ATLANTA, GEORGIA – NOVEMBER 26: Desmond Ridder #9 of the Atlanta Falcons calls a play in the first … [+]
Here’s a huge reason the three-year-old regime for the Atlanta Falcons of head coach Arthur Smith and general manager Terry Fontenot is on life support: Check the bottom line regarding home attendance.
What home attendance?
Well, that’s relatively speaking.
According to ESPN.com, the Atlanta Falcons finished the first season of that regime in 2021 with the seventh-highest percentage of empty seats at their home games compared to the other 31 franchises. That was seven spots lower than where the Falcons were in 2019, the last NFL full season before the pandemic.
Then came last year, when the Falcons dropped to the third-highest percentage in that same category, and not coincidentally, they ended those 2021 and 2022 seasons at 7-9 and out of the playoffs.
With another 7-9 finish (or worse) in sight, the Falcons began NFL action Sunday at 4-6 while plunging to leading the NFL with the highest percentage of empty seats at their home games, and we’re talking about an average crowd of 69,685 after those opening six games in a place that holds 75,000 for football.
Not good for the Falcons in general or for Smith and Fontenot in particular, especially since 12 other NFL teams during that stretch this season were operating at 100 percent capacity and beyond.
Worse for the Falcons, they combined with taxpayers to finish building Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2017 for around $2 billion.
So, the Falcons have become imaginative to fill seats.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – NOVEMBER 26: T.I. looks on before the game between the New Orleans Saints and … [+]
Even though the Saints were in town Sunday for the Atlanta portion of this yearly two-game rivalry of southern NFL teams that will continue January 7 in New Orleans, the Falcons weren’t taking any chances. They remembered this is the 50th anniversary of hip hop, and they contacted nearly every Atlanta artist of the genre to appear before and during this Saints game.
Jermaine Dupri, CeeLo, Big Boi, Ludacris, T.I., Jeezy, Quavo. The Falcons estimated they invited 60 rappers as honored guests, and if you go by Sunday’s attendance at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the promotion worked.
Sort of.
The Falcons had a crowd of 70,166, which was exactly 481 more folks than what they were averaging before.
Welcome to Atlanta. Where the players play.
Money ain’t a thang.
Bring em out.
Does that make me crazy.
Whatever you like.
I ain’t never scared.
Then again, maybe some of that slightly (very slightly) larger crowd Sunday for the Falcons was due to their usual bump in home attendance from those traveling the 469 miles from Bayou Country for a rivalry that now stands at 54-54 after the Falcons’ 24-15 victory over the Saints. It was a battle for supremacy of the NFC South, and by taking this head-to-head matchup, the Falcons own the tie-breaker over New Orleans since they have the same record.
They’re 5-6.
Yep, that’s bad.
So is the NFC South overall with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 4-7 and the Carolina Panthers at 1-10.
Against the Saints, the Falcons looked shaky, but the Saints looked worse. All Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder knew after the game was that his team stopped a three-game losing streak despite its ongoing issues with the forward pass and tackling consistently. He didn’t help matters by firing two more interceptions to bring his total to eight for the seasons to go with six lost fumbles.
“However it came, good, bad or ugly, go out and get a win,” Ridder told me and other reporters after the game.
“This thing is going to play out,” Smith said earlier during his post-game comments about the stretch drive to the season. “We’ve got six games to go. It will feel like six lifetimes in the National Football League.”
ATLANTA, GA NOVEMBER 26: New Orleans quarterback Derek Carr (4) gestures during the NFL game … [+]
The same goes for the Saints, among the NFL’s biggest 2023 busts. Their offense only could muster five field goals and no touchdowns against the Falcons, and get this: The Saints were expected to resurrect their good-ole days at quarterback of Drew Brees (perennial Pro Bowl player with a Super Bowl MVP trophy in February 2010) after they signed free-agent Derek Carr before the season to a four-year contract worth up to $150 million.
Instead, the often-injured Carr negated most of his goodness Sunday (24 of 38 passes for 304 yard) by firing a pick-6 in the first quarter to Falcons safety Jessie Bates who ran 92 yards the other way to the end zone.
That got the crowd rocking as much as Ludacris performing “All I Do Is Win” and “Move, trick! Get out the way.”
Um. Make that . . .
Almost as much.
