Atlanta falls short

Atlanta falls short, San Fran heading to the Super Bowl

Just when you think you have the advantage on your side and the Super Bowl within sight, it just comes tumbling down. Atlanta was within yards of returning to the Super bowl for the second time in franchise history, but Colin Kaepernick and the 49er's Defense had other plans. Atlanta got off to an amazing start with Matt Ryan and Julio Jones hooking up as if they were the only ones on the field. Ryan was starting to shut up the critics and make a stand for his team and his city. He was the bread and butter for the first half, being that the run game was near impossible against the San Fransisco defense. San Fransisco kept within distance after scoring two touchdowns on back to back possessions, but the insurance package himself, Mr. Tony Gonzalez, scored a last second TD just before half to give all of Atlanta hope in the second half. The second half would be the key aspect to this whole entire game because San Fransisco was done giving up points. Atlanta went a whole 30 minutes without a score. San Fransisco had more than plenty of opportunities to lock the game up but at the time, the football Gods were rooting for Atlanta. A missed 38 yard field goal by Akers and then a forced fumble by Robinson on the goal line gave the Falcons the advantage with the clock running down closer to the end. Just under 9 minutes to go in the 4th quarter though, James finally broke free and scored the, what would end up being, game winning Touchdown. The 49er's defense never lost sight and started breaking up passes at the right time and stopping the run game as they had been all game. Kaepernick realized that his legs were at his advantage, which I was afraid of, and used them to scramble to secure himself more time down field on deep passes with Davis and Crabtree. Yes the falcons didn't finish and yes it seems like our home teams have a hard time winning when it matters but don't doubt this team. I have high hopes for these boys next season with or without Tony G. Matt Ryan has already made a hard impression on his legacy resume with the Atlanta Falcons having the highest win percentage of any QB in their first 5 seasons in the NFL behind Peyton Manning & Tom Brady. In a personal opinion, I think we did more than enough to at least silence the critic till next Fall, when we will be bombarded even more for how we lost. Keep an eye out for the 2013-2014 Falcons because with the performance I saw today, a rematch could be upon us.