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Jump on the wagon Allegiances aside, you gotta love the Atlanta Falcons
Posted: Tuesday January 19, 1999 02:10 PM
They aren't sexy. If you're after sex appeal, these Atlanta Falcons rank right up there with Francois Botha. In fact, these Falcons don't have a single, bankable superstar. They have an under-appreciated running back who isn't as fast or isn't as strong as many, but he runs on pure willpower and confidence, and the Falcons use him like he's a steel wheelbarrow. And they win. They have a quarterback who looks like he ought to be wearing an apron and flipping the chicken in the backyard, a player who doesn't swagger as much as he sneaks up on you. But he's good. Really good. They have a defense whose heart, linebacker Jessie Tuggle, is a 12-year veteran who has been through the worst of times with the team. And whose mouth, 14-year veteran safety Eugene Robinson, is in his first year in Atlanta. But it's a defense that just beat the most prolific offense in NFL history. Their coach is a guy who has a public persona as funny as an Atlanta rush hour, who sounds like he should be cutting bait back in Americus, Ga. He, too, is a winner. Super-starpower, though, they just don't have. Yet, two weeks away from the Super Bowl, one thing is now perfectly clear: You gotta love the Falcons, don't you? The Atlanta Falcons -- the Falcons, for Pete's sake -- are in the Super Bowl. My, my, my. If you're in Denver, or you're an Elway or an Elway fan, or if you're miserable in Minnesota right now, you'll be rooting for the Broncos in the Super Bowl. But if you put aside allegiances and personalities, when all you do is look at the two teams in XXXIII, you gotta love those Falcons. Why? Well, here are five good reasons you should be sitting in your La-Z-Boy wearing black and red on Jan. 31, getting up only to go to the refrigerator or do the Dirty Bird: The sentiment factor : Dan Reeves, the team's conservative, Georgia-born, control-heady coach is in his fourth Super Bowl -- and he's 0-3 as a head coach there. He was run out of Denver for his run-ins with quarterback John Elway but, by most accounts, he's a decent and fair man, no more pigheaded than Elway. Reeves says "excuse me" and "thank you" and, though you aren't going to carve many of his quotes into stone, he knows what it takes to win. He's 162-117 in the regular season in 18 years as an NFL head coach, including 14-2 this year. "This is as excited as I've ever been to be in a Super Bowl," said Reeves, about as animated as Al Gore when he said it. "It's something you look at and you can't say it's realistic -- when we started the season. "Someone's got something in mind for us." Then, of course, there's the whole heart thing. Just five weeks ago, the 54-year-old coach underwent quadruple bypass surgery at an Atlanta hospital. The underdog factor : Already, Denver is a touchdown favorite, and if it weren't for the fact that it was the seemingly unbeatable Minnesota Vikings that the Falcons beat in overtime Sunday, it would be even more. Two years ago, this franchise was 3-13. Before a couple weeks ago, they had played in only seven playoff games in 33 seasons. And they'd never even been to an NFC Championship game before Sunday. Other than a brief visit by Deion Sanders, the Falcons may be better known as the home of flaky former coach Jerry Glanville than anything else. And now they're playing Elway and the defending Super Bowl champion Broncos, who have been to more Super Bowls than anyone but the Dallas Cowboys. If that's not underdog enough for you, you're a closet Broncos booster. Chris Chandler : He's been around forever, in quarterback years, and he's with his sixth team in his 11 NFL seasons. Before this season, he was best known as a concussion waiting to happen, the son-in-law of a real quarterback, former San Francisco 49ers great John Brodie. But look at Chandler's numbers. Forget the shy-ish smile or the curly but fading hairdo. Twenty-five touchdowns to 12 interceptions this season. A 100.9 quarterback rating. Sunday against the Vikings, he threw for 340 yards and three touchdowns. Without an interception. When it comes to the fourth quarter, no one's better. This guy can play. And his wife is due to give birth to the couple's third child a week before the big game. Jamal Anderson : Here is a guy who can hang with Denver's loudmouth Shannon Sharpe in the boasting department, but never quite comes off that badly. He's an 1,800-yard runner in a year in which he ran the ball more than any back has ever run it -- 410 times during the regular season. He's a bull, and he can sling it with anyone, too. They're the Falcons : If you've ever rooted for the Cincinnati Bengals, or the Philadelphia Eagles, or the New Orleans Saints or St. Louis Rams or Houston/Tennessee Oilers/Titans, if you've ever found yourself pulling for a team that's been nowhere and stayed there for awhile, these Falcons are for you. This isn't just cheering for the underdogs. This is cheering for a franchise that is desperately trying to pull itself out of the NFL muck and, at least for this one shining season, has done it. It's what fans in every town that ever has wanted to get to the Super Bowl but never did dream about. Do they have a chance against the mighty Broncos? Did they have one against the Vikings? If you're a sports fan, and your team's not in the Super Bowl, jump on the Falcons bandwagon. There's still plenty of room. You gotta love it. John Donovan is senior writer for CNNSI.com. Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here.
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