This is how it ends — not with Matt Ryan throwing a winning touchdown pass in January to one of those names that was flashing from the marquee back in September, but with a desperation third-and-22 pass to a vacant zip code in a meaningless game.
This is how it ends, not with a young offensive line improving by the week and exerting its will, but allowing nine sacks and, by the end, resembling one of those old Looney Tunes cartoons when the piano falls on somebody’s head.
The Falcons finished their season the same way they started it — with a loss. There were 10 more of those in between. A 21-20 loss to the Carolina Panthers, who have the young, hungry look the Falcons used to have, left them 4-12, their worst record since the Bad Newz Kennels/Bobby Petrino grease fire of 2007.
Just when we all thought miserable Falcons seasons like that might be over with, one returned. As Tony Gonzalez so neatly summarized after his final game, “It seemed like the horseshoe fell out of our butts.”
There were injuries. There were tough breaks. There clearly were moments in the middle of the season when it seemed several players weren’t all there, despite the franchise’s spin doctors’ adamant claims to the contrary.
But when an NFL team goes 4-12, it’s clear mistakes were made long before the random chances of sport ever started.
The Falcons’ final drive in their final game was a microcosm of the entire season. They trailed by a point. They frantically were trying to maneuver for a winning field goal. A short pass to Harry Douglas gave them a first down at their 43-yard line with 31 seconds remaining.
Then the piano fell from the 27th floor.
It was loud — not because of Falcons fans, who had long been beaten down, but rather the thousands of Carolina fans who were standing and screaming near midfield behind the Panthers’ bench. Ryan began his count from the shotgun position, then stepped up to the line to change right-side protection.
Problem: Center Joe Hawley didn’t notice Ryan walk up. He just heard a change in Ryan’s cadence. So he snapped the ball — to nobody.
The Falcons recovered the ball, but that 16-yard loss was followed by a false start, which was compounded by a 10-second penalty clock run-off. So in a blink, they went from first down at their 43 with 31 seconds left to second-and-31 from the 22 with nine seconds left.
Hawley later: “I heard the crowd go crazy. That’s when I knew something was wrong. … It’s completely on me.”
There could not have been a more tragically perfect ending to the season.
The year has been like a zombie in “Walking Dead,” just waiting for a bullet to the head to end a lifeless, pointless stumble through 17 weeks.
Wide receiver Roddy White said the final drive “reminded me of the whole season. We’re in New Orleans, we don’t get it done. We’re in Miami, we don’t get a stop. We come (home), we hike the ball and the quarterback’s not (there). We go to San Francisco, and we throw an interception. I mean, that’s been our season whenever we were there to win a game.”
We will never know what would’ve happened if White hadn’t been slowed all season by a high ankle sprain, if Julio Jones hadn’t broken his foot again, if Steven Jackson hadn’t strained his hamstring, if an already thin defense hadn’t lost Sean Weatherspoon and Kroy Biermann.
But mistakes were made before the Falcons ever played a game.
There were the decisions to let both defensive end John Abraham and defensive back Brent Grimes walk. Both had Pro Bowl seasons this year, Abraham with Arizona; Grimes with Miami. (The Falcons ranked 28th in total defense.)
The biggest goofs came on the offensive line — and at every position. Left tackle Sam Baker was given an extension with a $10 million signing bonus because the team believed he had finally proved himself and would stay healthy. He did neither. Now they’re stuck with him.
They pressured Todd McClure into retirement and cut Tyson Clabo in part because they believed left guard Justin Blalock was able to take on a leadership role. He wasn’t. They thought Garrett Reynolds would be sufficient at right guard. But he devolved from starter in Game 1 to inactive in Game 16.
The biggest blunders: miscalculating the readiness, and perhaps talent, of second-year pros Peter Konz and Lamar Holmes. Konz face-planted as the starting center and was shifted back to guard. Holmes was equally awful at right and left tackle. He was crushed by Carolina’s Greg Hardy, who had four sacks by himself.
Five of the Falcons’ 12 losses came by four points or less. To coach Mike Smith’s credit, he didn’t lean on that.
“It doesn’t matter if you lose by one or you lose by 20, you lose,” he said.
And when a team loses 12 of 16 games, it’s not about just bad luck or too many injuries. It’s about the wrong choices being made. Ryan didn’t have his greatest of seasons, but he was sacked nine times in the final game and 44 times overall.
It’s remarkable Ryan could stand for the postgame interview.
“Obviously we need to take a look at the entire season and use a microscope,” Ryan said.
It won’t be pretty.
