Couldn't sleep after this game. Wrote the following instead.
Still in shock.
FALCONS DESTROY PATS IN SUPER BOWL LI.
WAIT! WHAT?
By Jim Baldwin
LEXINGTON, MA. February 6, 2016. Ok, stay with me here. It was getting late. There was a deadline to meet. It was 28-3 Falcons. Tevin Coleman (who??) had just scored, easily, on a pass from the perfect…perfect Matt Ryan.
That “untested” Atlanta defense that Brady was going to carve up? Not so much. The Falcons had this incredibly mobile defensive beast named Grady Jarrett who was living in the Patriots backfield.
They were doing to us what T Mobile and Sprint were doing to Verizon in the best commercials of the night. And, like the Pats, we weren’t enjoying our data overage charges.
28-3. Let’s be honest. That’s when my group gave up. The predicted rout was on, but in the other direction. Hands thrown into the air, pillows thrown at the wall, eyes rolling. Yup. It’s over. Have some more barbecue. Take a pee break.
At 28-3 the mind wanders. One fan friend, very knowledgeable football guy, texts with me during Pats games.. Short, pithy comments. From the AFC title game for example there’s this typical exchange. Me. “I hate Logan Ryan. Leads team in tackles cause his man always makes the catch first.” Him: “The underneath stuff is killing us. As always.”
We do this twenty or thirty times a game. Last night there was only one text, a simple“ Wow” with a thumb down at 14-0. There just was no reason to text.
At 28-3 I think of another good friend, a BC guy who bleeds Eagle feathers, but is anything but obnoxious in his loyalty.
He’s all in for the Falcons simply because of Matt Ryan. He knows Ryan. He says, “I have to root for Ryan. He’s such a great kid. Humble. Self-effacing. He brings the right kind of attention to BC. Honor. Dignity. Respect.” He goes on. “He does for the Falcons what Brady does for the Patriots, just more quietly.”
He is a happy man right now as the announcers have just informed us that Ryan has a perfect QB rating for the game. Great.
At 28-3 I think of all those Fly Over People who delivered unto us you know who. Little did we know they were not done and now are delivering unto us another beating we deserve.
“They hate us ‘cause they ain’t us,” and they are absolutely reveling over Brady on his back, Belichick scowling and the hated Patriots meeting their just rewards. It is hard to believe for us New Englanders that the rest of the country feels about the Patriots the way we feel about the Yankees, but it’s true.
It is now 28-9, but guess what? We’re more focused on Gostkowski’s missed extra point than we are on the touchdown. There’s still no chance. And the story has been submitted anyway.
Wait! What? Now it’s 28-20 and there’s plenty of time left.
Me: “can you bleeping believe what's happening?!”
Him: “ I went to bed. Couldn’t stand it.”
We’re planning to meet at the parade tomorrow.