There was quite a bit that went wrong in the previous two seasons for the Falcons. Lots of inconsistencies and some injuries to some impact players contributed to back to back 7-9 seasons. For the defense, losing Keanu Neal was a huge blow, perhaps the biggest one the team suffered overall. He is already a Pro Bowl strong safety and brought an immediate impact to a defense that sorely needs it on the back end, and he has been sorely missed these past two years.
Neal went down for the season in 2018 with a torn ACL.