Nobody believed the Atlanta Falcons would be Super Bowl bound. Now, they’re laughing at all of their doubters.
Nobody believed the Atlanta Falcons would be in the Super Bowl.
When the Green Bay Packers reached the ATL to play the Falcons on Sunday afternoon, everybody already anointed Packers as NFC champions and the Falcons were their intended prey.
Then the game started, and the script flipped.
Atlanta’s defense, which has had its moments but never developed into a consistent unit, dominated from start to end on Sunday. The Falcons offense, which was best in the league in total points, showed the football world why they should be
Matt Ryan looked like Aaron Rodgers had looked in the past few weeks, looking unstoppable and shredding the Packers’ secondary like swiss cheese. Julio Jones, who should never, ever not be mentioned as one of the Top 5 receivers in the NFL, made darn well sure that anybody who didn’t know his name knew it today.
The list wasn’t that long anyways, but the point was nevertheless made.
Atlanta not only put on a total team clinic on Sunday afternoon, they played with a chip on their shoulder. They knew that nobody counted them as being the favorites to win against the Packers, and, in reality, who could blame us?
The Packers had been on a roll the past few weeks, and they completely dismantled a Giants team that is always dangerous in the playoffs. But when they let a 21-3 lead almost turn into a loss against the Cowboys, we should have seen the writing on the wall.
We didn’t, but the Falcons did.
The underdogs saw that Green Bay’s defense, their liability the past five seasons, was still a liability, unable to keep pace with their explosive offense. That was on full display Sunday afternoon, and they are now laughing at their doubters all the way to Houston.
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The joke was on us the whole time.