Creating a Legacy

It is now January and the main sport people are ranting about is football. The NFL has once again reached its playoffs stage in where those clinched a spot get ready while other teams watch from their television at home. One team who made the playoffs for the 13th time in their 50 years of existence was the Atlanta Falcons.

Though they came in as the 2nd seed of 6 teams, and still very much doubted by many analysts. The reason being was the very young defense they have has had trouble all season stopping other teams, and their quarterback Matt Ryan playoff record being one win and four losses.

Being the 1st and 2nd seeds, the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons gained a 1st round bye, which means they would not play in the Wild Card round, giving them an extra week to rest up and practice for whichever opponent they would face in the Divisional round. By the end of the Wild Card weekend the Seattle Seahawks had ravaged the Detroit Lions 26-6, and the Green Bay Packers finished the New York Giants 38-13. These results would lead to the Seattle Seahawks going to Atlanta, and the Green Bay Packers head to Dallas.

On Saturday January 14, 2017 the Seahawks played the Falcons in what possibly could’ve been the last game at the Georgia Dome. As the Falcons started their first possession with a touchdown as a response to Seattle’s opening drive touchdown. The very next possession for Seattle turned out to be a real letdown.

Seattle’s kick returner Devin Hester took the Atlanta punt all the way to their opponent’s ten yard line. Unfortunately, this would be returned to their own ten yard line due to a holding penalty by teammate Kevin Pierre-Louis. The following play, center Rees Odhiambo stepped on quarterback Russell Wilson’s foot, making him trip in his own endzone and Atlanta defensive lineman Ben Garland getting the safety for the team.

From this point on, Seattle just could not get in rhythm and Atlanta would go to score on almost every offensive possession. The Atlanta defense appeared to be much different from how they look all season, applying pressure to quarterback Russell Wilson and making him get out of the pocket.

The Falcons would go on to win the matchup 36-20. Matt Ryan ended up going 26-37 in completions, throwing for 338 yards and 3 touchdowns. Meanwhile in the other matchup, the Packers and Cowboys had what should go down as one of the most classic playoff game of all time. Aaron Rodgers took the Packers down the field with one out of the pocket throw to tight end Jared Cook, setting up Mason Crosby to make the game winning 53 yard field goal to take the 34-31 win over Dallas.

And so the NFC championship game was set up. Green Bay would travel down south to Atlanta to play the Falcons, giving the Georgia Dome one more game to host. The two teams had faced earlier in the season, in which the Falcons slid by in the last seconds to win it 33-32. But both teams in interviews stated that they were both very different teams and the outcomes were sure to be different.

On Sunday January 22, 2017 the day had finally came, kickoff came at 12pm pt. This was only Atlanta’s 4th championship game in all their history, it was time to prove the world wrong. Atlanta’s high powered offense never took their foot off the gas pedal, and their defense did what no other team managed to do, shut down Aaron Rodgers’s legendary offense. Atlanta dominated the first half, heading to halftime 24-0. Green Bay hadn’t been shut down in the first half since 2002 vs Atlanta.

The second half consisted of the same explosiveness Atlanta showed in the first half. In their first second half drive, Ryan found his All Pro receiver Julio Jones for a 73 yard touchdown. Atlanta went on win to win it 44-21, which sends them to their 2nd ever Super Bowl.

Matt Ryan ended the day with 27-38 completions, throwing for 392 yards, throwing 4 touchdowns and running in for 1 touchdown. His yardage was only 2nd most in championship history, behind his own performance in 2012 vs San Francisco when he threw for 398 yards.

Atlanta’s young doubted defense proved many wrong as they picked off Rodgers, and kept applying the pressure to him. The pressure got to Rodgers mentally too, this was obvious when he committed a facemask penalty on Robert Alford while on the run, he shouldered Alford right after as well. In the last few minutes the Packers gave rookie 5th round draft pick Brett Hundley to shine as they well knew they were not going to win.

The final step in which the Falcons must take comes in 2 weeks, as they head to Houston for Super Bowl 51 in which they will face off Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the New England Patriots. To have a legacy like Brady and his four Super Bowl rings, Ryan must win this final game in order to create his own legacy and be put in the elite quarterbacks section. The ultimate goal will be to bring the Falcons their first ever Super Bowl trophy, and on the other hand, Brady will be looking to become the only quarterback with 5 Super Bowl rings.