Super Bowl malaise not plaguing Falcons

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — On a foggy night in Foxborough, one thing became crystal clear: The Atlanta Falcons have fallen victim to the dreaded Super Bowl losers' malaise .

They will deny it all the way through New Year's Eve, when the 2017 schedule ends. Other teams who fell short in the big game have also claimed there was no hangover.

The evidence, however, is mounting. If not for a dropped pass by Chicago running back Jordan Howard and a reversed goal-line call in the final seconds at Detroit, the defending NFC champions could be 1-5 instead of 3-3.

And 3-3 doesn't cut it either, not even in the jumbled NFC South where the Panthers are mistake prone, the Buccaneers can't put a full game together, and the Saints are on top without scaring anyone.

"Figure out ways to win," running back Devonta Freeman said Sunday night after a 23-7 throttle at the hands of the Patriots. "Ain't no one pointing fingers at anyone else, because we're in this thing together. When we win the Super Bowl, there won't be any talk about the problems we're having now. We just take (the problems) as a lesson."

Of course, no team has ever lost a Super Bowl in the manner the Falcons blew it last February. For those of you who have forgotten — or chosen to blank it out — they were up 28-3 late in the third quarter at Houston. All New England did was score 25 straight points to force the first overtime in a Super Bowl, then march downfield with the OT kickoff to win it 34-28.