The Win Column: Bad night at the Benz

Quite the weekend we had.

No time for small talk.

HURT IN A HOSTILE HOMECOMING

Last week I quickly mentioned the Falcons’ planned “red out” of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and suggested things might still look a tad purple-y when the Ravens came to town for “Sunday Night Football.”

I was wrong.

The crowd was extremely purple.

We’re used to that type of thing around here, of course. And there are certainly more important things to talk about from the Falcons’ overtime loss. For instance:

• Michael Penix Jr. hurt his ribs and Tua Tagovailoa threw the defeat-clinching interception.
• “It’s emotional because it’s tough,” Penix said afterward. “I always want to be out there. I want to be able to finish every game, and obviously, I’ve got a history of not doing that.”
• He doesn’t think the injury is “a long-term thing.”

Fingers crossed.

Now about that crowd …

The lower bowl was easily 60, 65% purple. Possibly more. Harder to tell with the upper deck (not a lot of lighting up there), but a similar percentage feels like a safe bet.

They cheered when the visiting team ran onto the field. Chanted “de-fense” when the Falcons had the ball. Roared when the Ravens got first downs.

It genuinely felt like a Ravens home game.

• “Ravens come out of the tunnel to a lot of noise. There are a ton of Ravens fans here,” one Baltimore beat writer posted on social media.
• “A loud cheer for that Zay Flowers play. Sizable Raven contingent,” wrote another.

Again, nothing new. Sunday night felt particularly egregious, though, given the good vibes generated by Atlanta’s — and Penix’s — recent performances.

Coming home to a hostile crowd had to feel surreal … and things only got weirder from there.

🔗 Cunningham on blown lead; position grades; Abraham joins Ring of Honor

IT REALLY DO BE LIKE THAT SOMETIMES

For one Saturday, the college football gods looked kindly upon Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets alike.

Not long after (formerly) top-ranked Texas completed its Red River meltdown, Georgia and Dwight Phillips Jr. bested Bama while benefiting from a missed pass interference call and some ill-advised on-field fisticuffs.

Georgia Tech won its game with undefeated Duke by (ahem) shutting up and getting better during the bye week. Annnnd also because the Blue Devil kicker missed a short field goal to send things to overtime.

Doesn’t matter.

• Georgia’s post-Alabama report card
• 5 takeaways from pivotal Tech win

As Bulldog fans well know, refs ain’t perfect (see: “Simmons, Tyler”). When they’re on your side, you take it. And when they’re not?

Well … hopefully you have time to do something about it. Preferably something better than, say, “surrender a sack on the next play, punt, then gift your opponent the first down they need to run out the clock.”

Pretty simple stuff.

🔗 Bonus linkage: This week’s SEC betting lines

DREAM FINALS, UNFORTUNATE LOGISTICS

The Win Column could not be more stoked about the Atlanta Dream making the WNBA Finals, and we’ll have a more proper preview later this week.

In the meantime: The city’s best team deserves a bigger place to play.

• The Finals start Saturday in San Francisco, home of the Golden State Valkyries (initial scouting report here). Game 2 is out West, too.
• The Dream gets to host Games 3, 4 and 6 … but they’re not sure where yet.
• Previous playoff games have been at State Farm Arena (which, starting next season, will host all Dream home games too).
• Here’s the rub: The dates for Atlanta’s Finals games are Oct. 22, Oct. 24 and, if necessary, Oct. 29.
• State Farm’s already slated to host a concert (something called “Sombr”) on the 22nd, and Hawks games on the other two dates.

Still time to find another solution but, as of now, that means the Dream will play in their much smaller home arena in College Park. Capacity: 3,500.

What a bummer that would be.

ANTHOPOULOS SPEAKS (AND GETS SOME ADVICE)

Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos spoke to reporters Sunday and (sort of) discussed his offseason strategy. He was asked about the possibility of shaking up the team’s offensive approach.

Part of what he said, from Michael Cunningham’s Weekend Reflections:

“I think you have to be careful overall to take small samples and overreact one way or the other. That doesn’t mean we don’t want to get better, we don’t want to tweak and we’re not going to self-evaluate. After the Phillies series, no one was saying anything because you won the series.

“I don’t view it as one specific thing (being the problem). I do think collectively we are going to look at all of it and 100% do what we can to make the team better.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But you know … Win Column readers also weighed in on this topic.

Results from Friday’s poll:

📊 The path forward: The “run it back” crowd was very small, as was the “blow it all up” faction.

The two most popular options, which combined to account for 72% of the votes: “get another big-time outfielder” and “cut bait with part of the ‘core’ lineup and find different styles of hitters.”

Feels about right.

As for that “cut bait with part of the core” thing …

📊 Specific transactions: The most popular answer here was “trade Austin Riley,” but lots of folks being tough on Ronald Acuña Jr. too (or suggesting a trade because they don’t believe the Braves will sign him beyond his upcoming club options).

• Also: Seattle outfielder Randy Arozarena remains this fandom’s theoretical acquisition du jour.

📊 Free Agency Re-Signing Priority Meter: A clear top three emerged, with Mauricio Dubón (66% first place votes), Tyler Mahle and Raisel Iglesias leading the list in that order.