After Week 2’s exciting victory over the Philadelphia Eagles—a team that the Falcons had struggled to beat over the past several years—confidence levels were high among the fanbase. They seemed high among the team, too: Atlanta’s players were spotted with shirts declaring that they were “BDMTHRFCKR”s. It was all a little silly, but it seemed like pretty harmless fun to me at the time.
Fast forward to Week 3. Dan Quinn gives us all his platitudes about how they’re preparing for the Colts, how they respect their opponent, and so on. When Atlanta took the field in Indianapolis, excitement levels were high.