There are a number of NFL teams whose fanbase could lay claim to the number one spot in the fictional \u2018Pain Rankings\u2019. The Cleveland Browns are an obvious example, one miserable season follows the next just as night follows day. Or how about the Detroit Lions, another team never to make a Super Bowl appearance and wearily familiar with being the whipping boys of the NFC North. A generation of New York Jets fans hasn’t had a whole lot to celebrate in recent years. And as for the Washington Football Club, while it\u2019s true they have captured the Lombardi trophy in the past, they are little short of a hot mess these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All worthy contenders for the crown of most misery-inducing football club, as I\u2019m sure you will agree. However, I would like to propose that there is no team in the NFL which subjects its fans to such agonizing disappointment as the Atlanta Falcons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite being gifted with genuinely talented players in crucial positions, the Falcons manage to squander those gifts with the careless abandon of a spoiled toddler at Christmas. Quarterback Matt Ryan may have the worried demeanor of a substitute teacher about to start work at an inner-city high school, but he is possessed of a rifle of an arm and an icy coolness under pressure. Wide receiver Julio Jones carries his 6 foot 3 inch, 220 pound-frame with the grace and poise of a ballet dancer. A ballet dancer who could punch your lights out and then leap over your garden fence from a standing start. This year the Falcons have also bolstered a traditionally shaky defence with players of the quality of Dante Fowler, operating in tandem with Pro-Bowler Grady Jarrett. Even their Korean place-kicker Younghoe Koo is pretty good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So why can\u2019t they manage to string a couple of wins together?<\/p>\n\n\n\n