HOUSTON — Falcons coach Dan Quinn cultivated his love of football watching the Giants build a dominating defense in the 1980s.
“It was probably at that point, growing up there, that my first love of football began,’’ said Quinn, who is from Morristown, N.J. “For me, it was watching the New York Giants growing up, with Bill Parcells and Lawrence Taylor and that whole crew coming up through the ’80s. And then as I moved on to college, I thought I’d want to coach for sure.
“I was going to teach and then I ended up going the college route and going that way. It’s absolutely been a huge impact on my life, growing up there and all the people that when you’re coming up that have an influence on you, encourage you, support you, challenge you, for sure, it’s made a big difference.”
Is Albany in the house? You bet. Three players from the Capital District in upstate New York made it into Super Bowl LI: Patriots RB Dion Lewis (Albany), Falcons LB Josh Keyes (Chatham) and Falcons DT Joe Vellano (Rexford).
“Three guys from the Albany area — that’s a lot from any area, really, but 106 guys we have three guys from Albany,’’ said Vellano, who was cut by the Patriots before the first game this season. “That’s pretty sweet.”
Giants RB Rashad Jennings was one of five finalists for the NFLPA’s Byron “Whizzer’’ White Award, which goes to a player for his profound dedication to positively impacting his team. Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins on Thursday was named the winner of the award.
Giants WR Odell Beckham Jr. finished fourth among all players in total sales of NFL official licensed products during the most recent sales period, according to the NFL Players Association. The next-highest Giants player was Eli Manning, at No. 32. The top five in sales were Tom Brady, Ezekiel Elliott, Dez Bryant, Beckham and Carson Wentz.
Patriots TE Martellus Bennett has been one of the stars of Super Bowl week because of his colorful quotes. It seems unlikely a personality like Bennett’s would fit in with the businesslike Patriots, but he has not been muzzled by coach Bill Belichick.
CB Logan Ryan explained why Bennett’s style works.
“It’s just about not speaking for others. Speak for yourself,” Ryan said of the Patriot Way. “ I think that’s really the biggest thing I’ve learned here — just control what you can control and speak for yourself.
“I don’t think Marty makes a lot of bold statements for other people. I think he just sticks to being Marty and talks about the million things that Marty does in general. Marty is a chef and author and illustrator and animator and comedian and musician. … Marty does a ton of stuff. I think the team embraces that. As long as you speak for yourself, I think you’re all right.”
Thursday was the fourth consecutive day of media sessions for the playoffs and Falcons Matt Ryan — a pleasant interview all week — was not sorry to see the sessions come to an end.
“I’m really going to miss you guys,’’ Ryan said jokingly. “Typically for us, as it gets later into the week, things start to taper down, normally for us, and so, that part of it will be real normal. Usually, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays prior to the game are real quiet for myself.”
Belichick had no desire to revisit the conversation he had with Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff before the 2011 NFL Draft, where he recommended Dimitroff not make the trade to acquire WR Julio Jones.
“I don’t see any point in going back over that conversation. It was a long time ago,” Belichick said.
Belichick then praised Jones.
“I have great respect for Julio Jones,” Belichick said. “I’ve had a lot of conversations with [Alabama] coach [Nick] Saban about Julio. He’s a great player. He’s one of the top players in the league.”
Jones (toe) was limited again, but is expected to be at full strength for the game.
Falcons center Alex Mack was limited in practice with an ankle/fibula injury and, according to the NFC pool report, was noticeably slowed by the injury.
“I just know his toughness and his strength is so good,” Quinn said. But yeah, I’m concerned. I’m not panicked, but I’m concerned.”
DE Dwight Freeney (calf) did not practice, but it was considered more of a rest day for the veteran.
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