The Falcons Blog: Big Game

A New Chapter Tonight, One Way or Another

You’ll pardon me if this doesn’t turn out to be the best thing I’ve ever written. It’s been a weird week. Atlanta turned into Alaska last weekend and it stayed that way until this morning. And every time I heard an ad on the radio, or some discussion on sports radio or TV concerning the game on Saturday night I got severe butterflies. I’m just nervous. It’s not just a result of being an Atlanta sports fan (and therefore fearing the worst) or being worried about this particular matchup. This is just a big game. It’s a playoff game, and that’s not something we Falcons fans take for granted.

This is our 45th season and tonight we will play in our 16th playoff game. This will be just the 3rd playoff game ever at the Georgia Dome and just the 5th home playoff game in team history. It’s a big game for this franchise. We haven’t had many opportunities like this.

This is a big game because there is so much at stake. I could see where you might wonder if this game would still seem big if the Falcons lost at home in the NFC Championship Game. Obviously that isn’t the ending we’re looking for. Maybe it’s more accurate to say that we’ve got a lot to lose tonight. Perhaps the biggest thing that can be gained tonight is a chance to play for a trip to the Super Bowl next week. But we don’t want a season like this to end in our first playoff game.

And even if a loss next week would take away a lot of the shine of this season, there is still a significant step to be taken this week. I have said before that we could be in the midst of our “Golden Age” as a franchise. Well, tonight this Falcons team under Mike Smith and Matt Ryan can win their first playoff game. That’s significant. Get that first one out of the way and some of the pressure is gone.

Tonight is about taking that next step in establishing yourself and changing perception. I’m not talking about the national media or some Cowboys fan from Alabama. I’m talking about right here, in Atlanta. People are hesitant to trust and believe. There’s a lot of hope and a lot of excitement for this game. Losing would destroy much of what the team has built up over the last 3 years, and it will make it that much harder for people to believe in the future.

There’s something else. The goal is to win championships. I realize that and I know that at this stage in our history we need to win a Super Bowl. But just getting to a Super Bowl would still be a gigantic thing for this franchise and this fan base. And the thing is, if we don’t do it this season, it will be a tremendous waste of an opportunity. It is set up better than we could have ever hoped for. We’ve been healthy all season. We’ve got a good QB and a good RB and they’re both healthy. We have home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. We can get to the Super Bowl without playing a road game and without having to beat a truly great team. If we don’t get there this season, when will we?

Think about what it took to get to our only Super Bowl in our 44 previous seasons. We had everything come together for one magical season, in which we doubled our win total in the regular season from the year before. Then in our opening playoff game, Garrison Hearst breaks his leg on San Fran’s first drive. The next week, we have to go on the road to play a team which has lost only 1 game all season, in a very hostile environment. We have to fight just to stay in the game. Then we need a guy who hasn’t missed a field goal all season to miss a makeable kick that would have put the game away. We drive down and tie it up and then we have to win in overtime. Think about all of that. Those weren’t good odds. Our odds should be good right now.

I hope our guys play well tonight. I hope they get it done and keep this thing going. This team has put together the greatest 3-year regular season run in franchise history. I hope tonight they take the next step. I hope I have butterflies again on Monday morning.