While it is not quite a tale of two cities, what is happening in Atlanta, Georgia with the Falcons and neighboring Athens, with the Bulldogs could very well be described as opposite ends of the spectrum as one team has put together a remarkable back to back national champions run and currently have won 27 consecutive games, while the other won just 14 games the past two seasons and have failed to reach postseason play since the 2017 season. So why are things so different between the Falcons and Bulldogs?
On Wednesday, Steak Shapiro and Rusty Mansell, who covers the Bulldogs for On3/DawgsHQ, spent a few moments sharing their thoughts on what they see in the two teams. “You are living through an incredible paradox of a program that is operating with a level of efficiency and success that has never been seen from anybody,” Shapiro stated in reference to the Bulldogs.
However, he would explain that he believes the Falcons are nearly polar opposites, and have seemingly been so for a long while.
“On the other end, you have an NFL franchise that has gone one of the longest stretches in the history of sports without a championship,” Shaprio said and adding the fact that the Falcons are in danger of extending their playoff drought to six straight season if they are not able to end their current downward trend, having lost three in row. And while he acknowledges that being one of the NFL’s elite teams consistently is a difficult task for any franchise, what has been happening with the Falcons is “a complete dichotomy to what happens with Kirby Smart and Georgia,” Shapiro added.
Weighing in with his response to Shapiro, Mansell states that when he watches Atlanta play, he sees a team that their opponents view as the team that will allow them to “get right” and get their own season on track.
“It’s really frustrating to know you’re just waiting on that mistake, how are we going to mess this one up?,” Mansell said as he expressed the difficulty of seeing the Falcons self-inflicted errors cause them to lose games the past few weeks.
Click link above to hear Steak and Rusty’s conversation in its entirety: