Plenty of teams with notso-Super pedigrees
The Atlanta Falcons’ claim to fame is the crushing way they lost a Super Bowl.
They’re hardly alone in these playoffs.
Seven of the 12 teams still alive have never celebrated in the big game, matching the largest group of playoff-bound squads with notso-Super pedigrees since the 1999 season.
Will that lack of championshipwinning experience prove costly?
If you’re on a team that hasn’t won a ring, it’s only natural to just shrug it off as a meaningless anomaly.
“It’s right here, right now,” Falcons defensive end Adrian Clayborn said Thursday. “What’s in the past doesn’t matter.”
But there’s no denying that sixtime champion Pittsburgh and five-time winner New England — the defending champ, as well — are the only true blue bloods in this field.
The Falcons have lost both of
their Super Bowl appearances, including last season’s 34-28 overtime defeat in which Tom Brady and the Patriots stunningly rallied from a 25-point deficit in the second half . The NFC’s top seed, the Philadelphia Eagles, is also 0-2 in the Super Bowl, as are the Carolina Panthers.
Buffalo and Minnesota are the only franchises to lose four times in the big game without a title, and the Bills, of course, are the lone team to suffer that fate in four straight years. The Tennessee Titans (who began their existence as the Houston Oilers) came up short in their lone Super Bowl try. Jacksonville has never been to the title game at all .
Jaguars owner Shad Khan said it’s good to have a bunch of teams chasing their first crown.
He noted the huge demand for tickets in attendance-challenged Jacksonville, where the Jags are hosting the Bills in a matchup of teams that broke long playoff droughts this season.
“Could you imagine the hottest ticket in football is