ATLANTA -- The television feeds of Sunday Night Football on NBC in the press box of Mercedes-Benz Stadium were muted. But Twitter made it known that every other comment from the commentators was about the Atlanta Falcons' collapse in Super Bowl LI.
It was natural for it to be part of the discussion with the Falcons returning to the national spotlight in a rematch of last year's NFC Championship game against the Green Bay Packers. Plus, it didn't help when Aaron Rodgers threw two touchdown passes to chip away at a 24-point Falcons lead in the fourth quarter. It had everyone murmuring something about collapses and comebacks.
But contrary to that game last season against the New England Patriots, the Falcons were able to run the ball, run down the clock and hold on to a 34-23 win in their first regular season game in their new $1.5 billion stadium.
The offense looked like their old selves after a slow start in week one against the Chicago Bears. Matt Ryan found Julio Jones for big plays early that set up a Devonta Freeman touchdown. Freeman had two scores in the game and 84 yards.
Running back Tevin Coleman scored on a short pass from Ryan after corner back Desmond Trufant picked off Rodgers in the second quarter, and then Trufant scooped and scored on defense after Vic Beasley strip sacked the Packers quarterback.
The offense stalled in the second half but was able to run out enough clock to avoid a complete comeback. It was shaky, but they're showing they are figuring out how to close out games. Regardless, a victory against one of the top teams in the NFC on national television should help the talking points drift away from anything about a Super Bowl hangover.
At least Ryan thinks so.
"I don’t think about it too much," Ryan said about the Super Bowl. "I think everyone else does because the question keeps coming up. For us, we were focused on playing week one against Chicago, getting better this offseason. We tried to answer it that way, it kind of seemed like nobody believed us while we were saying it. It’s felt that way in our building for sure. Were we disappointed with how it ended? Absolutely. We got past that. We started working on becoming the best 2017 football team we can be, and we’re two games into it, and mission accomplished on those first two games."
Jones, who was the team's leading receiver with 108 yards on five catches, downplayed that the team's victory was any sort of statement win.
"Last year was last year. This is a new team…we’re finishing games right now," Jones said. "We have a lot of play makers just all around the board...We’ve got some special guys on this team. Everybody’s just so competitive, everybody’s just anxious to make that play."
Anyone on the team can make that play for the Falcons. Last week it was Austin Hooper on a 88-yard touchdown and defensive end Brooks Reed with the game-saving sack. This week, Trufant made the plays to prove he hasn't regressed at all since suffering a season-ending pectoral injury last season.
"When there’s different weapons, you never know who’s going to be the one," head coach Dan Quinn said. "Tonight it was Trufant, and (Julio) and the runners. So that’s what this Brotherhood is, and you never know when it’s your time. You go hard as hell, and when your (opportunity) is there, you gotta go for it."
As for Trufant, he never doubted his capabilities.
"My confidence is always high. That’s just how I am as a person. It’s definitely good just to get back because last year I wasn’t there when my team needed me the most so I grinded the whole offseason to get back to that elite level," Trufant said.
The Falcons hope that people now realize they're over Super Bowl LI. But that's not what Sunday's win was about. It was just one small step towards reaching their ultimate goal: getting back to the big game.
