Atlanta Falcons: Looking Back And Looking Ahead In 2018

The Super Bowl just completed the 2017 NFL season, and the Atlanta Falcons weren’t there. The past will inform the future in the coming months.

Atlanta Falcons fans got tired of hearing about a Super Bowl “hangover” heading into this last season. Most of us didn’t even want to discuss it, much less drone on about how it would affect our future. But we did because folks told us it was real. Now that this NFL season is over, and there is a new narrative that doesn’t immediately involve the Falcons, the team looks forward to remove the shackles of the past.

Truth be told, some Atlanta fans somewhat dismissed the idea of the Super Bowl “hangover”. Yeah, we knew the stats. Yeah, we knew that good teams before us had suffered that fate. Most of us probably commented on it then.

But, this team? I mean, they all come back. And we were a year ahead of schedule. We started a bunch of rookies. Certainly, they would be even better in year 2.

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But things never felt right all year. Ever. Even those early wins were crazy. We looked off. Sluggish. Apprehensive. Almost robotic, at times. Going through the reps, but the mind was lagging.

Doing what they did, making the Divisional round in successive seasons, isn’t a total failure, but it always seemed like they were close to catching fire again. Never did.

Watching Philly do exactly what Atlanta couldn’t do, hold a lead against New England, in the Super Bowl, and win their first ever title, is a little salty.

Not that falcons fans begrudge Philly. Most were probably actively cheering for the Eagles. It’s just that twinge of lingering regret.

That season, now is behind us. Is it possible that the hazy hangover is over for our Falcons? Can they shake those shadows from the past?

Or was the tilting and stalling this year because of structural changes and couldn’t be avoided? A new Offensive and Defensive Coordinator. That always requires a transition time, no? Or was it that the new guys just aren’t good? Sarkisian signs will start popping up next year, if things are the same next year.

Coach Dan Quinn deserves credit for being able to have successful NFL Drafts, thus far. And if he continues, that bodes well for Falcons future. The NFL Draft is the next thing on the calendar that will begin the season. It starts there.

The Atlanta Falcons were left looking through the window at this year’s Super Bowl. That window of opportunity is getting smaller with the advancing ages of Matt Ryan and Julio Jones.

If they are going to take advantage of it soon, that process starts now. If not physically, then mentally and emotionally for sure.

Next: Atlanta Falcons Should Spend Draft Picks on Quarterbacks

There is a season’s distance between the chaos of last year. It’s time to prepare and play like it. Or they risk letting that past dictate any future.