1. The Falcons are at best the 6th most popular football team in the Atlanta area. The exact order is 1. UGA. 2. Local HS team 3. Auburn 4. Alabama 5. Ga. Southern 6. Falcons. The reason our slogan is "Rise up" is because everyone in Atlanta is too hung over from the previous two days of rooting for their favorite teams to actually notice the Falcons exist without the Samuel L. Jackson screaming, "Rise Up" in their face on a Sunday morning.
2. When Matt Ryan was selected to be the first and only true franchise QB in Falcons history, there were nearly race riots all over Atlanta. Keep in mind, Vick was serving a prison sentence for ruthlessly murdering dogs... and there were still Vick fans who thought it was ok and that Vick should return to the team after his prison sentence! Why? Because he makes "sick moves and gets on highlight reels".
3. The Falcons once gave a career .500 QB $120+ million dollars to be the primary puppy killer on teams coached by Jim Mora and Bobby Petrino. The same guy who brought a water bottle bong onto an airplane.
4. We let Joey Harrington be the face of the post-vick Falcons for one season.
5. Pat Yasinskas of ESPN has spent the last three years exploiting the promise of Harry Douglas. Well, when given his one big opportunity to become a Falcons legend, Harry Douglas falls down on
a freaking wheel route with no one on him and a clear path to the end zone for the lead and in all likelihood a SB birth. Everyone keeps saying, "Err we were 10 yards away from a Super Bowl". False, we were one professional athlete who gets paid to be athletic and not fall down on a play that is run to perfection by seven-year-olds away from going to the Super Bowl.
6. We have the all-time best red zone tight end in history and on the aforementioned "10 yards away play" he literally stands by himself in the endzone while Matt Ryan jams it into
Roddy White.
The good thing about Osi is that he fits perfectly into the space of "former incredible DL player who now gets hurt all the time but when he's healthy makes you think Holy he's awesome" spot vacated by the corpse of John Abraham.
The defense will still give up 30 ppg in the playoffs and the media will still crucify Matt Ryan for being unable to win in the postseason. Yeah, too bad he couldn't cover the Seahawks TE and Vernon Davis who combined for something like 975 yards and 13 touchdowns in the playoffs against Atlanta. I'd much prefer to go 4-12 and blow out Cam Newton's ACL than 12-4 and get curb stomped by Seattle in January.
Also, the Smith family can die in a herpes tornado.
PS, when Morton Andersen booted the Falcons into the Super Bowl over your beloved Vikings I was 22 years old and wept tears of joy.