Three months and seemingly a millennium ago, the Falcons won a game. A big game, their first game, against their biggest rival. Their fans cheered louder than the visiting team’s fans. (There’s video evidence.) And we wondered: Will this season serve as some exorcism for 2013?
“It felt great walking off the field that day,” Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan said, referencing the 37-34, overtime victory over New Orleans. “You want to start the season fast and it was big win in the division. But I think I’ve learned from being around a while that it’s just one win. You just don’t know how the season is going to shake out.”
Like a punchline again, as it turns out.
The Falcons are 5-9, one game worse than the Saints, going into Sunday’s second meeting in the Superdome. First place in the NFC South is on the line, the residual of NFL rules and, presumably, a charitable tax write-off.
If the Falcons win their next two games, they’ll make the playoffs. If they lose to the Saints, they’re done. Given the sense of impending doom regardless, it’s difficult to tell from the blowback in social media if a majority of their fan base is hoping for that scenario or prefers the one where they get on with the firings and a higher draft pick.
I would never suggest missing the playoffs is better than making it. A backdoor entrance into the postseason presents possibilities that being left out doesn’t, even if you consider those possibilities a long shot. But it’s easy to understand why so many would think that way. Having gone 9-21 since reaching the NFC Championship game in 2012, fans are ready to move on — with a new roster, a new coach, a new general manager, a cleansing.
If you’re Falcons coach Mike Smith, the choice is obvious. Owner Arthur Blank has avoided specific public mandates, but the bar is pretty clear: Smith must win the division and at least one playoff game to probably save his job.
The fact the NFC South winner will go to the playoffs with a .500 or losing record isn’t going over well in other NFL cities, particularly Philadelphia, where the Eagles are 9-5 and currently sitting on the outside.
“Hey, I don’t make the rules, man. I just play by them,” said Ryan, a Philadelphia native.
When asked if he believe the rules should be changed, Smith responded: “I don’t think outside the box too often in terms of what the rules are. Are they fair? It depends on what side of the coin you’re on.”
This season has been a grind on Smith, who is expected to lose his job in any scenario short of winning the division and at least one playoff game.
Smith doesn’t like being the center of attention. So it follows that when he was asked earlier this week if this season has been even more draining on him than going 4-12 in 2013, he gave a generic response about losing and added, “Ultimately, there’s one guy who’s held responsible for it and that’s the head coach.”
He doesn’t talk about football when he’s home with his wife and daughter.
“I talk about Spanish II. (I ask), ‘Do we still have an A?’”
His daughter, Logan, was working on a project the other night.
“I coached her through it,” Smith joked.
The man still had a joke left in him.
Nobody in Flowery Branch expected going 5-9 after last season’s 4-12. Few anywhere would’ve expected it after that opening win over New Orleans. True, the defensive liabilities were clear. The Saints had 472 yards of offense, and Drew Brees threw for 333. But Ryan outplayed Brees (448 yards and three touchdown passes to Brees’ one) and the Falcons’ offense looked like it might carry the team to a winning season.
“It shows what the Atlanta Falcons are about,” Ron Jaworski, the former NFL quarterback and ESPN analyst said after that game. “We know last year was kind of an aberration for them.”
Oops.
Ryan hasn’t had the time or desire to look back and analyze what has gone wrong.
“If you’re thinking about all of the other stuff that’s going on and you’re not concerned about what you have to do this week you’re wasting your time,” he said. “There’s a time and place to sit back and reflect on what happened in September and October. That time is hopefully eight weeks from now.”
Eight weeks? The man is an optimist. But a lifeline is seldom extended to a 5-9 team.
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