They all want what Michael Strahan had — a long, distinguished career, a Super Bowl victory in the final game and the wherewithal to walk away with plenty still left in the tank.
Strahan followed that exact script after the 2007 season and then left the Giants, retiring on top. It’s the scenario Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez craves and he’s two games away heading into Sunday’s NFC Championship Game against the 49ers.
“I spoke to Strahan about it,’’ Gonzalez said Thursday. “He said that’s the way you want to do it. That’s every athlete’s dream. Any professional athlete out there, it doesn’t matter what sport it is, you would love to win a championship and leave.
“I know I could still play this game. There is no doubt about it. I can play this game for another three years if I wanted to at a high level. There comes a point in your career that I’ve gotten everything that I’ve ever wanted from this game. The only reason I’ve been playing the last couple of years, to tell you the truth, is for an opportunity like this. Now that it’s presented, I feel some closure coming in.I still have some more closure to take care of though and that’s obviously winning this weekend and winning if we get to the Super Bowl.”
This is the 16th NFL season for Gonzalez and last week, in his sixth try, he finally won a playoff game when the Falcons blew a 20-point lead, then came back to edge the Seahawks 30-28.
All season, Gonzalez, 36, maintained he was 95 percent sure he will retire whenever the Falcons are done. His teammate, Michael Palmer, revealed Gonzalez told him it’s now a 97 percent chance this is it.
“After last week it probably went up a couple of percentage points,’’ Gonzalez admitted. “Maybe if we get this win, it’ll go up to 99 percent. I hate even toying with that. The last thing that I would ever want to do is be a distraction.The only reason I’m at 95 is I don’t want to close the window all the way, just in case, but pretty much, I have my mind already made up that this is probably going to be it.”
After 12 years with the Chiefs and four with the Falcons, this is the deepest Gonzalez has advanced into the postseason and he’s adamant that should not be held against him.
“I don’t think it’s fair,’’ he said. “I’ve said that before and even now after I got my first playoff victory, I still say the same thing. It’s not fair to judge a player by whether he won a Super Bowl or not. It’s about how he played week in and week out.’’