The Braves gave Atlanta their first championship since Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and John Smoltz gave the city a World Series more than 25 years ago. It has been a long time coming for this city, especially for Falcons fans, who had their hearts ripped out when the Patriots overcame a seemingly insurmountable deficit in the Super Bowl five years ago.
With the defending World Series champions, the Braves aren’t the only team in Atlanta close to reaching the ultimate prize. The Trae Young-led Hawks came within two games of the NBA Finals a year ago as their championship window has now just opened. Now, Falcons players are beginning to praise their Atlanta brothers.
Terrell praises the Hawks and Braves while saying the Falcons can find motivation from this championship run, but he’s not the only one. Quarterback Matt Ryan also spoke on what the Braves World Series means to him, his family, the city of Atlanta, and the Falcons.
“Everybody kind of recognizes how they’ve played and what they’ve gone through this year and how it parallels similar to how we started this season,” Ryan said. “So hopefully we can use that as motivation and it gets us going.”
“I’m happy for them, and I’m fired up for the city. And it’s always fun when you’re around championship teams, so it’s great for Atlanta.”
Ryan is right to draw comparisons between the two teams, to a certain degree. In August, the Braves were below .500 and ended up winning their division with a final record of 88-73. Obviously, we know the rest of the story from there. The Falcons sit one game under .500 about halfway through the season, similarly to their baseball counterparts; however, the difference between these two teams’ trajectory is further apart than their midseason records indicate.
The Braves acquired four outfielders, who were integral pieces on their championship run, before the trade deadline and had many players returning from injury throughout the season — Travis d’Arnaud and Ian Anderson. No matter how improbable, there were pieces in place for the Braves to go on a championship run.
The Falcons didn’t acquire anyone at the trade deadline and have minimal reinforcements on the way from injury. Calvin Ridley has no timetable to return, Matt Gono may return before season’s end but is not a move-the-needle guy, and Dante Fowler‘s return isn’t going to make the defense head and shoulders better.
The most critical factor in this comparison is the two teams’ respective divisions. The Braves, playing in the NL East, were always within striking distance of grabbing the top spot in their division. The Mets and Phillies completely fell apart during the season’s final stretch, leaving the door open for the Braves. The Falcons, playing in the NFC South, are fourth in their division and don’t have the division-leading Buccaneers in sight.
I don’t think Ryan was saying their situations were similar by any means, but I have seen some draw those comparisons. I must say, that is quite naive. Ryan is attempting to find parallels between the two to help his team out, but this just is not a playoff-caliber roster, let alone a Super Bowl one.
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