{"id":81173,"date":"2025-05-26T21:37:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T21:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/81173\/"},"modified":"2025-05-26T21:37:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T21:37:09","slug":"atlanta-dream-braves-and-falcons-could-show-theyre-contenders-this-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/81173\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta Dream, Braves and Falcons could show they’re contenders this summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the first couple of weeks of the schedule are any indication, the Dream will need some time to jell, but once they do, look out. The additions of Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones balance the roster and make the Dream more formidable on both ends of the court. <\/p>\n

But first-year head coach Karl Smesko will have something brewing soon enough. His fast-paced offense will take some getting used to \u2014 for both the players and fans \u2014 but once everything is more comfortable, the Dream could be one of the surprise teams in the league. <\/p>\n

Smesko is still getting used to the WNBA, but more important, WNBA teams are just getting used to his system, which will give the Dream something of an advantage. <\/p>\n

They\u2019ve gone 3-2 in the early part of the season, including a split against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever, one of the league\u2019s top teams and a likely title contender. Watching the development of rookie Te-Hina Paopao will be fun to watch, as well, along with how Rhyne Howard adjusts to having more talent around her on the roster. <\/p>\n

The energy in State Farm Arena for the Fever matchup Thursday was palpable, and the team will build momentum gradually. But they should be in the conversation among the top teams in the league, and right there in the playoff race, when summer turns to fall.<\/p>\n

ExploreBraves believe best baseball is yet to come, but we need to see it<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2666 It\u2019s still early, but the Braves are struggling.<\/p>\n

The baseball season is about a third of the way done, and the Braves, following a horrid 0-7 start, are hovering around .500k. They had an encouraging streak against the Washington Nationals and Boston Red Sox, winning five of seven, but they went 1-4 last week against the Nationals and San Diego Padres, falling back to a losing record at 25-27. <\/p>\n

They trail the division-leading Phillies by 8\u00bd games, and if the Braves can get a couple of wins in the road series at Philadelphia, it will be a huge boost \u2014 just as getting Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. back in the lineup has provided. <\/p>\n

Baseball has the longest season, so a hiccup in the first part of the season doesn\u2019t put a team out of the postseason race \u2014 see the 2024 Detroit Tigers \u2014 but digging out of an early hole isn\u2019t an optimal strategy either. <\/p>\n

One day, it\u2019s the hitting. The next day, it\u2019s the bullpen. <\/p>\n

Yeah, that\u2019s baseball. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s no point in hand-wringing about it until at least mid-June. Let Acu\u00f1a and Spencer Strider get a good stretch of games in, then determine what the strategy will be. <\/p>\n

One possible area of improvement will be bolstering the bullpen, but then that puts the Braves with half the major leagues, who will be looking to add arms for the stretch run. If there\u2019s a deal that strikes their fancy before then, it might not hurt to kick the tires on some options. <\/p>\n

ExploreFormer Falcons Julio Jones, Roddy White, Harry Douglas to debut podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2666 The Falcons will be better this season.<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s not a hot take, considering the Falcons\u2019 8-9 record last season that saw them miss the playoffs again. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have won four straight division titles, and assuming that the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints haven\u2019t gotten markedly better, it\u2019s a two-team race for the division. <\/p>\n

The Falcons have strengthened the defense with their two first-round draft picks \u2014 edge rushers Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. \u2014 but perhaps more important, they have a full offseason of OTAs and training camp knowing that Michael Penix Jr. is their starting quarterback. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s a different approach than the Kirk Cousins adventure, so there\u2019s good reason for optimism. <\/p>\n

With the NFL schedule release, the Falcons know they\u2019ll have a tough start, with four teams who made the playoffs last season \u2014 the Buccaneers, Vikings, Commanders and Bills \u2014 in the first five games. The middle of the schedule provides plenty of opportunity to make up ground in the standings, and among the remaining opponents, only the Bucs and Rams made the playoffs. <\/p>\n

If they can get through the early part of the schedule without flopping, they\u2019ll have a shot down the stretch. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If the first couple of weeks of the schedule are any indication, the Dream will need some time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2554,8756,224,7,6060,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-81173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-falcons","10":"tag-atlantafalcons","11":"tag-baseball","12":"tag-falcons","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114576297188653418","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}