HOUSTON – Surely it will feel a little different the next morning, after a good sleep and some strong coffee and a little time to reflect on the relative importance of a football game in the larger picture of a wholesome life.
Perspective will set in at any time here and we’ll realize the Falcons had a season that wildly exceeded any rational expectation. That on the whole they provided their fans with weeks of high voltage football, the most exciting brand they’ve ever sampled. They won as many postseason games in two weeks as they had in the prior 12 seasons. They are young and filled with possibilities.
And, you know, brothers don’t turn on brothers.
Oh, the heck with it.
WHY IN THE WORLD DIDN’T THEY JUST PLAY FOR THE STINKING FIELD GOAL THERE LATE IN THE FOURTH QUARTER INSTEAD OF GETTING ALL BOLLIXED UP TRYING TO THROW THE BALL AND PROVE THEY WERE SO ULTRA HIP?
RUN THE BALL, KYLE.
THEY SHOULD BE MAPPING OUT THE PARADE ROUTE ON PEACHTREE NOW. INSTEAD THEY’RE PUTTING A FRESH COAT OF PAINT ON THE CITY LIMIT SIGNS THAT READ, “WELCOME TO LOSERVILLE.”
All I can hear now is Kyle Shanahan speaking days before the Super Bowl about what a great situation he would be leaving in Atlanta for his head coaching gig out west. About how unusual it was to be an offensive coordinator with a head coach who never vetoes a play or orders a change of approach on the fly.
Maybe that philosophy requires just a little tweaking as we move forward from THE GREATEST SUPER BOWL COLLAPSE EVER (construed as the greatest Super Bowl comeback in a small corner of New England).
As he evolves as a head coach, Dan Quinn may want to think about being a little more assertive on certain vital in-game situations. Establish with the next offensive coordinator that he’s going to get countermanded on occasion. Nothing personal, mind you. But inform the new guy that if we’ve got a great kicker easily within range of putting a Super Bowl out of reach of even Tom Brady and you put Matt Ryan in a position to take a devastating sack (and then set the wheels in motion for an equally devastating holding call on the next play), you just may have to take Uber all the way back home.
Shanahan is getting beaten up pretty good on his way out of town, when, you know, this is Quinn’s team. It all flows back to the top. Four words – run the ball, Kyle – was all it would have taken to set things right Sunday night.
Someday it will be provident to remember the many splendors of the 2016 Falcons season, to take account of the credits that stack up high against the debits and move on to the next stage of sporting grief.
Not exactly sure when that moment is, only that it’s not yet.
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