only reason you got Pete Carroll, who wears that around his neck that he therefore won NOTHING at Southern California, not 1 BCS National Championship like Nick Saban just won his 4th.
Pete Carroll
Russell Wilson
Seattle HOME with POOR ATTENDANCE at HOME and two 2,700 mile flights in a week (4.)
POWER RANKINGS NFL QUARTERBACKS week of January 8, 2013 :
MATT RYAN
Russell Wilson way worse than Matt Ryan, so much worse, than no comparison at all.
Next week, yes comparison – this week ? Matt Ryan & his targets compared to Russell Wilson ?
Please.
JSS
January 8th, 2013
11:33 am
Again, Russell Wilson was a graduate. His former coach had demanded him to choose football and give up baseball. This despite the assurances by O’Brien when he recruited him, he was given an either or choice… The kid graduated early, he had the option and the Big 10 did not preclude it… Moreover, Glennon was holding the same hand, he was threatening to transfer as he’d graduated too (like Murray) and had two years remaining (Wilson had one)… The kid stated the following in 2011:
“I really want the fans, N.C. State alumni and most of all my teammates to know if I had been given an equal opportunity to compete for the starting job, I would not have asked for my release,” Wilson said Saturday in a telephone interview. “I am a competitor.”
“Wilson, a three-year starter, is playing minor league baseball for the Asheville Tourists in the Colorado Rockies organization this summer. He said he wanted to come back to N.C. State this fall and attempt to lead the Wolfpack to an ACC championship.
He said he didn’t want to have the starting job handed to him on a silver platter, but wanted an equal chance to compete for it. Wilson said it didn’t appear that he would be given that chance.”
Thomas Brown
January 8th, 2013
11:43 am
Forget you.
I ain’t even reading it.
JSS
January 8th, 2013
11:49 am
Ha ha, Tom Watson rabble-rouser and Harry Byrd have the masses whipped into a frenzy… Using Google as verb and frothing at the keyboard… There’s blog greatness!!!
Answer This
January 8th, 2013
11:52 am
Bow wow! The dog is crying to go out! Google as a verb……….now you a English Teacher also? What a frigging clown! LOL. You are officially Banned!
JSS
January 8th, 2013
11:52 am
BIll King called, he said “Come Home Little Sheba!”
JSS
January 8th, 2013
11:57 am
“officially”
Ha ha, a Gatekeeper with no keys… Go pick up some Hans Christian Anderson, get back to folks when you some clothes…
Answer This
January 8th, 2013
12:07 pm
When you some clothes? Yep you are a English Teacher correcting others. What happened cant google a thought? LOL! CLOWN!!!!
JSS
January 8th, 2013
12:13 pm
“cant” LOL, CLOWN!!!
Answer This
January 8th, 2013
12:15 pm
Control your lapdog Schultz! he is correcting others on the word cant…………on a blog! LOL little angry man!
Answer This
January 8th, 2013
12:16 pm
BTW little doggie you have something on your nose! I cant (hehehehehe) make it out.
JSS
January 8th, 2013
12:16 pm
What happened. you couldn’t hold the key down for all of that froth covering the keyboard?
JSS
January 8th, 2013
12:18 pm
Nah, we were all waiting for your magic keys to appear their gatekeeper…
JSS
January 8th, 2013
12:19 pm
“there”
JSS
January 8th, 2013
12:19 pm
Has your your tailor shown up yet?
JSS
January 8th, 2013
12:20 pm
Mel Tillis, “official blog gatekeeper”
Answer This
January 8th, 2013
12:24 pm
I am “baiting” you as you put it little doggie. Dont follow so close to your owner Jeff schultz…..you got stuff all on your nose. Need me to wipe it off? HEHEHEHEHE
Answer This
January 8th, 2013
12:26 pm
Get that stuff off your nose before you keep talking to me………I can smell it from here and it STINKS! I thought it was your breath!
Mask of False Bravado
January 8th, 2013
12:26 pm
Seriously, Mr. Schultz. How much of this is enough?
Answer This
January 8th, 2013
12:29 pm
Cant google the word there? Gosh what a Clown!
JSS
January 8th, 2013
12:39 pm
“Blog-a-cide” is always ugly… Ask some of the legends, they hang out on the D3 blog…
Answer This
January 8th, 2013
12:44 pm
Lol so is stup a cid….but you still here! Lol. Clown man. What you want Jeff to ban me now? You asking for help?
Answer This
January 8th, 2013
12:49 pm
Everyone on here sees the bias little angry man! Is it you that “bait” others and then run to Jeff to have them banned!? Hmmmmm makes you think. One day old JS will see you for who you are. An arrogant little, angry meanie! Who spends to much time googling and who never has a positive thing to add to the blog! Just like Choke! Lol
Answer This
January 8th, 2013
12:52 pm
I feel bad for you. The day he bans you…your life is over! Your life consist of googling and passing it off as your ” superior smartness” over others. Tsk tsk.
JSS
January 8th, 2013
1:01 pm
No, like I said: “it takes a fool” to get banned… Are you a “fool?” I think not, I think you’re a person who lacks emotional restraint, but you’re no fool… Jeff Schultz owes me nothing… I know what I can and cannot (”can’t”) do on his blogs… “Baiting?” Be for real, there’s a reason why your demagoguing falls on deaf ears… You want to be “smart?” Get with the program, instead you want to be a rabble-rouser… Only three of those ever worked out and you’re not in their league… That is not an insult, it is an observation…
JSS
January 8th, 2013
1:10 pm
And this is the beautiful part of AJC blogs, there was life before Jeff Schultz, Mark Bradley, Steve Wyche, Jeffrey Denberg (RIP), Steve Hummer, Dave Kindred, Sekou Smith, Furman Bisher (RIP), D. Orlando Ledbetter, Michael Cunningham, and young Ken Sugiura… And there will be life after all of us are mere footnotes in some digital achieves… Plain as day, if you think my life revolves around this hooey, you might be that fool after all… It won’t matter come February 5th, just like it didn’t matter from October 13th-November 9th… Ironic, you don’t get it, but you will…
Answer This
January 8th, 2013
1:17 pm
So you telling me you let those “rabble rousers” get to you?! Tsk tsk! And you do acknowledge that you have no life without this blog….Tsk tsk. Fool is such a big word for you. Please just call me a Falcon fan….its easier for you to comprehend! Emotions are for little minds like you on a blog….they are not allowed on a blog…..as for your observations…have you observed that no one likes or respects you on these blogs?! Thats tough! Well maybe Jeff likes you…..not really sure about that….I really think he keeps you around to be the bad guy like in wrestling….and you really not good at that because everyone chumps you on these blogs…..everyone.
Time to Rise Up!
Answer This
January 8th, 2013
1:23 pm
So what are you saying about February 5th? You finally making a prediction about the football season? Lol. Dude from those dates you mentioned above you never took a stand on one team…you only showed up on this blog with your google info telling us how bad our Falcons are. So now you picking a team? Now you saying the Falcons will not play or win the Super Bowl….wait for it room….wait for it….he is going to tell us who his team is after all these months…NOT! Dude we know who you are…a poser….go ahead many have asked this question only for you to shut up and wait fir the next blog to appear. To this day you still have no team….kinda goes with the theme idiot without a village. But you are who we thought you are. So we will crown you. KING IDIOT!
REMEMBER TO RISE UP! I have a team!
Jeff Schultz
January 8th, 2013
1:32 pm
Elderly — Yes, that’s what I meant. In terms of “not difficult.”
Jeff Schultz
January 8th, 2013
1:37 pm
Cannonball Butler — Seattle beat Green Bay 14-12, as well as New England (24-23), Minnesota (30-20) and San Francisco (42-13).
Jeff Schultz
January 8th, 2013
1:39 pm
JSS — Safe to say that Wilson made the right call there between Wisconsin and NC State.
JSS
January 8th, 2013
1:39 pm
Ha ha, I gave you too much credit, my bad… It is now obvious that the words: “I don’t care who wins on Sundays” just doesn’t get through… It is NFL football… Here’s the issue, you lack the capacity to either accept it or you just choose to ignore…
I love all of these attributes are pinned on me…. The answer has been the same, never wavered, never changed… Call it “football atheism.” Now try using Google (I know you won’t pick-up a dictionary)… The sooner 4:30PM gets here on Sunday, the quicker Houston and the Patriots can come on!
Bobbi Brooks
January 8th, 2013
1:45 pm
GO SEAHAWKS!!!! We 3elieve!
JSS
January 8th, 2013
1:45 pm
Here’s some good news, I heard they keep the Halas Trophy polished in Flowery Branch! They can sew the 15th anniversary patches on and roll out the old gang!
JSS
January 8th, 2013
1:49 pm
Careful Jeff Schultz, “I maybe following to close!”
He made the perfect choice… Glennon got a team, O’Brien got the door and the grand son of a former college president made the NFL… What’s not to like? Nobody in Chestnut Hills is crying… Oh wait, yes they are… BC SMH!
JSS
January 8th, 2013
1:58 pm
“February 5th I’ll be in Ixtapa… 3 weeks of glorious sun and surf… And you and you ilk won’t even click one synapse…
http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/5900000/Ixtapa-mexico-5942509-1600-1200.jpg
Now Jeff Schultz is a foodie, he might a food pic or two… That alright Jeff Schultz?
Say what
January 8th, 2013
2:03 pm
BS, JSS, you have a team — the Atlanta Falcons. You are obviously care about them (consumed with hatred of the team and its fans, it seems), or you wouldn’t spend so much time here.
Also, I’m pretty sure you believe football exists. The word you are looking for is agnostic.
Quiet
January 8th, 2013
2:05 pm
People in the this and the league are commenting on the Hawks win over GB. We will never know if the regular ref’s would have made that call. Plus if you had watched the whole game there were calls which were not made against GB, if made would have not allowed GB to score the way they did.
Jimmy Foley
January 8th, 2013
2:12 pm
I support the Falcons completely but I don’t see Seattle’s long flights being an issue. Seattle is about a 5 hour flight. New York is about an 1 1/2 flight. So they’re sitting on a plane for a few more hours.
Answer This
January 8th, 2013
2:19 pm
Sure you will and I visit Santa on the 5th! Lol. Sure you dont care that is the reason you on here daily….silly for someone who does not care. Still got stuff on your nose ….stop kissing up so much geez….foodie Schultz….lol what a brown noser! Lol. No one else but Jeff will talk with you everyone else on here chumps you! Football athesim? Season ticket holder as you always remind us. Dont care? When you stop, when you did not re-up? So football was your religion…you made that analogy not me. STOP IT! Really you should be ashamed for that BS to come out your mouth you lying sack of poo! For someone who does not care let me phrase this question for a 3 year old…..
WHY ARE YOU HERE?
jeff schuller
January 8th, 2013
2:22 pm
good luck all in atlanta,should be a great game for both.GO HAWKS!!