See what Arthur Blank said to Falcons before Colts game
The Falcons enter the last week of the season with the playoffs on the line, but they don’t control their own destiny.
A win against the Saints in New Orleans alone wouldn’t end Atlanta’s postseason futility; the club needs an improbable Panthers upset of the Buccaneers. That would put the Falcons as victors of the NFC South, hosting a playoff game in Atlanta for the first time since 2016.
In that same breath, if they fall in New Orleans to the Saints and the Jets beat the Patriots, Terry Fontenot’s front office will be preparing for a draft cycle with the 8th overall pick for the third straight summer.
It’s the perfect ending for the Falcons season — polar opposites. One week the squad seems like a well operated bunch, and the other it looks like it should be taken down and sold for parts.
For instance, last Sunday in Chicago, the Falcons looked disinterested in even being on Soldier Field and were taken to the woodshed by a poor Bears squad. Then the week prior, Arthur Smith’s club put on the best performance of the season against the Colts.
Interestingly, before the Falcons’ final home game of the season, the club’s owner spoke to the team before the Week 16 contest. Calais Campbell noted that Arthur Blank had a simple message, “… You do better when you play loose and just have fun.”
I wouldn’t read too much into Blank speaking to the players at this juncture in the season. It’s not an indictment on Arthur Smith’s control of the locker room or anything else.
I find it amusing that the one time we know of Blank speaking to the team before a game is somehow the finest performance of the season. It might just be a coincidence, but it’s significant nonetheless.
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