The 2018 season was the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

' 53rd in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), their second playing their home games at

Mercedes-Benz Stadium Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a retractable roof multi-purpose stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Opened in 2017 as a replacement for the Georgia Dome, it is the home of the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL) and Atlanta ...

(the venue for Super Bowl LIII) and their fourth under

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Dan Quinn. The Falcons attempted to be the first team to play the Super Bowl in their home stadium as an expected Super Bowl contender. However, the Falcons were riddled with injuries, losing 7 starters to IR with the Falcons stumbling to a 1–4 start. Following a 31–17 loss to the

Saints In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Orth ...

in Week 12, the Falcons fell to 4–7 and failed to match their 10–6 campaign from

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

. With a 34–20 loss to the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

, the Falcons fell to 4–9 and suffered their first losing season since the 2014 season. Despite beating the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

40–14 in Week 15, the Falcons were eliminated from playoff contention for the first time since

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

with a win by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

. From 2018 to present, the Falcons have failed to make the playoffs along with having a losing season. However, they were able to end their season with a 3 game win streak to finish 7–9.

Roster changes

Free agents

Unrestricted

Draft

Draft trades *The Falcons traded their fifth-round selection (163rd overall) to Denver in exchange for offensive tackle Ty Sambrailo. *The Falcons were awarded a seventh-round compensatory pick (256th overall). *The Falcons traded both of their seventh-round selections (244th and 256th overall) to Los Angeles in exchange for the Rams' sixth-round selection (194th overall).

Staff

Final roster

Preseason

The Falcons' preseason opponents and schedule was announced on April 11.

Regular season

Schedule

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: at Philadelphia Eagles

NFL Kickoff Game

Week 2: vs. Carolina Panthers

Week 3: vs. New Orleans Saints

Week 4: vs. Cincinnati Bengals

Week 5: at Pittsburgh Steelers

Week 6: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Week 7: vs. New York Giants

Week 9: at Washington Redskins

Week 10: at Cleveland Browns

Week 11: vs. Dallas Cowboys

Week 12: at New Orleans Saints

NFL on Thanksgiving Day Since its inception in 1920, the National Football League (NFL) has played games on Thanksgiving (United States), Thanksgiving Day, patterned upon the historic playing of college football games on or around the November holiday. The NFL's Thanks ...

Week 13: vs. Baltimore Ravens

The Falcons were the only

NFC South The National Football Conference – Southern Division or NFC South is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It was created before the 2002 NFL season when th ...

team to lose to all of their

AFC North The American Football Conference – Northern Division or AFC North is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division was created after the NFL realign ...

opponents in 2018.

Week 14: at Green Bay Packers

Matt Ryan eclipsed 4,000 yards, becoming the third quarterback in NFL history to reach 4,000 in at least eight consecutive seasons, joining

Drew Brees Drew Christopher Brees (; born January 15, 1979) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. A member of the New Orleans Saints for most of his career, Brees is sec ...

(2006-2017) & Peyton Manning (2006-2014). Julio Jones eclipsed 1,400 yards and became the first player in NFL history to register five consecutive seasons with at least 1,400 yards.

Week 15: vs. Arizona Cardinals

Despite this win, Minnesota's win to Miami eliminated the Falcons from post-season contention and once again assures that the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

host team will not play the championship game on their own field.

Week 16: at Carolina Panthers

Week 17: at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Standings

Division

Conference

References

External links

* {{2018 NFL season by team

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Atlanta Falcons seasons