Filed Under » Atlanta Falcons

With just four teams still battling it out for the Super Bowl XLVII title, some undrafted quarterback on the Atlanta Falcons' bench has emerged as the new fresh face of 2012 NFL Playoffs, replacing Colin Kaepernick in the highly visible role.

Expected to taking over for Atlanta in a set of circumstances no crazier than Kaepernick continuing to start over a healthy Alex Smith, the unheralded benchwarmer from a Division III college will soon run, gun, and slash his way to an NFC Championship Game win against the Niners, making him the new young quarterback everyone won't shut up about.

"Colin Kaepernick used to be the NFL's next big star, but that's what we said about Russell Wilson, and about Robert Griffin III, and earlier that afternoon about Andrew Luck," said ESPN analyst Tom Jackson. "Logically this new kid is the future of football itself, just because he's the best not-old quarterback on a 2012 playoff team."

This new guy who you don't even know the name of yet will be one of this year's two Super Bowl quarterbacks. That means two full weeks of analysts talking up his upside, even though the upside of every fresh face of the 2012 NFL Playoffs has been weaker than the last one.

"Nothing proves that Colin Kaepernick can't win games in the NFL more than the way Colin Kaepernick won last week's NFL game," said fellow analyst Ron Jaworski. "He's been skating by with a gunslinging quarterback style, similar to Wilson and RGIII and Luck's gunslinging quarterback styles, that doesn't have the staying power of this new kid's gunslinging quarterback style."

The Atlanta Falcons today announced that they will retire the stretch of cement and gravel that nearly tore off the face of Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Bobby Petrino last week.

"It was my goal when I purchased the Falcons 10 years ago to bring this franchise its first Super Bowl title," said Falcons owner Arthur Blank. "Unfortunately, that hasn't happened yet. But last Sunday, when Bobby Petrino's helmetless head slid along the pavement at a high speed, I think I can speak for all Falcons fans in saying that it was almost as great as a Super Bowl title, if not even greater."

Falcons staff members have already gone to the stretch of road in rural Arkansas where Petrino crashed with a young, female staffer riding with him, and dug up the patch where the Razorbacks coach slid to a stop.

"The awesome thing is that you can see some of Bobby's blood still on the rocks," said Blank. "I think our fans are really going to love it."

After reports that Brett Favre had again filed retirement papers with the NFL league office, it is now confirmed that the NFL legend is first signing a one-day contract so he can retire as a member of the Atlanta Falcons, the team for which he made his NFL debut.

"The Falcons organization has given me so much," Favre said in a statement. "Atlanta drafted me, and the team even let me attempt four passes during the 1991 season. Sure, none of the throws were completions – and two were picked off — but I'll never forget the unflagging loyalty this organization and its fans showed me."

The statement continued:

"Plus, the Falcons gave me the opportunity to play home games at a legendary home field like Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium or wherever the hell it was they played then. It really made me feel connected to the history of the game. Some of my best memories are in Atlanta. In fact, some of my only memories are there because I wasn't drunk and on painkillers the whole time."