No one would blame an Atlanta Falcons player if he decided to burn the tape of Super Bowl LI. Yet to a man each seems to have stared down the disaster.
"No, I watched it," Matt Ryantold the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. "I watched it a day after. I watched it two days after and I watched it three days after. For me, it was one of those things where you kind of want to be able to deal with it appropriately.
"Maybe, that's different for everybody. Some people bury it away. Some people (do) whatever. ... For me it was 'all right, let's watch. Does it feel the same way it felt as we were going through it?'"
As you are aware by now, the Falcons held a 28-3 lead in the second half before a serious of miscues -- including several by Ryan (a fumble and taking a sack to push them out of field goal range) -- led to the biggest collapse in Super Bowl history.
The epic meltdown caused many fans and media personalities to blame then-offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan's play-calling. Ryan did not join that chorus when given a chance to second-guess passing in two situations that running the ball could have closed out the win.
"You have to believe in what you are doing," Ryan said. "That's kind of the way we were all year. That's not going to change. I love that approach.
"I love that they have confidence in me and that they have confidence in the guys that we have, and we are going to let it rip. Obviously, it didn't work out."
Despite the history of Super Bowl losers struggling with a hangover the next season, the Falcons' quarterback believes his young team can bounce back quicker than most.
"I think everybody is going to be really hungry to get back there," Ryan said. "Because, the one thing that I'm proud of, we have a young team, and we were ready to play. We played well. We were right in the mix.
"We fell a little bit short, but we should have every bit of confidence that we are going to be right back there next year getting a different outcome because we're going to be more experienced."
