By all counts, Georgia has a top class; maybe not stellar, but one that any university that is not Alabama, FSU, Texas, or Florida would appreciate.

At last check, Georgia’s class was ranked No. 5 by ESPN, No. 6 by 247Sports, No. 12 by Scout, No. 19 by Rivals and No. 20 by Tom Lemming. Take it for what it’s worth.

Exactly. Take it for what it is worth, but the 2012 class is a nice building block, and momentum springboard.

Even if it did lose to the four best teams it played last season. Even if it did blow its bowl game. Even if it didn’t get every single recruit it wanted. Quibble all you want, but Georgia in 2012 resembles the Georgia of 2002. And the very nice haul of this signing day, even if it wasn’t quite so dazzling as last year’s Dream Team, showed a program primed to move from strength to strength.

Hopefully these guys will contribute right away, adding depth, and in some cases competing for playing time.

Go Dawgs!

Nolan faces three major problems, listed in no particular order.

• Key free agents – John Abraham, Curtis Lofton, Brent Grimes, Thomas DeCoud.
• Poor secondary play.
• Abysmal pass rush.

Normally you would build via the draft, but without a 1st round pick, the Falcons cannot look to rebuild the defensive line or shore up the secondary. The front office can look to build via free agency, but the Falcons cannot afford to overpay (see Dunta Robinson and Ray Edwards).

Should be interesting to see how this turns out, but we will not know the full picture until after the pre training camp salary cap casualties. Yes, the draft will carry a lot of weight as GM Thomas Dimitroff looks to add value picks, but expect the Falcons to plug in a few gaps via salary cap pick-ups.

The Future of Turner
Under the topic of lack of draft picks and salary cap casualties, look for Michael Turner. Speculation is growing that Turner could be shopped or even dropped. It is true that Turner is hitting the magical train wreck for HB known as being 30.

One key point in the Turner discussion that seems to be missing is that losing Ovie Mughelli impacted the Falcons ability (inability) to run effectively. Not to mention poor offensive line play.

The AJC’s Jeff Schultz points out that Turner has a significant cap hit that cannot be overlooked:

Turner is scheduled to make $5 million in salary next season, but has a cap hit of $7.5 million (factoring $2.5 million for his original signing bonus).

True enough and Schultz didn’t weigh in a strong opinion for keeping or moving (or dropping) Turner.

ESPN’s Pat Yasinskas points out that it is unlikely that ATL will get much return (in the way of draft pick compensation) for the aging Turner:

If they went this route, you’d like to see the Falcons get a nice draft pick in return. But, for all the reasons we covered above, I’d have a tough time seeing another team give up an early draft pick for an aging running back. At best, the Falcons might be able to get a middle- or late-round pick for Turner. That team also would have to pick up a contract that would pay Turner $5 million in 2012 and $5.5 million in 2013, so I’d say a late-round pick is a more likely scenario.

Simply cutting Turner isn’t totally out of the question. He’s scheduled to count $7 million against the 2012 salary cap. But I just checked the specifics of his contract. The Falcons would take a $4 million cap hit if they cut Turner. But they’d also free up $3 million in cap space.

I don’t think it is realistic to talk about moving Turner until there is some decision made on Jason Snelling (also a Free Agent). If the Falcons resign Snelling, I think that will point to a Turner move (one way or the other). Of course they resigned Snelling last year, so I could be totally off base.

I just don’t see the Falcons getting anything in return for Turner, and it would be disappointing if they just dropped him, but freeing up $3 million in cap space may allow the Falcons to push for more pressing needs.

The Jaguars have had some obvious personnel deficiencies. The organization was a mess and head coach Jack Del Rio clearly had lost his effectiveness. But it’s safe to conclude Koetter was not viewed as anybody’s “hot” candidate.

Two factors may have played into this hiring: 1) Smith wanted somebody he is comfortable with, and in this case that’s somebody he has worked with; 2) The Falcons’ third straight immediate playoff exit has, for the first time, put some heat on Smith, and that perceived uncertainty sometimes affects a team’s ability to hire a high-profile candidate.

Good Lord and good grief, I hope this turns out well, but at first glance, this hire is not exactly “I will renew my season ticket holder status” inspiring.

Please let me eat my words …

I love this summary from The Falcoholic, which was originally going to be an article centered on why the Falcons must dump their much maligned OC.

…this is the best outcome for the team. They didn’t have to fire Mularkey, but they still jettisoned the offensive coordinator who presided over arguably one of the most embarrassing playoff performance in the team’s tortuous history. That failure was striking, yes, but it was also an indictment of what a Mularkey-led offense had become: Incapable of winning big games. The team can now truly evolve from its days of a ground-heavy focus and short passing game to something more dynamic, which they did only half-heartedly in 2011. That’s the hope, anyways.

…

Give the team credit for having enough class to let Mularkey go get a good job instead of sabotaging him, and kudos to Mularkey for finding a head coaching gig.

Now the Falcons can go full steam ahead into the off season looking for two new coordinators. That is a lot of change to absorb going into 2012, but maybe, just maybe, Coach Mike Smith and GM Thomas Dimitroff will get it right, and hire a couple of bright coordinators that will bring new life into the franchise.

It is a good problem to have. Back-to-back-to-back-to-back winning seasons, with three playoff appearances. Unfortunately, all three playoff games have proven to be disappointments. The Falcons do a solid foundation upon which any OC or DC should be able to build, and hopefully get us over the hump.

Good luck Mularkey. To the Jaguars, you poor gullible bastards, hope it turns out to your liking.

Go Falcons.

O’Brien averaged 1.0 points and 1.3 rebounds in 7.2 minutes last season for Saint Joseph’s. He missed four games while the university investigated his potential role in a teammate’s theft of a computer laptop. That investigation cleared O’Brien of any wrongdoing.

Clearly O’Brien, much like Dyer, had a falling out with his head coach. Unlike Dyer, O’Brien is not all that, but his former school is going to make him sit out a full year. Just because. Why?

I understand that the NCAA is deferring to St. Joseph’s wishes, but this is clearly wrong. Once again the NCAA shows it has its collective head stuck up its ass. Just amazing.

Contrary to popular belief, not every team loses because of its offensive coordinator. (Or defensive coordinator, depending on the setting.) It is clear, however, that Mike Mularkey isn’t the man to maximize this personnel in the video arcade of neo-football. There’s a chance he’ll be hired away as someone else’s head coach. If he isn’t, it’s time for the Falcons to try somebody new.

It wasn’t Mularkey’s fault. Honest. Never has been. Everyone knows that the buck stops with the Head Coach, and Ryan sucks. Honest. Please take Mularkey … anyone?

SEC Winners: Arkansas (Cotton), Florida (Gator), Auburn (Chick-fil-A), Mississippi St. (Music City)

SEC Losers: Georgia (Outback), Vanderbilt (Liberty). Let’s face it, Georgia screwed up. It’s really hard to say they got outplayed. They were out coached, but not outplayed.

Vanderbilt was 6-6 (2-6 SEC), so they received a Bowl invite just because someone felt sorry for the Commodores. That or there were not enough teams to fill out the full plate of Bowl match-ups.

BCS: Alabama or LSU. SEC fans always say that SEC schedules forces teams to cannibalize and beat each other up. Case in point, tonight an SEC team will fail to win the Championship at the hands of another SEC team. I know that’s just rubbing salt into the wounds of non-SEC fans. I guess I am not so nice that way.

Wait until next year? Missouri (Independence), and Texas A&M (Texas) may not be SEC stalwarts (honey please; dripping with sarcasm) until next year. Just saying that they also won.

Go Dawgs!

I don’t think this failure debate should center on Matt Ryan being a 0-3 failure in the playoffs. Of course that will be the hot topic, but really how can the focus not be on getting a new OC?

I can understand real life – Mike Mularkey probably has a family, bills to pay, and feelings. But Good Lord, there has to be some change. Let’s start there.

There are too many grievances to point out, but how about the simple fact that the Falcons were scared at the end of the first half, apparently happy to go in with a 7-2 deficit instead of attempting to get some more points on the board. In a low scoring game, how do you leave 20+ seconds on the table when you have a full slate of timeouts?

Next up – get an o-line that can actually manage a yard. Of course the Falcons went all in on Julio, so no first round pick to bail us out come April. Awful. Not a surprise since it has been the theme all year, but that still does not make it any easier to swallow.

As I write this Tebow just threw a nice 30 yard TD strike; WTF were our 30 yard passes? The “big” story this off season was big play ability, which was the reason for going after Julio. When Ryan did have time, I guess everyone was covered – credit the Giants. Still, why not try something; Harry D in the slot maybe?

I take little solace in being wrong on Matt Bosher. The Falcons won the putting game thanks to the ever improving Bosher who managed 322 total yards on 7 punts, good for a net avg. of 42 yards per punt. Nice; Falcons don’t totally suck.

What a bitter and disappointing way to end the season.

The game was indicative of everything that has been wrong with Georgia over the last 2-3 years. No, I’m not forgetting the nice little 10 win run, but the book-ends of two losses at the start and end of the season are really hard to swallow. Especially when you consider that things could have been different if the Bulldogs had one ounce of creativity.

And again, playcaller Mike Bobo seemed incapable of adjusting to the realities of what was happening on the field and stubbornly stuck with what wasn’t working.

With the middle of the Spartan’s defensive line as solid as a brick wall, Bobo continually called for runs up the middle — often with delays that turned into tackles for loss since State was getting into the Georgia backfield so quickly. Early on, Georgia was able to have some running success on the outside, but once MSU adjusted to stop that, the Dogs basically were no threat on the ground.

I kept yelling at the TV – run a f’ing pitch, toss, or sweep play. Go side-to-side for gosh sakes, and stop going up the middle because we were getting manhandled. In general the play calling was terrible.

Georgia coach Mark Richt has often been criticized for being too conservative, and it almost cost him, as he ran just two plays after Bacarri Rambo’s interception before sending Walsh out for the 42-yard field goal attempt on Georgia’s first overtime possession. Walsh missed, and Michigan State eventually won in triple overtime … after a Walsh kick that was blocked.

…

For Georgia, this loss will sting for a while. The conservative play calling late and the missed field goal likely will be brought up a lot with this team.

I hope the Dawgs find a running game this offseason, and get creative on offense. One can always hope …

Go Dawgs!

42 first half points; most every in a half.

Ryan single season passing yards pushed Jeff Georgia out of the top spot.

Turner now holds the career rushing TD mark.

Roddy White (another game with a dropped pass) earned the all-time receiving yards record.

Next up, the Giants; NY is currently favored by 3 points (i.e. home field advantage). Depending on which ATL team shows up, the Falcons have a realistic chance of advancing. ATL could be one and done, but I still would rather play the inconsistent Giants than go back to New Orleans for the first game.

Go Falcons!