It’s official. The Atlanta Falcons will play in Super Bowl LI. The City of Atlanta has a professional sports team in their league championship for the first time since the Atlanta Braves played in the World Series in 1999.

“I’m excited for our family… the family of Atlanta,” said Arthur Blank, the owner of the Falcons, in a post-game press conference on Sunday. “Our fans have been incredible.”

To get to the Super Bowl, the Falcons defeated the Green Bay Packers 44-21 in the NFC Championship.

Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, one of the league’s front-runners for MVP, threw for 392 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 23 yards and another touchdown. Despite this, Ryan still wants the focus to be on the team.

“I’m happy for everyone in our organization,” he said in his postgame press conference. “We’ve worked hard to get to this point.”

On Feb. 5, the Falcons will face the New England Patriots in the 2017 edition of the Super Bowl. This is the second time the Falcons have played in the Super Bowl, and if they win, it will be their first victory.

In his postgame press conference, Falcons rookie safety Keanu Neal commented on the fact of being the second ever Falcons team to make it to the Super Bowl.

“It’s surreal, I’m just so thankful,” he said.

The Falcons don’t have much time to celebrate, according to Ryan.

“The challenge is still in front of us, what we set out for is still in front of us,” he said. “We’ll enjoy it, but our ultimate goal is still in front of us.”

For those who want to watch, Super Bowl LI will air on FOX at 6:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 5.

Images and photos courtesy of Football Schedule and modified from Charlie Lyons-Pardue. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/ and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

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