I don’t normally get nervous. I’ve sung and spoken for thousands of people at a time on many occasions, and never broken a sweat. The NFL Divisional playoff game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Seattle Seahawks, however, had me singing a different tune.
To be honest, I have never been as nervous as I was on Jan. 13, not even in the NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers (which had a very different outcome, I should mention.) At halftime, the Falcons led 20-0 — a seemingly insurmountable lead. This excitement and confidence continued as the Falcons led 27-7 going into the fourth quarter, and I was sure the fate of the game was sealed. Man, was I wrong.
My excitement was soon cut short as Russell Wilson, quarterback for the Seahawks, ran all over the field, picking apart the Falcons’ defense, in a 20-point comeback to make the score 28-27 with 31 seconds to go.
I sat and watched in utter horror and disbelief as the Georgia Dome fell eerily silent. We had just been beaten yet again in the playoffs. My mind continued to drift in and out between our past disappointments in the playoffs over the past five years.
Let’s rewind for a second to where the playoff struggles first began: Matt Ryan’s rookie season in 2008. Ryan led the Falcons to an 11-5 season, one of the best in recent history and would be named NFL Rookie of the Year, but in Ryan’s inaugural playoff game, the Cardinals took a late lead that would never be overcome, and the Falcons went on to lose the game 30-24.
Fast forward a couple years to the 2010 season. The Falcons finished the season with a record of 13-3, making them the No. 1 seed in the NFC and home team advantage in the playoffs. But again, they were beaten by the Super Bowl-bound Packers.
Fans’ hopes were crushed once again. Just as we all believed the playoff disappointments could not possibly get any worse, the 2011 season proved differently.
Almost exactly one year later, the Dirty Birds faced the Giants at the Meadowlands. The game would not even be a competition as the Falcons’ defense scored more points than their offense, leading to a 24-2 loss to the New York Giants, who, like the Packers, went on to win the Super Bowl. It seemed like the Falcons were stuck in an endless cycle of failure.
Coming back to the reality of the moment, the Falcons were still one point behind after receiving the ball with only 25 seconds left.
It came down to two passes. Harry Douglas catches the ball. Timeout. Nineteen seconds left. Tony Gonzalez catches a strike down the middle within filed goal range. Matt Bryant kicks it immediately … and initially misses. Luckily, a timeout is called, and Bryant slices the uprights.
As glad as I am to finally have seen Matt Ryan win a playoff game, the journey wasn’t over. There was only one game to win before the Falcons reached the Super Bowl. Then, déjà vu struck.
In the NFC Championship on Jan. 20, the Falcons had taken an early 17-0 lead, and went into halftime leading 24-14. But in typical Falcons fashion, the entire fate of the season came down to a fourth-down play with 4 yards to go — a pass to Roddy White that fell to the ground, ending the Falcons’ season. Despite my depression, I could not have asked for more from my team. The Falcons truly proved that they were one of the best in the NFL to me and to football fans around the world.
