![]() What are some of your favorite highlights of episodes to come?Ī: There are so many incredible moments ahead, but I’ll limit it to three that mean a lot to me. It went into the books as an onside kick, so both on paper and in practical terms, they really tried an onside kick in the final minute of a playoff game when they had a two-point lead. I’m certain I watched that game, but because it didn’t affect its outcome, I just forgot all about it. The second is Matt Bosher’s unfortunate squib kick in the 2012 playoffs against the Seahawks. Much of the franchise’s history is well-documented, but did you discover anything surprising while digging into it?Ī: The first moment that stands out is the Falcons’ attempted multi-lateral play at the end of their 1991 playoff victory against the Saints. But in that tiny sliver of time, you may as well be them, and they may as well be you. Maybe the person in question does deserve to be resented, maybe they don’t. Anyone who’s ever had a quiet moment to themselves, when they put on a favorite song or dwell on a favorite memory, should know that the public figure they resent the most has also had that moment and has them all the time. The versions of human beings we read about or hear about are not reflective of their true selves. What made you sympathize with him?Ī: Everyone on the “Secret Base” team shares an impulse to find the humanity in people, no matter the person or the sport or the story. I was struck by your balanced portrayal of former Falcons coach Norm Van Brocklin, who had a famously cantankerous public persona. At the end of the column I could at least say, “I’m glad that team’s not my problem.” So while I’m not a registered Falcons fan first and foremost, I can at least say I was well-embedded. I came to understand the Falcons in large part through what Steve Hummer or Mark Bradley or Terence Moore had to say about them. I should also note that I read the AJC religiously as a kid. I saw them up close, but I could see them more objectively, even as a kid. ![]() That afforded me a really interesting perspective on the Falcons, I think. Are you a fan of the Falcons? If not, do you see the documentary as a dispassionate examination of their history?Ī: I’m a Kansas City native who moved to Atlanta when I was 9 years old, and I was already so bought in as a Chiefs fan for life that I couldn’t switch allegiances. We wanted to back up as far as we needed to genuinely understand the gravity of that night, and that meant telling the story of the entire franchise. We realized our Falcons project couldn’t only be about one game or one season. In late 2019, my producer Alex Rubenstein and I started work on our documentary series, “The History of the Seattle Mariners.” We had a gut feeling that hitching our wagons to one particular team, for better or worse, would pay off because just about every team has magic in them. What about the Falcons made you believe they’d make a compelling subject for a documentary?Ī: The night they lost the 2016 Super Bowl, I knew I wanted to make some kind of project about the game itself, but I felt like I required some distance from it. Here are some of his (lightly edited) answers: I submitted some questions about the documentary series to Bois via email. For those fans, “The History of the Atlanta Falcons” may be therapeutic if it doesn’t make them question their allegiance. It sympathizes with the pain of Falcons fans who saw 28-3 on the scoreboard and thought their loyalty to the star-struck franchise would finally pay off with the biggest prize. The episode mines humor from how bad the Falcons were back then, but it doesn’t mock them. Such is the fate of everyone who’s ever played for or coached the Falcons. ![]() However, as an example of the generous spirit of the project, Bois notes that the team’s problems then were much bigger than their bad QBs. Part 1 is titled: “Does anyone know how to throw a football?” Bois answers the question by using an array of statistical charts to detail the terrible play of early Falcons quarterbacks as the team’s losses rapidly accumulated. The first installment of the seven-part series begins with the Super Bowl collapse before circling back to the franchise’s first season in 1966. The idea is that truly understanding the collective trauma of 28-3 requires examining the team’s history of incompetence and disappointments before that night. Bois directed, co-wrote and co-narrates the project that’s produced by SB Nation’s “Secret Base” studio.
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