Blowing a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl is another thing. It’s the losing two straight home games that’s under the collective feathers of the Falcons at the moment.
After dropping their pre-bye week game at home to the Bills, the Dolphins coughed up a 17-0 lead to lose 20-17 to the Dolphins yesterday, taking some of the shine off brand new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“Losing, in general, is hard,” Falcons free safety Ricardo Allen said, via Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com. “But two times in a row at home? That’s a disrespect to ourselves. That’s a disrespect to our coaches. That’s a disrespect to our owner. That’s a disrespect to our fans. That’s a disrespect to everybody that surrounds the damn Falcons because that’s not us.”
Unless it is. Next week will bring a stark reminder of who many people think they are, as they’ll see the team that came back from a 25-point deficit in Super Bowl LI. At least it’s on the road, which may help.
“We’ve got to reset,” Allen said. “It ain’t no other way. What you going to do, just lay down? There’s s--- else you can do. You’ve got be a man. You’ve got to know what we work for when we wake up every morning. What we grind for. What this team stands for. We’ve got to reset.”
If that sounds a little desperate for October, then perhaps it indicates how frustrating an entire offseason of talking about collapses was, especially when they’re followed up the next season by more of them.
