‘Mental things’ play key role in football seasons

The Georgia Bulldogs have handled the glare of high expectations far better than their NFL counterparts this year.

A college football team in town is having a season in which seemingly everything is going right. A pro football team in town is having a season in which seemingly everything lately is going wrong

Georgia is 9-0 and ranked No. 1. The Falcons are 4-4 and spiraling toward irrelevancy.

They play in different leagues, on different levels, with players from different age and income brackets. But their contrasting stories illustrate the fragile nature of a football season, where factors stretch well beyond talent, injuries and easy, lazy narratives like, “The coach stinks.”

Jake Fromm, a freshman, morphs into Roger Staubach. Julio Jones, a four-time Pro Bowler, stands in the end zone and drops a ball that descends from the heavens.

Some things you just don’t plan for.

“Mental things,” Dan Reeves said.

The former Falcons coach played or coached for nine teams that went to Super Bowls. He also played or coached for more than a few teams that didn’t. He’s not surprised the Falcons took a step back this season, but not just because they were forced to hire a new offensive coordinator, Steve Sarkisian, to replace Kyle Shanahan.

“When you’re coming off a Super Bowl, every other team is saying every week, ‘If we can beat them, we’re good enough to go to the Super Bowl,’” Reeves said Tuesday. “You become everybody’s biggest game. Not only that, but a lot of times things change in the offseason program. When you’re striving to make it to the Super Bowl, everybody is working hard to get there. But

GETTY IMAGES, STAFF UGA coach Kirby Smart (above) credits senior leadership for the Bulldogs’ 9-0 start and No. 1 CFP ranking. Falcons coach Dan Quinn (right) has struggled to pinpoint why his team is underachieving after its Super Bowl run.