With their season on the line, the Atlanta Falcons are asking their fans to bring in 'da noise on Thursday night, and sleep in on Friday morning.
Atlanta (7-5) hosts the NFC South-leading New Orleans Saints (9-3) in prime time on Thursday evening on NFL Network, NBC and Amazon Prime in the Battle of Mercedes-Benz Sponsored Stadia. Their first of two meetings in three weeks will take place in the Falcons' new montrosity in the lot adjacent to the recently demolished Georgia Dome. The Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a kaleidoscope of a venue that has already played host to many important events -- SEC Championship Game, a record-setting open-air MLS game, the opening of a Chick-fil-A -- but, according to Atlanta's coach, the crowd inside hasn't quite lived up to the arena's standards.
"I used the analogy today, 'We built a billion dollar house and we need to throw a billion dollar party, house-warmer. I think sometimes, we're still using the coasters and we need to be as loud and fun as all we represent as a city,'" Falcons coach Dan Quinn told reporters Tuesday. "I wouldn't say I'm disappointed. I think there was looking at the new house and checking it out. So let's hope this weekend, this Thursday night, is the one that turns it, from a crowd-standpoint, that we know. It's an important part. It's an advantage. Home-field advantage is real. We're calling that as a whole team to get that even stronger, louder that we know it can be."
The Falcons doubled down on their skipper's call to arms (and torsos and voice), drafting a mad-lib team-approved excuse for Atlanta-area residents to skip out on work on Friday morning, so they can trump New Orleans' Superdome home-field advantage in the A's new palace.
Not sure if this Twitter JPEG holds up in a court of law or your boss' office, but if you're a Falcoholic with an easy-going supervisor and/or nothing left to lose at work, we suggest you print this out at your local Kinko's and make it out to TNF.
