During the holiday season, the Falcons are no different than the rest of us.
While getting ready to face the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, they were looking forward to their favorite Thanksgiving meals.
The Falcons have their normal practice routine, but the team’s cafeteria staff prepares Thanksgiving-theme meals throughout the week.
“It’s one of those things where we are up here, still getting our job done, but still the cafeteria staff here does such a good job,” quarterback Matt Ryan said. “As a player you eat Thanksgiving dinner like five times the week of Thanksgiving. It’s important to make sure that you’re not eating too much, so that you are not heavier than you need to be.”
Falcons wide receiver Brian Robiskie already is enjoying the advantages of working and living with family. His father, Terry Robiskie, is the team’s wide receivers coach, and Brian has lived with him since signing a free-agent contract with the Falcons last month.
Robiskie said it’s the first time he will get to spend Thanksgiving with his parents since his junior year at Ohio State in 2007.
“I’m just happy to be here with them,” he said. “It’s the first time in a long time I get to spend Thanksgiving with my parents. It worked out that way. Hopefully my mom will cook that mac-and-cheese.”
Robiskie said macaroni-and-cheese is his favorite Thanksgiving dish, but specified: “It has to be my mom’s. I have to have that.”
He’s among the Falcons who look forward to their favorite home-cooked meals.
“My favorite thing my mom makes is turnip (greens) because we never have them during the year,” Ryan said. “I don’t think anybody eats them normally, but we always had them on Thanksgiving. It was something that I remember and that I really like. They were always really good.”
His wife, Sarah, also is a strong cook.
“Sarah, we never eat stuffing, but when she does stuffing for Thanksgiving, it’s really, really good,” Ryan said.
Falcons safety Thomas DeCoud can’t wait to have his favorite dish.
“It’s a stew that my grandmother used to make and now my wife makes, it’s corn, shrimp and okra,” DeCoud said. “It’s kind of a soupy little stew. I’m a soup guy, and that’s what I look forward to on Thanksgiving.”
Former Falcons center Todd McClure, who retired during the offseason, would have some of the linemen over for Thanksgiving dinner to eat with his family.
“He would, especially have the young guys that didn’t have family in town or anything like that,” left guard Justin Blalock said. “I guess his brother-in-law, his dad and him would all get together and cook and have everybody over that didn’t have anywhere to go. I’m sure we’ll have something for all of the guys.”
Blalock, a hearty 300-pounder, has several favorite dishes. He eyes lit up discussing the possibilities.
“Oh gosh, there are so many good things,” Blalock said, taking a few moments to consider the question. “Fried turkey has got to be way up there. That’s something I discovered when I came out this way. We use to just have it traditional (baked). But, once I got out here, actually, that’s what Todd’s dad did for me one year, and I haven’t gone back since.”
So, there’s going to be a fried turkey on the table at Blalock’s house?
“Oh yeah, for sure,” he said.
Thanksgiving wasn’t all about the food for the Falcons.
On Monday, Blalock, defensive tackle Corey Peters and defensive end Jonathan Massaquoi provided a catered Thanksgiving meal to 100 men from the Shepherd’s Inn, the men’s homeless facility of the Atlanta Mission.
The players provided winter caps to the men, served food, signed autographs and took photographs throughout the community-service function.
The Atlanta Mission, founded in 1983, provides overnight shelter, job attainment programming, long-term residential discipleship programming and transitional housing for more than 950 homeless men, women and children daily.
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