Falcons predicted to finish 7-9 by “Outsiders”

Its hard for me to even post anymore, because the Blog Dragon is on my @—!

Nookah – That was a pretty even assessment on our Falcons for this year, but to say we don’t have any playmakers on defense is pretty ridiculous. We added Peria Jerry, William Moore, Chris Owens, and Mike Peterson; not to mention a healthy Trey Lewis and Stephen Nicholas getting his shot. I don’t think we’re that far away from where NY Giants were when they made a “deep” run to win the Super Bowl.

jason – I agree with you that I think we’re one year away as well. This year should really tell us something about our “process”, but I wouldn’t totally discount a shot because once you get hot in the playoffs its anybody’s ball game(Pittsburgh-2006;NY Giants-2007;Arizona-2008). On MS/KM, I just never got the same feeling that it bothered either one of them when we got beat and never showed that leadership that I say from so many of our other guys, from Boss Bailey and Thomas Davis to David Greene and Terrance Edwards. Part of it was Richt’s fault for allowing the “superstar”-dom to take over the team. Just for instance, when Moreno would make a big run or score a TD he would just dance and act like it was party. Shut the H—- up and play football! MS acted he was in left field half the time and never showed that killer instinct. Name Stafford’s marquee game as a Dawg? Anyway, I wish them the best, but glad we’ve turned over a new leaf. All your talk of NCAA 2010 makes me yearn for the new Madden, and why does it come out so late. It should be coming out Aug.1st, IMO.

Seminole – Good point. We were already ranked 24th in Total DEF last year. I would argue that it would take quite a bit to get WORSE. As Coach Ken mentioned, its hard to see that with all the competition, athleticism, speed, and toughness that occurs.

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C’mon…………what is the deal? Over the past two days I probably am getting only half of my posts through. Its about to force me on a ‘Cage hiatus.

Nookah – That was a pretty even assessment on our Falcons for this year, but to say we don’t have any playmakers on defense is pretty ridiculous. We added Peria Jerry, William Moore, Chris Owens, and Mike Peterson; not to mention a healthy Trey Lewis and Stephen Nicholas getting his chance. I don’t think we’re that far away from where NY Giants were when they made a “deep” run to win the Super Bowl.

jason – I agree with you that I think we’re one year away as well. This year should really tell us something about our “process”, but I wouldn’t totally discount a shot because once you get hot in the playoffs its anybody’s ball game(Pittsburgh-2006;NY Giants-2007;Arizona-2008). On MS/KM, I just never got the same feeling that it bothered either one of them when we got beat and never showed that leadership that I say from so many of our other guys, from Boss Bailey and Thomas Davis to David Greene and Terrance Edwards. Part of it was Richt’s fault for allowing the “superstar”-dom to take over the team. Just for instance, when Moreno would make a big run or score a TD he would just dance and act like it was party. Shut the H—- up and play football! MS acted he was in left field half the time and never showed that killer instinct. Name Stafford’s marquee game as a Dawg? Anyway, I wish them the best, but glad we’ve turned over a new leaf. All your talk of NCAA 2010 makes me yearn for the new Madden, and why does it come out so late. It should be coming out Aug.1st, IMO.

Seminole – Good point. We were already ranked 24th in Total DEF last year. I would argue that it would take quite a bit to get WORSE. As Coach Ken mentioned, its hard to see that with all the competition, athleticism, speed, and toughness that occurs.

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jason – I agree with you that I think we’re one year away as well. This year should really tell us something about our “process”, but I wouldn’t totally discount a shot because once you get hot in the playoffs its anybody’s ball game(Pittsburgh-2006;NY Giants-2007;Arizona-2008). On MS/KM, I just never got the same feeling that it bothered either one of them when we got beat and never showed that leadership that I say from so many of our other guys, from Boss Bailey and Thomas Davis to David Greene and Terrance Edwards. Part of it was Richt’s fault for allowing the “superstar”-dom to take over the team. Just for instance, when Moreno would make a big run or score a TD he would just dance and act like it was party. Shut the H—- up and play football! MS acted he was in left field half the time and never showed that killer instinct. Name Stafford’s marquee game as a Dawg? Anyway, I wish them the best, but glad we’ve turned over a new leaf. All your talk of NCAA 2010 makes me yearn for the new Madden, and why does it come out so late. It should be coming out Aug.1st, IMO.

Seminole – Good point. We were already ranked 24th in Total DEF last year. I would argue that it would take quite a bit to get WORSE. As Coach Ken mentioned, its hard to see that with all the competition, athleticism, speed, and toughness that occurs

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Morning folks. Yall been busy huh? Thanks for the tribute earlier Nookah. There are almost a thousand comments on here.

I say we can make it deep into the playoffs if our young defense plays up to its athletic potential. They’re gonna make mistakes, but can they make the plays when it counts? Will JA55 stay healthy and have another good season? Will JA98 have a breakout year? Will Peria Jerry play like he did in college, and stay healthy? Who will start in the secondary? Do they have what it takes to face the elite receivers we’re facing this year? A lot of questions. I can only trust what our staff does. I also wanted to note one thing about our team. Dimitroff and Smith have put together not only a team of talent, but one with morals and drive. Everyone they’ve got has a positive, respectful attitude and heart for the game. This is paramount.

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SeminoleWarrior, I think Mularkey will do what he wants to do. He is a NFL vet. The 2 I am worried about is Musgrave and BVG. Musgrave has an outstanding young Offensive mind, and he also is a guru in handling young QBs. As for BVG, He has gotten a bad rep the past couple of years. He is ambitious and looking for the best thing (rung on the ladder). He laft UGA to HC at GA South, then burn them to go to the NFL, and back to USCeast to not even coach one game and then back to the NFL. That is the two Coaches I would be worried about leaving.

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Nookah’s article he posted got me thinking about not being able to make a “deep run” in the playoffs as it said, so let’s compare shall we:

2007 New York Giants vs 2009 Atlanta Falcons

Offense
QB: Eli Manning – Matt Ryan
RB: Brandon Jacobs – Michael Turner
RB2: Derrick Ward – Jerious Norwood
TE: Jeremy Shockey/Kevin Boss – Tony Gonzalez
WR: Plaxico Burress – Roddy White
WR2: Amani Toomer – Michael Jenkins
Slot: Sinorice Moss – Harry Douglas
LT: David Diehl – Sam Baker
LG: Rich Seubert – Justin Blaylock
C: Shaun O’Hara – Todd McClure
RG: Chris Snee – Harvey Dahl
RT: Kareem McKenzie – Tyson Clabo
FB: Madison Hedgecock – Ovie Mughelli

Defense
DE: Michael Strahan – John Abraham
DT: Barry Cofield – Jonathan Babineaux
DT: Fred Robbins – Peria Jerry
DE: Osi Umeniyora – Jamaal Anderson
MLB: Antonio Pierce – Curtis Lofton
OLB: Mathias Kiwanuka – Mike Peterson
OLB: Kawika Mitchell – Stephen Nicholas
CB: Sam Madison – Chris Houston
CB: Aaron Ross – Chevis Jackson/Chris Owens
Nickel: RW McQuarters – Brent Grimes/Chris Owens
FS: Gibril Wilson – Erik Coleman
SS: James Butler – William Moore/Thomas DeCoud

Obviously, it’s easy to sit here and compare teams at the beginning of the season and say they were close in personnel and that it is very subjective at best because it doesn’t count schedule, locker room, coaching staffs, key plays, etc. but it at least deserves looking at since many think that our defense will be too inexperienced to make a deep playoff run.

Their defensive line may have been a little more experienced and they certainly have a better pair of DEnds than we do currently, but this was Osi’s big breakout year opposite Strahan. Their DT’s were solid but nothing spectacular. Their LB corps certainly doesn’t strike fear on paper alone. Pierce was a stud, but Kawika Mitchell and Mathias Kiwanuka? Secondary had Sam Madison, but the other guys were fairly unknowns and Aaron Ross was only in his first couple of years.

With these predictions, it gets to a point of saturation where all the prognostications are trying to be different and find an alternate angle that other publications don’t have. Which is why you have the Dwight Schrute Football Experts, I mean the Football Outsiders, that pick a different area of the market to fill and thus make money. Although this prediction is pretty fair, but some points are ridiculous.

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Nookah’s article he posted got me thinking about not being able to make a “deep run” in the playoffs as it said, so let’s compare shall we:

2007 New York Giants vs 2009 Atlanta Falcons

Offense
QB: Eli Manning – Matt Ryan
RB: Brandon Jacobs – Michael Turner
RB2: Derrick Ward – Jerious Norwood
TE: Jeremy Shockey/Kevin Boss – Tony Gonzalez
WR: Plaxico Burress – Roddy White
WR2: Amani Toomer – Michael Jenkins
Slot: Sinorice Moss – Harry Douglas
LT: David Diehl – Sam Baker
LG: Rich Seubert – Justin Blaylock
C: Shaun O’Hara – Todd McClure
RG: Chris Snee – Harvey Dahl
RT: Kareem McKenzie – Tyson Clabo
FB: Madison Hedgecock – Ovie Mughelli

Defense
DE: Michael Strahan – John Abraham
DT: Barry Cofield – Jonathan Babineaux
DT: Fred Robbins – Peria Jerry
DE: Osi Umeniyora – Jamaal Anderson
MLB: Antonio Pierce – Curtis Lofton
OLB: Mathias Kiwanuka – Mike Peterson
OLB: Kawika Mitchell – Stephen Nicholas
CB: Sam Madison – Chris Houston
CB: Aaron Ross – Chevis Jackson/Chris Owens
Nickel: RW McQuarters – Brent Grimes/Chris Owens
FS: Gibril Wilson – Erik Coleman
SS: James Butler – William Moore/Thomas DeCoud

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Attempt #10

Nookah’s article he posted got me thinking about not being able to make a “deep run” in the playoffs as it said, so let’s compare shall we:

2007 New York Giants vs 2009 Atlanta Falcons

Offense
QB: Eli Manning – Matt Ryan
RB: Brandon Jacobs – Michael Turner
RB2: Derrick Ward – Jerious Norwood
TE: Jeremy Shockey/Kevin Boss – Tony Gonzalez
WR: Plaxico Burress – Roddy White
WR2: Amani Toomer – Michael Jenkins
Slot: Sinorice Moss – Harry Douglas
LT: David Diehl – Sam Baker
LG: Rich Seubert – Justin Blaylock
C: Shaun O’Hara – Todd McClure
RG: Chris Snee – Harvey Dahl
RT: Kareem McKenzie – Tyson Clabo
FB: Madison Hedgecock – Ovie Mughelli

Defense
DE: Michael Strahan – John Abraham
DT: Barry Cofield – Jonathan Babineaux
DT: Fred Robbins – Peria Jerry
DE: Osi Umeniyora – Jamaal Anderson
MLB: Antonio Pierce – Curtis Lofton
OLB: Mathias Kiwanuka – Mike Peterson
OLB: Kawika Mitchell – Stephen Nicholas
CB: Sam Madison – Chris Houston
CB: Aaron Ross – Chevis Jackson/Chris Owens
Nickel: RW McQuarters – Brent Grimes/Chris Owens
FS: Gibril Wilson – Erik Coleman
SS: James Butler – William Moore/Thomas DeCoud

Obviously, it’s easy to sit here and compare teams at the beginning of the season and say they were close in personnel and that it is very subjective at best because it doesn’t count schedule, locker room, coaching staffs, key plays, etc. but it at least deserves looking at since many think that our defense will be too inexperienced to make a deep playoff run.

Their defensive line may have been a little more experienced and they certainly have a better pair of DEnds than we do currently, but this was Osi’s big breakout year opposite Strahan. Their DT’s were solid but nothing spectacular. Their LB corps certainly doesn’t strike fear on paper alone. Pierce was a stud, but Kawika Mitchell and Mathias Kiwanuka? Secondary had Sam Madison, but the other guys were fairly unknowns and Aaron Ross was only in his first couple of years.

With these predictions, it gets to a point of saturation where all the prognostications are trying to be different and find an alternate angle that other publications don’t have. Which is why you have the Dwight Schrute Football Experts, I mean the Football Outsiders, that pick a different area of the market to fill and thus make money. Although this prediction is pretty fair, but some points are ridiculous.

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Attempt #13

Nookah’s article he posted got me thinking about not being able to make a “deep run” in the playoffs as it said, so let’s compare shall we:

2007 New York Giants vs 2009 Atlanta Falcons

Offense
QB: Eli Manning – Matt Ryan
RB: Brandon Jacobs – Michael Turner
RB2: Derrick Ward – Jerious Norwood
TE: Jeremy Shockey/Kevin Boss – Tony Gonzalez
WR: Plaxico Burress – Roddy White
WR2: Amani Toomer – Michael Jenkins
Slot: Sinorice Moss – Harry Douglas
LT: David Diehl – Sam Baker
LG: Rich Seubert – Justin Blaylock
C: Shaun O’Hara – Todd McClure
RG: Chris Snee – Harvey Dahl
RT: Kareem McKenzie – Tyson Clabo
FB: Madison Hedgecock – Ovie Mughelli

Defense
DE: Michael Strahan – John Abraham
DT: Barry Cofield – Jonathan Babineaux
DT: Fred Robbins – Peria Jerry
DE: Osi Umeniyora – Jamaal Anderson
MLB: Antonio Pierce – Curtis Lofton
OLB: Mathias Kiwanuka – Mike Peterson
OLB: Kawika Mitchell – Stephen Nicholas
CB: Sam Madison – Chris Houston
CB: Aaron Ross – Chevis Jackson/Chris Owens
Nickel: RW McQuarters – Brent Grimes/Chris Owens
FS: Gibril Wilson – Erik Coleman
SS: James Butler – William Moore/Thomas DeCoud

Obviously, it’s easy to sit here and compare teams at the beginning of the season and say they were close in personnel and that it is very subjective at best because it doesn’t count schedule, locker room, coaching staffs, key plays, etc. but it at least deserves looking at since many think that our defense will be too inexperienced to make a deep playoff run.

Their defensive line may have been a little more experienced and they certainly have a better pair of DEnds than we do currently, but this was Osi’s big breakout year opposite Strahan. Their DT’s were solid but nothing spectacular. Their LB corps certainly doesn’t strike fear on paper alone. Pierce was a stud, but Kawika Mitchell and Mathias Kiwanuka? Secondary had Sam Madison, but the other guys were fairly unknowns and Aaron Ross was only in his first couple of years.

With these predictions, it gets to a point of saturation where all the prognostications are trying to be different and find an alternate angle that other publications don’t have. Which is why you have the Dwight Schrute Football Experts, I mean the Football Outsiders, that pick a different area of the market to fill and thus make money. Although this prediction is pretty fair, but some points are ridiculous.

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Attempt #16

The article he posted got me thinking about not being able to make a “deep run” in the playoffs as it said, so let’s compare shall we:

2007 New York Giants vs 2009 Atlanta Falcons

Offense
QB: Eli Manning – Matt Ryan
RB: Brandon Jacobs – Michael Turner
RB2: Derrick Ward – Jerious Norwood
TE: Jeremy Shockey/Kevin Boss – Tony Gonzalez
WR: Plaxico Burress – Roddy White
WR2: Amani Toomer – Michael Jenkins
Slot: Sinorice Moss – Harry Douglas
LT: David Diehl – Sam Baker
LG: Rich Seubert – Justin Blaylock
C: Shaun O’Hara – Todd McClure
RG: Chris Snee – Harvey Dahl
RT: Kareem McKenzie – Tyson Clabo
FB: Madison Hedgecock – Ovie Mughelli

Defense
DE: Michael Strahan – John Abraham
DT: Barry Cofield – Jonathan Babineaux
DT: Fred Robbins – Peria Jerry
DE: Osi Umeniyora – Jamaal Anderson
MLB: Antonio Pierce – Curtis Lofton
OLB: Mathias Kiwanuka – Mike Peterson
OLB: Kawika Mitchell – Stephen Nicholas
CB: Sam Madison – Chris Houston
CB: Aaron Ross – Chevis Jackson/Chris Owens
Nickel: RW McQuarters – Brent Grimes/Chris Owens
FS: Gibril Wilson – Erik Coleman
SS: James Butler – William Moore/Thomas DeCoud

Obviously, it’s easy to sit here and compare teams at the beginning of the season and say they were close in personnel and that it is very subjective at best because it doesn’t count schedule, locker room, coaching staffs, key plays, etc. but it at least deserves looking at since many think that our defense will be too inexperienced to make a deep playoff run.

Their defensive line may have been a little more experienced and they certainly have a better pair of DEnds than we do currently, but this was Osi’s big breakout year opposite Strahan. Their DT’s were solid but nothing spectacular. Their LB corps certainly doesn’t strike fear on paper alone. Pierce was a stud, but Kawika Mitchell and Mathias Kiwanuka? Secondary had Sam Madison, but the other guys were fairly unknowns and Aaron Ross was only in his first couple of years.

With these predictions, it gets to a point of saturation where all the prognostications are trying to be different and find an alternate angle that other publications don’t have. Which is why you have the Dwight Schrute Football Experts, I mean the Football Outsiders, that pick a different area of the market to fill and thus make money. Although this prediction is pretty fair, but some points are ridiculous.

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Unca’ Bob, jason: agree with both of you. I am more concerned about the 4 or 5 games after bye weeks. I think this gives our proponents a huge advantage. Really ticks me off the more I think about it. Has any team been shoved this bs?

Unca’ Bob: mark bradly is at it again, beware!

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JJ, With the bye weeks, it will give opposing teams an edge over our young D. Smitty and BVG are going to have their work cut out for them this year. The good thing is we have alot of talent and alot of speed on that side of the ball.

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JJ, at least I have a few hours to think. I began watching football in the early 80’s. There are alot of favorites. I will try to stay Falcons, but the Cowboys was my other team. Then again there were alot of great players, Chargers, Dolphins, Steelers, Lions, etc… I could go on and on, But I will wait until this evening.

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To beat teams with dynamic OFF’s like the Eagles and Saints, we have to do 2 things.
(1) Use our ball control OFF to control the clock and keep their OFF off the field, while putting pts on the scoreboard.

(2) Force them to beat us using their weakness, because both teams have weak rushing OFF’s and correspondingly weak redzone scoring.

To get an idea of how important controlling the scoreboard(points allowed) can be, consider the following facts if you have trouble believing in our DEF. The Falcons finisned 24th in total DEF last yr, and of the 23 teams that finished ahead of us, 13 allowed more points per gm and only 3 had better won/loss records. Being quicker, faster, more mobile and athletic are all advantages when defending the Redzone, and there aren’t many, if any, DEF’s that are quicker, faster, more mobile and athletic than ours.

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Quick check in with my favorite crew, 9 pages and counting and training camp is still a week away, don’t fall behind boys and girls because catching up could take all day.

JJ, I see your point on playing teams after their bye weeks, Jason has it right, it will give opposing teams an edge over the birds youngD. But I give you this, it was a discussion between myself and mostly Unca’Bob, to offset how teams will try to take advantage of the birds after bye weeks, the offense can go into alot of no huddle offense. The no huddle will allow them to control the clock and control opponents substituting ability. As Seminole has stated often, Mad Mike is virtually an offensive genius, he will come up with ways to combat teams having an extra week to prepare, defensively if the birds struggle the offense can shoot it out with the best of teams and not many teams will try to get into a shootout with these birds.

Back in a while, just wanting to jump in the cage real quick, by the way JJ, topics are looking good for NFL Retro, will the player be on board today,LOL.

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2007 New York Giants vs 2009 Atlanta Falcons

Offense
QB: Eli Manning – Matt Ryan
RB: Brandon Jacobs – Michael Turner
RB2: Derrick Ward – Jerious Norwood
TE: Jeremy Shockey/Kevin Boss – Tony Gonzalez
WR: Plaxico Burress – Roddy White
WR2: Amani Toomer – Michael Jenkins
Slot: Sinorice Moss – Harry Douglas
LT: David Diehl – Sam Baker
LG: Rich Seubert – Justin Blaylock
C: Shaun O’Hara – Todd McClure
RG: Chris Snee – Harvey Dahl
RT: Kareem McKenzie – Tyson Clabo
FB: Madison Hedgecock – Ovie Mughelli

Defense
DE: Michael Strahan – John Abraham
DT: Barry Cofield – Jonathan Babineaux
DT: Fred Robbins – Peria Jerry
DE: Osi Umeniyora – Jamaal Anderson
MLB: Antonio Pierce – Curtis Lofton
OLB: Mathias Kiwanuka – Mike Peterson
OLB: Kawika Mitchell – Stephen Nicholas
CB: Sam Madison – Chris Houston
CB: Aaron Ross – Chevis Jackson/Chris Owens
Nickel: RW McQuarters – Brent Grimes/Chris Owens
FS: Gibril Wilson – Erik Coleman
SS: James Butler – William Moore/Thomas DeCoud

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The above facts prove that where a team finishes in PT’s allowed is far more important than where a team finishes in total yds allowed. This yrs DEF will be far more capable of defending the Redzone than last yrs DEF.

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Hello Cage…Sorry to have disappeared earlier. Been dealing with a few issues here in the TeePee. Word to the wise men. Don’t try to be plumbers when you do not know what in the hell you are doing.!! I read some self-help tips and made things worse. Thank God I’m a hell of lot better with meteorology than I am with a pipe wrench. Anyways, the real dudes are handling my mess..

Jason, Musgrave is a hell of a sleeper as a coach, especially with QBs and offensive strategy. I think we will keep him around for a while. But Mad Mike is one that will be a hot commodity come the end of the year. As far as BVG, I’m still feeling him out so I will defer to you, D3, and other UGA faith as to his upside as an NFL coach.

K Strick…on target analysis as always.

JJ, will we hit the air at 6 or 7? WR, are you ready to break down the “Gene” factor in more detail.

Let me see how my money is being spent…back in a while.

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My God! It took me this long just to catch up people and it’s already time for lunch. I’ll be back.

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Ken Strickland Good posts as usual. We are not a perfect team. By looking at weaknesses, we don’t have alot. Most notable is youth and inexperience on defense. I see that being the focal point for opposing teams to attack us. We need our offense to sustain long time consuming drives to protect the defense, at least at the early part of the season. I think they will. Also with the best directional punter in football will be an added advantage (as it showed last year) in keeping field position in the defense’s favor. That was how our D could give up all those yards last year while giving up so few points.

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SeminoleWarrior, the question with Jerry is… Are those injuries serious or of the nagging sort. Either way he is going to have to play.

Also on BVG, he is a good coach, but I wonder if he is going to jump ship and the first better offer. Hopefully not since he broke ground in the NFL with Smitty.

I will give you Mulsarkey, but he has been around the NFL so long, do you really think he wants to be a HC? I am sure everyone does at some point.

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SeminoleWarrior, I think the chances of retainging Mularkey are good. The NFL is a trend league and the trend now is to hire 30 somethin year old coaches with little to no experience (sarcasm). If he does go, Musgrave gets OC and a pay raise. He is responsible for the little developement that MV got plus what he did in MR’s rookie year.

BVG is still pretty young in his NFL DC career. He was ATL’s LB (I think) coach during Petrino’s brief stay in ATL.

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Brian VanGorder

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Brian VanGorder

07/09/09: Leadership important in youthful secondary
06/29/09: DeCoud excited about opportunity at safety
06/11/09: Lofton ready to take leadership role on defense
03/30/09: Nicholas ready to compete for position
08/08/08: Smith, Falcons rookies set to face Jaguars
Biography

Bran VanGorder takes over the Falcons defense with an extensive coaching background that spans over 25 years in the profession, including two seasons in the NFL trenches and four years as a highly successful Defensive Coordinator at arguably the toughest conference in the nation in the Southeastern Conference and the University of Georgia.

VanGorder joined the Falcons in 2007 as the Linebackers Coach and guided a unit consisting of veteran linebackers such as Keith Brooking and Michael Boley, who both finished number one and two, respectively, on the Falcons tackle charts this past season. Boley set numerous career highs in 2007 under VanGorder’s guidance, including total tackles (125), solo tackles (88) and forced fumbles (3), while setting a franchise record with three sacks in the first half of a Thanksgiving Day game against Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. Brooking led the Falcons in tackles for the seventh consecutive season with 127.

“I worked with Brian in Jacksonville and have a tremendous amount of respect for him,” said Falcons Head Coach Mike Smith on announcing VanGorder’s hiring. “He brings an aggressive approach that I’m sure will benefit our defense.”

The 2008 campaign will mark VanGorder’s third year in the NFL. Prior to serving as the Head Coach of the Georgia Southern Eagles in 2006, VanGorder spent the 2005 season coaching the linebackers for the Jacksonville Jaguars under new Falcons Head Coach Mike Smith. Jacksonville ranked sixth in the NFL in total defense that season with VanGorder’s help.

From 2001-2004, VanGorder was in charge of the defense as Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers Coach at Georgia. The Bulldogs posted a 42–10 record over his four seasons at UGA, won one SEC title, two SEC East Division championships, captured three Bowl games and ended up with three straight top 10 finishes in the final national polls. In 2003, VanGorder received the Frank Boyles “Assistant Coach of the Year” award by the NCAA, which honors the nation’s top assistant coach, and also the Southern Sports Tonight’s assistant of the year in 2002 by the media.

In his last season in Athens (Ga.) in 2004, the 10–2 Bulldogs and seventh ranked team in the nation garnered a defense that ranked eighth overall and ninth in scoring defense. VanGorder’s 2003 defensive unit finished third nationally in scoring defense, fourth in total defense, and sixth in passing defense. In 2002, UGA’s stout defense allowed only 31 points during the final seven games, propelling the Bulldogs to a Sugar Bowl win over Florida State (26–13) and a number three ranking overall in the polls. His strong defense also led the SEC in scoring defense and finished fourth nationally.

VanGorder also had coaching stints at Western Illinois (2000), Central Michigan (1998–99), the University of Central Florida (1995–1997), Wayne State (1992-1994) and Grand Valley State (1989–91).

VanGorder, 48, was born in Jackson, Michigan. He and his wife, Pollie, have five children: Molloy, Morgan, Mack, Montgomery and Malone.

Alvin Reynolds’ Coaching Background

2008 — Defensive Coordinator // Atlanta Falcons
2007 — Linebackers // Atlanta Falcons
2006 — Head Coach // Georgia Southern
2005 — Linebackers // Jaguars
2001-2004 — Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers // Georgia
2000 — Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers // Central Michigan
1998-1999 — Defensive Coordinator // Central Michigan
1997 — Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator // Central Florida
1995-1996 — Linebackers/Special Teams Coordinator // Central Florida
1992-1994 — Head Coach // Wayne State
1989-1991 — Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers // Grand Valley State

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My post is being held in moderation. I don’t know why. My following post is not even showing up. That was like 10 minutes ago. You mention a certain name, and it never fails…

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On a side note, BVG laft the NFL following the 2007 season to become Spurruer’s DC with the Gamecocks. Once Smitty was named HC for ATL, BVG resigned the position to take on DC for the Falcons. Spurruer was not upset and tabbed MSU DC Ellis Johnson as a replacement DC.

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