Atlanta Falcons Looking to Pick Up The Pieces After Super Bowl Debacle

ATLANTA, Ga. – The Atlanta Falcons have been busy just like everybody else since the free agency period began last week and the NFL Draft nears.

It’s been the most telling sign yet that the team – while still disappointed – is nonetheless moving forward in the wake of last month’s dubious fourth-quarter collapse that led to a 34-28 loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 51 in Houston.

Falcons coach Dan Quinn has spoken positively about how the entire organization was responding after squandering a 25-point second-half advantage en route to the biggest collapse in Super Bowl history.

“When [media] ask me if I’ve watched it, I say, ‘Yes, I am past it. I am not over it,” Quinn was quoted as saying by ESPN.com at last week’s NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “I don’t think I will ever be, and that’s a good thing. Sometimes those kinds of experiences propel you to have the types of offseasons that you’d like to have.

“The analogy I use for our team [is] we’re fighters. For those who cover our team on a regular basis, you know we talk about boxing quite a bit. And we got our ass knocked down on the canvas. You get back up and you go fight again. That’s kind of what this offseason is for us.”

Quinn said that he has re-watched the game on numerous occasions in the hopes that he might gain insights from the embarrassing debacle that could help his team down the road. He took full responsibility for the disappointing outcome.

“You have to own that,” he said. “The calls, the things you could do differently – that’s not unlike most Sunday nights for me, where I wrestle in all three phases. ‘Could there be something different?’ As the head coach, those are the moments I do have to own.”

Quinn, however, sounded confident the Falcons will bounce back from the trying ordeal, citing the deep team chemistry as reason that fans should again be optimistic about Atlanta’s chances in 2017 as they begin play in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

His optimism is understandable, given that the Falcons will return perhaps the NFL’s most potent troika in quarterback and 2016 league MVP Matt Ryan, wide receiver Julio Jones and running back Devonta Freeman among others.

NFL newcomer Steve Sarkasian takes over at offensive coordinator following Kyle Shanahan’s departure to become the new San Francisco 49ers head coach, while assistant coach Marquand Manuel has been promoted up to become the team’s defensive coordinator in place of the fired Richard Smith.

Their transitions should be smooth as Atlanta will again be loaded with players on both sides of the ball.

But the stunning loss to New England understandably remains difficult to process. But Quinn sounded confident that he and his players would get through it.

“What I can tell you and share from that experience: This connection with this team, and this brotherhood that these guys have, it is so real and so strong,” the coach said, according to the team’s official website. “I love these guys. And I’m pumped to be a part of it.”

The NFL Free Agency Period kicked off on March 9 and runs through April. How the Falcons fare during this period figures to influence their decisions in the upcoming NFL Draft that will take place in Philadelphia from April 27-29.

»Photo courtesy of the Atlanta Falcons