The Atlanta Falcons are flying high after a rare set of victories the last two weeks.
Seven days after beating the defending NFC champion Carolina Panthers in Week 4, the Falcons went on the road to Denver and beat the defending AFC champion Broncos on Sunday.
According to ESPN Stats and Information, the Falcons became just the third team in NFL history to beat both Super Bowl participants from the previous year in back-to-back weeks.
“The Falcons, with victories over the Panthers last week and the Broncos on Sunday, are the third team to win consecutive games–each against a team that played in the previous Super Bowl. The other teams to do that were the 1982 Chargers and 1985 Lions.”
The Falcons are now 4-1, with four straight wins and a stronghold on the lead in the NFC South.
Up next? A trip to Seattle to face the Seahawks, a team with its own recent Super Bowl history.
“I feel like we’re a great team,” Falcons running back Devonta Freeman said, via ESPN. “Now we’ve got to go beat Seattle. We want to compete for each other and get to the playoffs. But first we have to win one game at a time. At the end of the year, we’ll be where we need to be if we continue to do that.”
The Falcons started 5-0 last year but still missed the postseason. Two of the five wins came against eventual playoff teams (Texans, Redskins), but it’s still hard to compare the 2015 run with this year’s 4-1 start, especially with 2016 featuring a pair of victories over teams that played in the Super Bowl last year. These Falcons look like they have more staying power as a true contender.
