Against the Jets last Thursday night, the Falcons did something I didn’t really expect. It wasn’t losing the game (which they are wont to do, having done so 11 straight times in preseason) and it wasn’t committing a costly turnover when they really couldn’t afford to.
It was playing the starters, which the Falcons elected to do at length. Matt Ryan played 31 snaps, which accounted for most of the first half, and the defense was on the field for a long time. That was a great warm-up and all that, but typically Week 3 of preseason is when the Falcons and other teams elect to do that, and it raises the question of whether Dan Quinn tends to repeat that move against Washington or not.