Pro Bowlers Jessie Bates, Chris Lindstrom have been great, but for naught

Whoa. Really?

“Yeah,” he said. “A guy like him shows up once in a generation. Like, truly incredible, incredible player. Just outstanding.”

Even without McGary’s campaigning, Lindstrom earned his second consecutive Pro Bowl berth this week, joining safety Jessie Bates III, who received his first Pro Bowl selection. Moreover, both were designated as starters, distinguishing them as among the top 44 offensive and defensive players in the NFL.

“He’s very technically sound,” McGary said of Lindstrom. “But the speed that he plays at and the amount of effort he puts into every play is just incredible. It’s awesome.”

This is not to whitewash the obvious reality about the team that employs Bates and Lindstrom. This has been a stubbed toe of a season for Atlanta’s NFL franchise. The Falcons have wrapped inconsistent play around injuries, faltering coaching and inopportune lapses to create an extra-large letdown burrito.

But it still is worth celebrating excellence in our midst. Bates’ 128 tackles (second most among safeties in the NFL) and six interceptions (third in the NFL) are evidence of his excellent preparation habits, tackling ability and ball skills.

“He really is (special),” Falcons defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen said. “He’s in the right spot. He knows where to go.”

When speaking with media members Thursday, Nielsen was more eager to point out Bates’ leadership qualities. Nielsen described an encourager and a coach, a player who knows the defense so well that he can provide answers for problems before the defense gets back to the sideline to meet with coaches.

“He doesn’t get enough credit for outside the lines – in the locker room, in the meeting room,” Nielsen said. “Things that everybody else doesn’t see. He’s a great teammate.”

Signed in the offseason from Cincinnati to a four-year, $64 million contract, Bates has been money well spent.

“He’s been great,” cornerback A.J. Terrell told the AJC. “Everything we brought him here for is what he’s doing in all aspects.”

As for Lindstrom, whom the Falcons made the highest-paid guard in league history in March with a five-year, $105 million extension, let’s go back to his self-appointed PR man.

“His effort is absolutely unbelievable,” McGary said. “Through the roof. I mean, the guy, he’ll just run after a play, he’ll just keep (freaking) going just to get it out of his system.”

Offensive coordinator Dave Ragone said he never has been around a player with Lindstrom’s effort level.

“Every snap, there’s never a question of, ‘Did he give you everything he had?’” Ragone said.

Lindstrom excels in his ability to pivot in pass protection, helping center Drew Dalman with a punch on a defensive tackle before sliding over to help McGary on an edge rusher. It requires quickness, spatial awareness, good footwork and strength, among other traits, including effort.

“I’d say Chris is probably the best in the business at it,” McGary said. “Absolutely. I live for a good slide if Chris is uncovered because I know there’s going to be a heat-seeking Lindstrom coming. It’s outstanding.”

Outstanding, indeed. The Falcons are fortunate to have an intelligent and encouraging playmaker at safety and an agile effort monster at right guard and are smart to have identified Bates in free agency and retained Lindstrom.

In the framework of the team, though, it’s lamentable that these career seasons essentially are counting for naught in this disappointing season. Barring the Falcons sneaking into the postseason and redeeming coach Arthur Smith’s third season with a playoff run, their excellence will have been wasted. The team’s disjointed performance – failing to produce a winning record against the weakest of schedules in what was expected to be a breakthrough season – has rendered moot the superior efforts of Bates, Lindstrom and others such as defensive tackle David Onyemata, linebacker Kaden Elliss, running back Bijan Robinson, tight end Jonnu Smith, kicker Younghoe Koo and punter Bradley Pinion.

On a team with better coaching and better play surrounding them, particularly at quarterback, Bates and Lindstrom could have been foundational pieces of a team headed into the playoffs with 10 or 11 wins.

However, it is likely that Lindstrom and Bates have been consigned to a fate most familiar to past Falcons stars – contributing great work and effort to a failed venture.

That is why Smith’s job is in jeopardy and the fans who bought into this season with the expectation of the club’s first winning season and playoff berth since 2017 once again are forlorn (for some fans, that probably is putting it mildly) as the Falcons prepare for the final regular-season game, at New Orleans on Sunday. Only the unlikely combination of a Falcons win and a Tampa Bay loss to the NFL’s worst team (the Panthers) will prevent the season from ending Sunday.

So, again, lament.

Seasons such as the ones that Bates and Lindstrom have achieved (both are the top-graded players at their position by Pro Football Focus) aren’t always duplicated. Both turning 27 in February, both seem like players who can continue to toil into the future at the pinnacle of their profession, but it’s not guaranteed. And even if they do, it’s still 25% of Bates’ contract and 17% of Lindstrom’s remaining contract that effectively have been emptied into the dustbin.

I asked both about that notion.

“The name of the game is to win football games,” Bates said. “Obviously, it’s cool and it’s fun when you make plays, but at the end of the day, I play this game to be a winner.”

Lindstrom’s view was that if you do your best and are accountable and trust that your teammates are doing the same, then you can live with the results, even if you may not like them.

“So with that, every night you can go to sleep easy,” he said. “And that’s the thing, too, is there’s so many times where people can point fingers or quit or have a toxic mindset, but we haven’t had that.”

For two Falcons Pro Bowlers, that probably will have to suffice.