"In April they traded five draft picks to grab one wide receiver because they felt they needed to be more "explosive" to reach the Super Bowl. On Sunday the Atlanta Falcons saw that grand design blow up in their corporate face.

Their sleek offense ran into the NFL's 27th-ranked defense and managed nary a point. Think about that. In a league where nobody can stop anybody, the Falcons' offense was outscored by its own defense.

A year ago it was possible to write off the Green Bay loss as a case of the No. 1 seed being undone by a hot quarterback. These Falcons lost to a 9-7 opponent that didn't do much itself until it was clear the visiting team could do nothing.

Said Mike Smith, 0-3 as a playoff coach: "I don't know that there's anything you can take from this game and say, 'Gosh, they did this well.' ""