The Miami Dolphins probably have the record for celebrities who own a stake in an NFL team, but the Atlanta Falcons seem like they’re making a push to try and beat them. Are they…. “halfway there”? STOP BOOING ME!
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Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers may have trounced the Atlanta Falcons 48-21 on Saturday, but it’s his pregame behavior that is earning him A**hole of the Week awards from many sites around these here interwebs. In a news report aired by WBAY-TV in Green Bay, Rodgers was shown ignoring the autograph request of Jan Cavanaugh, a cancer patient wearing pink Packers gear, at the airport as the team was preparing to leave for Atlanta. Even worse, Cavanaugh had just driven directly from a radiation treatment for the sole purpose of grabbing some autographs. Yeesh.

When I first broke got wind of this story, it was told to me by my friend in a bar, as he glossed over Mike Florio’s soapbox rant at Pro Football Talk. And I said to myself, “Probably just another case of this guy stirring the pot and throwing gasoline.” Then I pulled up the video and thought, “Hoo boy, Aaron. That ain’t good, dude.”

Video and thoughts after the jump…

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Atlanta Falcon John Abraham has 13 sacks, two forced fumbles, an interception and now a terrible driving experience accomplished in his 2010 season. The defensive end was in his car going to practice when the snow in Atlanta decided to take him off the road. Wait, there’s snow in Atlanta? And it’s not coming from Young Jeezy?

Atlanta Falcons DE John Abraham had a hairy ride to the team’s walkthrough ahead of Atlanta’s matchup against the Green Bay Packers.

Abraham was a passenger in a four-door sedan that skidded off I-985 into a ditch while he was reporting to work on Monday morning. Fortunately, no one was injured.
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Fellow defensive lineman and Montana native Kroy Biermann saw his 6-foot-4, 263 pound teammate from South Carolina stranded on the side of the road, stopped and pulled Abraham’s car from the ditch. -Examiner.com.

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The New Orleans Saints clinched a playoff berth after defeating the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football last night, 17-14. The Falcons, who headed into last night’s game having clinched the NFC South title, gave up a Drew Brees TD pass to Jimmy Graham in the last four minutes of the game as the Saints avenged their loss against Atlanta in Week 3.

“It feels good,” Brees said. “You just want to punch your ticket to the big show, and we’ve done that. Obviously, Carolina needs to beat Atlanta next week so we can get that one seed.”

“We don’t want to feel this way the rest of the season,” said Matt Ryan, who lost at home for only the second time as the Falcons’ starting quarterback. “We’re going to work hard to make sure we don’t.”

–NFL.com

Whereas many championship teams experience some kind of “hangover” or dropoff in performance in their subsequent seasons, the Saints are 8-2 in games decided by 10 points or less, and their only loss by 10 points or more was their bizarre Week 7 outing against Cleveland. In this age of NFL “parity,” the Saints have positioned themselves nicely to repeat as NFC champs. The Buffalo Bills are ready to see a little bit more of that parity. I bet they are.

The Falcons, meanwhile, have managed wins against St. Louis, Baltimore and Green Bay, and that’s about it as far as potential playoff teams go. Both Atlanta and New Orleans have benefited from favorable scheduling this season. Atlanta ranks 17th in total defense, and their chances of making that playoff run remain uncertain. They’ll have a first round bye, which is kinda pointless since Christmas has already happened.

The Atlanta Falcons marketing department is hoping that they speak English in Atlanta, because that’s the language Samuel L. Jackson used while recording the team’s newest commercial. The ad calls for Falcons fans to “rise up,” because that’s what Falcons do. They flap their wings to generate lift, which rises them up into the sky. Clever, I know.

The gist of the ad is Sam Jackson and his ridiculous glasses are breaking the fourth wall to pump up Falcons fans for the coming season. While he speaks, a church choir is hanging out in the back, repeating “rise up” as Jackson loses track of his inside voice. And why wouldn’t you rise up after watching this commercial? If you said “because watching football in a dome is stupid,” then I’m inclined to agree with you. Video after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

This is that scrum from the last night’s game that started after Atlanta tried for an onside kick for a chance to score a TD with the 2-point conversion and tie the game. And it’s just a terrific mass of humanity with a camera shot that makes you forget how annoying it is to watch that camera slide along on cables above the field. Remember two years ago when that camera actually fell onto the field? That’s the only thing that would have made this any better. Read the rest of this entry »