PhotoDude.com

Sun. Jan 12, 2003

20-6

20-6 – All week, I’ve been talking about the crowd in Philly at Veteran’s Stadium. Terence Moore describes what happened: “The towel-waving crowd was wired from the time Patti Labelle spent a couple of days singing the national anthem. It was up to the Falcons to silence them.”

“Oh, well.”

Indeed. If it was up to the Falcons to stifle them in the first quarter, a 49 yard interception returned for a touchdown and a half dozen very ugly penalties was an odd way to do it. It got better after the first quarter, but by then it was clear the Falcons weren’t quite up to a match with the Number 1 Seed.

But then, they weren’t supposed to be there to begin with.

Mark Bradley sums it up: “Potential met reality. Reality, as is its custom, won. But potential had its moments, and not until the game’s 54th minute could the NFC’s No. 1 seed feel safe. The rest of the NFL shouldn’t feel all that secure, either. The Falcons have only begun to fight.”

That’s journalist-speak for the more traditional fan lament, “Wait until next year…” But despite last night’s loss, I have to admit, this season was an awful lot of fun.