"There can only be one first," said Dewey McClain, a former linebacker on that Falcons team who is currently a Georgia legislator. "This city has always longed for something. And for us to be the first to win a playoff – at home – I don't think it would have meant as much if we were in Philadelphia. But we were here, in Atlanta. And it meant so much."

In their first 12 seasons of existence, the Falcons managed to just two winning seasons. Now, with their first playoff win, they felt like they had finally arrived.

"That was one of the most exciting feelings to see the Falcons after all those years that I had played with them," Humphrey said. "And we never even got close – didn't even smell the playoffs. At the end of the season we were always packing, getting ready to go back home. You know it was a great feeling, man. Just being there, being around the people."

As McClain reflected back on that first postseason win over the Eagles, he said that 1978 Falcons team does share at least one common trait with this current group of Falcons.