As Dusty Rhodes used to say to describe the economic climate in The US in the early 80s these are "hard times" for Atlanta Falcons fans.
The years of bad drafts and cap mismanagement by our former GM Thomas Dimitroff and head coach Dan Quinn are really hitting home in 2021.
It's a bit too early to slam first year GM Terry Fontenot, but it would have been nice to get a little more bang out of his first draft class outside of Kyle Pitts.
It's been, at times, real hard to watch. Falcons' TV ratings are down in Atlanta 4.5 percent, according to The Sports Business Journal. The Falcons have the seventh-lowest home-market ratings in the NFL.
I've had season tickets since 1998 and I can tell you there is zero vibe at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Half empty on a good day, many "fans" prefer to stand four-deep behind the bench in the VIP field level club thanks to the money grab of PSL-driven premium seating.
20-yard line to 20-yard line, traditionally the best seats in the house are mostly empty. Up in the 300 level where I sit, there's way too many opposing fans or just empty seats.
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Speaking of the fanbase, it's totally divided on the direction of the team.
A large part of the fanbase doesn't seem to grasp the financial reality we are dealing with in 2021, the jettisoning of Julio Jones still confounds them. Offensive and defensive line seems to be of no consequence to these "fans" either.
There's an element, who regardless of Matt Ryan's good work on and off the field, still won't embrace the former MVP because he isn't their kind of QB. Silly as it seems, the ghost of Mike Vick still lingers for some. And Ryan becomes a lightning rod as if this is all his fault.
The idea that a mobile QB will simply gloss over any line deficiencies is silly. How's that working out for Justin Fields in Chicago? Heck, Russell Wilson has struggled with some of the same protection issues Matt Ryan has.
Ryan, at this stage of his career, needs a clean pocket for at least two seconds. Major problem for this team... we can't block or tackle. Of course it's been like that the last three years.
That's another part of the discussion, just what is this season? It sure looks like a rebuild. But a rebuild usually involves a fresh start with a first-round QB pick. Impossible here because the Falcons have moved so much of Matt Ryan's money to clear cap space he's become the immovable object.
Some fans are hung up on the fact this season wasn't labelled a rebuild from the jump.
Did ya really expect a first-year GM saddled with no cap room to say we won't be very good this year?
We added journeymen. All we could afford with the COVID cap . Guys who have bounced around the NFL making chump change by league standards.
Who would have thought Cordarrelle Patterson would be our biggest playmaker?
It's more about the Jim's & Joe's than the X's & O's and we have only four players on this team any other team would want. That's not hating, that's fact-ing. Sure Arthur Smith has made some first-year coaching mistakes and has been a bit aggressive on fourth-down calls. But that's mostly because he doesn't trust his defense most Sundays.
I think it's a minor miracle that the Falcons have already equaled last year's win total when you consider nearly half the roster was turned over and draft picks and free agents from the previous regime like Marlon Davidson and Dante Fowler have been total busts.
Rookie Jalen Mayfield, who has struggled mightily this year, is playing left guard because there are no other viable options. Pitts has shown flashes of brilliance, but Calvin Ridley's absence counters those successes.
Add it all up and it's hard times for Falcons fans. Back-to-back humiliating defeats have finally crystallized for some fans just how all the bad decisions by the previous regime have come home to roost.
I said it in April and I'll say it again: If Arthur Smith can find a way to win eight games this year that is one helluva job.
This team will be rebuilt through the draft and solid free-agent moves once the cap room becomes available.
But right now that looks like a long way away. And how many fans will still be around by then?