The Turnout For The Falcons' Arrival Back Home Would Have Been Less Depressing If No One Showed

The @AtlantaFalcons had a small crowd of people to greet them as they arrived back in Flowery Branch. pic.twitter.com/FNbT0wrPoM

— Jason Durden (@JasonDurdenWSB) February 6, 2017

In theory, it should be commendable that even one Atlanta fan not only felt compelled to back off the ledge and leave the house, but was appreciative enough of the Falcons' season to head on down to welcome back the group of guys that ripped the collective heart out of a city's chest less than 24 hours prior. In execution, 25-30 people staring lifelessly through a fence in dreary weather conditions just looks like a haunting snapshot out of 'The Walking Dead'. There is power in numbers, and - while I don't have the final tally in front of me - that charging of the gates looks like it couldn't even get the 'low battery' light to stop blinking.

I genuinely respect the amount of devotion it takes to get out of bed the morning after your team blew a 25 point lead in the Super Bowl just to go down and tell them it's going to be okay in person, but I can't help but think they did more negative reinforcement than positive reinforcement. I would imagine all the players wanted to do was find the nearest pillow to put their head under and instead they had to face the people they let down in historically tragic fashion? The warm bottles of whiskey that were undoubtedly passed around those buses were responsible for more lifted spirits than the presence of the fans at the facility. You know the scene in 'Wedding Crashers' when Vince Vaughn's character comes to make Owen Wilson's suicidal character feel better and gets kicked out of the house after telling him he's getting married? I bet it took every fiber of Matt Ryan's being to put on a happy face instead of recreating it by screaming "go home...it's over...alright!".