FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – Like father, like son: When the Atlanta Falcons welcome the Green Bay Packers to the Georgia Dome on Saturday night for their NFL playoff game, Falcons center Todd McClure won’t be the only member of his family sporting a Mohawk haircut.
“My son’s got one, too,” he said of 9-year-old Maverick. “He dyed it red for the last game, but I think it’s just going to be natural this time.”
Like son, like father: When snow blanketed the McClure family home in Braselton, Ga., earlier this week, Todd followed Maverick onto the snow sled for the 30-yard descent through the front yard.
“The kids were sledding on everything – sleds, saucers, inner tubes, everything,” McClure said as he sat in front of his cubicle at the Falcons’ training complex Thursday afternoon.
“I just used a regular sled, but a really long one. I got going really fast down our hill. I can generate some pretty good momentum at my size. But I only did it once, and I was careful to take a wide-open path. That would be a tough injury to explain, especially during the playoffs.”
So does McClure, now in his 12th season, expect smooth sledding for the top-seeded Falcons against the Packers?
“It’s going to be a very intense game,” said the former LSU star. “We all know what’s going. We all know that this doesn’t happen every year. We’re just going to take it one play at a time and try to score at least one more point than the Packers do.”
McClure has seen it all since being selected in the seventh round with the 237th overall pick of the 1999 draft. The good (an NFC championship game run in 2004), the bad (4-12 records in 2000 and ’07) and the ugly (the Michael Vick soap opera).
But with Maverick being the oldest of his and Heidi’s four children, and with 168 games on his somewhat undersized 6-foot-1, 295-pound frame, he also knows he’s closer to the end of the his career than the beginning.
“It’s been a special season, there’s no doubt about that,” McClure said of this 13-3 run. “I think that’s one reason we’ve worked so hard to keep it going. We don’t have ‘me’ guys on this team. We don’t have a lot of talkers. That’s not [coach] Mike [Smith], and that’s not this team. We’re just a bunch of guys who’ll dig deep and do whatever it takes to win.”
He thought he might have been on a team like that during Smith’s first season two years ago. But quarterback Matt Ryan was a mere rookie then and the Falcons had to travel to Arizona for their wild-card game. The result was a 30-24 loss.
“That’s why the home field is so important,” McClure said. “Every road game in the NFL is tough. Everybody’s fans are loud. But the Arizona crowd was unbelievable. So I’m very happy to be home. I’m very excited to see how our defense plays with our crowd behind them.”
Green Bay visited the Georgia Dome earlier this season. The Pack lost 20-17. When the Pack return Saturday, Heidi will be in the stands with Mohawked Maverick, leaving the other three McClure children at home.
“If all the kids come, she’s too busy to watch the game,” he said. “Besides, with the kids home all week [because of the snow], she’s gotten a pretty bad dose of cabin fever. I think Heidi’s ready for a night out.”
Smith says one of McClure’s greatest strengths is helping keep Ryan’s head from becoming too busy from attempting to pick up all the blitzes a Falcons opponent may use.
“Todd’s ability to identify pressure looks and redirect pressures has been a great help to Matt,” the coach said. “We talk all the time about synergy in terms of one plus one equals three, and I think our offensive line is a prime example of that. We may not have a flashy player on that unit, but when you put them together they play as well as any offensive line in the league.”
How much longer McClure will play is tough to say. He’s 33 but remarkably fresh for a guy who’s spent 12 seasons in the NFL trenches.
“I’m still having fun,” he said. “I still love coming to work every day.”
So being a blue-collar, no-nonsense guy, wouldn’t at least a small part of him like to be outside Saturday night, in the wind and the cold, just like his afternoon on the sled with Maverick?
“Uh, no,” he said. “I want to be in the Dome, where it’s 72 degrees, sunny and no wind. “
In other words, it’s time to force the Packers to endure a Southern-fried dose of cabin fever.