Atlanta Falcons highlights from the 2020 season.

I very seriously had my doubts that the NFL would be able to pull off what I considered to be impossible: a full season.  I honestly believed that the complexity of 32 franchises, 53 players per team, practice squaders, coaching staff, support staff, etc., would be too many moving parts with too many uncontrollable outside factors to get through.

I personally gave the NFL until week 8 to derail.  

But they managed, and kudos to everyone and all of the sacrifices that were made and concessions agreed to in order to make it happen. This game that I love so much and league that I devote my time to came through for me as one of the consistently positive things over the course of this pandemic.

Having said that, the Atlanta Falcons train broke down in the station and never got on track.  General Manager Thomas Dimitroff's guidance raised the Falcons from perennial laughingstocks to respectability in his era.  Before Dimitroff, the Atlanta Falcons had never experienced back-to-back winning seasons, but the Falcons became consistent playoff contenders during his time before falling back to earth.  The ‘Comrade’ brought in, among so many others, the franchise’s best quarterback ever in Matt Ryan and one of the NFL’s best wide receivers OF ALL TIME with the incomparable Julio Jones.  
The reset with the hiring of Dan Quinn brought initial success with the Falcons’ second-only Super Bowl appearance and a ton of optimism, and for that I thank DQ.  

Atlanta now stands at yet another crossroads.  The winds of change rolled through Georgia after an 0-5 start to this strangest of seasons, and the widely respected Raheem Morris took the reins.  Morris kept the Falcons surprisingly and awkwardly competitive under his watch, but the inconsistencies that plagued the team earlier went on the doom the season.  While Coach Rah did the best he could, wholesale change is what’s needed at Flowery Branch.  With the regular season now squarely in the rear-view mirror, the Falcons have to take the next step to return to relevancy.  Whether that means keeping 'Matty Ice' and 'the Jet' or moving on from these all-time team legends, we won’t know until new leadership is established. I would prefer to keep both; draft Matt's successor (hopefully you don't get too many opportunities to draft this high, so you should take advantage of it when it happens, right?!?) and then let both Matt Ryan and Julio Jones ride off into the sunset within the next two years. Cautious optimism abounds.

Here’s to hoping that 2021 will be a better year -- not just for my Atlanta Falcons, but for the whole effn’ WORLD.

p.s. - LOVE the new helmets! I totally support bringing back black as the primary uniform color. Although, the number fonts look...weird...


music:
"Flashpoint" by Robert Slump
"Liberators" by Epic Score


#atlantafalcons
#riseup
#nfl

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