As painful as it may sound, luck really does play a role in every NFL season.
It seems cruel, doesn't it? That a four-letter word has the power to bring joy or sorrow based solely on it's modifier of "good" or "bad."
Shouldn't it just be settled on the field between both teams' best and brightest?
Yes. It should.
But rarely is it that simple.
Luck was, at times, one of those dirty four-letter words for the Falcons this season.
Bad luck showed up early and often.
But it was in the
second quarter of 2007 that it became painfully obvious that the mystical power of luck would be hanging around the Birds for the long haul.
The Falcons' loss at New Orleans included an injury to starting quarterback Byron Leftwich, who provided a spark to the offense. The game also featured a season-ending ligament rip to young, talented offensive lineman Renardo Foster, himself playing due to injury an earlier ACL injury to Wayne Gandy.
With that the Falcons were driven to the third string on the offensive line and again forced to play with two quarterbacks.
You can sum up a large chunk of the team's second quarter of 2007 right there.
But the Falcons never settled to be servants to luck last season.
The team took a bye week after the Saints loss -- a third straight defeat -- to relax and escape from serendipity's icy grip.
The Birds came back determined to break away from bad karma and defeated the San Francisco 49ers with an old-school running attack and spirited defensive play from one if it's veteran leaders, Lawyer Milloy.
In fact (dipping into the third quarter), Atlanta would go on to win two-straight games and come within an eye lash of getting back into the NFC South race.
Goes to show you that you can't get too caught up in "luck." It can be a fickle mistress.
"Yesterday, I guess, was the final decision," Petrino said. "He needed to go
in and have surgery… Therefore he'll be on IR."
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