After Saturday’s loss, Lawyer Milloy stood in front of his locker with tears in his eyes. His Atlanta Falcons had just been defeated 30-24 by the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs. The season was over. But after the franchise was in tatters just one year ago, he was one of many Falcons who viewed the 2008-09 season as the beginning of something special.
“I’m really proud of this team,” he said, “especially with what we went through last year.”
Milloy wasn’t lying. The Falcons were reeling after suffering through one of the worst years imaginable in 2007. The franchise quarterback was in prison, and their head coach bailed on them before the season even ended. They finished 4-12 and appeared to be headed into a major rebuilding process after releasing or trading many of their veteran players.
The Falcons were counted out by pundits before the season even began. With a rookie quarterback in Matt Ryan heading up an incredibly inexperienced roster, there weren’t many reasons to believe otherwise.
We were wrong. First-year general manager Thomas Dimitroff assembled a solid core of players, even though many of them weren’t exactly well known. But the most crucial addition of all was the hiring of former Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator Mike Smith as head coach.
Smith and his staff paved the way for a seemingly undermanned team that played with confidence from Day 1. Atlanta finished the season at 11-5 and garnered its first postseason berth since the 2004-05 season.
TOUGH TO SWALLOW
In the end, the Falcons were the first team eliminated from the NFL postseason. Three turnovers and two long Arizona touchdown passes were too much to overcome at the University of Phoenix Stadium.
“They just played great football,” said Pro Bowl-bound running back Michael Turner.
Turner rushed for just 42 yards on 14 carries on the afternoon. Roddy White led the receivers with 11 catches for 84 yards and a touchdown.
But turnovers sealed Atlanta’s fate. Among them was a 21-yard fumble return for a touchdown that gave the Cardinals an early second-half lead they would never relinquish.
Still, the Falcons fought back all game long. They trailed 14-3 in the second quarter before storming back to take a 17-14 halftime lead. They also pulled back within six late in the fourth quarter but couldn’t get the ball back, as the Cards ran the clock out behind three first-down conversions.
“It’s tough to have a chance there at the end and we weren’t able to stop them,” Smith said.
While the Falcons mourned their elimination from the playoffs, many players in the locker room took solace in the fact that they had battled back in the first and second halves. Responding from adversity had become a theme for this year’s team, as Atlanta had defied the odds simply to garner a winning season, let alone a playoff appearance.
“We fought hard all day,” said linebacker Keither Brooking. “Nothing takes the life out of this team – that happens to losers and we’re not losers.”
LOOKING AHEAD
Despite the heartbreak last Saturday, there was still a feeling of optimism. After all, an organization that was thought to be at an all-time low after 2007 now has one of the league’s brightest futures.
Ryan’s season ranked among the best ever for a rookie quarterback. Meanwhile, Turner and White are both headed to the Pro Bowl, with perhaps their best years still ahead of them. But they are only a few of the Falcons who stepped up.
“We had a lot of young players that were thrown into starting roles this year,” said veteran wideout Brian Finneran. “They got a lot of good experience in their first year. I’m talking about guys like [cornerback] Chevis Jackson, [defensive end] Kroy Biermann, and [linebacker] Curtis Lofton.”
Even though the season came to a disappointing close, there was no doubt that this was an extraordinary season, and one that anyone who was around for last year’s debacle will never forget.
“We lost the game and it hurts like hell,” Brooking said. “But I’ll look back at the relationships I developed here and the way we came together and we fought together.”
Now, the Falcons want more.
“We don’t want to be here, losing in the first round of the playoffs in the future,” Ryan said. “What we want to do is continue to advance in the playoffs and give ourselves a chance to win. I think everybody will use it as motivation for next season.”
Next season can’t come soon enough. See you then.
Bagriansky can be reached at jbagriansky@scoreatl.com.
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