Saints at Falcons: Be There, Be Them

Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia, Sunday Dec. 13, 2009.

It’s almost game time and you are the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Huddled around are your soldiers and as always, they are psyched and ready to go. But, you know that half of them are banged up, some pretty bad, including your No. 1 QB and RB.

Outside under the dome are 70,000 fans, equally as pumped and just as desperate to win. Standing quietly to the side is the team owner. You know he is waiting to hear what you have to say before wishing the warriors well for the coming battle.

Across the way, in the visitor’s locker room, you know the enemy: the New Orleans Saints. They want this game as much as you do and they have both the talent and momentum to take it.

Games like this just don’t get any more important.

You open your mouth to speak and from somewhere in the recesses of your memory you find words. But they are not yours, nor are they spoken aloud. Not these words. Right here and now, they are for you, to keep you going through what is sure to come…

“Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you’re not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. ‘Cause if you lose your head and you give up, then you neither live nor win. That’s just the way it is.”

Life becomes a blur as you and the Falcons hit the tunnel. This is probably as close as any of us could ever come, here in the 21st century, to what it was like in the ancient Roman gladiator arena.

The sights, the sounds, and the smells of an NFL contest are unimaginable to anyone who has not experienced it.

The air is thick with excitement and energy, as the fans pour themselves into the players to give them added strength. You can feel each drop of sweat as it runs down the side of your head, and hear each voice in the crowd as they rise to the looming spectacle.

Time briefly stops. This is the moment you worked your entire life for; you are the head coach of an NFL franchise and are about to fight a desperate battle against overwhelming odds. There is no thought of losing.

The whistle blows, the clock ticks in, the stadium rocks, and the ball is in play.

All hell is about to break loose in the NFC South and you are there.

**Quoted: Outlaw Josey Wales (IMDb)

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Michael Vick Earned His Falcon Wings

 

No, it is not the best year to be an Atlanta Falcons fan and no, if you ever were, or still are a Mike Vick fan, you had better not admit to it in public.

It’s like this; in some ways, football is a lot like politics.
(I see that look on your face but, you know I’m right.)

With both, you will find people who are often so completely devoted to a player or a team that it just goes well beyond all sense or reason. In fact, a heartfelt devotion to a football team is about as close as you can get to politics without actually diving head first into the red/blue septic tank.

But the opposite side of this coin is the one with a dull, tarnished finish, and adoration has nothing to do with the sentiment.

Just as some will love one player, they will hate another and Lord Baby Jesus help your immortal soul if you dare utter the name, Michael Vick, without spitting on the ground in the same sentence!

Forget that this guy ever played for the Atlanta Falcons, much less that he did so fairly well for several seasons, even leading them to the playoffs more than once. He ran afoul of the law, afoul of those who love critters and so naturally too, just as much (if not more) afoul of our beloved main scream media.

Case closed, the man is the anti-Christ. Think his name even silently and you will be damned to hell eternal.

And sorry, no. Not a one will pray for your salvation either. Suck sulfur and die you devil-spawned Vick lover!

—(Ahem!)—

Okay, enough of that. I am a Falcons fan and have been since before the majority of you began leaving skid marks in your pull-ups. My opinion (for what it’s worth on the gallows) is that Vick earned his wings wearing a Falcons jersey and you can’t take that away.

If you really want to gripe about something worth your time, begin by complaining about how this team allowed itself to waltz into the 2009 season missing its defense. Ask just how it was that, all at once, the veteran core of the Falcons D was allowed to walk away to free agency.

Matt Ryan or Chris Redman or even (eeek!) Mike Vick would have a hard time putting up points when there was nothing to stop opposing teams from pretty much scoring at will, ya know?

Um, please put that keyboard down and back away. There’s no need for that kind of behavior.

Hey, wait a minute! I think I just saw Mike Vick up in Buckhead sipping a cold beer and rooting for the Saints! We always knew he and Aaron Brooks had them games rigged!!

(Whilst the mob is lighting their torches in search of Frankenstein, I think I’ll casually mosey out the back door…)

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Matt Ryan: Falcons’ Twinkle, Twinkle Falling Star

Atlanta’s Matt Ryan is a falling star.

If you read the comments around the Falcons’ official website message board and a few of those to the various bits of birdseed around the web, you will quickly note how far Matt Ryan’s star value has dropped since the beginning of the 2009 campaign.

The young signal caller came into the season riding a tsunami of confidence within both the Falcons’ organization as well as their long suffering fan base.

In fact, as recently as the game against the Patriots, Ryan was being compared to the likes of Tom Brady on the field and Joe Montana, who now plays the hallowed halls of Canton.

But the times, they have been a-changing—and so too all that friendly patronage. The network desk jockeys and stadium booth apes are now more apt to note the guy behind center for his ability to toss air balls and interceptions.

Hey, that’s just life, right?

Football, like most all sports, has a fickle following. Win and you could end up on a box of Wheaties and grace the breakfast tables of America. Lose and, well, you’ll earn the scorn of every adolescent booger-flinger, his Dad, and their pet Airedale.

History, though, is ready to offer us a little relief via a lesson in the person of former Falcons QB, Steve Bartkowski.

Selected No. 1 in the first round of the 1975 NFL Draft, Bartkowski went on to earn Rookie of the Year honors. But the next two seasons that followed saw injuries as well as a combined 22 interceptions against an anorexic seven total TD tosses.

Does Bartkowski’s story sound familiar?

Of course, we all know that Bart overcame his problems. He went on to a great career and is today on the Falcons Board of Directors.

So the lesson is clear even if the future is not. What is required now is a dash of patience. A little good luck wouldn’t hurt a thing either.

Ryan is undoubtedly a very talented player. If the Falcons manage to keep him healthy, he could conceivably end up in Canton as well someday.

Along the way, who knows? We, as fans, might also find a reason to cheer for him again, too.

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Atlanta Falcons: Finding A Reason To Believe

If I listened long enough to you
Id find a way to believe that its all true…

You know the disappointment is there.

You don’t really have to look to know it but, if you must, it can be read it in nearly every article and comment by every Falcon beat writer and fan from Columbus to Savannah, Dalton to Valdosta, and all points in between. The loss to the Patriots last Sunday was more than just painful; it was the ghost of promising seasons past, when the gridiron gods would once again have a big belly laugh at your expense.

Aside from just wanting to win in this league, the Falcons are also out to shake an old monkey from their backs. In all the years since 1966 and the first day of this NFL franchise, there has never been more than one single winning season in a row. And every other season since, when the previous one sported anything above .500, we’ve all waited patiently to see if THIS would be the year.

Well, THIS year is no different… except that with the sea change in ownership, coaching, personnel and even the uniform, there is an ocean of hope where there was once only barren wasteland.

But yes, we’ve been here before, too.

If I gave you time to change my mind
Id find a way just to leave the past behind

It was just back in 2005 when those same pigskin deities rolled merrily on the floor from leaving us with a strung-out and then disappointing 8-8 season. Before that, it was 2003 and before that, 1999. From Super Bowl to super fold, they said. (Hear that? They’re still laughing!)

Somehow it always seems that there is no right answer to this except that, perhaps, THIS could still be THE year. I mean, after all, it is only ONE loss out of three games played so far in a sixteen-game regular season. Even most Super Bowl teams will lose a few on the long journey to Mount Olympus and the Lombardi Trophy, you know?

Heck, let’s break out the beer and grill and have bye-week tailgater!

Ahem. Excuse me but…that is how it always begins, too. You convince yourself that there is that light just ahead. The end of the tunnel brings daylight and fresh air.

So, perhaps THIS is that year, finally, and the end of the bitter ends. One loss is nothing!

Right! The ribs are on the fire and the brew is in the cooler. Help yourself!

Still I look to find a reason to believe…

You see… hope springs eternal here. It has to.

(*Quoted lyrics: “Reason to Believe” – Rod Stewart)

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Falcons @ Patriots: The Confidence Factor

It seems that everywhere you read, there’s a story of some player, some team that has this pig flu.

Yesterday’s college scene saw Tim Tebow go down from a hit but then… almost as an afterthought, it was mentioned that he had some otherwise undefined “respiratory issues.” And while I am no fawning follower of the Gators or Mr. Quarterback, it just struck me as an insult to him and his team that someone thought it necessary to make excuses for the situation.

The reason we are beginning this Falcons rant with a story from the college ranks is indirectly related to an old Vince Lombardi quote: “Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.”

To be sure, the H1N1 virus was not the only contagion making an appearance. Even as Florida continued to roll and prove itself again as the team to beat in both the SEC and the BCS, someone, somewhere in Gatorland didn’t have enough confidence in the proven to dispense with the apologies.

Well, today’s Falcons @ Patriots game may involve some of this same illness and the moment it begins to show itself, you’ll want to cover your nose and mouth.

 

 

For the Patriots, it’s already been a long season

At 1-1 and with only 34 points to show for a strangled win over a thoroughly mediocre Buffalo team and then, the solid loss to the NY Jets, it is now clear that these are not your daddy’s New England Patriots. At least, not the team that practically owned the league through the first half of this decade.

And as far as that old confidence bug goes? There’s this story title from the Boston Herald: “Tom Brady’s human”

No way! Say it ain’t so, Tom! ((Ah-choo!))

Bless you. Now, let’s have a look at a headline from Atlanta’s Journal-Constitution: “Matt Ryan: The absolute right man at the absolute right time”

At this moment in 2009/10 NFL season, the Atlanta Falcons will march into Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium fully inoculated from that old virus. And, while the question of whether confidence alone is enough to win games, is arguable, there’s just absolutely no doubt that you’ll never, ever win without it.

As Mr. Lombardi noted, it is indeed quite contagious. This kind of disease needs to be cornered and quarantined quickly, before it spreads. The Pats simply can’t afford a whole team that is…well, just human.

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