If I told you on Saturday evening that the Atlanta Falcons would beat the Carolina Panthers, 24-10, on Sunday, and that the defense would play the biggest role in that victory, you’d start driving around your neighborhood and honking your horn with reckless abandon.
It’s been a dream of Falcons fans for years to watch a team that fields a competent defense and understands how to play its best football when it matters. For years (and years, and years), Atlanta has been the classic frontrunner, the team that strikes you with the lightning of finesse in the first half and wilts like a desert rose the second it faces any bit of adversity.