Dirty Birds of a different feather
This year’s Falcons putting years of mediocrity in Atlanta behind them
In their ragged 51-year history, the Atlanta Falcons have made one Super Bowl appearance, three appearances in the NFC championship game and generally set a high standard for mediocrity, while creating low expectations in their fan base.
Do we exaggerate? You be the judge. Before this weekend, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson had more playoff wins in his fiveyear NFL career (eight) than the Falcons had in a half-century (seven). So the Dirty Birds’ 36-20 win Saturday over the Seahawks has to be placed in context. Any success, it seems, was going to send a jolt through Hotlanta and Dan Quinn’s team still has a formidable opponent in the Green Bay Packers lying between them and the Super Bowl Feb. 5 in Houston.
But there’s also something about this Falcons team that has a different look and feel than so many of the pretenders that have preceded them, a steel edge that was apparent in their destruction of the Seahawks.
It starts, of course, with quarterback Matt Ryan, but there was also a completeness to their victory in the NFC divisional playoff round, which is the identifying marker of elite teams.
As mentioned, the Packers will have something to say about the Falcons’ final reckoning, but Ryan et al caught a lot of people’s attention on Saturday.
“That was something (owner Arthur Blank) and I spoke about,” Quinn said of his vision for the team when he was hired two years ago. “The toughness, the resiliency, the ability to attack in all three phases.
“There’s areas that we want to improve on and that’s no different from (Saturday). We’ve got a bunch of stuff that we want to get corrected and see if we can make some real improvements next week. But we are much closer to that identity and I think the players have a much clearer vision of what that looks like.”
The Seahawks certainly do.
It wasn’t so much that the Falcons knocked off the 2014 Super Bowl champions at the Georgia Dome, but it was the way they did it that was notable. Ryan directed an offence that rang up 422 yards in offence and held the ball for over 33 minutes. Along the way, he completed passes to 10 different receivers and the running back tandem of Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman combined for 102 rushing yards.
But the Falcons’ defence was the larger revelation. Starting three rookies and four second-year players, they allowed an 89-yard touchdown drive on the Seahawks’ first possession, then manhandled Wilson and his colleagues until a meaningless touchdown pass to Doug Baldwin in the final minutes, set up by a Devin Hester kickoff return.
In the regular season, the Falcons finished 27th in the NFL in points allowed, but the unit that rolled up the Seahawks played fast, tough and featured at least one breakout star in safety Keanu Neal.
“We’re young, but we are starting to hold together as a unit and it showed today,” Neal said. “They drove and scored on the first drive, but after that we buckled down and handled business.”
They also understand the playoffs are the NFL’s proving ground.
“This game was really about coming in and earning respect,” said linebacker De’Vondre Campbell. “A lot of people thought, ‘Seattle, they have the playoff experience; maybe that can play a factor.’ All of us young guys came in with a chip on our shoulder. We’re out here for respect.”
Ryan, meanwhile, had his own statement to make. In his nine seasons in Atlanta, the Boston College product has put up big numbers and made four Pro Bowls, but he was also 1-4 in the playoffs before Saturday.
But against the Seahawks, he put on a master class in quarterbacking, epitomized by a 14-play, 99-yard touchdown drive to close out the first half that seemed to crush the Seahawks’ spirit.
Ryan has been here before. In 2013, the Falcons beat the Seahawks and advanced to the NFC championship game, where they blew a fourth-quarter lead to San Francisco and (can it be?) Colin Kaepernick. This time around, they’ll be facing a much tougher adversary as well as their own history.
But there’s also something about this Falcons team that looks different — from the head coach, to the quarterback, to the young defence.
“I think when you’re playing, you are focused on trying to do your best this week,” said Ryan. “For me, that’s kind of where my mindset has been all year. If you start thinking about the other things, it distracts you from what’s important.”
Sounds different, too.