Post by Guvmintcheeze on Oct 7, 2014 12:48:47 GMT
Falcons coach Mike Smith not giving up on winning NFC South
October, 6, 2014
Oct 6
8:35
PM ET
By Vaughn McClure | ESPN.com
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Mike Smith reiterated how inconsistent his team has been during its 2-3 start, but the Atlanta Falcons coach is far from ready to give up on any postseason aspirations.
The Falcons still sit at 2-0 in the NFC South following wins over New Orleans and Tampa Bay. At 3-2, Carolina currently leads the division and is 1-0 in division play. The Panthers won the division last season with a 12-4 mark, which included a 5-1 record in the NFC South.
"We've played five football games; we've been inconsistent," Smith said. "We're 2-3. Do we like where we're at? No. But there's a lot of football left to be played. And our No. 1 goal is to win the NFC South because that's the cleanest way into the second season. And there's a lot of football to be played.
"This is a very competitive division. You can look at the records of the teams right now and see it's going to be another competitive year. I really believe that."
The Falcons have a tough stretch of games before returning to division play. It begin with this week's home matchup with the Chicago Bears, who dropped to 2-3 following a 31-24 loss at Carolina. The Falcons then play the Baltimore Ravens (3-2) on the road before traveling to London for a "home" game against the Detroit Lions (3-2). Atlanta then goes on its bye and embarks on road games against 1-4 Tampa Bay (Nov. 9) and Carolina (Nov. 16).
NFC South teams are 1-4 against the rest of the league so far this season, highlighting a potentially down year for the division.
While winning a division with a losing record is extremely rare, it has happened recently. The Seattle Seahawks went 7-9 in 2010 and won the NFC West title ahead of St. Louis (7-9) via a tiebreaker.
Of course, the Falcons hope to be better than .500 by season's end, but inconsistency on both sides of the ball could bite them in the end.
