“I’m past it, but I’m not over it. I don’t think I’ll ever be and that’s a good thing.”
Dan Quinn to NFL.com a month after his Falcons blew a 25
point lead to the Patriots at Super Bowl 51 in February 2017.
If you want to understand why Quinn got his pink slip on
Sunday evening then start from that quote then look at the past three years.
2017 saw them back in the play offs, albeit after a 10-6 season, then 2018 and
2019 saw successive 7-9 campaigns.
Quinn only made it into 2020 after turning a 1-7 start in
2019 into a 6-2 finish to put a little gloss on a disappointing campaign.
Yes the Saints are the top dogs in the NFC South but please,
Matt Ryan is no Nathan Peterman and has the toys to play with on offence.
Truth is the Falcons play like a team with the world’s worst
hangover, a 29-10 lead over the Cowboys in week two became a 40-39 loss and
then there was that Bears game….
With 15 minutes left the Falcons led 26-10, the first W was
one good quarter of football away. Heck the Bears benched their starting QB! The
result? 20 unanswered points from messers Foles and company and another L.
By not being ‘over it’ Quinn projected his feelings of that
incredible February night onto his team. He’s not the only coach or player to
taste pain at the big dance, ask the Bills Marv Levy and Scott Norwood, the
kicker who had a shot at winning Super Bowl XXV for Buffalo if it still hurts.
Ask John Elway, the QB who led the Broncos to a 10-0 lead
over the Redskins in Super Bowl XXII only to see 42 unanswered points in
response, if he still hurts all these years on.
The answer will be yes, of course it will they are
professional sportsmen. But the very best deal with it, move on and don’t dwell
on something they can’t change.
Foxborough’s own Darth Maul is often mocked for his ‘We’re
on to’ comments after a defeat but Belichick’s genius is that not only does it
prevent the media from picking over a defeat too much but it sends a message to
the locker room that defeat is an unwanted visitor.
Quinn would have been better served challenging his men to
think about it a lot and channel the hurt into winning football games.
Instead he gave his players an excuse. ‘Well if coach isn’t
over it then we sure ain’t.’
Quinn then sacked his co-ordinators, it was everyone else’s
fault but his own.
He was right, until he started the season 0-5. Then he found
out the truth, maybe it was his fault all along….
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