NFL Power Rankings, Week 10: Eagles upgrade at receiver during bye week

13. Atlanta Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons were looking to make a statement on the road against the Washington Redskins when looking at previous concerns over the team’s inability to win outdoors or simply the fact their defense has been far from consistent. By taking down the NFC East leaders in front of their own fans, the Falcons are the last team anyone should sleep on in the NFC when seeing how they appear to be heating up at the right time following a poor start.

While there were plenty of great factors to take away from Sunday’s win for Atlanta, nothing tops the excitement over Julio Jones finally finding the end zone for the first time all season as a result of a 35-yard catch in the fourth quarter. For reasons that are difficult to explain, Matt Ryan just couldn’t figure out a way to connect with his favorite target in the end zone, but when seeing how other players were still finding ways, this is all that mattered the most.

By winning their third game in a row to get back to .500 on the year after losing four of their first five games to start the year, the Falcons couldn’t have asked for a better start to the second half of the 2018 season. Atlanta still has plenty of work to do, but if they continue to play this well, earning a trip to the playoffs for a third year in a row seems like a strong possibility.