How pingpong helped hard-working Falcons build 'connection'


              Atlanta Falcons free safety Ricardo Allen (37) and Atlanta Falcons defensive back Brian Poole (34) celebrate a win after the second of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016, in Atlanta. The Atlanta Falcons won 33-32. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Atlanta Falcons free safety Ricardo Allen (37) and Atlanta Falcons defensive back Brian Poole (34) celebrate a win after the second of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016, in Atlanta. The Atlanta Falcons won 33-32. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. - In an attempt to improve relations with China in the early 1970s, U.S. president Richard Nixon instituted what became known as "pingpong diplomacy," with the two countries exchanging table tennis players for exhibitions.

If the Atlanta Falcons (12-5) win today's NFC championship game against Green Bay (12-6) at the Georgia Dome, then earn their first Super Bowl crown two weeks from today in Houston, it might have at least a little to do with what Falcons coach Dan Quinn might rightly refer to as pingpong dependency.

"When we (remodeled) our locker rooms before this season, we had a lot more space," Quinn said this past week. "I'd been thinking that we were not as connected as we needed to be. So we added the pingpong tables. And the guys started playing. We started having competitions."

It could have backfired. These are professional athletes. They have immense pride. It could have become too competitive. Rifts could have formed. Closeness could have lost out to cliques.

Instead, All-Pro wide receiver Julio Jones said, "Just the little things - hanging out, pingpong, things like that - have made our brotherhood stronger."

Of the four remaining teams in today's conference finals - Green Bay-Atlanta kicks off at 3:05 p.m., and New England (15-2) hosts Pittsburgh (13-5) in the AFC championship game at 6:40 p.m. - it would be tough to find a team that looks stronger on the field than the Falcons, who as of Saturday afternoon were six-point favorites against Green Bay despite the Packers' eight-game winning streak.

But the Falcons have six wins in their past seven games, with the average score of those victories 38-19, and seem to be getting better each week. Now they're a win short of the Super Bowl for the first time since losing 28-24 to San Francisco in the NFC title game after the 2012 season.

"We're a complete team now," Jones said Thursday. "The last time we were here, we were just like, 'We're here, we're here.' We weren't ready."

Falcons radio play-by-play man Wes Durham believes that all goes back to Quinn, who was hired two years ago after two seasons as Seattle's defensive coordinator, during which he helped the Seahawks win the Super Bowl after the 2013 season.

"He's made them love the process," Durham said after the Falcons beat Seattle 36-20 last weekend in the divisional round. "They put in a lot of time during the week, a lot of hard work, but they're enjoying it. I think this team is winning most of its games Monday through Friday."

Quinn said as much after the victory over the Seahawks, noting, "This game was won during the week."

Veteran defensive lineman Dwight Freeney, who is in his first season with Atlanta, played in two Super Bowls with Indianapolis, winning one.

"Dan Quinn does a great job of keeping everybody on focus and locked into the moment," Freeney said. "We do what we do on Wednesday every Wednesday. Thursdays are always the same as every other Thursday. Nothing changes. Every week is the same, so every game has the same importance. You don't get too high or too low."

Yet isn't that the approach all coaches try to take in this process-driven era, whether it's Alabama's Nick Saban on the college level or New England mastermind Bill Belichick in the NFL? There is surely something more, something different about Quinn.

"He trusts us. He believes in us," Jones said. "Going back to the summer, he's done a great job of preparing us for this. He's said, 'You're a great team. Know you're a great team. Don't play tight. Just go out and relax and have fun.'"

Quinn told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this past week he picked up much of that philosophy from Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.

"Forever I've loved being a part of really connected, good teams," he said. "I knew for us to play at our best, we have to be really close in the locker room, and that carries over onto the field. Then it's up to the players to see how far they can take that connection. For this team to connect the way they have - the unconditional support that they have for one another - it's legit."

During a Thursday news conference, he added, "If you have to force it, it's not real."

The concept of this brotherhood, as Quinn repeatedly refers to it, has extended to the players, beginning with quarterback Matt Ryan, who has thrown touchdown passes to 13 receivers this season. In the spring, Ryan paid the expenses for several Atlanta skill players to work out with him for a few days in Florida, the hope being the experience would forge a tighter bond on and off the field.

"It kind of started our season off," tight end Levine Toilolo told the AJC of that gathering. "Not only us getting work done on the field, but also getting that camaraderie and that brotherhood that we've kind of built here."

Jones creating such events as Christmas sweater contests among the receivers has also heightened the brotherhood and camaraderie, Quinn said.

"Just seeing them meet on their own," he said of players meeting in small groups without him, especially Jones and the receivers. "When you see that, when they're trying to find an edge without the coaches, that's when you know you have a real brotherhood."

And the interest in pingpong has soared, with daily competitions and weekly rankings - Jones is currently on top, with Ryan fourth.

"It's to the point now," Quinn said, "that if we've got three minutes until a meeting, someone will say, 'Let's play to 3 (points)."

With a pingpong ball rolling near his feet from a nearby game Thursday afternoon inside the locker room, 41-year-old kicker Matt Bryant said of a roster that includes seven second-year players or rookies among the defensive starters: "This is a relatively young team. Guys are having a lot of fun around here right now."

Bryant knows the Falcons are only four quarters away from playing the Super Bowl in his home state. Some friends have already made T-shirts for the occasion should Atlanta make it to Houston. The black shirts have a Falcons logo on front, with the back stamped with Bryant's No. 3 and the nickname "Auto Matt ic."

Whether the Falcons are all but automatic to get past the Packers - who have been dealing with several injuries, particularly to receivers - won't be known until early this evening. Including Atlanta's 33-32 win against the visiting Packers on Oct. 30, Quinn is 3-0 against Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers as a head coach or defensive coordinator.

"It's a very good defense," Rodgers said of the Falcons during a conference call this past week. "Those guys are not playing like rookies. The way they've played on defense, especially the way they played last week the way they corralled that offense of Seattle was really outstanding."

The Falcons have enjoyed an outstanding season, regardless of what happens this afternoon in the team's final game ever at the Georgia Dome.

But if it becomes one of those back-and-forth scoring contests that can always happen between two quarterbacks as gifted as Rodgers and Ryan, a figurative pingpong match of high-powered offenses, the Falcons have shown they know how to win one of those better than anyone these days.

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.

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