Live from the Dome: It’s a Matty Ice anniversary!
Matt Ryan delivers against the Titans one year ago. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
It was a year ago that the course of the Falcons changed. It was the third exhibition of the 2008 preseason that told the new administration what it had suspected since the April draft: That it could go with a rookie quarterback as its starter and get away with it.
We forget now, in the light of a rookie of the year award and a 11-5 season of the highest giddiness and even a playoff turn, how bold that decision was. The Falcons had drafted Michael Vick No. 1 overall in 2001, and he hadn’t started as a rookie. But this was a different time, a different rookie.
We look back and we see it as a no-brainer: You have Matt Ryan and you have Chris Redman and D.J. Shockley — who else are you going to start? But we forget how perilous the state of the Good Ship Falcon was in August 2008. They were widely projected as the NFL’s worst team, and they were coming off the most depressing season in the history of North American team sports. (Quarterback in jail, coach in the Ozarks, et cetera.)
It took guts just to draft Ryan No. 3 overall — the consensus, local and otherwise, held that Glenn Dorsey was the better choice — but it took more to say, “He’s our starter in Week 1 of Year 1.” NFL teams had all but gotten away from that, preferring to nurture, preferring to cover their assets in case a big-name draftee flopped. (Tim Couch, Ryan Leaf, Akili Smith, et alia.) But that’s why Matt Ryan wasn’t just a good pick: He was the perfect pick at the absolute proper moment.
We on the periphery looked on the Falcons’ unassuming offensive line — considered the NFL’s worst by some observers, lest we forget — and said knowingly, “Putting a rookie quarterback behind those blockers is just one more indication why the Falcons are bush league.” But the new Falcons had seen two things in mini-camp and then in summer drills that we outsiders couldn’t quite grasp.
1. That Matt Ryan was a different sort of rookie.
2. That this offensive line, under the tutelage of Paul Boudreau, could hold up its end.
We should never underrate the second part. Indeed, on the way into the Dome on the night of that third exhibition last year, Thomas Dimitroff told a reporter that the key to starting Ryan would be the Falcons first having convinced themselves internally they could protect him. The first two exhibitions had given them an indication, and the third — a 17-3 victory over Tennessee — was the clincher. Ryan threw 21 passes, completing 15. (Here’s my column from that night, if you’re so inclined.)
The Falcons named Ryan the starter the next day. He threw a touchdown pass to Michael Jenkins on his first delivery of the regular season. He took a frightful beating in the second week in Tampa Bay but played better in the second half than the first, and that was when the Falcons knew beyond all doubt they’d made the proper choice. The kid was a keeper. The kid was a kid by no measure other than age.
We forget now how major that decision was: Say the line had broken down and Ryan had thrown 32 interceptions — Peyton Manning did as a rookie — and the season after going 4-12 the Falcons had gone 3-13 and their No. 1 draft pick had been a first-year bust. Would we Atlantans have washed our hands of NFL football altogether?
We’ll never know. All we know is this: On Saturday night the Falcons were to play another third exhibition of another preseason, and there’s no reason to feel bad about them or their future or their brain trust. Or their quarterback.
(OK, folks. I’ll be here all night, chatting and cracking semi-wise. If you’d care to join me, I’d be obliged. It’d get mighty lonely in the big ol’ Dome without you.)
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511 comments Add your comment
Dominique Foxworth
August 29th, 2009
10:59 pm
Hey, that screwup Van Gorder had me playing safety til it was obvious I was the best they had! Wonder if Willliam Moore can play corner at this level??????????????????
Mark Bradley
August 29th, 2009
11:00 pm
It comes down to this: Fourth down at the 17, five yards to go.
Mark Bradley
August 29th, 2009
11:01 pm
And Redman converts to Bergeron again. First down, 1:01 left, ball on the 7.
bodean
August 29th, 2009
11:01 pm
did bergiron? just make the team
BugKiller
August 29th, 2009
11:01 pm
NRBQ, are you saying you didn’t learn anything?
LOL. I guess, you know, it’s better the read ignorance coming from people who don’t know football then someone actually trying to explain why things went wrong.
But hey, can’t please everyone.
Mark Bradley
August 29th, 2009
11:02 pm
Redman to TB again. Ball on the 2.
Bad News
August 29th, 2009
11:02 pm
Redman is the TRUE starter!!!!!
Bench Ryan.
Dominique Foxworth
August 29th, 2009
11:02 pm
ATLANTA needs serious help on the corners. At conrnerback and LB. After tonight, I would even take Brooking back!
Mark Bradley
August 29th, 2009
11:03 pm
W. Moore hurt his hamstring. And there’s been no further info on Norwood.
Defensive Detective
August 29th, 2009
11:03 pm
if Bergeron can play in this league than there are definitely CB’s from arena that we need to bring up
Justin
August 29th, 2009
11:03 pm
Coaches dont gameplan for preseason I dont konw why everyone is ready to sell their tickets. Since when is preseason a precursor to the season?
Mark Bradley
August 29th, 2009
11:03 pm
Verron Haynes stopped on a dive. No Hobnail Boot, as D-Led just said.
Dominique Foxworth
August 29th, 2009
11:04 pm
Chris has looked good!
Robert Reagin
August 29th, 2009
11:04 pm
Bad News: Redman’s good play just means MV7 would be the 3rd stringer on this team.
Justin
August 29th, 2009
11:04 pm
Norwood is back on the sideline and laughing. Cant be to serious!
Mark Bradley
August 29th, 2009
11:05 pm
Redman dumped with 14 seconds remaining. Fourth down.
TradeMark
August 29th, 2009
11:05 pm
If we do win this game, Mark, can you maybe see that as an example of how we can still win despite the D?
Snackman
August 29th, 2009
11:05 pm
Mark,
What are the positives you’ve seen from tonite? The negatives?
bodean
August 29th, 2009
11:05 pm
done…win
toccoadawg
August 29th, 2009
11:05 pm
Nice drive by Redman and company
BugKiller
August 29th, 2009
11:05 pm
Mark, I know many people are making fun of Dan Fouts for his usual schtick of explaining the obvious (which he poked fun of in the immortal, “The Waterboy”)…
… but you know what? It’s STILL better than listening to Joe Buck.
TradeMark
August 29th, 2009
11:06 pm
OK, Redman deserved to win this one
Dominique Foxworth
August 29th, 2009
11:06 pm
I think it’s JPW and Redman 2 and 3
Mark Bradley
August 29th, 2009
11:06 pm
Falcons win! Redman beats blitz and hits Bergeron in the back of the end zone. A miracle!
OK, not really. Also pretty durn misleading, IMHO. But better than losing.
eddiedawg
August 29th, 2009
11:06 pm
FALCONS WIN. ARE WE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL NOW YOU HATERS?? ALL THAT BAD DEF AND WE STILL WON!
Dominique Foxworth
August 29th, 2009
11:06 pm
weems just made the team!
bodean
August 29th, 2009
11:06 pm
come on guys…. we did deserve that win…. our second and third teamers worked hard…. i think we’re a better team than sd
SonicBoom
August 29th, 2009
11:06 pm
There are gonna be some hard decisions to make on who gets cut on the offense. Great drive.
Bad News
August 29th, 2009
11:06 pm
REDMAN TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!
Way to go Mr. Number 1 starter………..
BENCH RYAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
toccoadawg
August 29th, 2009
11:06 pm
And all 157 people were there to see the come from behind win. Yes Mark you can use that in tomorrows paper.
Mark Bradley
August 29th, 2009
11:07 pm
The positives: The second-team offense pulled it out, and the second-team defense didn’t collapse.
The negatives: Well, you witnessed them, same as I did.
eddiedawg
August 29th, 2009
11:07 pm
SEE WE CAN OVERCOME BAD DEFENSE!
eddiedawg
August 29th, 2009
11:07 pm
AND IT WAS WEEMS, BRADLEY
Mark Bradley
August 29th, 2009
11:07 pm
Sorry. Weems caught the winner. Not Bergeron. I’m just so excited I’m making stuff up.
La Jolla Dawg
August 29th, 2009
11:08 pm
Thank goodness.
Robert Reagin
August 29th, 2009
11:08 pm
Time to trade some receiving talent for DB’s.
Dominique Foxworth
August 29th, 2009
11:08 pm
OFFENSE GETS A BIG UPS! DEFENSE IS GONNA HAVE A LONG WEEK NEXT WEEK, ASSUMING THEY DON”T GET CUT FIRST!
Justin
August 29th, 2009
11:09 pm
This isnt a precursor guys. Its not time to hit the panic button. Wait till the first couple weeks when the coaches actually put together defensive game plans!
TradeMark
August 29th, 2009
11:09 pm
We CAN win just on relying on the O. We have one of the most talented Offenses in the NFL. But the D really needs to get better and fast.
SRF
August 29th, 2009
11:09 pm
Looks to me like the offense is deep with good talent – good thing for a long season.
Defense – well not so much
Mark Bradley
August 29th, 2009
11:09 pm
Headed downstairs. Here’s what I wrote for print.
I’ll see what I find out about Norwood.
IslandDawg
August 29th, 2009
11:09 pm
Did we just win this game? Unreal, and great job by Redman!!
TradeMark
August 29th, 2009
11:10 pm
*outta here* Had fun guys! GO FALCONS! Mark, really looking forward to your column man!
*out*
Bad News
August 29th, 2009
11:11 pm
That was was convincing enough for me – I’m going right now and buy my superbowl ticket
Dominique Foxworth
August 29th, 2009
11:15 pm
I had three tackles tonight and held the Cowboys in check. You guys are gonna miss me!
PMC
August 29th, 2009
11:15 pm
really nice play from Redman and the receivers. He looks sharp so hopefully he can reliably back up Ryan this year. Since the pass rush is going to be virtually non existant. I sure hope they find at least one veteran CB from somewhere.
RA
August 29th, 2009
11:20 pm
The expression on Arthur Blanks face at the end said everything. They deserved to lose.
Bad News
August 29th, 2009
11:23 pm
FROM ESPN:
Posted by ESPN.com’s Pat Yasinskas
Long ago, I learned not to read too much into preseason games. I saw Tampa Bay teams coached by Sam Wyche look good in the preseason and then hit double-digit losses in the regular season.
But I am going to take one thing seriously out of Saturday night’s preseason game between the Falcons and Chargers. That’s the Atlanta defense.
It didn’t look good at all and that’s a growing reason for concern. We all knew the Falcons would be entering this season with five new starters on defense and that means there is going to be some transition.
But shouldn’t we be seeing some positive signs by now? Probably. But we haven’t. In the only preseason game that really matters (because the starters play a fair amount), Atlanta’s defense struggled. Yes, San Diego has a good offense, but LaDainian Tomlinson wasn’t even playing. It didn’t matter because the Chargers barely ran the ball.
They were throwing it and throwing it very well. In the first half, the Chargers had somewhere around 250 passing yards. That’s not good news for any defense and every offensive coordinator the Falcons face in the regular season will be watching the video blueprint of how to carve up Atlanta’s defense.
The Falcons aren’t going to go out and blow up their defense at the end of the preseason. They’re going with what they’ve got and that’s a little scary. They could have gone out and grabbed some blue-chip defensive backs in the offseason. But they didn’t.
They’re going with Brent Grimes and Chris Houston as their starting cornerbacks and Erik Coleman and Thomas DeCoud as their starting safeties, for better or worse. If the Falcons are going to make the best of this, they need to do some of the same things they do with their offensive line. They don’t have a tremendous amount of talent there, but they make the most of it because they hide their weaknesses.
They need to do the same thing with the secondary. The best way to do that is with a pass rush. They’ve got an elite rusher in John Abraham, but they need more than that. They need third-year pro Jamaal Anderson to step up from the very start of the season. Anderson was a top 10 pick in 2007 and he’ll be on the bench if he doesn’t start quickly.
The Falcons have Chauncey Davis, Lawrence Sidbury and Kroy Biermann as alternatives to Anderson. One, or some combination, of all those defensive ends will have to step up or the secondary really might be in trouble.
eddiedawg
August 29th, 2009
11:23 pm
HEY RA THEY DIDN’T. THEY WON. MEANINGLESS, THOUGH-IT’S PRESEASON!!!!
eddiedawg
August 29th, 2009
11:24 pm
BAD NEWS-go buy your superbowl tix and PRAY your buttboy Vick makes it there. Loser.