Atlanta Falcons season 2016 - 2017 (Cleveland, White: reputation, worth, how to)

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by ipaper

It was an emotional rollercoaster, but life goes on. As long as you got your health and wellness and a job, then life is still pretty good.

Worth repeating.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by fieldm

This is how Hillary Clinton felt last Nov

Yep.

Except if she'd won Wisconsin and Michigan by landslides early in the evening, and it looked like she had the thing wrapped up late into the night as Pennsylvania was still counting, people going to bed thinking she had it locked, cable news networks all but ready to call it for her, ...but then the Trump votes keep coming in by surprise as PA is still counting, and he barely wins that state and wins the election by a handul of electoral votes at 2AM. And maybe she only lost GA and NC by 1%, and won the final popular vote by 8 million instead of 3.

That's about how this game went for Falcons fans. Not to diminish her pain.

[Chevalier de Saint-George]

The best way to deal with it is to minimalize what just happened. We just blew a lead, so what things happen ( tell yourself that enough and you'll believe it). I'm already looking forward to next year. It will be difficult and it isn't guaranteed that they'll make it at all. However, the team is on the rise and Arthur Blank, Thomas Dimitroff, and Dan Quinn have a good thing in place. The same team basically returns, the injured players return, Shanahan's system will stay in place.

The only concerns are how will the players deal with this loss, who's the new OC, and what offseason player acquisitions are made? On paper, the Falcons look to be a fairly complete team. It's way too early but looking at the rest of the NFC, who looks like a big threat? Seattle out West, GB or Minnesota in the North, Dallas and NY or Philly in the East?

ATL Falcons 17-18 schedule. (Not set but general idea of who they'll play)

[therealpattman]

Now that I'm calm, I did some research and found a few similarities between us and the Patriots and it centers around our new house and Gillette Stadium.
http://www.thefalcoholic.com/2017/2/...omething-great

Gillette Stadium is home to the New England Patriots, I know those same dang Pats that just beat us in a heartbreaker. Here's a little history about the venue. Bill Belichick, was hired in 2000, Gillette Stadium, was opened in 2002. We already know how successful that franchise is but until 2001 they we just like us Atlanta, a team searching for an identity. Why is this important. Dan Quinn was hired in 2015 a year after Mercedes-Benz Stadium broke ground. If you dig deeper Arthur Blank hired Dan Quinn in a similar manner as Robert Kraft when he hired Belichick and gave him full control of the roster. Dan Quinn isn't the General Manager but he is effectively the 3rd most powerful Head Coach in the league behind Pete Carol his old boss and Belichick (Thomas Dimitroff was one of his scouts). This actually sets Atlanta up interestingly.

The Georgia Dome will always hold a special place in our hearts but it was home to a very dysfunctional, a time laughable and honestly bad franchise that never had an identity or substance. I don't Atlanta got to the Super Bowl off luck. Dan Quinn got this team where it needed to be even if Kyle Shanahan got a lot of the credit. Time will tell but I doubt this young Falcons team reaching the big dance was an accident and with the destruction of the Dome on the horizon, this Atlanta team is different than its predecessors. This Falcons team has substance as evident by their energy in the first 3 quarters of the Super Bowl. I don't see them folding in their new house next year. I wouldn't be surprised if they altered the uniforms a bit because this is effectively a different team. I'm not say we will be the Pats but they were like us at one point, got the right coach and a new house and the rest is history.

[atlantamoi]

Originally Posted by primaltech

I wonder if time will heal this, for us lifelong Falcons fans. Even if we win the Super Bowl next year, even if it's against the Patriots, yesterday will still hurt. Right now it feels like we could win the next 5 Super Bowls, and that freaking game will still hurt. That was just horrible.

I think I'm ready to take a long break from following sports, honestly. That game just really, really got to me. Craziness.

Yeah, of course, time will help. I'm posting two days after and already feel better, but that might just be a better night of sleep. I still get a little sad when I think about game 7 of the '91 World Series. This Falcons game is every bit as bad as that. I'm fairly confident it will stick in my craw until I die. Maybe that's a little dramatic, but I know how that Braves game feels today 26 years later. Sucks.

Atlanta sports radio yesterday was horrendous. Never heard any sports talk close to that level of brutality before. Whew.

[-thomass]

Originally Posted by atlantamoi

Yeah, of course, time will help. I'm posting two days after and already feel better, but that might just be a better night of sleep. I still get a little sad when I think about game 7 of the '91 World Series. This Falcons game is every bit as bad as that. I'm fairly confident it will stick in my craw until I die. Maybe that's a little dramatic, but I know how that Braves game feels today 26 years later. Sucks.

Atlanta sports radio yesterday was horrendous. Never heard any sports talk close to that level of brutality before. Whew.

unfortuantely there is no forgetting what happened lol. it will stick with all of us.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by atlantamoi

Yeah, of course, time will help. I'm posting two days after and already feel better, but that might just be a better night of sleep. I still get a little sad when I think about game 7 of the '91 World Series. This Falcons game is every bit as bad as that. I'm fairly confident it will stick in my craw until I die. Maybe that's a little dramatic, but I know how that Braves game feels today 26 years later. Sucks.

Atlanta sports radio yesterday was horrendous. Never heard any sports talk close to that level of brutality before. Whew.

'91 was just 2 very similar Cinderella teams and we lost in 7 games by a run, yes it was sad for us to get that close and lose, but not that horribly bad. Everyone still felt really proud of the team.

The '96 World Series vs the Yankees probably felt the worst of all the WS losses, and most similar to this football game.

Games 1 and 2 in NY that year. We win both of them- in a crushing manner. Combined run score of 16-1 (which is still a record I believe to this day). Total pitching and hitting dominance.

We come back to Atlanta for 3 home games up 2-0, odds of winning the series looking great. But we managed to lose all 3 home games, and then Game 6 back in NY, and lost the dang series 4-2.

Also, that 2012 single-game stupid wild card game which we lost, was a real bummer. Chipper's last game. Under the previous season's rules, we would have been the wild card team and gone to the playoffs. But that was the first game where the next best team in the running gets to play a single game series to try to take the wild card from you, and they freaking beat us. Just felt like a huge ripoff to me, since baseball playoff matches are meant to be played as a series.

Anyway, yeah this miserable Falcons game's memory will get better over time, but it's going to take some time before I feel any hope or excitement for our franchise. That was a serious psychological burn. We lost in the most Atlanta way possible. It's like our worst nightmare came true. Truly traumatic.

[bryan85]

You can take the Falcons out of Atlanta, but you cannot take the "choke" out of Atlanta sports teams.

[bryan85]

Originally Posted by atltechdude

Well our defense was on the field practically the whole game, they got worn down by the 4th quarter.

Stop the opponent, and you can get off the field! Why weren't the Patriots offensive lineman tired from blocking?

[stillinthesouth]

I felt bad for my 10-year-old nephew who lives in Jax but is a big Falcons fan. He was all excited because the Falcons were winning, then crushed when they lost the game. My brother had gone to bed early because he had a cold and, anyway, he thought the Falcons had a lock on the Super Bowl trophy when they went up 28-3. My brother told me that my nephew woke him up, all upset, to tell him the Falcons had lost the game. My brother did his best to calm him down. Poor kid!