Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez should be happy. He’s headed for the Hall of Fame. Hell, he’s the best tight end to ever play football. And his team is 7-0 and headed for one of the top seeds in the NFC.
But he’s not happy. At least not with the national media.
“Is the national media making a big deal about us like they would if it was Philly, Green Bay or New England? No, they’re not,” Gonzalez told Jim Corbett of USA Today. “We played Philly and beat them. And Philly was on TV all week.”
But Philly was on TV all week because Philly was and is a slow-motion chemical train wreck.
“We don’t care,” Gonzalez said, which sort of contradicts his point. “Our goals are bigger than just getting national media attention. They’ll recognize us if we go where we want to go. I’ve day-dreamed about raising that Lombardi Trophy. I can see it in my mind.”
Before Gonzalez can lift the Lombardi, the Falcons need to win a playoff game, something they haven’t done under the post-Vick regime. Before they win a playoff game, they need to score offensive points, something they didn’t do in their most recent playoff loss.
Coupled with the fact that the Falcons lack any strong, colorful personalities or intriguing story lines, the national media is taking a wait-and-see approach with the Falcons. But when the postseason comes around, they’ll have more attention than they ever wanted, because the narrative will instantly become whether the Falcons can finally deliver at least one victory in the postseason.
In other words, the guys who’s currently complaining about a lack of media attention could in a couple of months as the team is preparing to play its initial postseason game be complaining that there’s too much of it.