Atlanta Falcons: Confessions of a Fan on the Fence

Training camp is officially underway for the Atlanta Falcons, marking the start of a brand new NFL season, a time that has all too often made the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention, anticipating greatness.

-= Devonta Freeman: Should Tevin Coleman Worry Him? =-

As a former season ticket holder, I’ve been through it all, the ups and downs, the times it went sideways and slantways. Mike Vick. Bobby Petrino. Emmitt Thomas — remember him? Samuel L. Jackson on the big screen, surrounded by a choir clad in crimson. Matt Ryan. Michael Turner. Mike Smith. Steven Jackson. I’ve lived and died with every Matt Bryant-kicked, end-of-the-game field goal. I’ve yelled. I’ve screamed. I’ve made a fool of myself — both in victory and in defeat.

So you’d think I’d be ecstatic to see a new, seemingly stable regime, led by a Super Bowl-winning former defensive coordinator in Dan Quinn, come in and help us kick some New Orleans Saints butt and beat down on the Carolina Panthers.

But something’s missing. Something’s off.

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It could be that I’m war-weary from hearing about all the less than desirable things that NFL stars have done. Ray Rice. Adrian Peterson. Tom Brady. These aren’t players I root for necessarily, they’ve obviously never played for the Atlanta Falcons, but at some point it gets tiring supporting a so-called fraternity of guys that, for the most part, have made a lot of very bad decisions.

And don’t get me started on the cluster-[censored] calamity that is Roger Goodell, the I’m-gonna-do-whatever-I-wanna-do-with-reckless-abandon, voiceless Donald Trump-clone of a commissioner.

But I digress.

Maybe my woes aren’t so general. Maybe they’re a little more specific.

-= Falcons All-Time Lists: Top 5 RBs =-

Maybe it’s because, when I look back at the recent history of the Atlanta Falcons franchise as a whole, it just seems like such a mess. Dog fighting. Fleeing in the middle of the night. Offensively great teams unable to gain a yard on the ground. Defensive-minded head coaches whose defenses were worst in the league. Poor, abysmal, bag-on-the-head-worthy postseason showings — like getting offensively blanked by the New York Giants in 2011, or coming up just short against the San Francisco 49ers in the 2012 NFC Championship Game.

A brand new, billion dollar stadium built for a team that’s never actually won anything. And oh, lest we forget about the fiasco of piping in crowd noise during games — oy vey, what an outright embarrassment that was, and during two losing seasons no less.

Jun 17, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones (11) catches a ball during minicamp at Falcons Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

On paper, and in then news, the Atlanta Falcons should have a pretty good football team this year. There’s a running back battle brewing between Devonta Freeman and newly acquired Tevin Coleman. Julio Jones is saying and doing all the right things in terms of contract negotiations. And, piecemeal though it may seem at the moment, our defense won’t play nearly as bad as it did last year…right? I mean Dan Quinn has uttered the words fast and physical so many times that even I, sitting in front of a computer screen, feel like I have an extra pep in my step.

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