It will suck for me if I take the 90 minute trip to ATL only to find out that the Lions wrapped up the 5th spot, and the Falcons decide to treat this New Year’s Day game like a 3rd preseason game.
Of course we will enjoy the beautiful weather (60’s with plenty of sunshine), tailgate, delicious adult beverages, and all the general fun that goes into an afternoon of family tailgating.
Landing the 5th or 6th spot is probably equivalent to having to decide [… pick your poison … I was going to make some reference to sisters and fat girls, but decided it wasn’t very funny …] It’s not going to matter if this ATL team has to travel to San Fran or New Orleans. And I doubt that they will make the NFC Championship game, so heading back to Detroit is probably not in the cards either.
Unless Green Bay plays their starters and gives the Falcons a shot at the 5th seed (we will know before our 4PM kickoff), I think ATL is going to rest everyone after the 1st QTR, which means Ryan better get to work quickly …
Erasing Jeff George: Like the Saints, the Falcons also are saying they’ll play their starters. Let’s hope that’s true and let’s hope Matt Ryan at least plays long enough to throw for 73 yards. If he does, he’ll set the franchise record for passing yards in a season. The record is 4,143 yards and it was set by Jeff George in 1995. No team should have George at the top of its record book for 16 years.
Jeff George. What an awful memory.
Go Falcons!
Yeah no fun playing the Saints in that dome.
I think the 49ers may be like the Falcons last year, 13 wins and #2 seed instead of the HFA that the Falcons had last year but don’t have the kind of passing game needed to compete with the top teams.
I don’t believe in Alex Smith and they may give him a big contract extension after this year (I’d rather sign Matt Flynn).
Atlanta made the right move trading up for Julio Jones. It may or may not pay off in the long run but standing pat because of a 13-win season would not have improved their chances to contend for the title.
First QTR was fun because ATL was up 21-0 and we were watching the score of the Packers-Lions on my bb. It was nice having something to play for – and super nice knowing we were not going back to New Orleans … at least not yet.
San Fran’s chances depend on who they get. Smith’s situation is much different than Matt Ryan, but sometimes it does take a while to get going in the NFL.
Matt Ryan gets a bad rap for not winning a playoff game. Think about this, as a rookie, ATL lost on the road to Arizona, who went on to the Super Bowl. Last year, while ATL was the top seed, they got demolished by Green Bay at home. The game was close until two costly INTs to close out the half. One was just trying to make a play. The other was on Ryan.
At the end of the day, is there any shame in getting taken out by the Super Bowl runner up and the Super Bowl Champion? Green Bay got hot at the right time, beating 10-6 Philadelphia, 12-3 ATL, 11-5 Chicago, and of course the 12-4 Pittsburgh.
Hopefully ATL can take out the Giants so we no longer have to hear that Ryan cannot win a big game. I think it is just a little ridic.