Tag: NFL

Just got back from ATL; the Falcons easily put away the Dolphins 19-7 in the Falcons home opener.

A few of things of note. Ryan look a little off, just missing a few sure fire receptions, but ended up with better than average numbers: 22 for 36, 229 yds, and 2 TDs. Tuner had a subpar day (65 yds on 22 carries), having a difficult time cracking Miami’s 3-4 defense. Elem had a horrible day, missing two FGs and an extra point; luckily those seven points did not come back to haunt the Falcons. The defense was much better than expected. Surprise, surprise.

Go Falcons!

From today’s NFC South blog chant …

Greg (Cleveland, OH)
Pat, sorry to hear about the passing of your journalist friend. I”m a Falcons fan, but I don’t see the playoffs this year. The offense will be great, the defense is better than the preseason when they were experimenting with blitzes. But a) the Falcons have the WORST schedule in football (not only 4th hardest win%, but more teams coming off the bye than any schedule in recent history), and b) they can’t be as lucky this year with injuries. NO got the honey of a schedule, with no bye-teams, and it’s not like Grant or Smith did anything last year…

Pat Yasinskas (1:02 PM)
Thanks. Tom Berry was a great man. I’m proud the Pro Football Writers of America are doing something to keep his memory going. Greg, you sound like a Red Sox fan — accepting failure before it happens. Your points are valid. But think back to your expectations last year at this time. I’m sure what happened far exceeded those expectations. You might be pleasantly surprised.

I have had mixed emotions about this year’s team mostly due to the schedule and the defense. I still need to get in my predictions, but Mr. Yasinskas is talking me off the ledge.

It has never happened in their history, and apparently Mr. Dimitroff does not want to hear about it anymore.

In a radio interview, Atlanta general manager Thomas Dimitroff admitted he’s tired of hearing about the Falcons never having back-to-back winning seasons. Here’s a thought: Go out and do it.

I agree! However, unless the defense improves in a hurry, we may be talking about this topic for another couple of seasons, and that would suck big time.

But not a good kind of fear. Nice article from SI (Peter King).

“What’s exciting is we can get some real speed out there this year,” said Dimitroff. “People look at our team and say, ‘You’re missing five starters on defense.’ Do I regret it? No. We might take a step back at first, but we’ll gain experience and continue to grow.”

The key is going to be pressure from Abraham, coming off a career year, and the underachieving Anderson, because Houston and Grimes (and probable nickel Hill) are not great cover guys. The Falcons open against three veteran quarterbacks from two 2008 playoff teams — Miami, Carolina, at New England — so we’ll see if the Falcons can come together as a young defense quickly.

The defense better come together quickly or we will go another year without consecutive winning seasons, which would suck in a big way.

Yesterday the Falcons picked up some much needed defensive back help. According to J.Mike’s Missives (blog on the official Atlanta Falcons site), Atlanta added former Jacksonville Jaguar Brian Williams.

Williams played under Smith — then the Jaguars’ defensive coordinator — in 2006 and 2007, starting 29 games at cornerback. The eight-year veteran has 93 starts (107 games), 484 tackles, 18 interceptions, four sacks, nine forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and 94 passes defensed in his career.

In 2008, Williams started all 16 games for the Jaguars, finishing with 89 tackles and two interceptions.

This is an encouraging signing for the Falcons, a full week after I was completely bummed out about the secondary’s performance. It looks like Williams was a salary cut victim.

Williams started 45 games the last three years, but was behind rookie Derek Cox(notes) this fall and too expensive to keep as a nickel back.

I wonder how quickly Tye Hill and Williams will push for playing time? Prior to the Williams signing, I thought Hill had a chance to push for Grimes or Houston for playing time. I know the coaching staff loves Grimes for his athletic ability, but sometimes that is not enough to make up for skill. Williams gives Atlanta additional depth, but could also push DeCoud for the starting FS spot.

The NFC South blog at ESPN offers this roster cut analysis.

What’s next: Atlanta has a solid starting offensive line, but the depth is still a bit shaky with Brett Romberg, Will Svitek and Quinn Ojinnaka as the only backup linemen on the roster. The Falcons could look to add one more veteran to give them some flexibility. Even after trading for cornerback Tye Hill earlier this week, the Falcons still could look to upgrade their secondary.

I certainly hope ATL can find some secondary help!

It looks like Atlanta is ready for the Dolphins on September 13, but I expect that the defensive backs could change a little if Atlanta is able to find help on the cut list. And they still need some help. According to the Falcons official website, the roster is set, and two former Bulldogs did not make the final list.

Former Georgia standouts Thomas Brown and D.J. Shockley were released along with two players from the team’s 2009 Draft class: cornerback William Middleton and defensive tackle Vance Walker.

It is not a huge surprise that D.J. did not make the team; if you carry a 3rd string QB for a while you expect him to beat out the 2nd string QB, but D.J. was nowhere near ready to take down Redman. Next year Atlanta will be in the markup for a backup to Ryan because I do not see Redman sticking around; he wants to start again.

I am disappointed for Brown; he was a great former Bulldog, but just could not stay injury free. The final roster breakdown includes:

* Nine defensive linemen (four tackles, five ends)
* Six linebackers (three starters and a backup at each position)
* 10 defensive backs (five cornerbacks and five safeties)
* Five wide receivers (including 11-veteran Marty Booker)
* Three quarterbacks (two will likely be active on gameday)
* Three tight ends (Keith Zinger wins the final spot over Rader)
* Nine offensive linemen (Quinn Ojinnaka continues to backup multiple positions)
* Five running backs (three tailbacks and a pair of fullbacks: Ovie Mughelli and Verron Haynes)
* Two kickers (Jason Elam and Michael Koenen)
* One long-snapper (returning starter Mike Schneck)

The Falcons will establish their practice squad today, so it will be interesting to see if there are any real surprises.

ESPN’s NFC South blog has an interesting article on the franchise values for the NFC South teams. Surprisingly (at least to me) the Falcons are not chalk full of value.

The one I found surprising was the Atlanta Falcons. Despite adding Matt Ryan and a lot of excitement, the Falcons came in at No. 30 and were valued at $856 million, a two-percent decrease from last year. I guess that’s why the Falcons are making noise about wanting a new stadium.

I have read some of the articles about ATL wanting a new stadium, but the time is just not right. I don’t think the Dome is awful; don’t get me wrong it is not all that great, but the Falcons are having a hard time selling luxury boxes and I doubt a new stadium would have fans forking over cash left and right for the opportunity to sit in a shiny new location.

I am sure everyone else has noticed that the Falcons 2008 Playoff run was rewarded with a much tougher 2009 schedule. Making matters worse, is that the Falcons face four difficult games in a six week stretch where Atlanta faces teams coming off a bye week.

• Chicago Bears (Oct 18)
• at Dallas Cowboys (Oct 25)
• Washington Redskins (Nov 8th)
• New York Giants (Nov 22)

I think the Falcons are going to be in for a rough time if you consider (A) the schedule is difficult (B) the schedule features four teams that get extra time to prep and heal up before facing the Falcons (C) the secondary sucks (D) the defensive line does not have anyone to compliment John Abraham.

Maybe (C) the secondary sucks – will change with the acquisition of Ty Hill, but until I see him in action, I do not have high hopes.

Hill is a guy who still has some upside. In fact, Hill is the kind of first-round talent the Falcons haven’t had on their roster since … well, DeAngelo Hall, but that’s a bad example. Atlanta went through last season kind of patching things together at cornerback and they seemed destined to do the same thing this year.

They didn’t have any blue-chip corners and appeared ready to go into the season with Chris Houston and Brent Grimes as the starters and rookie Chris Owens and second-year pro Chevis Jackson as the backups. Houston’s been good at times, but not so good at other times. He came into the league as a second-round draft pick and Grimes came in as an undrafted free agent. Owens and Jackson were third-round choices.

So now the questions are – can Hill perform and what did the Falcons have to give up?

My seven year old loves Jerious Norwood – he has his jersey and a lot of his football cards. The boy cannot get enough of Norwood. So you could see the concern on his sad little face when Norwood went down against San Diego. I told him that everything would be already; he just got the wind knocked out of him. According to the ajc:

Falcons running back Jerious Norwood and safety William Moore will not play against Baltimore on Thursday, head coach Mike Smith said after practice Monday.

Norwood suffered head and knee injuries and Moore pulled a hamstring against San Diego Saturday.

“Jerious had the big hit in the ball game there and his head got hit hard,” Smith said. “He also had a situation with his leg. We’ll be very cautious with that.”

Tough break for Moore. I know the Falcons are high on the kid, but he cannot seem to stay healthy.

Mark Bradley of the ajc just confirmed my earlier post – the Falcons’ secondary sucks. Big time.

Afterward, general manager Thomas Dimitroff said: “It’s going to be a very busy two weeks.” He would say no more, but the message seemed cleared enough: This is the man who found Domonique Foxworth and Jamaal Fudge near the end of preseason 2008 to prop up his secondary. There seems a strong need to do something similar now.

The Falcons liked everything about cornerback Chris Houston in training camp: His preparation, his attitude, his play. But something happened in Saturday’s first half: Houston yielded one big play on third down, then another, then another. If a guy’s going to be your No. 1 cornerback, that can’t happen. Even No. 1 corners get beat — all corners get beat — but they can’t let one bad play put them on the back foot the rest of the night.

The Falcons must now determine if Houston has the toughness to shrug off a big gainer and keep playing. He seemed to lose his edge against the Chargers, and if he’s incapable of regaining that edge from one play to the next the Falcons need to know it now.

Now for the money question – is there enough time to fix the problem before things get out of hand?

Yesterday I took the family to Atlanta to make a nice little weekend trip out of the Chargers/Falcons game. Atlanta did manage to pull a 27-24 victory, but the Falcons lost the first half, which was a matchup of starting units, 21-13. Let’s just say that the secondary is somewhat of a mess and spells trouble for the upcoming season.

In the first half, the Chargers pretty much did what they wanted, and third down defense for Atlanta was a joke. I have no idea why Atlanta thought they could let their only legitimate cornerback walk because the current fill-ins are going to be disappointing.

Grimes and Houston may be athletic and fast, but at some point size and natural talent become a factor. Unless something crazy happens and the Falcons pick up an unexpected gift during the 53 man roster cuts, or Atlanta somehow works out a trade, I think Falcons are going to be in for a rude awakening. It does not really matter how good the offense is if the defense cannot shut anyone down.

Someone on the d-line has to step up to put pressure on the QB, which in turn will take some of focus off the secondary. Right now things do not so good.

On a bright now, Grimes did get a sack on a blitz. He could work well as a nickel, and occasionally blitz, which would be a better use of his athletic talent. MLB Loften and FS Erik Colman looked sharp, but other than those two, the defense in the first half of a major bummer.

The kids were pretty much done at the half, so we took it back t the hotel.

I found this Fifth Down article about the Falcons – Matt Ryan, Michael Turner, and the offensive line – via the NFC South blog at espn.

I also think it is worth noting that in two of his first four games and three of his first seven games, Ryan had a passer rating below 70. I don’t say that to knock him, but rather to point out that as great of a rookie season as he had (and he is the best rookie quarterback I have seen in six years of tape breakdowns), he does have room to become an even better player. That thought should keep NFC South defensive coordinators up at night.

The article points out that Ryan’s decision making progress (or how about in game progression of reads) improved from his senior year at Boston College. As a Falcons fan, I find this article very encouraging. If only the defense can keep up its end of the deal.

The Atlanta Falcons held on to a 20-13 win over the Rams. Yes it is preseason, so no one cares. Ah, but no so true for many fans because the preseason is where depth charts are set, young guys get to make or break their careers with first impressions, and if nothing else the preseason tides us over until the real gridiron action starts. It is a tasty morsel of sorts. As a season ticket holder, the preseason is a small investment for the upcoming season. Observations now for the season ahead.

Offense is ready
The Falcons starting offense looked like they were ready for the season to start; first two drives were productive and ended with a rushing TD by Turner and a TD catch by Gonzalez. Hell, I will go so far and say they looked damn near stellar – have to get the homer out of me. The Falcons even managed to work some on their no-huddle offense, with fairly efficient results. Matt Ryan at the line was shades of that QB with the Colts.

Backup QB unsettled
Or maybe it is not, but D.J. Shockley looked nowhere near ready to step in for Ryan. I assume Redman will get the call (if needed).

Secondary is scary …
but not in a good way. This unit will not put fear in the heart of opposing teams, and unless the d-line can figure out how to put constant and consistent pressure on opposing QBs, the upcoming season may be merciless for the secondary. I know the Falcons have a lot of faith in CB Brent Grimes; he was around the ball a lot, but what will he do against a quality WR?