Alabama coach Nick Saban said he and Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn spoke about their teams’ collapses in their respective championship games last season.
Saban, who coached the Miami Dolphins from 2005-2006 while Quinn was a defensive line coach, told media this week the two former colleagues still have a good relationship.
"We have talked about it. He spoke at our clinic... We know how we want to move forward from it. I think there's a lot of lessons to be learned when bad things happen. There's always lessons to be learned regardless of whatever happens, but I think the big thing for our guys is we won 27 games in a row and I don't think we took the kind of ownership late in the season that we need to be able to be successful," Saban said in a video posted by the AL.com.
In January’s College Football Playoff National Championship game, Alabama led Clemson 24-14 entering the fourth quarter and even had the lead 31-28 with 2:08 remaining in the game. A last second touchdown by Clemson ended the game and hopes for another title for the Crimson Tide— similarly to how the Falcons lost their Super Bowl title a month later.
“Having success is like climbing a mountain,” Saban said. “Very few people get to the top and those that get to the top, don't stay at the top very long. The lesson all that is you just got to keep climbing. You always got to get better. There's always bigger challenges and everyone's trying to knock you off the perk."
In February, the Falcons led the New England Patriots 28-9 entering the fourth-quarter of Super Bowl 51, but collapsed late allowing 19 unanswered points and the first ever Super Bowl overtime. The Falcons fell in overtime to the Patriots on a 2-yard touchdown run.
