For Falcons’ general manager Thomas Dimitroff, the “naivete” the young Falcons’ team had in Super Bowl 51 was an advantage.
In an interview on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” on Thursday, Dimitroff said he liked where his young team is now that they have a little more experience.
“I think we have the confidence about us which I don't think it's arrogance at all, I just think there’s a real interesting confidence,” Dimitroff said. “Quite honestly, back in the playoffs in the Super Bowl, there was a cool element of naivete there that I thought was good for us . We weren't overthinking, right? We were going in to play football as we thought we could and I like going into the season with a little bit more age and then some youth as well."
The Falcons led the New England Patriots 28-9 entering the fourth quarter in February, but lost the game 34-28 in overtime in a historic Super Bowl collapse.
Unable to forget the pain of the Super Bowl loss, Dimitroff and the Falcons are looking forward to Oct. 22 in Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium when they face the Patriots once again.
"I think anytime you play a team and you come up on the losing side, the competitive side is you want to be back in that game on the field, you want to be competing for the win of course,” Dimitroff said. “We're looking forward to it. Our opportunity to play them this season will be there and I think that's an opportunity for us to continue to rise to the challenge.”
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