Atlanta Falcons: 5 Priorities for a November Turnaround After Tampa

Atlanta entered November with a rough result to deal with. The Falcons lost 16-0 at Tampa Bay on November 1, dropping to 3-5 after a week in which they had beaten San Francisco.

One bad afternoon does not have to define the rest of the month. Atlanta has Cincinnati, Kansas City and Minnesota on its November schedule, with a bye between the Chiefs and Vikings games. There are a few obvious places to start if the Falcons want November to look different from their trip to Tampa.

1. Protect the Football

Michael Penix Jr. had one of his hardest games of the season against Tampa Bay. He completed 8 of 24 passes for 125 yards and threw four interceptions. His Week 8 stat line looked very different from the previous three games, when he had thrown seven touchdowns with no interceptions.

The answer is not simply to become conservative. Atlanta still needs Penix to make throws downfield and move the offense. The bigger issue is keeping bad possessions from turning into giveaways. Against Tampa, the Falcons were already struggling to stay on the field. Four interceptions made that job much harder.

November gives Penix a chance to respond without every game being judged against what happened in Tampa. Cleaner decisions and fewer possessions handed away would be a good place to begin.

2. Find More Consistency Through the Air

Atlanta finished the Tampa game with only 125 passing yards. Jahan Dotson accounted for 95 of them, including a 76-yard reception. That left very little production spread across the rest of the passing game.

There have been better stretches this season. Penix threw three touchdowns in the win over San Francisco a week earlier and had also thrown three against Chicago. The offense does not need to reinvent itself after Tampa, but it does need more drives where several passes connect rather than relying on one big gain.

The next few opponents will present different problems, so that part of the offense cannot depend on a single matchup. NFL news and analysis can provide more context on those opponents and how their teams are performing as Atlanta moves through November.

3. Keep the Ground Game Involved

Bijan Robinson carried 19 times for 76 yards against Tampa, while Atlanta finished with 99 rushing yards as a team. Those are not huge numbers, but abandoning the run would create another problem.

Robinson has already shown what he can do when Atlanta gets the ground game moving. He rushed for 194 yards against Green Bay and 145 against New Orleans earlier in the season. Tampa was a different game, played against a defense that handled the line of scrimmage well.

Atlanta does not need the same rushing total every week. It does need enough from the ground game to stop the offense becoming predictable. That becomes especially useful when Penix is trying to settle back into a rhythm after a four-interception game.

How well Atlanta can maintain that balance will vary with the opponent and game situation. The latest Atlanta Falcons game lines provide added context around each matchup as November develops, while the Falcons still need enough from the ground game to avoid putting everything on the passing offense.

4. Get Off the Field on Third Down

The 0-for-12 third-down number from Tampa is difficult to ignore. Atlanta had six third downs requiring two yards or fewer and still failed to convert any of them.

That is where several of the other problems start to connect. A run or short completion means less if the next third down ends the possession. The Falcons had the ball for only 24:44 against Tampa, compared with 35:16 for the Buccaneers. Longer drives would also give Atlanta's defense more time between series.

This does not require a dramatic change in style. Atlanta needs to finish more of the manageable situations it is already creating. The Falcons entered November converting one-third of their third downs this season, so Tampa was the worst version of an issue that was already there.

5. Use November to Reset Before the Final Stretch

Atlanta's November schedule has an unusual shape. The Falcons face Cincinnati in Madrid on November 8, host Kansas City the following week, then get their bye before traveling to Minnesota on November 29.

That leaves room for adjustment during the month instead of treating every week as the same problem. The Bengals game will demand one type of response, Kansas City another, and the bye gives the coaching staff time to look at what has actually improved.

There is also a longer view. Atlanta does not play another divisional opponent until Tampa Bay returns in Week 16, giving the Falcons several weeks to improve before NFC South games return. With the NFL season reaching its halfway point, those November games can still change how Atlanta enters the final stretch.

November does not have to solve the entire season. It does need to leave the Falcons in better shape than they were after Tampa. If Atlanta can clean up the turnovers, stay balanced on offense and make better use of manageable third downs, the month will have done its job.

A Better Month Starts With Cleaner Football

The Tampa loss gave Atlanta plenty to correct, but most of it is fairly basic. Protect the ball, keep the offense balanced and stay on the field when third down arrives.

Those changes will matter beyond any one November opponent. If the Falcons can make them consistently, the month will start to look less like a response to one bad game and more like a reset for the rest of the season.

*Content reflects information available as of 2026/11/04; subject to change.