Unafraid of the buzz saw, the Falcons became the buzz saw

After the NFC divisional game I said Falcons fans no longer need to worry if this team will show up for the playoffs, and before this NFC Championship I was cautious that the Falcons could be running into another Aaron Rodgers buzz saw, similar to the one in 2010.

Even during the game, when the Falcons were up 17-0, I was cautious.

Something I missed in all my analysis on the Falcons this season, warning them to avoid the buzz saw at multiple points in the season, is that they were the buzz saw. The Falcons are now the team that nobody wants to face, and despite what New England has done in the past – they’ve never seen an offense this dynamic alongside a budding defense this fast and physical.

After multiple let downs in a multitude of Atlanta sports, I built an impenetrable wall of belief that no team from this city could possibly be champions or an undesirable matchup for other teams. But after the Falcons dismantled “the most gifted quarterback of all time” in a game that most analysts and the majority of public money in Vegas didn’t pick them to win – caution is no longer an emotion.

This team isn’t cautious, and they haven’t been all season. That’s the difference between the old regime and the Dan Quinn regime. In the old regime, the Falcons played so uptight you couldn’t hammer a needle in their you-know-what. But Quinn has changed all of that, letting these Birds loose to fly around and make plays.

The way the defense hit the Packers in the mouth, they way the offense put the pedal to the metal from the starting line – the cheese-heads never stood a chance from the first whistle.

In the Dome’s last ever football game it rose to the occasion and produced an environment that had the four-time Super Bowl champion franchise intimidated.

Given the absolute domination of the game, there’s not much to analyze until we breakdown the matchup with the Patriots later this week and next. So instead I’ll just throw out the twitter highlights from the game.

Ironic that the Dome opened with a Hammer, and ended with dropping a Hammer:

Saxophone guy took the stage again for the National Anthem:

Julio started doing Julio things:

For all you political protestors out there:

Former Falcons defensive back and ESPN analyst with a scary observation for opposing offenses:

For all of us that decided to take the historically high over and had serious concerns that the Packers wouldn't hold up their end of the bargain:

(Then the Packers finally got in the board late in the third quarter)