In , Ryan surpassed career touchdown passes and reached the 50, career passing yards mark. The first-round draft pick had the most receiving yards of any player for the entire decade. He is also a seven-time pro-bowler , and a two-time first-team all-pro and Both players led the Falcons to division titles, playoff victories, and defeats and were this close to a Super Bowl victory in , which most Falcons fans still suffer from.
As much as a successful decade as it was for the Falcons, some may say that until they achieve the ultimate goal of winning the all elusive trophy, nothing else matters. In five seasons from to , Dan Quinn has a regular-season record of losses. This includes a playoff record of In seven seasons as Falcons head coach, Mike Smith compiled a regular-season record of , which includes a playoff record. Both coaches had flashes of success and failure.
Mike Smith breathed new life into a franchise that was in dire need of it following the Bobby Petrino debacle in Arizona Cardinals 7 at Atlanta Falcons Atlanta Falcons 27 at New Orleans Saints San Francisco 49ers 14 at Atlanta Falcons Atlanta Falcons 20 at Cleveland Browns Atlanta Falcons 17 at Philadelphia Eagles Cincinnati Bengals 32 at Atlanta Falcons Sun, Nov 7, Sun, Nov 7.
Thu, Nov 11, Thu, Nov Sun, Nov 21, Sun, Nov Louis Rams Rams. Sun, Nov 28, Sun, Nov Sun, Dec 5, Sun, Dec 5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Buccaneers. Sun, Dec 12, Sun, Dec Carolina Panthers Panthers. Sun, Dec 19, Sun, Dec It was, however, the last time the Falcons would lose for a long time. Atlanta made a habit of close, highly entertaining wins in the weeks to come.
They beat the Bengals , the Buccaneers twice , , the Ravens , and the Packers They did manage to blow out some bad teams, namely the Panthers twice both times , the Seahawks and the Rams Their sole loss through the last ten weeks of the season came at the hands of the Saints, who won a battle on Monday night in the Georgia Dome. When the dust settled, the Falcons were They had shown a knack for crushing terrible teams, playing patient clock-control football against average-to-good teams and falling just short against other good teams.
Looking back, it's clear that the Falcons' biggest advantage was also their biggest weakness. Relying heavily on Michael Turner and fast-developing routes to Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez, this was a team that could eat an entire bowl of clock and come back for seconds. It was a team that could control the tempo of the game and bludgeon other teams to death, exhausting them and hanging on for the win. It was decidedly old-school football, and when it worked, it worked exceptionally well.
We all know what happened when it didn't work well. After a bye week, the Falcons hosted the red-hot Packers in the Georgia Dome. The Falcons built an early lead, holding the Packers in check and playing that patient football.
But thanks to a deadly combination of turnovers, defensive miscues and offensive ineptitude, the Packers scored 28 points in the second quarter, opening up a halftime lead. Faced with a deficit against a high-powered offense, the Falcons were suddenly doomed by their trademark brand of football.
They wound up losing by a humiliating 27 points, with the final score at A magical run ended that day. Were the Falcons a great football team? In their way, they were. In today's NFL, it's rare to see a team achieve as much success as those Falcons by playing football that owed a lot to the 70's and 80's. There were fantastic individual performances, one of the best marks in franchise history and a first round-bye, and on their best days no team in the NFL looked forward to having to tackle Mike Smith's squad.
The ending of the season will forever mar these legitimate accomplishments, but these Falcons were one of the best teams in franchise history.
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