Why a Ravens fan like me cannot root for the Falcons

I’m supposed to hate the Patriots, right?

I mean the Ravens bested them twice in a row in the AFC Championship in their house.

Only…

And then had two 14 point leads in the AFC Divisional round in their house.

Only…

Call it stupid luck, call it stupid bending of the rules.

The Ravens are the one team in the league that has gone to Foxborough and came out ahead, when it counted, multiple times.

So to see that Patriot team in yet another Super Bowl, yet another chance at glory, yet another ring to potentially add, should be unfathomable, right? Unconscionable.

Yet, I hope they win.

You didn’t read that wrong.

There’s the simplistic loyalty of the AFC, which melts in the fury of Ravens Nation rage against these Colonials.

Then, there’s the fact that I called a championship for them way back in 2001, Tom Brady’s first. Totally called it 4 weeks into the season.

But this really goes down to the fundamentals of football, the root of what the NFL is, what a good team is, what winning gridiron battles entail.

I do not think that the Atlanta Falcons are that good.

I do not think that the Atlanta Falcons deserve to win the NFL Championship.

I do not think that the Atlanta Falcons are the best team in the NFL, by far.

Of course, there’s also the Flacco/Ryan rivalry. How much have Ravens fans had to sit back and listen to how superawesome Ryan was, and how Flacco’s numbers didn’t compare, before the 2012 Championship?

It settled for awhile after that, but then started to get hot again this season.

It just irritates me to no end that playing in an easy division like the NFC South, playing mostly losing teams, and racking up unearthly numbers like Ryan did, makes him the MVP. Wow.

When it comes to gutsy, hard fought wins, Flacco has done his on the road, and Matty Ice has done it in the warm confines of his home dome.

I guess that I don’t want what a Ryan win would mean in terms of pressure for our QB. Also, does it not tarnish a bit what he pulled off? People will compare the two treks, but the crazy reality is, in this iteration, Atlanta is not the Ravens, this young, upstart team is the 49ers of the matchup.

And this is the admittedly wonky line of logic for why this writer–and fan–cannot root for the Falcons.

It is because of my Ravens.

Can’t wait to face the Patriots again, either way.

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