Next challenge for Matt Ryan, Falcons: Avoid Super Bowl hangover
HOUSTON — This one will sting for a while. Ricardo Allen knows it.
The Atlanta Falcons free safety could practically feel the Lombardi trophy in his arms, considering his team held a 28-3 lead midway through the third quarter of Super Bowl LI before Tom Brady and the New England Patriots rallied for a stunning, 34-28 overtime victory. The colossal collapse was the worst in Super Bowl history and left Allen thinking about one thing: getting back to work this week.
“How do you get this feeling out your stomach? You never do,” Allen said. “You don’t. It’s going to hurt me. It’s going to bite me for forever. It’s going to be painful. I never forget anything, especially something like this. It was another game, but it was the biggest game of the year. And we needed to bring this back to Atlanta, and we didn’t do that. We played really well early, and we slowed down.”
The empty feeling is sure to follow the Falcons into Tuesday morning’s open locker room session, as the players clean out their items for an extended break. But there will be constant reminders of how they all but gave away a Super Bowl title, which would have been the first in franchise history.
There’s no erasing the game film completely.
“I’ll probably watch it 10 times a day,” Allen said. “I’ll probably watch it over and over and over again just to see to what went wrong and when it went wrong and why it went wrong.”
Cornerback Robert Alford had the same line of thinking.
“At the end of the day, it’s going back and watching the film,” Alford said. “I’m probably going to watch it at least three or four times just to see what I could have done better to help my team win and to keep this feeling with me to use as motivation as a grind for next season.”
As painful as it feels, the Falcons have to find a way not to let the devastating loss transform into an extended Super Bowl hangover. The window of opportunity to win a title is extremely small for most teams not named the Patriots. But there’s no reason why the Falcons can’t build off a surprising 2016 run and put themselves in contention once again next season.
It starts with MVP Matt Ryan, who has been around enough to know how to handle adversity.
“I think everybody is disappointed, for sure,” Ryan said after the game. “It’s not easy when you’ve come this far and didn’t get the result that you want. Like all things, we’ll move past it, come together, and hopefully put ourselves right back in the position.”
Patriots 34, Falcons 28 (OT)
There’s no guarantee such will occur. Remember last year, MVP Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers felt confident about recovering after being dominated in a Super Bowl loss to the Denver Broncos. But rather than retool, the Panthers regressed and failed to make the playoffs.
To avoid taking a step back next season, the Falcons have to first absorb the loss of offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who officially became coach of the San Francisco 49ers on Monday. Although Shanahan took much criticism for his second-half playcalling in the Super Bowl, no one can deny he helped elevate Ryan and the offense to another level. Keeping Shanahan’s scheme intact with an internal candidate or coach from the same coaching tree would be wise, considering coach Dan Quinn already said the offensive system is “100 percent” in place.
The young players on defense — specifically the four rookies and three second-year players in the starting lineup — have to view the Super Bowl loss as determining the champion for this specific season and not defining the outlook for the future of the unit.
Quinn will once again emphasize his vision of being one of the toughest, fastest outfits around, while emphasizing the primary goal of the 2017 regular season: owning the NFC South. Dominating the division will be a more daunting task with the potential of the Panthers having a bounce-back season and the possibility of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers taking another step toward becoming a playoff team.
Then with the ’17 schedule, the Falcons face five playoff teams, three at home and two away. One of those road contests will be against the Patriots, which is sure to stir up bad memories about the Super Bowl. But those thoughts of failure can’t linger, not if the Falcons hope to enjoy success for years to come.
“It’s not moral victories, but this was a good building point,” Allen said of the season. “We just have to keep going. We’ve got to keep building.”
