'We'll be back'

Falcons vowing that they'll prove '98 was no fluke

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Posted: Monday February 01, 1999 01:20 AM

Hard lesson: Bob Whitfield (left, with Ephraim Salaam) thinks this Super Bowl was a learning experience AP

By John Donovan, CNN/SI

MIAMI -- The Atlanta Falcons got farther than anyone thought they would this season, probably farther than even they dared to dream.

But, from the moment they beat the highly favored Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship to put them into their first Super Bowl, the Falcons heard the critics.

One-hit wonders. A chance in a million. They'll never do it again.

The Falcons lost Super Bowl XXXIII Sunday night, 34-19, by committing four turnovers and generally looking overmatched against the defending champion Denver Broncos.

But weep not for Atlanta, the Falcons say. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger, they'll be back.

"I'm looking forward to next year," said veteran kicker Morten Andersen, shortly after the first Super Bowl in his 17-year career. "You can't get too down on a loss like this. What we had done to reach this point -- not turn the ball over and take advantage of the turnovers we got -- we didn't do tonight. So it's no great mystery we lost the game."

The Falcons won 14 games during the regular season by leading the NFL in turnover ratio (they finished plus-20), playing a solid run defense and using the offensive talents of Chris Chandler, 1,800-yard runner Jamal Anderson and others.

They stunned the football world in beating the Vikings at the raucous Metrodome in Minneapolis. And, for much of the game Sunday, they were within striking distance -- despite four turnovers and a sudden ineptness in the red zone.

"I'm so proud of my teammates, and I told them so after the game," said veteran linebacker Cornelius Bennett, who now has been on five losing Super Bowl teams, including four with the Buffalo Bills. "We just can't stop. We have to keep on keeping on."

Most of the big-gun veterans will be back next season. The most notable free agents on the team are starting strong safety William White and cornerback Ronnie Bradford, though Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King speculated that the team may expose starting safety Eugene Robinson to the draft being held for the expansion Cleveland Browns.

The Falcons have a group of fine young players coming up the ladder, too, like tight end O.J. Santiago, kick returner Tim Dwight and linebacker Keith Brooking, the team's first-round pick in the 1998 draft. Tailback Byron Hanspard, promising as a rookie in 1997, returns after missing all of 1998 with a knee injury.

Because of their success, though, the Falcons can't expect much out of this year's draft. They'll pick next to last in a first round that sees the new Browns picking first.

And because they won the NFC West, they will be playing a first-place schedule next season, with games on the road against the Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Pittsburgh Steelers. They have home games against the Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars.

That's in addition, of course, to their home-and-home series with their biggest divisional nemesis, the San Francisco 49ers.

Still, even after Sunday disheartening loss and the prospect of an uphill climb in '99, the Falcons remain upbeat.

"I think we have a good chance to go to the Super Bowl," tackle Bob Whitfield said. "We've got our core group returning. A lot of guys are excited. And now we know what it takes to win."

 

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