Falcons' fans still in somber mood after 最高の Bowl loss
ATLANTA (AP) ― There were 所により曇り skies in Atlanta on Monday, but the gloom over the city seemed to be more from the Falcons' gut-wrenching 最高の Bowl 51 loss.
Falcons' fans are in a somber mood after their team blew a 25-point lead in a 34-28 loss to the New England 愛国者s on Sunday night. The abundant excitement that （海，煙などが）飲み込むd the city 主要な up to the matchup had been 取って代わるd by another heartbreaking sports 後退 for the A-T-L.
Even for fans used to 失望, this "L'' was 前例のない.
Michael Mazza 反応するs after the New England 愛国者s 得点する／非難する／２０d late in the fourth ４半期/4分の1 against the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL 最高の Bowl 51 football game 存在 played in Houston while watching it on television at Fado Irish Pub in Atlanta, Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017. Falcons fans are in the somber mood Monday after their team blew a 25-point lead in a 34-28 敗北・負かす to the New England 愛国者s the night before. (AP Photo/David Goldman, とじ込み／提出する)
"We （機の）カム so far. We had the （犯罪の）一味s ready to be put on our fingers," said Nylous Dickerson, a chef who watched from Dantanna's, where he 作品 at the CNN 中心 in the 影をつくる／尾行するs of the Georgia ドーム and the Falcons' new stadium.
"We gave that game away. We gave Tom Brady too many chances. It was a somber wakeup. I still don't feel good about this."
Dickerson, like many Falcons fans, might not feel 井戸／弁護士席 for some time.
New England won even though the 愛国者s never snapped the ball with the lead. If that wasn't bad enough, the Falcons 設立する ways to lose that had never been done: in overtime at the 最高の Bowl after 主要な by 19 points 長，率いるing into the fourth ４半期/4分の1.
The hangover 明らかに was so 鎮圧するing that there was hardly any 急ぐ hour traffic Monday morning in city where traffic jams are the norm.
"We had a lady call in 説 she didn't want to go to work today," said Carl Dukes of Atlanta 無線で通信する show 92.9 FM The Game. "We had a student call in 説 she told her parents she didn't want to go to school because everybody would be talking about it. That's the feeling. Everybody is 肉親，親類d of still in shock about how this all went 負かす／撃墜する."
Teneshia Ethridge saw a change of demeanor in Falcons fans before and after the game. She said she paid nearly $5,000 for a 最高の Bowl ticket to sit five 列／漕ぐ／騒動s behind the Falcons ben ch and watched Brady throw for 最高の Bowl 記録，記録的な／記録する 466 yards for her team's loss.
Ethridge said fans had planned on partying after the game, but the loss sent most of them 支援する to their hotel rooms in shock.
"It was vibrant, alive and colorful when we left Saturday," said Ethridge, who …に出席するs home and away games. "There was a tailgate at the gate at the airport when we were getting on the 計画（する） with a DJ. But when we （機の）カム 支援する today, it was like nobody 手配中の，お尋ね者 to talk. We didn't want to speak to each other. I feel 完全に different. Nothing was supposed to happen like this."
But this is Atlanta. The city has only one major sports 選手権 in 169 連合させるd seasons for its NFL team, Major League Baseball's 勇敢に立ち向かうs, the NBA's 強硬派s and two now-出発／死d NHL teams, the 炎上s and the Thrashers. The 勇敢に立ち向かうs won the World Series in 1995.
Fans in Atlanta had hoped the Falcons would （人命などを）奪う，主張する their first 選手権 in their 51-year history. The 予期 was building throughout the city days 主要な up the big game with several 決起大会／結集させるs 含むing one that featured Atlanta 市長 Kasim Reed and R&B singer 勧める at City Hall.
Rapper Ludacris narrated a short ビデオ clip called "A City Waits" in 栄誉（を受ける） of the Falcons. After the loss to the 愛国者s, Atlanta faithful will have to wait longer.
"It was like a punch in the gut," said Demetrius 吊りくさび, an Atlanta native who used to play football at the University of Florida. He struggled with the fact that the Falcons led the entire game until 愛国者s running 支援する 得点する／非難する／２０d in the winning touchdown in overtime.
"My stomach 傷つけるs after this one," 吊りくさび 追加するd. "We always come so の近くに."
Falcons running 支援する Devonta Freeman could barely speak above a whisper while fighting 支援する 涙／ほころびs. But Freeman took to social マスコミ to thank fans for their support.
Tiffani Murray hopes the Falcons and fans can 回復する from the painful loss.
"Atlanta is a city of hope," she said. "I think that is why so many people move here and live here from different places. There is hope that the Falcons have reached the level of a 選手権 game and will do so again. Hope will remain after we are through the 嘆く／悼むing period and fans will rise up once again."
It just might take a while.
____
Associated 圧力（をかける） sports writer Charles Odum in Atlanta 与える／捧げるd to this 報告（する）／憶測.
____
Follow Jonathan Landrum Jr. on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/mrlandrum
