Falcons fans catch a completely uncalled for stray from NFL Twitter account

The NFL Twitter account took a vicious and completely random stab at the Atlanta Falcons fanbase on Tuesday. 

On Tuesday afternoon, members of the Atlanta Falcons fanbase the world over were innocuously scrolling Twitter when the depression took hold.

From the NFL’s main account came what, at first, seemed like a playful gimmick: “Frick it, an entire football game.” Posted below the caption was a video of — that’s right — an entire football game.

“Oh, that’s fun,” said the Falcons fan. “An entire football game.”

But then the Falcons fan clicked play. And then they saw the scoreboard, the uniforms, the massive “Super Bowl LI” logo painted at midfield. “Oh no,” cried the Falcons fan. “Oh no.”

The above quotes are not from a real person necessarily, but they form a good summation of yesterday afternoon for a lot of Atlanta fans. The NFL Twitter account, seemingly on a whim and with no discernible objective, tweeted out the entirety of Super Bowl LI, which famously features the Falcons’ blown 28-3 lead over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

NFL randomly trolls Atlanta Falcons with Super Bowl LI tweet

The NFL deleted the tweet a few hours later, ending the torrent of New England-based trolling and Atlanta-based internet warfare. Why the league tweeted out the video, we may never know. But it certainly garnered a reaction.

In fact, the tweet inspired Falcons Twitter to band together and fight the forces of evil. It takes a village to move a mountain, and the entire Falcons fanbase answered the call Tuesday afternoon. It’s not often you see such collective engagement from the Atlanta sports community.

The Atlanta fanbase has been pretty spoiled lately: Atlanta United won the MLS Cup in 2018, the Braves won the World Series in 2021, and the Georgia Bulldogs are back-to-back college football champs (apologies to those who claim Georgia Tech as the “Atlanta” CFB team, your bravery and commitment to fact is noted). But harken back to 2017 and remember how starved Atlanta fans were for something, just anything good to happen in the world of sports. To be so close, only to fall short, was the most painful outcome imaginable.

That Falcons team was a real treat. Matt Ryan pulled one of the best quarterback seasons in NFL history out of his back pocket. Julio Jones was the best receiver on the planet, Devonta Freeman was still plowing through defensive lines like a knife through hot butter. The Patriots were no match for the Falcons, but Atlanta — in line with city-wide sports tradition — decided to beat itself that day. And that’s all she wrote.

Tom Brady is now a seven-time Super Bowl champion. Matt Ryan is working the broadcast booth, ringless. It’s a cruel, harsh world out there. Nobody is safe. You only get so many chances in sports, and blown opportunities are liable to follow you for the rest of your life.