The Falcons were down 12 points in the fourth quarter against the Packers last Sunday and the odds of a team quarterbacked by Desmond Ridder coming back from that deficit in the final 15 minutes weren’t great, but that’s exactly what happened.
Ridder ran for a touchdown to cut the Packers lead to five points and the Falcons defense didn’t give up a first down as Atlanta took control of the game down the stretch. The next two Atlanta drives only resulted in field goals, but that was they needed to ensure a victory and a 2-0 record on the year.
During an appearance with Adam Schein on Mad Dog Sports Radio, Falcons wide receiver Drake London said that the rest of the league should see the comeback as a sign that the Falcons aren’t going to stop fighting because they’ve fallen behind on the scoreboard.
“I don’t know if y’all could feel it, but I felt like maybe Green Bay felt like they put us in the casket a little early,” London said. “This team, don’t ever count us out. We’re going to still fight until we can’t fight no more, and that goes back to our motto. I’m gonna keep on saying it. Burn the boats. We’re a well-conditioned team, we’re an aggressive team, and we’re gonna go out there and give you our best for the whole time being. And I think that’s kind of where we caught them in the second half.”
The idea of burning the boats comes from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War as a way of letting soldiers know that there is no retreat once you’ve invaded and, therefore, no option other than winning the battle. The motto served the Falcons well last Sunday and and they’ll bun them again upon landing in Detroit for this Sunday’s game.