5 things we learned at minicamp practice
Falcons safety Thomas DeCoud soars high for a pass at Tuesday's minicamp practice. Can X-Men fly? (D. Orlando Ledbetter/DLedbetter@ajc.com)
BUFORD – Here are five things we learned at minicamp practice on Tuesday.
1. Free safety Thomas DeCoud is a fan of X-Men: DeCoud, who was sporting a blue X-Men t-shirt, was working out at C.E.S. with Chip Smith. Also, a member of the Saints was working there. When the Saints player left, DeCoud knew it was time for the Falcons to start getting together, too.
2. Quarterback Matt Ryan is a married man: “It’s been great,” Ryan said. “It’s been a month now. The first month has been awesome. Everything you could hope for. We’ll just leave it at that.”
3. Ryan and backup QB John Parker Wilson have been drilling Julio Jones: While Jones wasn’t at the first practice, he has been meeting with the quarterbacks and wide receivers. Also, Wilson said that Jones is a fast learner and will not have any problem picking up the offense.
Ryan is not sure how the Falcons plan to integrate Jones into the offense.
“It will be interesting to see,” Ryan said. “He’s a big physical guy. I think he can do a lot of things for us. I think he’ll play a big part. He’s really good at blocking in the run game. That’s important for our offense.
“I think he can bring some unique things. I’ll be interested to finally get to work with him and see the skills sets he has in terms of route running. Once we kind of find out about that, I think we’ll know more about how we are going to use him.”
Julio, go deep!
4. Linebacker Mike Peterson is a good role model: Peterson is leading the drills and trying to make sure the Falcons stay out of trouble.
“A lot of the young guys will tell you, I’ve been checking up on them,” Peterson said. “I’m just trying to make sure that they are working out. We took down notes last year during the season. ‘Check on your notes. Stick you head in the playbook. Stay out of trouble. Keep your nose out of the news.’ As a veteran guy, sometimes I have to play that Daddy role or that Uncle Pete role. But I think the younger guys accept it and probably expect it.”
5. Wide receiver Michael Jenkins was not upset with the drafting of Julio Jones: Jenkins was not taking aback by the selection of Julio Jones in the NFL draft.
“It was a big move,” Jenkins said. “They obviously felt that he could come in and add to our offense. We are looking forward to seeing him out there making plays, the same way he did at Alabama. I know that everybody is excited to see him get out there.”
–D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Falcons beat blog
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87 comments Add your comment
Falcons fan
May 10th, 2011
9:38 pm
How pathetic is it that the taint’s ride the pity vote and some preferential officials calls to a questionable super bowl win and real football fans have to suffer from bandwagon fruit loops like hiramtaint and seenalotofnudeguysb4.
hiramsaint
May 10th, 2011
9:46 pm
kinda the way y’all won 4 games last year- you know ,with questionable calls. yeah- we all saw it and we all know how good or bad your team was as was in evidence when you played the #6 seed wildcard packers and your #1 ssed team was physically forced to concede the game in the 2nd qtr. you were who we thought you were and have always been – a 3rd rate scrub team with no imagination because your team has no heart
falcon4ever
May 10th, 2011
9:53 pm
I hate to admit it, but hiramstank is right. We were very lucky last year with no injuries,some remarkably wierd calls and way too many last second plays that gave us lucky wins. We were exposed in the Packers game as a solid 10-6 or maybe even 9-7 team. I really can’t see our extreme luck repeating this year and now that we’ve been exposed, teams will know how to play us just as they did the Saints last year. i’ve not beem impressed with Ryan at all, he lacks the proper arm strength for an nfl Q.B. floaters won’t get it this year and I think we will be settling on a 10-6 year.
SeenThisB4
May 10th, 2011
10:02 pm
@Falcan’tFan: Well, judging by the arsewhipping the packers gave ya’ll, your team is going to have to focus on them, which of course will divide your attention, which isn’t much to start with.
Now if the lockout doesn’t wash out our the league-wide season opener, you’ll get to see a real team handle the packers, as decisively as they handled your poor fool team.
falcon4ever
May 10th, 2011
10:08 pm
i never thought i’d say it but here goes-a failcan fan with some objective sense. man , that almost hurt.
saints4ever
May 10th, 2011
10:22 pm
I hate to agree with all the Falcons lovers on here but if it were not for the wave of katrina pity we have been riding for years we would never have made it to the super bowl. I mean we got our butts whipped by a weak ass team with a losing record in the playoffs. In the first round of the playoffs!!!
Our midget QB is doomed
SeenThisB4
May 10th, 2011
10:40 pm
Seems like the multiple personality syndrome is alive and well in ATL. I guess the sorry history of ATL. sports teams created that mental fatigue and blogging diarrhea. STB4 out.
Falcons fan
May 10th, 2011
11:00 pm
Yeah I guess it’s obvious to even an idiot taint’s fan that falcon4ever is a taint’s fan pretending to be a Falcons fan. Smartest thing you have posted today seenmanynakedguysb4.
Jim Haag
May 10th, 2011
11:51 pm
To SeenThisB4… I’m happy to see the AJC allows people from the Georgia Home for the Mentally Challenged to add comments. Obviously your relatives designed the navigational charts for the Titanic, negotiated a peaceful settlement between General Sherman and the people of Atlanta, rented rooms to Gringos at the Alamo, and sold Zippo Lighters to the crew of the Hindenberg. The Saints are very OVERRATED and poorly coached. Like the Saints, your all talk and all ignorant.
easternbird
May 11th, 2011
12:56 am
Well the Saints are a good team,but the Falcons will be much improved if we can get another defensive lineman or two and with the addition of Julio Jones there is going to be a lot of deep fly patterns.What we need to worry about is getting the Labor agreement done and Hopefully Matty Ice won’t melt away in the months after he got married.Congrats on your marriage Mr. Ryan.
Big Ray
May 11th, 2011
3:48 am
Amazing how Saints fans spend more time on an opposing team’s blog than they do in their own stadium. Sad, actually.
They’ll still be here 10 years from now, talking about their lone SuperBowl. Somebody get these guys their own blogs. Please. They may want to retreat there as the Falcons become perennial NFC South champions and bring home the Lombardi Trophy. More than once.
Wingman
May 11th, 2011
6:27 am
Hey, SB4. I HAVE seen this before. Didn’t you say the same thing last year. You said that the saints were going to crush the Falcons and win the division? How did that prediction work out for you?
RambleOn84
May 11th, 2011
8:08 am
Give the Saints fans a break. Their head coach wears eye shadow and abuses pills, for God’s sake.
RambleOn84
May 11th, 2011
8:13 am
In all seriousness, Ingram is a great player. Too bad for him he’s headed to an outdoor sewer.
D. Orlando Ledbetter
May 11th, 2011
9:43 am
RambleOn84 — Really, the Sean Payton wears eye shadow? Where did you get that from?
D. Orlando Ledbetter
May 11th, 2011
9:45 am
Jimmy Crack — Thanks for you kind words. Glad you like the radio report. Silky Smooth Wes is always making fun of my drawl. So I tried to speak faster.
SaintsAreEmbarrassing
May 11th, 2011
10:15 am
I love how Saints fans can saw WE choked when they lost to the WORST TEAM IN THE HISTORY OF THE NFL PLAYOFFS.. maybe I don’t speak cajun, but in the rest of America, that is the text book example of choking. If I remember right, we lost to THE SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS… you lost to a glorified high school team.
SaintsAreEmbarrassing
May 11th, 2011
10:24 am
It is sad to see the Aints fans clinging to something that happened 2 years ago in order to not face the reality that they are a team in decline while the rest of the division is getting better. They got swept by the Bucks and the only reason they didn’t get swept by the Falcons is because that game didn’t mean anything to us while it meant the season to them. Wonderboy Peyton has shown all his bag of tricks… even THE WORST TEAM IN THE HISTORY OF THE NFL PLAYOFFS weren’t fooled. Peyton is a flash in the pan kind of coach. He succeeded by being unconventional, but that only works for a few seasons before teams figure it out. Saints will be third in the division, getting swept by Bucs and Falcons this year and be back at the bottom the year after.
doug
May 11th, 2011
10:25 am
hiramsaint – i can tell education was not your fortay!
That’s pretty funny. Becuase it’s spelled forte. So……
SaintsAreEmbarrassing
May 11th, 2011
10:38 am
Really? Really? Really? Are Saints fans really this dumb? The Falcons lost to The Super Bowl Champions, The AFC Champions, The Defending Superbowl Champions (in a game they didn’t need to win) and an Eagle’s team when they were healthy and red hot. The Saints lost to THE WORST TEAM IN THE HISTORY OF THE NFL PLAYOFFS in such an embarrassing fashion that the “Beast Mode” run is STILL being shown on ESPN. I also love how they call the Packers the #6 seed instead of THE SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS lol… pathetic. Wow, I hope all Saints fans aren’t like this and if they aren’t they should be posting here to let the world know these morons aren’t indicative of them
Rikus
May 11th, 2011
10:48 am
How does a team that lost to SEATTLE in the wild card round talk smack about teams not being able to win in the playoffs?!?
falcon4ever
May 11th, 2011
11:06 am
because we have a winning record in the playoffs and you don’t -thats how
aw
May 11th, 2011
12:13 pm
Saints won a Superbowl. Have the Falcons? QUIT Talking smack!
Tank1818
May 11th, 2011
2:05 pm
Falcons SuperBowl Time !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seattle Falcons Fan
May 11th, 2011
2:47 pm
I can’t wait for free agency to begin….do we sign Edwards or Johnson…..what cb will we sign…..what o line do we bring back……it seems Peterson is coming back…….DAMN you lockout!………by the way, I live in Seattle and the Seahawks are horrible so I wouldn’t say to much Saints fans….you don’t want to bed one of those people that live in the past…..
SaintsAreEmbarrassing
May 11th, 2011
3:43 pm
You Saints sound like Al Bundy talking about how great he was in highschool so he doesn’t have to dwell on the fact he is a shoe salesman who has a sorry life in the present. You guys are like those 40 year old losers who still wear their varsity jackets. Let me tell you about the present. You have a coach that runs a gimmick offense. That only works until there is enough tape on you to study all your tricks. If Seattle can beat you, anyone can beat you. You need to be more worried about not losing to Carolina than us.
SaintsAreEmbarrassing
May 11th, 2011
3:50 pm
You didn’t have a winning record in the playoffs last year. You didn’t win a ring last year. You were the worst team the Falcons lost to, and it was in a game that meant everything to the Saints and nothing to the Falcons. Who was the worst team you lost to? Oh yeah, THE WORST TEAM IN THE HISTORY OF THE NFL PLAYOFFS. “Swish, swish, swish”. Do you hear that? That is the broom the Bucs swept you with. While you continue to rest on your past glory, the NFC South has passed you by. The only good news for you is that because of the lockout, Carolina will still be worse than you; but once Newton gets a full off season under his belt it will be back to the paper bags for you guys.
Ackshun
May 11th, 2011
4:45 pm
Oh great some inbred bayou rejects are talking crap about the Falcons season last year. Do you guys know how much you remind the rest of us of that hillbilly character from “The Waterboy.” You win one Super Bowl (pretty much on a pity season with weak opposition an preferential officiating, not to mention a Brett Farve fluke int which was so pathetic the league changed the OT rules for the playoffs as a result. And don’t get me started the onside kick to start the 2nd half in the Super Bowl) an all of the sudden the Saints are the second coming of the Pittsburgh Steelers? PLEASE. The Falcons got beat by the Packers in the Playoffs, but then didnt EVERYBODY get beat by the Packers in the playoffs last year? Well no the Saints checked in early with a rather pathetic showing to the Seattle Seahawks (who?) yeah the Seattle Seahawks who the Falcons had just murdered at their house a few weeks before. The same Saints who got beat at their house by the Falcons and at both places by the Bucs and BTW nearly lost to the Pathetic Panthers. The Saints gimmick driven screen offense is out like the gheri curl (and the wildcat). You guys won a ring but wasnt that two years ago? Aint it time for some fresh gumbo on da bayou? Most of the top players from 2 years ago will check out chasing higher pay (and dry ground) in free agency. Sean Payton has become Mr Predictable and Drew Brees shoulder hurts much more than he’s willing to say. Saints do no better than 9-7 this year and will watch the playoffs from somewhere deep in da bayou. Run tell dat!
SaintsAreEmbarrassing
May 11th, 2011
4:55 pm
No, you still don’t get it Saints fans. The Falcons fans couldn’t care less about who won a ring first. Honestly, would you care if we won a super bowl two years ago, but embarrassed the NFC South by losing to the WORST TEAM IN THE HISTORY OF THE NFL PLAYOFFS? We just find it funny that none of you are willing to admit that last season even happened. It is like you think you are the defending super bowl champs instead of the embarrassment of the division that you really are. Do you know what it is like for the rest of us to have to see the “beast mode” clip over and over. I mean at least we lost to the SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS. No one here is hurt by a ring that has lost its shine. It is actually pretty entertaining to see how many ways you can bring it up without admitting that you were an embarrassment to that ring last year.
SaintsAreEmbarrassing
May 11th, 2011
5:12 pm
I honestly like it that you guys cling to the past so much while refusing to acknowledge the present because I think it is indicative of the Saint’s organization. You have your eyes so focused on 2009 that you don’t realize you are now the second worst team in the division and the only team with an arrow pointing down while the Falcons, Bucs and even the pathetic Panthers are all teams on the rise. Peyton and company will continue to believe they are offensive geniuses even though the Saints don’t scare anyone anymore. Gimmicks only work in the NFL for about 2-3 years. Once you have shown your hand on film, it is over. You can only kick a surprise onside kick once before it is not a surprise to teams anymore. The Saints won’t worry me until they realize they aren’t in 2009 anymore. I am more worried about the Bucs. They are a team on the rise like the Falcons, not a team talking about their superbowl win in 2003.
hiramsaint
May 11th, 2011
5:28 pm
lost to the packers-try this we threw out the white flag in the 2nd qtr.. sure every body got beat by the packers but only the failcans got humiliated in their own invincible ga. tent. i can still remember all the empty seats as the camera panned the ga. tent at the opening of the 3rd qtr. that helps block out our loss to a div. winner.
Jay Dubu
May 11th, 2011
5:30 pm
Jenkins having to go out and show he’s worht the $$$ might bring out the receiver that the Falcons hoped they were getting when they drafted him.
Althoug, they’re going to want some of that $$$ back if JJ takes major playing time.
mrzizzle
May 11th, 2011
8:04 pm
Hey Aint’s fans…2 words Marshawn Lynch
Ouch!
SaintsAreEmbarrassing
May 12th, 2011
3:19 am
HAHAHAHA! Division winner… HAHAHAHA! You are right, they were the division winner… but IT WAS THE WORST DIVISION WINNING RECORD IN THE HISTORY OF THE NFL PLAYOFFS. Wow I can’t believe you said that. Division winner… man that just made my day. The only reason they made the playoffs is because that was the worst division ever. We may have lost to the #6 seed, but they had a better record than your division winner lol. WOW! That is really all I can say lol.
Falcons Chic
May 12th, 2011
5:05 pm
Would he ever be switched to TE?
Falcon James
May 14th, 2011
10:50 am
SeenThisB4
May 10th, 2011
6:51 pm
Injuries? I guess you forget we were plagued with injuries this past season, especially at RB, which made Brees’ offensive more one dimensional and susceptible……..
Are you man or a mouse? I read your crap week after week, but I never in my life see someone who makes so many excuses. You whine like a baby wanting milk! Do yourself us a favor and whine with your pathetic team.
SeenThisB4
May 14th, 2011
9:18 pm
@FALCAN’T JAMES: Nah Nah Nah, get to the part that means anything!