Downer in the Desert: Atlanta Falcons Lose 30-24 to Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons fans are torn tonight between two emotions:

• The satisfaction of knowing their team proved everyone wrong by having not a good season, but a great one, and making it into the playoffs. 

• And the feeling of disappointment and the dismal dejection that only a fan of a team with high hopes for a win can feel after a heartbreaking loss.

The real heartbreaker came with just over two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. 

These buoyant birds found themselves still afloat in the game, as they have all season, despite turning the ball over three times and allowing 96 yards rushing from Arizona running backs Edgerrin James and Tim Hightower.

But on 3rd-and-16, the defense gave up the most critical first down conversion of the season, and it proved to end their season—even before the clock read zeroes.

Following a drive that lasted nine plays, chewed up 58 yards, and took 3:36 off the clock, the Falcons found themselves down six, needing to stop a Cardinals offense that they had struggled to contain for the entire second half.

The clock continued to wind down and quarterback Kurt Warner completed two passes, both for first downs, as if to say they still had no faith in the running game. But then the defense made one last gasp.

On 2nd-and-8, defensive end John Abraham read the reverse to receiver Steve Breaston perfectly and greeted him in the backfield before pummeling him for an eight-yard loss.

Everyone scooted a little closer to the edge of their seats, if they were sitting at all, as Warner dropped back on 3rd-and-16. Surely, the Falcons could prevent a completion for a first down from this distance.

And then the play that Atlanta, for six months, will have to remember as the last play of its season occurred.

There seemed to be some confusion by linebackers Keith Brooking and Curtis Lofton, as they came out from covering the middle of the field to move in closer to the line of scrimmage. Their ill-timed missteps left the center of the field wide open, and tight end Stephen Spach got behind them to catch a 23-yard completion.

Season over. Turn the lights out.

Asked about the moment that will likely define his career and closed the door on the win for his team, Spach said, "We sealed the deal as a team."

Following the game, Falcons coach Mike Smith looked like a father who'd just bailed his son out of jail. Speaking with a whisper, he said, "We're going to remember how it feels as a football team because we plan on being in this situation again"

While Smith was clearly dejected with the outcome and his team's play down the stretch of the game, his comments should serve as first, a premonition, and second, a pact with his team and its fans.

Notice he did not say "...we hope to be in this situation." Hope is such an empty word and is a belief that an outcome will occur.

Smith spoke with conviction, saying he plans on returning to the playoffs. He's counting on it.

And as Falcons fans look between the lines of the game, its players, the comments, and the stats, that's the message they need to hear.

This is the man who entered this season with a plan to turn around this franchise. He accomplished that goal, and now you can trust that he will return with a plan to get this team back in the playoffs.

Most of the stats are ugly: Quarterback Matt Ryan was 26-for-40 with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Running back Michael Turner turned in a pedestrian 18 carries for 42 yards and a touchdown. Running back Jerious Norwood was inexplicably uninvolved in the game plan, after a tremendous game last week.

Oh yeah, three sacks allowed, a fumble returned for a touchdown, and a safety.

This was the fourth game this season in which they had three turnovers. They confounded the football gods in the previous games by winning all three games despite the turnovers. They weren't so prosperous today.

As Smith succinctly put it, "It's tough to win when you're minus on the turnover ratio. The three turnovers, I thought, were very, very big."

So as the credits roll on the 2008 season, what needs to be remembered is where these Falcons were 12 months ago.

The season began with the unknown Smith speaking about processes. Win a game. Win a game on the road. Win two games in a row. Win three games in a row. Make the playoffs.

Atlanta has accomplished a lot this season, and in 12 months Smith's team has gone from asking "Why us?" to "Why not us?" as they entered the playoffs.

But with the convincing win over one of this season's Cinderellas, the Arizona Cardinals have now adopted that mantra of "Why not us?"

And as for the Falcons, they now begin the process of looking to next season.

This article originally appeared on the Atlanta Falcons Examiner page. To view, go here.