Mark WiedmerATLANTA - Four years an Atlanta Falcons tight end, Levine Toilolo, participated in his first playoff game Saturday evening in the Georgia Dome.
Said the Stanford grad of the thunder dome the place became long before the first snap of the football: "That's the most energy I've ever felt in this place. It was amazing. Not like anything else I've seen here."
That assessment made sense because it's possible that never in this building's 25-year run have Atlanta's usually frustrated fans witnessed a Falcons team more deserving of this jet-engine level uproar than throughout Saturday's 36-20 silencing of Seattle.
And it could easily have been worse, since Atlanta chose to run out the clock rather than score a final touchdown from Seattle's 1-yard line on its final series.
"We feel like the only thing that can stop us is ourselves," said Falcons offensive left tackle Jake Matthews. "It's very evident the character of the guys on this team. Every guy puts the team first. Whatever happens next week, we'll be ready."
They thought they were ready for the playoffs following an excellent 2012 regular season. Then, as now, they faced Seattle in the division round. Then, as now, they won. But after leading 27-7 that year, they needed a 49-yard Matt Bryant field goal with just eight seconds left on the clock to win 30-28.
No such late heroics were necessary this time around. Instead, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan threw for 338 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Instead, his counterpart with the Seahawks, the always challenging Russell Wilson, was semi-contained to the tune of 208 net passing yards and two interceptions.
Recalling a controversial 26-24 loss at Seattle earlier this season - a loss highlighted by an apparent pass-interference violation on Seattle's Richard Sherman as he attempted to defend Julio Jones that somehow missed the officials' probing eyes - Atlanta coach Dan Quinn said: "It was going to be about (protecting) the ball. Last time we were minus-2 (in turnovers). This time it was plus-2."
And there's no question that made a difference, as did the safety the Falcons defense delivered less than five minutes into the second quarter. It came on a sack of Wilson by occasional defensive lineman Den Garland that not only pulled the Falcons within 10-9 but also immediately gave them the ball, and they converted that into a 35-yard Bryant field goal and a 12-10 lead. By halftime it was 19-10 after a Ryan touchdown toss to reserve running back Tevin Coleman and, in Quinn's words, "The fans lit it up for us tonight."
Indeed, it was if the 71,155 crammed into the Dome were determined to blow the roof off the place before the demolition crews begin tearing down the grand not-so-old lady a few months after the Falcons' final game, though just when that is won't be known until later today.
If Green Bay upsets the National Football Conference's top-seeded Dallas Cowboys this afternoon in Big D, Atlanta would host next Sunday's NFC title game, which delivers a Super Bowl slot to its winner.
If Dallas wins, the Cowboys will host the Falcons.
Regardless, facing Atlanta isn't much fun regardless of where you play the Birds. Of the eight teams still alive in the AFC and NFC playoffs at weekend's dawn, Atlanta - despite an 11-5 overall record - was the only one of the bunch that hadn't suffered at least one loss by double figures. And three of the five losses were by three points or less.
Said Seattle wide receiver Paul Richardson: "That's a great team (Atlanta). One of eight left. We couldn't overcome our mistakes. They capitalized on our mistakes and came out on top."
Inside the Falcons locker room, almost no one has ever come out on top. The exception to that rule is 36-year-old defensive lineman Dwight Freeney, who helped win a Super Bowl at Indianapolis with some guy named Peyton Manning at the close of the 2006 season.
Freeney wasn't credited with a single tackle against the Seahawks, but he did force two quarterback hurries and he's been considered somewhat essential to show a young Atlanta defense what it takes to play winning football, especially come the postseason.
"I've been told that's one of the benefits of having me," Freeney said with a grin a few minutes after the game. "I've been around so dang long. Just let me spread the experience I've had to these new guys. Everyone says we're so young (seven of Saturday's defensive starters were either rookies or second-year players), but you can also look at that two ways. You can say we have a lot of inexperience, or you can say we have a lot of energy."
Yet on this particular evening, the crowd seemed to have the most energy.
"From the opening kickoff, the Dome was rocking," Ryan said. "That's got to be as loud as it's ever been in here."
Added Matthews: "It's the loudest I've ever heard it."
By late tonight, the eight teams that were still alive at the start of the weekend will have been trimmed to four. If form holds, the least loud support among the experts for those four may once again be the Falcons, whom no one has seemed that sold on all season.
Just don't try selling that to those who may get to call the Georgia Dome home for at least one more game.
"It's the National Football League, anything can happen," Freeney said. "We're definitely a team with a lot of momentum right now, and it feels great."
Saturday against the Seahawks, it sounded pretty great, too.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com