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Home > Jeff Schultz > Archives > 2008 > September > 07
Sunday, September 7, 2008
More than just a victory for Falcons
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This wasn’t a victory. It was a cleansing breath.
The cowardly coach who scrambled to Arkansas. The misguided quarterback who crash-landed in Leavenworth. The ill-fated romancing of the reptilian Bill Parcells as pooh-bah. All of it. Gone. It was like some greater power drifted into the Georgia Dome Sunday and took a power-washer to the entire franchise.
“You have wins that are important,” Falcons owner Arthur Blank said Sunday. “But to me, for this coaching staff, for these players, for Atlanta, for our fans, this is a win in capital letters. Giant capitals. It sets the tone.”
The Falcons opened the season Sunday with a 34-21 win over the Detroit Lions. They went from an 18-month nightmare to a perfectly scripted afternoon of bliss.
It’s only one win in a 16-game season.
Why does it seem like more than that?
Matt Ryan, the quarterback they drafted first, threw a 62-yard touchdown pass on his first NFL pass. He directed touchdown drives in the team’s first three possessions. He responded like a pro when asked later if he expected either: “Uh, no.”
Michael Turner, the running back signed as a free agent from San Diego, rushed for a franchise-record 220 yards and two touchdowns in his first game. His biggest problem will be an encore.
Mike Smith, a career assistant coach, won his first game answering to no one.
Thomas Dimitroff, a career scout who took a weedwacker to this roster in the off-season, won his first game as a general manager.
Blank? He just floated. The throbbing pain in his temples had finally subsided.
Understand, this team hasn’t been surrounded by either good fortune or believers. National publications have universally picked the team to finish in last place (The Sporting News’ projection: 1-15). The season-ticket holders that didn’t rebel last season merely slept through it — then fled after it.
It was the greatest exodus since scripture.
The front office scrambled to ensure Sunday’s opener would be sold out and televised locally. They achieved their objective. But thousands of tickets either were discounted, given away or maybe tossed into a dumpster off Northside. It was a “sellout” with elbow room. At least 15,000 seats were empty.
One game won’t make believers out of everyone. But suddenly 2008 doesn’t project like a disastrous extension of 2007.
Blank made the most of the day. Nobody deserved this more. He beamed a smile that hadn’t been so wide since the Falcons made it to the NFC title game in 2004. He soaked it all for the final minutes on the sideline. When the final seconds ticked away, he grabbed the game ball, walked with the players and coaches into the locker room and then presented the game ball to Smith.
“Obviously it has been a long journey for him and I know how hard he worked with Thomas on this roster,” Blank said.
Smith is beloved by his players. He then showed why. He held the ball, turned to the players and announced that every one of them will receive a game ball.
“Mike just said, ‘It’s not about me, it’s about everybody,’ ” recalled Dimitroff, who was in the room. “I guess they’ll all be looking for that in their mailboxes.”
It was one more embrace than we ever witnessed a year ago, to or from Bobby Petrino.
One game. One win. It felt like so much more.
Dimitroff shredded the roster he inherited. Sunday’s team included seven rookies and 13 free agents and 11 new starters. Gone were Warrick Dunn and Alge Crumpler and Rod Coleman and so many others. Gone was the franchise centerpiece, Michael Vick.
Dimitroff trained under the best personnel man in the NFL, New England’s Scott Pioli. Blank hired him after his pursuit of Parcells blew up. One thing that went wrong actually went right.
Dimitroff was preoccupied before the game. He missed a call to his cell phone. Fortunately, Pioli left a message.
“It was a real emotional message about the magnitude of having the chance to do what I do in this game,” Dimitroff said. “He just said to enjoy the first game, embrace the moment. It left a lump in my throat.”
Next week, the Falcons will play game two. It will be strange circumstances. They’ll have something good to look back on.
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