Atlanta Falcons on Defense

Charles Robinsons, 8/14/09 - The 274 pounds of Atlanta Falcons defensive end Chauncey Davis(notes) came to a staggering halt, the way a bicycle would if it ran into a dump truck. A sideline crowd at training camp gasped as tight end Tony Gonzalez(notes) threw the jarring head-on block, causing Davis’ mouthpiece to boomerang out of his helmet and land several feet away. Onlookers blinked, as if questioning some kind of disconnect between their eyeballs and brains.

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A tight end just did that?

NFL teams are hard to capture in a single snapshot, but that might have been the moment for the Falcons. It was the kind of instance that leaves you with your mouth agape, leaving an impression of something more – something unexpected. Maybe that’s this team. While surely the rest of the NFC isn’t sleeping on this franchise (last year assured at least that much), it has seemingly been crowded out as a Super Bowl afterthought. Instead, we’ve marveled over the defense and running game of the New York Giants; bubbled about the offense of the Philadelphia Eagles; and buzzed expectantly about the ability of the Arizona Cardinals to rebound from last season’s Super Bowl loss.