My wife and I flew up to Maryland for the weekend to visit with relatives and friends. Our friends follow the Baltimore Ravens, and we are rabid Atlanta Falcons fans, so it was a great opportunity to watch a double header in the comfortable atmosphere of a family gathering with different factions routing for two teams. I knew the omens weren’t good when we rented car at the airport which was bright yellow. It was so yellow that an aviary of canaries could have hidden in there.
The Ravens were playing Pittsburgh who play in black and gold (yellow) and the Falcons were playing the Green Bay Packers whose colors are green and yellow. I am a little superstitious about certain things and I was subsequently nervous about this yellow connection. Why couldn’t they have rented me a red car to match the Falcons’ red shirts?
When we finally arrived at our friends’ house the Ravens were leading 21-7 and it was nearing half-time. The game looked as good as over until the Birds committed a fumble which led to a Steelers touchdown. The Ravens had the haggard look of condemned men. Appearances can be deceptive but the momentum of the match had completely swung in favor of the Steelers who dominated the second half and ran out comfortable winners.
We commiserated with our Raven friends and filled them with hard luck clichés until it was time to sit down for the main event: Falcons v Packers. The game began very promisingly with the Falcons scoring an early touchdown. The Packers leveled the score with a similar riposte, but Eric Weems set the stadium alight by returning a kick off for a 102 yard touchdown. Normally when the home team makes a dramatic score of that nature the home crowd and team are on the crest of a wave and the opposition is on its knees. The game should be virtually over bar all the shouting and the pondering.
Unfortunately for Atlanta, Green Bay didn’t bat an eyelid and conjured up two touch downs of their own in quick succession to lead 21-14. It was nearing half time and the Falcons now had possession. Ryan was desperate to make a play for at least a field goal, and attempted an ill-fated throw to his receiver which was intercepted and ran back for a touch down by the Packers: 14-28 at half time; game over. The Falcons were eventually blown away 21-48.
Did the wheels come off the Falcons’ wagon or quite simply were the Packers the better team? There was no doubt that the Packers would prove formidable opposition for the Falcons. The Packers were the No.6 seed and they could have won their division if they hadn’t suffered so many injuries at the beginning of the season. The Falcons had finished the regular season with an impressive record of 13-3, but seven wins were secured by 3 points. Quite simply they didn’t blow anyone away, and conversely the Packers had lost six games in the regular season but none of them by more than 7 points. The teams played each other over Thanksgiving in Atlanta and the Falcons pipped their opponents with a last minute field goal to win 17-14.
During the season Head Coach Mike Smith often remarked that the team committing the least turnovers in a game invariably wins. He further added that a team committing 2 turnovers typically loses. The Falcons unaccountably registered 4 turnovers against the Packers two of which were interceptions of Ryan. Ryan completed 20/29 passes for 186 yards. In contrast Aaron Rodgers completed 31/36 passes for 366 yards, giving him an 86% success rate with his passing. Rodgers used 4 receivers each of whom achieved 75 or more yards of reception.
Ryan was sacked 5 times for a loss of 37 yards but Rodgers was only put on his butt twice for a loss of 20 yards which had no bearing on the outcome of the game. I am not attaching all the blame on Ryan for the dismal performance because there were other glaring deficiencies on the offensive side of the ball. The offensive line had played as a unit in every game but they were cruelly exposed by Clay Matthews who made the so-called “bad boys” Clabo and Dahl look like couch potatoes.
The Falcons game plan all season was based on the running game using Michael Turner to pound the opposition into submission and making a big push in the fourth quarter. In the first half Turner made 10 carries for 39 yards and he scored the opening touchdown.
Inexplicably, the Falcons coaching staff abandoned the running game in the second half leaving Turner clicking his heels on the sideline and Ryan failing miserably to locate his receivers for the big plays he yearned. Meanwhile Tony Gonzalez remained virtually anonymous apart for one reception for 7 yards before limping off injured. Gonzalez has proved to be one of the best tight ends to have graced the NFL and consequently it is inexcusable that he failed to make an impact on the game.
The Atlanta defense has experienced a few problems this season but they probably saved their worst performance for what transpired to be the last game of the season. The defensive co-coordinator, Brian Van Gorter, had devised various blitzes to stop Rodgers but the players failed to execute. John Abraham is the Falcons’ only effective pass rusher and he managed to get within inches of nailing Rodger several times; only for the quarterback to spin away and make a telling pass with regular monotony. It was unacceptable!
The three linebackers, Nicholas, Lofton and Peterson, had reasonable games but none of them are a telling force in the league. Our cornerbacks are too small as I’ve been preaching for several years. Brent Grimes is a superb athlete but at 5’9” he is not going to contain a receiver who is 6’ 4” and quite often bigger. Can anybody explain why Duante Robinson was given a big contract in the spring only to be burned every time he faced one of the elite receivers in the league?
All season The Falcons had proved to be remarkably fortunate in avoiding injuries to their starting line up and it is quite ironic that an injury to one of the supporting cast, Brian Williams their safety, compounded the defensive shortcomings of the team in this game. Chris Owens, a second year player, was drafted in to replace Williams and committed a pair of shocking pass interference penalties in the end zone and generally looked outmatched. The Packers targeted him continuously providing further evidence that the Falcons were thoroughly out coached.
I know I sound all doom and gloom, but similar to thousands of other Falcon fans, I was thoroughly disappointed and a tad angry with the nature of the performance. There is a theory in association football (soccer) that a team can perform effectively providing at least 8/11 of the players on the park are performing to their normal standard. Clearly far too many Atlanta players did not function at the level expected from them, and in my opinion it is inexcusable for professional athletes to freeze on the big stage even if Atlanta sports franchises have a habit of doing so. In hindsight a 13-3 record was a little flattering.
Concluding my “yellow omen”, I am taking the Steelers and the Packers to make it to the Super Bowl and whoever wears yellow in the finale will win the damn thing.
Love to read such things, they always interest me and usually I have a question: why?
Because I said so.
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