Fans of the local team had a great time Sunday night when the Falcons trounced the Packers, 34-23, in the first regular-season game in Mercedes-Benz Stadium before a raucous crowd. The new place played to rave reviews.
ESPN sports business reporter Darren Rovell Tweeted:
The Falcons’ first open-air home game since 1991 was a huge success, and showed well on Sunday Night Football on NBC with Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth behind the microphones.
Packers fans made a respectable showing and several wore their cheeseheads.
Some Falcons fans countered with cheese graters on their heads. Look at this:
Not everybody was happy afterward, as Green Bay was griping to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about some of the game's officiating.
The Falcons wore out the Packers' patchwork offensive line, smashing quarterback Aaron Rodgers several times. Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy practically saw that coming, telling the Journal-Sentinel, "Two new tackles, brand new loud stadium, on turf, nine-man rotation defensive line, it is all part of game planning. We were prepared to play in whatever direction we needed to play. That's the NFL. That's football."
There were plenty of tired people after that game. Not just the players but fans.
