Atlanta Falcons’ only rival team excluded from primetime lineup

All but one NFL team has had at least one primetime game, with the Atlanta Falcons getting four standalone games. This includes two Monday Night Football games against the Eagles and Raiders. Atlanta getting so many primetime slots indicates the team’s strong offseason and the interest it will generate with the duo of Raheem Morris and Kirk Cousins ​​in their first seasons in Atlanta.

Not all teams in the NFC South have been so lucky, with one team notably being left out of the primetime schedule. The Carolina Panthers are the only team without a single feature game this season. This shows how far they have fallen under dysfunctional ownership and mismanagement. The head coach and quarterback leash is incredibly short and they spent a ton of assets to add quarterback Bryce Young.

Young was doomed from the start without adequate protection or weapons. Assessing what the young quarterback could become is nearly impossible given the team that has been built around him.

The league not granting any prime time slots to Carolina is a testament to the fact that they will once again be one of the bottom five teams in the league. Barring a miraculous developmental leap from Young, this team is a winning 4-5 unit at its best.

Carolina’s failures are opportunities for Atlanta and Tampa to take control of a weak division. New Orleans has a competent team but is aging and lacks the ceiling and talent of its division rivals. This division is Atlanta’s to lose, with the team winning the offseason and having a favorable schedule to finish. However, given Tampa’s recent run, they can’t be ignored as a team that defied expectations and found a way to pull off a playoff upset last season.

The league tells you how little Carolina should matter not only in the division race, but in league history going into the 2024 season.