Part of the Falcons’ problem at the moment is the attention they crave, the respect they want can’t be satisfied for another two months, until the playoffs start.
Until then, they’re going to have to continue to bear backhanded praise such as Hall of Fame coach John Madden was dispensing Thursday.
During his “Madden Football” show on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Madden repeatedly used the word “solid” to describe the Falcons.
“I think they have solid players,” Madden said, via D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “They are solid on offense, solid on defense, special teams, the whole thing. They play very well as a group, as a team.
“But at this halfway point, I know they are undefeated. They have the best record. But I’m not really ready to say, ‘OK the Super Bowl is theirs. They are the World Champions.’”
Madden also said he doesn’t think the Falcons will go undefeated, which as predictions go, isn’t exactly picking Powerball numbers.
“But how are they going to do in the playoffs?,” Madden said. “At some point, with the Falcons I think you can be ready to jump into the playoffs and say how are they going to do there and that’s where I would start to have questions.”
Unless they jam cotton in their ears for the next two months, that’s what the Falcons are going to hear. And until they change their front-runner image with a postseason win, it’s what they’ll hear for longer than that.