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4 reasons Falcons flew under the radar all the way to a Super Bowl appearance

Brett Davis / USA TODAY Sports

Well, that escalated quickly.

The Atlanta Falcons walked into the playoffs with a first-round bye, the second-ranked offense in the NFL, and very few people expecting a trip to Super Bowl forth coming.

Two relatively easy wins later and they're packing their bags for Houston. But how did the Falcons get all the way to the big dance with so few fans jumping on the bandwagon?

Last Year's Collapse

It wasn't too long ago that the NFL did believe the Falcons were headed to the Super Bowl, but Atlanta was quick to lower those expectations.

After a 6-1 start in 2015, the Falcons collapsed through the final 11 games of the season, losing six straight and falling short of the playoffs with an 8-8 record. Dan Quinn started off looking like a slam-dunk head coach in his first season, but had the rest of the league catch up to his schemes by November.

The Falcons avoided the same mistakes after their impressive start this season, but it's tough to shake the memories of a collapse that hard.

Ryan's Playoff Record

While it became clear fairly early in the season that the Falcons were headed to the postseason, many remember what happened the last time Matt Ryan was in the playoffs - he lost.

Ryan went one and out in his first three career playoff performances, being outscored 102-47 in the process. On his fourth try, Ryan edged the Seahawks in a tight 30-28 divisional-round match up, but had it undone the following contest. The Falcons jumped out to a 17-0 lead against the 49ers in 2012 before Colin Kaepernick and Frank Gore stormed back, stealing a trip to the Super Bowl from Ryan and Co.

So after three consecutive playoff misses, its easy to see why there may not have been a lot of faith.

Injury Question Marks

The Falcons were fortunate to get 180 yards and two touchdowns out of Julio Jones on Sunday after he missed half the week of practice with a toe injury. Jones' status has been in doubt for some time, missing two games in December with foot issues.

Jones' unknown health caused problems when predicting how potent the Falcons' offense could be. His defensive counterpart - cornerback Desmond Trufant - was lost for the season with a torn pectoral, which significantly impacted the Falcons' defense.

Without their shutdown cornerback, the Falcons' secondary appeared to be a weakness against offenses like the Packers' - although those concerns were put to bed on the field Sunday.

Lack of Experience

Atlanta opened the season with the oldest average age of any team in the league, but they aren't particularly high on playoff experience.

Defensive linemen Dwight Freeney and Courtney Upshaw are the only members of the Falcons with a Super Bowl ring on their resume. Head coach Dan Quinn has one as well from his time as the Seahawks defensive coordinator, but has not brought anyone from his former team to establish a championship culture.

All five of the Falcons captains - Ryan, Jones, Trufant, Jonathan Babineaux, and Eric Weems - have only played postseason games with the Falcons.

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