Atlanta Falcons May Want to Stay in England

The Atlanta Falcons play a home game across the pond in jolly ol’ England for Week 5 against the New York Jets. When the schedule first came out, it was disappointing that the Dirty Birds would lose a home game; after all, the NFL season is short, and fans only get a couple of chances to see their team. But that all changed after last weekend’s game at Mercedes Benz Field. Falcons faithful should be embarrassed.

It was shocking every time there was a wide shot – The Benz was empty. The paid attendance was more than 65,000, but how many people actually came through the wickets is unknown, at least not publicly. To make matters worse, it seemed the vast majority of people who did attend the game were cheering for the visiting Washington Football Team. Several times, it looked and sounded like the game was taking place in D.C. and not the Big Peach. Listen to the mic’ed up the Football Team released from the game.

This humiliating display came on the heels of a passionate Dean Pees torching of the so-called team While Pees was directing his comment to the media, fan forums and social media have been equally critical, which was reflected by the support in the stands during Week 4.

These are professional athletes and coaches getting paid big bucks to play a game. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have feelings. It must be challenging to come out of the tunnel and see the other team’s colors sitting in your stands in a fairly empty-looking stadium.

The team is coming off a dreadful 4-12 season, but there is a new general manager and coaching staff. It seems awfully early for the fanbase to throw in the towel and wait for next season.
This franchise is only four years and seven months removed from a Super Bowl appearance.

Several franchises in the NFL and in other leagues have not come close to that kind of success in recent memory. I get it, fans can be fickle. But there is nothing worse in the sports world than bandwagon hoppers.