Atlanta Falcons get a chance to erase nightmares with trip to Houston

Forget the on the field matchup between the Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans on Sunday. This game is bigger than that.

In a lot of ways, it’s a chance for the  Atlanta Falcons to reclaim what made them special in 2016. It’s a chance to finally put to bed one of the worst sports collapses of all time. It’s a trip the team needs and fans will learn a lot about this year’s iteration of the Brotherhood.

By now, the two numbers are ingrained in Falcons’ fans’ minds. 28-3. The lead the team had on the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 51. And where was that game? Houston. NRG Stadium.

People were quick to focus on the fact that Atlanta would have to face the Patriots in the next season. And they did, on Sunday night. Foggate ring a bell? But the Falcons came out

flat.

The Patriots pregame festivities included reminding everyone of what happened just a few months prior. And it seemed to have an effect. The Falcons mustered all of one score.

But a lot of times nightmares and memories are tied to places, not just people. And the Falcons have a chance to go back to Houston, in that same stadium, on that same field and right a sinking ship that is the 2019-20 season.

For all the talk about the job security of Dan Quinn, the frustration of the offense, the below-par play of Devonta Freeman, most of the Brotherhood that competed on the field on February 5, 2017, is still here.

Coordinators have come and gone but the man that led them on the field that Sunday, Quinn, and the quarterback that day, Matt Ryan, are still here. The Falcons are 1-3 but have two winnable games coming up.

And believe it or not, their chances of getting to Miami, the site of this year’s Super Bowl, hinge wholly on their performance in Houston. If the Falcons want to make something of this year, it starts Sunday. If they do anything short of Rise Up, we could be looking at another wasted year.