The Falcons are a rebuilding team, as much as the coaching staff and front office may want to avoid the term, its the truth. With a roster that went through a large overhaul this offseason, Atlanta was left with a team that on most Sundays won't have many advantages against their opponents.
There is, however, one advantage that they could have over everyone in the league.
This year the NFL has decided to, once again, put an emphasis on illegal contact. Illegal contact occurs when the quarterback still has the ball in hand inside of the pocket and there is contact with a receiver from a defender more than five yards down field. The result of the penalty, five yards and an automatic first down.
The last time the league made this a point of emphasis in 2014, the amount of illegal contact penalties called nearly tripled from the year prior.
As host, Mark Zinno, stated on the A to Z Show on Sunday, " When you have mismatches like Kyle Pitts and Drake London...you are the one team in the league best equipped to draw illegal contact penalties."
The combination of size and speed that Pitts and London possess put them in rare scenarios where no linebacker is fast enough to cover, and no safety or corner have the size to cover them.
The Falcons should be one of the teams that lead the league in drawing illegal contact penalties.
On the flipside, if teams decide to play off and not get as physical with the receivers, Arthur Smith is a smart enough offensive mind to scheme up plays to take advantage of those cushions given.
How much of a difference will it make to their playoff chances? Not much, but it could be the edge a struggling team needs to win some games they shouldn't this season.
