Dan Quinn Forced Falcons To Watch Super Bowl Tape Immediately

There is nothing more disheartening in the NFL than losing the Super Bowl. Dan Quinn and the Atlanta Falcons learned this in the worst way possible.

They had a 28-3 lead with a quarter left to go and gave it away to the New England Patriots. It was the greatest collapse in the games’ storied history. Is there any possible way to get over that level of pain and regret? A lot of people don’t think so. The level  of mental toughness it would require is almost herculean. Quinn knows this and decided to take steps towards making it happen.

Quinn is no stranger to painful Super Bowl defeats. He was with the Seattle Seahawks during their epic meltdown against the Patriots in 2014 when they threw that unbelievable interception at the goal line to Malcolm Butler. He was able to channel that into what he’d eventually accomplish with the Falcons. So maybe he knows what he’s doing.

Quarterback Matt Ryan explained the thought process to Peter King of the MMQB.

"“[Coach] Dan Quinn was really good about it following the game. His attitude was, ‘Hey, let’s watch this thing. Let’s deal with it now, when the wound is still fresh.’ Really smart, rather than to wait and wait and wait to watch it because you’re so angry. So we got back Monday and I was in here Tuesday, watching it and going through it. His advice was, ‘Flush it from your system as fast as you can and start getting focused on what is in front of you as fast as you can.’“I watched it here at the facility, on my own. I watched it three times.”"

Falcons may have been wise to not let the wound fester

In hindsight this may have been the best thing for Atlanta to do. Allowing the memories of that game to linger in their minds only would’ve made matters worse over time. By confronting the mistakes and the disasters right away, it likely made the pain less prolonged. Of course this doesn’t guarantee they’ll have the same success in 2017 as last year. However it should be one less distraction they have to worry about in a league that allows for very few of them.