The Hot Button: Did Falcons redo too much of their defense?

I don’t know that keeping one or two of those five players would have made a significant difference. The defense will be young, but I think they will come around. I just hope that it happens sooner rather than later.

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I believe in Dimitroff

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I think the defense is just going to have get better as the season goes along. It may be a bumpy ride at the beginning. I am really worried about the pass. Only one real pass rusher, no one of note in the secondary. Will the LB’s be effective in zone coverages?

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UGASPORTS reporting Cox with an “arm issue” and Logan Gray to start Saturday.

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These were probably the right moves. But, boy did they need a defensive back upgrade. Maybe they accomplished it. After training camp. Maybe that was the plan all along, but probably not. They’ll be OK.

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I’m just hope with all of our weapons on offense, we don’t abandon the run. Running the ball will keep the defense off of the field. If we score too quickly, it’s going to be back and forth and I’m afraid our offense will eventually run out of gas.

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I had no idea that the new regime thought Milloy talked to much. I think he was the one along with Grady and Dom Foxworth to keep around. To me you ease into a new regime and not have wholesale changes. I have always agreed that Offense was good, but the defense will be the Achilles for this season. Remember GT in 99. Joe Hamilton’s senior year.

Oh the fans here are too fickle for us to not have a good season. This could backfire on the organization.

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A word to the wise. Of the twenty three passes Tye Hill’s way last year with the Rams, nineteen were completed. Grimes is too small to play cornerback. Who knows how this will work out other than a ton of points by the opposition in the early part of the season.

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Dear Clemson fans……

REMEMBER, as posted before, BE ON GUARD on your walk to and from the stadium tonight. The Tech campus mugging forecast is very high tonight (as is the case every night). There is apprx. an 87% chance a gun will he held to your head, but so far nobody has been shot, so feel free to joke around with your mugger, and tell him what a great job he did. They are open to constructive critisism in order to perfect future muggings of wimpy little nerds in the NEAR future.

As always, you are going to notice a great deal of empty seats in the small stadium you will be visiting tonight. Feel free to move down to the front couple rows to improve your viewing pleasure.

Now, you may notice the University of Georgia team will not be in the stadium, nor do they have anything to do with tonight’s game. HOWEVER, you will hear lots of anti-UGA chants, and see lots of anti-UGA attire. This hatred and jealousy of their cross state “rival” is directly related to the abundance of empty seats in the stadium. (See, Georgia Tech has beat the University of Georgia 12, twelve, times since the year of 1965. and since they won a sloppy game last year they have visions of being undefeated or something like that this year. Just reference the rings they made for the victory last season)

Please do not show up tonight if you are in any mood to make asian or terrorist jokes. About 90% of the half filled stadium will likely take offense to said jokes. Thank you for your cooperation with this.

Please do not get frustrated if the game does not start on time. Of the 19 Georgia Tech season ticket holders, 7 are well known to show up a little late. They have priority and control of game times.

As always, we invite you to visit the Varsity to claim your free Naked or Chili Dog coupon on the back of your ticket. If you do not have a ticket, please knock VERY VERY hard on the ticket booth window. The non-english speaking arabic freshman running the booth is not used to selling tickets, so he may be asleep or listening to his orders on his terrorist cell pod-cast.

IF you are not car-jacked on your way out of the ghetto (10 blocks surrounding campus) we wish you a safe trip back to Clemson. Remember to celebrate when you get home, not on the road.

- Paul Johnson

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The thing that lets me trust Dimitroff is that he is clear in his philosophy and goals. He does not make haphazard or kneejerk moves. He has a plan in conjunction with hsi head coach and makes decisions based upon it. It may be rough in the early going defensively this season but they have become younger and faster and if they learn how to play it will be an improved defense before the end of the season. In Dimitroff I trust

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The defense was getting old and slower the overhaul was needed. When the decision was made to “Go younger, faster & more urgent” it was a good one. However, the team will have to live with the mistakes of youth until these guys learn the trade of playing defense in the NFL. This is probably going to be a hard thing to watch at first but as time passes and the Falcons suffer a few (I truly hope it only a few) loses due to the young guy’s mistakes. I just hope that the offense is powerful enough to compensate until they eventually come around. In any event, this is going to be a very unpredictable year for this team and a very emotional one for the fans.

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It had to be done. ALL of those guys can be replaced and needed to be replaced.

As for Foxworth, $17M guaranteed no way, we got him off the scrap heap last year. I would liked to have kept him, but not for that money.

Grady at 36 and his size could go down anytime.

Brooking, great hometown guy, too old and almost done.

Milloy, too old, DUI did not help at all.

Boley, really regressed in 2008, maybe his personal issues played a part in that. Giants overpaid for him too.

You have to trust Dimitroff and Smith. The D looked bad this time last year also. You have to admit the D bent in 2008 but did not break.

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None of these guys were worth keeping at the price they commanded. Foxworth and Boley were the only 2 I would consider keeping, but Foxworth is a numnber 2 corner and Boley is a number 4-5 LB. Good luck elsewhere.

I think you have to keep the secondary trades in perspective. Brian Williams is an CB/S upgrade from Jamaal Fudge. Tye Hill is a potential starter who is on the team in place of William Middleton. Both of these guys were young and fast. Tye is faster and has more upside if he can regain some of his rookie form. If we are going to develop a 6th CB,it might as well be a former 1st round pick starter who is still very young.

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We obviously need an upgrade going into the season which is why I don’t understand why we addressed it so late. I think we could have picked up some free agents earlier that could have gone through training camp but oh well. I think Hill and Williams will be starting by the 3rd game.

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The white Terence Moore strikes again.

Not content to merely brand Brooking as merely old and slow, Mr. Bradley has to label him as dumb, too.

I think that’s quite ironic, since Mr. Bradley has “great affection” for a certain player who was so stupid that he threw away millions of dollars for a life of crime.

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Out of those guys, only Brooking, Foxworth, and Jackson are expected to start or get significant playing time with their new teams. Brooking is merely keeping a spot warm for the Cowboys up and coming rookie Williams who is currently out 4-6 weeks. Jackson is in Detroit where just about any experienced DT worth a thought could start. With Foxworth it was a money decision so no surprise there. Makes more sense to get rid of those guys for some younger guys who can give you equal production now with the promise of better things in the future.

for the secondary, remember Tye Hill can still qualify as developmental and B. Williams is a solid corner. I think we will be far better off come week 8 and getting ready for the playoffs.

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Beautiful Monte, you’re absolutely wrong on two counts. There’s only one TM, and MB has been writing well for this rag for years now. If you don’t like his opinion that’s another matter, but he can write and lays out a logical case. TM could do neither and was completely formulaic in his writing.

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TD did the right thing. Yes, he wants to win now but he’s also looking ahead because – well, that’s his job. The Falcons D hasn’t been right for a while, and it’s beyond a little speckle and filler to make it right. Let the young kids play, let them taste blood (including their own), and build from there. I don’t think the D will be as bad as everyone thinks it will be, but certainly no top 10.

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Ronnie and Ricky are going to have a field day…

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Enter your comments here

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Pennington is going to slowly dissect you guys… But… Ryan scares the hell out me… We will see…

Go Dolphins!!!

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I have confidence in the whole organization , and I do believe they are moving in the right direction to compete for the title for years to come , but I also believe that this year is asking to much to think they can compete for a super bowl now. Lets try to enjoy the fact that they are trying to get better and compete and forgive the youth when it messes up this year . After all at least we don’t have the smith’s anymore it could always be worse.

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Wait a minute people…they said the same thing about Arizona last year. Their defense was porous yet they went to the superbowl. They peeked at the right time.

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Bullish,

Falcons Sorry is likely some pencil-necked (and d-ed) white guy from, oh, let’s say, Chicago (maybe New York) with a taste for confrontation. Not direct confrontation. This guy would NEVER get into a confrontation in real life – he’d get his ‘hat handed to him’ as the old-timers would say.

Let the geek try to rile the unaware, but MB’s likely not to keep him from posting ’cause MB KNOWS this guy’s irrelevant and other bloggers will simply IGNORE HIM.

Thanks for your time.

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Falcons Sorry–you wrong about when MV7 gets here on account of Coach Smith say get out there everybody and be focus.

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It may hurt this year making the defensive changes but the “ceiling’ for the defense with these 5 guys was maxed out…at something like 23rd best defense in the league. In other words, this defense with these 5 guys wasn’t going to get any better. The only way to get better is to get quicker, faster, and younger. And that’s what they did. In my view, a very good move that will pay off but we might have to cringe on some Sundays for awhile. While our offense and special teams will have to be very good ( as we all believe they will) until the defesnse can catch up; a 34-30 game (as long as win) is pretty exciting. Having said all that, Falcs finish 8-8 due the weak defense and a much tougher schedule but 2010 will have us on the rise and in the playoffs on a consistent basis. I reallt like TD at the helm thinking long term.

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I believe in TD, the 2 new additions will solidfy the secondary along w/ time and experience

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They should have paid the money and kept Foxworth given who we had and who we did not go after either in draft or via free agency. Instead, they are now paying the price and scrambling to fill too many holes too soon before the season starts.

In the off-season, we should have sat down and decided our strategy regarding the defensive backfield and whether we needed to
(a) Improve at Safety as that’s the position that is supposed to provide deep help which was lacking against Arizona
(b) Upgrade at Corner to be better each and every play
or
(c) Improve our pass rush as a great rush makes a defensive secondary better (easier said than done, by the way, especially inexpensively).

Instead, there was no philosophy or strategy other than dump everyone (linebackers, safety, d-lineman) and start over.

Contrary to what we did, all we needed to do was resign Foxworth, upgrade at Safety either in the draft or B level free agents, draft Perry which was fine as Grady is 36, and either gone after some B level pass rushing free agents or committed to a heavy blitz package and brought in some linebackers to make that work.

We all believe in TD but, bottom line, he blew it on this one in terms of remaking the defense. Now its up to Smitty & Co. to coach ‘em up.

LET’S GO FALCONS!

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TO: MadDawg @ 1:39pm

Please see above.

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Have you ever heard that saying – “you can’t buy class”?

The Falcons and their biased fan base have no class. It’s not even just the Falcons, it’s the Atlanta community. The Braves, Hawks and Falcons.

There is no loyalty! The way they treated Dominique Wilkins, the man that single handedly put the sorry city on the big stage. Management didn’t even have the class to inform him of the trade – he had to hear about it on the news.

The Atlanta Braves – After winning their first World Series, what did they do? Trade Justice, Grissom, McGriff, Pendleton and let’s not forget how they treated Ron Gant like garbage because he broke his leg on the off season.

Now, the Falcons – where do I start. They were looking for a reason to get rid of Vick, way before he was drafted. “YOU” people could not stand the fact that the city would draft an African American quarterback.

That was like a threat to last position in the NFL that is not occupied by African American players. Now comes Dimitroff, “YOU” people handed him to the key to the city and for what?

He benefitted from the 9th easiest schedule that included:

-Detroit

-Kansas City

-St Louis

-Denver

-Oakland

The Georgia Bulldogs would look good playing those cellar dwellers!

Now most intelligent “TRUE GMs” would make gradual changes on defense and not “SINK THE SHIP”, although this ship was more like the Titantic anyway.

A “TRUE GM” does not wait until the start of the regular season to tweek and make roster changes at a time when the other 31 teams are making roster cuts.

This is not genuis, this is idiotic. He just threw players on the field in 2008 and went with the luck of the draw. He got lucky in 2008 but in 2009 that same technique was exposed and he is over his head.

This team will finish no better than 3rd in the NFC South.

I know what “YOU” people are thinking “we can win shootouts”.

First of all, you can’t win a shootout if there is no ammo in the chamber.

This so-call high potent offense was againt the 9th easiest schedule. If you really think that offense will be anything close to last season’s performance against the 4th toughest schedule – you people are either delusional or just flat out stupid.

Look at ole NOODLE ARM – He just ran his mouth off yesterday to the press saying the Dolphin’s Wildcat is just a fad. After realizing his knowledge of the Wildcat is even worst than his NOODLE ARM, tried to retract his comments. TOO LATE – He just inspired the Dolphins to make him eat his words.

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When a DEF finishes 25th against the run, 21st against the pass and 24th overall, the question shouldn’t be did they release too many, but should they have released more. How can you have too many upgrades? And why make an issue of the possible lack of continuity with all of the changes when it’s painfully obvious there wasn’t a lot of continuity or talent to begin with.

At least with the changes, and the additional speed, quickness, athleticism and stamina that comes with it, we have a lot of room for improvement. LB KBrooking, SS LMilloy, DT GJackson definitely weren’t going to get any better, no matter what. And, OLB MBoley and CB DFoxworth weren’t likely to get much better.

Common sense should tell anyone a team or organization will never get better if the people that make it work aren’t getting better, or in some cases getting worse.

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bad news, you are telling the truth. this is the south, they will USE a amateur “black” athlete, but when its time to get PAID, their true colors shine. they had it behind words like “character.” well, excuse me, but when you have a lombardi trophy, THEN, you can use those words. pittsburgh steelers, 6 rings, BLACK HEAD COACH. dallas, deion sanders, new england, randy moss, dallas, terrell owens, san francisco, deion sanders. what do all those teams have in common? LOMBARDI TROPHY BABY. THEY JUST WIN AND PUSH THAT SUBTLE RACIST STUFF OUT THE DOOR, but not the lombardi less atlanta fans. lol, lol, lol, lol, LOSERSVILLE U.S.A. no coincidence the phils have success with the brothers on that team, not a brother on the braves outside of anderson, and i wonder about him at times, lol, lol, lol, scrub atlanta.

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Lawton,

Please either commit suicide or move to Jacksonville. You are worthless.

By the way, Genius, Terrell “Look at Me” Owens does NOT have a Super Bowl Championship ring with any NFL franchise.

By the way, Randy “ME! ME! ME!” Moss doesn’t have an SB Championship ring, either.

Finally, Pittsburgh won its latest Super Bowl with BILL COWHER’s Residual Team & Coaching.

Thank you for your time and attention, Sir.

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The defensive line will be the key for the whole unit. No pass rush, its going to be a long season. Pass rush, things will be fine

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Loquacious

The same can be said about John Gruden winning the superbowl with Tony Dungy’s team that he inherited a year earlier.

The bottom line is:

Look up the archives and it states the following………

“The youngest coach to ever win a superbowl is Mike Tomlin”………..

Now you have a good day sir

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Boy it would have been nice if Seymour was traded to the Falcons!!!!!!!!!!!

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Bad News,

Lawton wasn’t talking about the AGE of any player or coach in the NFL.

Lawton was focusing entirely on a completely different demographic. Can you guess what that demographic was, Bad News?

By the way, Genius, nobody mentioned Jon Gruden’s name, because nobody really cares about him.

Bad News, you seem so cute when you try to sound intelligent by going completely off the topic.

Please stay ON topic the next time you try to talk down to others, Bad News.

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Though I have my concerns about this defense, and for Matt Ryan’s attempt to dodge a sophomore slump, for that matter, I think the Falcons have as strong a claim to the Super Bowl as anyone else does.

I am confident that the new guys will fill the holes in question; my question is, “How soon?” Along these lines, I think it was time to part ways with Keith Brooking, and our “Lawyer” in the Arizona game was more of a prosecution than a defense.

Michael Boley and Grady Jackson we will miss more, and though I’m confident Peria Jerry is a fine, fine pick, Jackson has more left than we’re told.

Atlanta goes 13-3, beats Dallas in the NFC Title Game, and beats San Diego in the Super Bowl, who gets there after a win over Pittsburgh.

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no, they got better at every position and the two corners they picked up for a song are as good as the one they lost in Foxworth.

They had to get faster on defense to be able to eventually use the linebackers to put more pressure on the QB. They had to get younger to get out of zone for a few plays.

They were old and AWFUL on defense last year. This year they’ll be young and Awful but they’ll make more plays because they can get to them whereas the guys they had last year knew where to be and couldn’t get there.

This is a process and they absolutely had to do it.

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BAD NEWS-tell me what DWilkins accomplished after being traded from the Hawks? You trade an asset before it loses it’s value, that’s just good business. DJustice got himself traded because of his off field issues, which might have involved drugs.

Grissom, McGriff and Pendleton were past their prime and the team wisely wanted to get something for them while they could. Again, good business moves. RGant messed himself up when he broke his leg doing something stupid and in violation of his contract. Former Cleveland TE Winslow did the same thing with a motorcycle, and Cleveland sent him packing as well.

This is my definition of Racism: RACISM IS FEAR, FUELED BY IGNORANCE, STUPIDTY AND DENIAL. Almost everytime you make a comment, you prove that definition right. A lot of you excuse ladened morons always use the lack of certain Black players as the excuse for the Braves current problems. Yet, you ignorant morons don’t mention the White players that were on the team and instramental in the Braves success. We successfully replaced McGriff, Grissom and Pendleton, but we have yet to successfully replace JSmotz, TGlaville, GMaddox and SAvery, the heart and sole of those great Braves teams.

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KEN STRICKLAND, surely you jest. maddox, smoltz, etc. were a part of the heart of the braves, A PART. just last night, the braves carried a 1-0 lead into bottom of 9th and lost. you need HITTING also, lol.

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Thank god. I have read I don’t know how many articles about these five leaving but no real explanations. Basically it what I thought, 4 guys were cut for age, one did not fit the system and one left due to a better offer.

Of the 4 that were cut i actually thought Milloy was the biggest no brainier, but it was interesting to hear in addition to his age he was
considered a little too outspoken. I think the fact he just recently found work is proof most of the league thought the same way as the Falcons.

According to local coverage the Falcon’s actually made an offer
( although I assume it was a rather large pay cut) for Brookings to stay which I thought was a mistake at the time. The Falcon’s clearly go his best years and it was time for him to go to make room for younger players.

Of the 4 that left I would have actually liked to see Grady back for one more year. He basically does what he always did, it would have kept them from having to rush a rookie, and you can never have too much depth on the the D- line.

Thanks Mark.

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The DB’s can not be any worse than Deangelo Fall.

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[...] The Hot Button: Did the Falcons redo too much of their defense … achilles, defense, hamilton, lawyer-milloy, milloy, new-regime, perception-held, season This [...]

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Loquacious

Mike Tomlin won the Super Bowl in his second year. Thank God for that, because people like you would have wanted to claim the young brother couldn’t do it himself if he would have done it his first year. Since it was his second season, that was his team not Cowher’s, Tomlin’s stamp was all on that team. It was his team and his team alone. Now True many of those players Cowhere and the GM brought to Pittsburgh, but That Super Bowl belongs to Mike Tomlin, Cowher cann’t lay claim to that one and he have never tried to. I am a Steelers fan so don’t go there.

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BigEasy

What’s up brotha……..

Better watch out for that “Ken Strictland” he is acting even DUMBER than ever

That idiot always thinks he is smarter than other bloggers just because he completed an MS Word cut and paste class

That fool is always wrong.

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$28 million for a cornerback whose former team was willing to let him go? I don’t think so. Let Baltimore have him.

What good does a decent cornerback do you if your defensive line and linebacking units can’t get the job done?

Bad News ,

D. Hall signed a contract with the Raiders when he left here.

The Raiders are so bad, they won a league-worst 24 games during six seasons from 2003-2008. That was even worse than the Detroit Lions. This is what you call a winning organization?

The Redskins were 8-8 last year. Most of us call that a “tie.”

DeAngelo Hall has signed some nice contracts. But to say that he has played for a winning organization? The guy can play when his head’s in the game. Which wasn’t often when he was here, or in Oakland.

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Ken Strickland– What a STUPID comment! Do you honestly think the Hawks benefitted by trading Dominique for Danny Manning (I literally hate seeing, reading, or saying/typing that name)?

The same applies to that overrated, boring, stale, useless, bitter, predictable, spiteful albatross named Lenny Wilkens, who not only traded Dominique but apparently did so for personal reasons. (He always seemed to hate the guy, and I don’t know why. He didn’t even pull ‘Nique out early in ‘Nique’s final game a a Hawk to give the fans to salute him in what might’ve been and unfortunately was his last game as a Hawk—in the process falsely implying that he wasn’t going to trade him!)

Furthermore, the Hawks were the top seed in the East at the time, and trading your best player and go-to guy is HARDLY a valid option, let alone a valid decision!

Manning came to Atlanta and not only was just a fraction of Dominique’s talent, but he also had two bad knees and a contract expiring at season’s end, which the Hawks didn’t extend– but it was a moot point for me. Even if Manning had been good for the Hawks, I was done with that team after the way Lenny mistreated Dominique.

The Hawks WERE a pure, beautiful product back in the ‘Nique, Spud, Doc, and Tree days.

Back to the albatross known as Lenny Wilkens, I watched some highlights recently of Game 2 of the 2001 ECS, where Philadelphia beat Toronto, led by Allen Iverson’s 54 points (exciting fourth quarter, especially where Iverson cups his ear at half court after a Toronto timeout). The announcers commented late in the game about how ironic it was that Wilkens never called for a double-team against him. That statement pretty well sums that “man” up and clarifies why he’s nowhere near the elite-coaches class of Pat Riley, Mike Fratello, Larry Brown, etc..

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BIG SLEAZY 830 IF YOU’RE A STEELERS FAN GO FIND A STEELERS BLOG PUNK.

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the vets on D that were released just werent effective with the falcons. they did their jobs well but it just did not work out as a unit. there was always one side of a position that was efficient as the other statwise like ints from LCB VS RCB or Sacks LE vs RE.. the side that wasnt efficient was the one that got picked on by offenses. in my opinion our 2004 roster was more effective because yes there were probowl guys on that team but they were able to play every starter the whole game instead of rotating on running vs passing downs they just matched the opposing O

this roster had a fair share of veterans but was still pretty young and i see somewhat the same thing in the 09-10falcons but you be the judge

CB
20 Allen Rossum, CB 5-8 178 10/22/75 7 Notre Dame
21 DeAngelo Hall, CB 5-10 197 11/19/83 R Virginia Tech
23 Kevin Mathis, CB 5-9 185 4/29/74 8 Tx A&M Commerce
30 Christian Morton, CB 6-0 188 4/28/81 R Illinois
36 Jason Webster, CB 5-9 187 9/8/77 5 Texas A&M
37 Aaron Beasley, CB 6-0 206 7/7/73 9 West Virginia

S
24 Bryan Scott, S 6-1 219 4/13/81 2 Penn St.
25 Kevin McCadam, S 6-1 219 3/6/79 3 Virginia Tech
26 Siddeeq Shabazz, S 5-11 215 2/5/81 2 New Mexico St.
27 Cory Hall, S 6-0 213 12/5/76 6 Fresno St.
42 Etric Pruitt, S 6-0 196 8/16/81 R Southern Mississipp

LB
50 Artie Ulmer, LB 6-3 247 7/30/73 6 Valdosta St
51 Demorrio Williams, LB 6-0 232 7/6/80 R Nebraska
52 Matt Stewart, LB 6-3 232 8/31/79 4 Vanderbilt
54 Chris Draft, LB 5-11 232 2/26/76 6 Stanford
55 Eric Johnson, LB 6-0 220 4/30/76 5 Nebraska
56 Keith Brooking, LB 6-2 245 10/30/75 7 Georgia Tech
59 Jamie Duncan, LB 6-1 238 7/20/75 7 Vanderbilt
DT
75 Rod Coleman, DT 6-2 285 8/16/76 6 East Carolina
94 Chad Lavalais, DT 6-1 293 4/15/79 R Louisiana State
95 Edward Jasper, DT 6-2 293 1/18/73 8 Texas A&M
98 Travis Hall, DT 6-5 295 8/3/72 9 Brigham Young

DE
91 Brady Smith, DE 6-5 274 6/5/73 9 Colorado St
96 Antwan Lake, DE 6-4 308 7/10/79 3 West Virginia
97 Patrick Kerney, DE 6-5 273 12/30/76 6 Virginia
99 Khaleed Vaughn, DE 6-4 276 5/20/81 R Clemson

INJURED RESERVE
—————
22 Travaris Robinson, S 5-10 193 9/1/81 2 Auburn
29 Keion Carpenter, S 5-11 205 10/31/77 6 Virginia Tech
92 Karon Riley, DE 6-2 268 8/23/78 4 Minnesota

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The D will be fine. Certain morons on here should stop talking smack about intelligent people such as TD and coach smith and take a look in the mirror. Falcon story doesn’t even make sense and bad news is a moron as well. As far as matty ice goes, i’ll take the word of EVERY expert in the game and say he’s for real…….grow up!!!!!! you sound like 12 yr olds

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Obviously, they were making financial and team decisions for 2010, 2011, and etc. I think the wins we will grab from 2010 through 2015 will be much greater and have greater impact than the 9 or 10 wins (is that too optimistic???) we will achieve this year (or the 12 we could have had this year if we would have kept those guys). In other words, I think we could have 2-3 superbowls in the future instead of a shot at one this year. Do I make sense?

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Bad News, what’s happen’n, what’s up, you are right about the Braves. They got rid of their emtire outfield at the same time. Grissom, Justice, who was their clutch hitter and the man that drove in the winning run for their only world series, and Jermaine Dye. I don’t care what any of these haters want to say, they gotta be regretting pulling that move. Jermaine Dye showed great promise as a young player and have been a star MLB player since and Justice went on to win more World Series rings with the Yankees, giving them what he gave the Braves, clutch hitting. And Ken Strickland, ohh well, he is what he is. He will not admit when he is wrong. He proclaimed the Falcons defense will be so much better, addition by subtraction is what he proclaimed. He also proclaimed that the Falcons upgraded their defense at every position. He dropped name after name of players that he thought would be great this year, the same players that were sorry last year. But, for some reason he thinks Matt Ryan will magically make those same players that play defense better I guess. We all know he is wrong and the regular season will prove it. Falcons Sorry, get at me boy. Your team is gonna lose this weekend and you know it.HAHAHAHAHA

Falcons will be 4-12 in 2009
“Back To Life, Back To Reality”

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***BREAKING NEWS***

Mike Vick has been arrested in Philly. He was pulled over for speeding and there was marijuana found in the car. News just broke on ESPN.

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SAP-you need to get over your man crush for DWilkins. In case you haven’t noticed, he’s been retired long enough to qualify for and receive induction into the HOF. So he was traded. Players far greater than Nique were traded or released, like Wilt, Kareem, Oscar, Hakeem The Dream, Sir Charles, The Mailman, etc. Decisions were made, things were done, time changes and intelligent well adjusted individuals are able to move on.

I noticed you avoided answering my question about Nique’s accomplishments after being traded. I asked that question for a reason. I wanted to see if your ignorance was due to just being lazy and unwilling to do any reseach, just plain stupidity, or both. First, the answer to my question should have been he accomplished a lot. During his stint with the Clippers he averaged 29.1PPG, 6.5RPG and 2.2APG. With the Hawks, Manning averaged 15.7PPG, 6.5RPG and 3.3APG. You didn’t jump on that because you’re too lazy and stupid to do any research and even try to support your uninformed opinions and accusations with facts. I’m certain that’s because you realize your stupid opinions and accusations can’t be supported by any facts.

BIGSLEAZY-please tell everyone on this blog why you were sooooo wrooong last yr when you predicted the Falcons would finish 2-14 and QB MRyan would be a failure because you said he had a weak arm? Answering this question will go a long way toward giving everyone a better perspective on how you are arriving at what has so far proven to be extremely faulty, actually extremely stupid, predictions and accusations.

Since last season, you’ve proven over and over again you have no problem making comments and offering opinions that are wrong and make you appear stupid and/or ignorant. I guess the logical conclusion is that you really are stupid and ignorant, since you continue to make the same stupid predictions, the same stupid comments, and offer the same stupid uninformed opinions.

WHERE DID YOUR PARENTS GO WRONG, ASSUMING OF COURSE YOU ACTUALLY HAD ANY?

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And by the way, Matt Ryan does have a weak arm. His deep pass looks like someone shot putted a dead duck. Anything over 25 yrads and the wind will take it away.

The Falcons will be 4-12 in 2009
“Back To Life, Back To Reality”

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BIGEASY830-you see, this is an example of you offering uninformed opinions and making stupid assumptios. You act like MRyan’s arm strength is some kind of problem for him, when in reality, it’s a problem only for you. I definitely remember you rating QB Joe Flacco’s ahead of MRyan because of his alledged superior arm strength. Well, here are the facts.

ATTS COM YDS COM% YDS/A INT TD

MRyan 434 265 3440 61.1 1.93 11 16
JFlacco 428 257 2971 60.0 6.94 12 14

Not bad for a weak armed QB, huh. That weak arm also got him ROY honors and an invitation to the Probowl. That means the majority of the coaches, players and writers that voted him those honors preferred his weak armed accomplishments over JFlacco’s strong armed accomplishments. “BACK TO LIFE, BACK TO REALITY”.

It appears the only thing weak around here are your weak A$$ opinions, assumptions and predictions. “BACK TO LIFE, BACK TO REALITY”.

As far as last yrs predictions, if you can go back and find it, I predicted the Falcons would go 10-6 or 11-5. I caught a lot of flack for that prediction, ESPECIALLY FROM YOU. I even gave the reasons for my prediction. As sorry as the 07 team was under Petrino, 5 of 12 losses were by a TD or less. I figured with an improved DEF(Smitty was a DEF coordinator), OL, rushing OFF and stability at QB, in addition to the 4wins we had, we should be able to win those 5gms we lost be a TD or less and generate 1 or 2 additional wins above that total.

THIS IS 2009 AND MY MAJOR CONCERN IS WITH THIS YRS HAWKS, BRAVES AND FALCONS, NOT WHAT HAPPENED TO A PLAYER OR PLAYERS ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE DISTANT PAST. I’ve moved on, as a lot of intelligent well adjusted fans have done. It’s obvious Nique managed to get over the trade, since he accepted employment with the team that traded him. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time for you and your variety of egos to get “BACK TO LIFE, BACK TO REALITY”.

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BigEasy

I always enjoy reading your post, because unlike UNCLE SAMBO you speak with intelligence and knowledge. That fool was so wrong about Tampa it was embarrassing and he didn’t show his stupid face for weeks

I guess Deion was washed up too when he left the Falcons, 3-superbowl rings later

Ken don’t you have some chores to take care of because it sure isn’t football

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Ken Strickland the most important stat to a QB is wins and loses. Both Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco went 11-5 during the regular season but, Joe Flacco won 2 play-off games and got his team to the AFC Championship game, Matt Ryan on the other hand was one and done. And, I still rate Flacco over Ryan any day of the week, month, year and we will soon see for their careers. Also, “MR. KNOW IT ALL”, you brought up the Dominique trade, you did not ask me that question but I answered it anyway. But evidently you are not a big fan of the Hawks, its hard to get over a chance to win the Championship when your team have never won one. But then again you are typical ATLANTA BLOGS sports fan. You settle for mediocrity. Now just because I rubbed your face into the mud, don’t get mad, “keep it 100″, but you can’t now can you. It’s just not in you.

Falcons will be 4-12 in 2009
“Back To Life, Back To Reality”

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To the guy with the Dawg updates on this Falcon article. Go to a Dawg website and talk about your crappy quarterback there, b/c not every Falcons Fan is a Dawgs fan. GO DIRTY BIRDS, GO VOLS!!!!!

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And the Bugs Bunny debate begins in 5….4….3….2….

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BIGEASY/BADNEWS ETC-You stated: “KEN STRICKLAND THE MOST IMPORTANT STAT TO A QB IS WINS AND LOSSES”. Yet another stupid, uninformed opinion. If wins and losses are the only measure of a QB, and JFlacco won more playoff gms, then why was MRyan chosen ROY and selected to the Probowl instead of Flacco? “BACK TO LIFE, BACK TO REALITY”. You’ve put your foot in your mouth so often all of you should be tasting leather.

BAD NEWS-ironically, I don’t have any chores at this time because it’s that time of month for you mother. “BACK TO LIFE, BACK TO REALITY”.

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From Jay Glazer, courtesy of AtlantaFalcons.com:

AF.COM: There has been a significant amount of buzz in the national media involving Falcons qrterback Matt Ryan suffering through the Sophomore Slump. What do you make of that talk?
JG: “I think the addition of Tony Gonzalez is the perfect sophomore slump buster for the Falcons. From what I saw when I visited Falcons camp this summer and from what people I trust around the league are saying, Ryan has improved this off-season. Ryan and I actually trained together last year at API (Athletes Performance Institute) and he actually looks bigger and stronger this year. Looks like Fish (Falcons Director of Athletic Performance Jeff Fish) worked him hard this off-season.”

Uh-oh! The possibility of ol’ “noodle arm” getting stronger and better probably never occurred to some people. Smells like Bad News for somebody!

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2-0-0-9 P-R-O-B-O-W-L T-E-A-M-S

http://www.nfl.com/probowl/story?id=09000d5d80d60467&template=without-video-with-comments&confirm=true

Wow———– no NOODLE ARMS

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BAD BREATH-Are you trying to imply that Flacco would have received the ROY if voting had been done after the playoffs? If so, then explain why he wasn’t selected to the Probowl, even as an alternate. And as everyone but a BOTTOM FEEDING MORON like you knows, all Probowl selections are made after the playoffs, including alternates. “BACK TO LIFE, BACK TO REALITY”. GOD YOU’RE STUPID.

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The Falcons did to their defense what Billy Knight and the new owners did to my Hawks. And we all know how long that recovery has been going on.

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Bad News,

Um, that was a comment made by Jay Glazer, who worked out with Ryan and attended some camp stuff. Something tells me you really did miss the whole point of that article snippet…

“For the entire decade there has been only 1 Falcons qb to make the pro bowl and win playoff games”

Yeah, and how did his rookie year go? Comparing rookie years is the only reasonable thing to do. Anything else is a bunch of BS.

Oh, and despite Pro Bowls and everything else, was that special guy ever able to deliver consecutive winning seasons? Nope. When the Falcons accomplish their 2nd consecutive winning season for the first time ever, you’ll be sick as a dog, and I’ll laugh at you right along with everybody else (and you’ll change your name…AGAIN). Can’t wait. That’ll be the blog highlight of the year.

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Ken “UNCLE SAMBO” Strictland a.k.a. Ken “I DON’T KNOW MY HEAD FROM MY ANUS” Strictland…………..

Once again you are dead wrong – oh what a surprise. The link below shows the 2009 Pro Bowl selection (dated: 12/26/08) which was a full week prior to the date listed, which means……….

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1309777/nfl_announces_rosters_for_the_2009.html?cat=14

Say it with me “UNCLE SAMBO”…………..

The playoffs had not even started…………which means……….

Everything out of your STUPID mouth are L-I-E-S!!!!!!!!! You have no credibility whatsoever. All those cut and paste classes went to waste

Maybe your “MASSA” should let you get out more if you are a “GOOD BOY”

You are in fact “DUMBER THAN A SACK OF ROCKS

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Little Ray

Are you telling me you would choose a quarterback that wins the ROY over a quarterback that is the franchise’s lone player to put the team on prime time, meaning actually winning playoff games and never going 1 AND DONE?

That just goes to show who low your self esteem really is. NOODLE ARM is just what he was while playing F-I-V-E seasons in college – A BIG CHOKE!

The ROY is an individual award right? I thought you were not interested in personal awards because as you explain it, it’s a team sports – bigot

If you want to talk about “REAL PERSONAL AWARDS” ole NOODLE ARM won the ROY (Offensive Rookie Of The Year), Joe Flacco won the PEPSI “Rookie of the year”, not just for offense, but for all rookies. Wanna know why?

They made their selection after the PLAYOFFS not BEFORE. There is no way PEPSI would want a playoff over-rated NOODLE ARM CHOKE as their representative

It was funny while watching the NFL NETWORK last night, all those hall of famer analyst were talking about the Falcons, and they kept saying……….”TURNER TURNER TURNER” and not one mention of NOODLE ARM – I wonder why

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Bad news, your defense will be on the field ALLLLLLLLLLL DAYYYYYYYYYYYY LONGGGGGGGGGGGG in the Terror Dome.

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Wesley Wallace, great post.

Ken Strickland you are a habitual liar.

Big Ray, you people like to claim that Flacco wa part of a better more establish team than Ryan last year. Oh, the Ravens were 5-11 in 2007. They won only one more game than the Falcons. Now how about that. The Ravens spend money on defense and the Falcons like to make media splashes by signing the offense free agents and trade for offense players. So let me get this right a team with a better defense and better line play s usually the better team. So why is it your genius GM has yet to improve the defense of this team and your O-line has gotten better but needs improvement, especially depth. But wait, they are paying Gonzalez a boat load of money and can’t afford anyone else is that right. You would prefer Roddy play for peanuts and be the team player but get screwed in the end is that right. hat excuses will you Falcons fans have as the season drag on and your team suck.

Ken, I know you don’t know what my signature phrase mean, why don”t you do a “Little research” as you instructed someone earlier.

Bad News you are so right about that press coverage, everyone knows the only way Ryan can complete a pass is if the receiver is wide open. Press the receivers and that “DUCK THROWER” don’t have the arm strength to squeeze the ball in that tight window.

Falcons will be 4-12 in 2009
“BACK TO LIFE, BACK TO REALITY”

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WESLEY WALLACE-unless you have a strong pass rush, all secondaries will get picked apart by the better QB’s.

TD and Smitty saw Foxworth play and practice first hand, and they reviewed plenty of gm and practice film of him. It’s obvious they didn’t think he was worthy of the money he was asking based on those reviews. WHAT MAKES ANY OF YOU THINK HE WOULD HAVE DONE A BETTER JOB OF COVERING THOSE WR’s UNDER THE SAME PRESEASON CONDITIONS, AND HOW WOULD HIS PRESENCE HAVE HELPED THE OTHER CB’s? We finished 21st in pass DEF with him, so I think that proves we can do bad without him. HE’S GONE AND AIN’T COMING BACK, SO GET OVER IT.

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BigEasy

I think that Ken “fool” and Little Ray are joined at the hips……..

Both of them read too much “Falcon.com” and believe that crap I imagine. The Dolphins will be just a warm up of things to come. If they can’t handle Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, just wait until Deangelo (2nd coming of Barry Sanders) Williams and the boys run a buzz saw through them.

They keep thinking delusional with that “win with shootouts”, but these idiots don’t realize, 2008 (24 pts per game) was against:

-Detroit

-Kansas City

-St Louis

-Denver

-Oakland

Those cellar dwellers are nowhere to be found – they have “REAL” defenses and offenses this year. I’m willing to place bets that New England puts up a 50 spot.

By the B-Y-E old NOODLE ARM will be done for the regular season!

Every good player that they have cut or released, is better off, because everybody knows if you want to win a title, your best chance is outside of Atlanta.

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Ken “UNCLE SAMBO” Strictland………..

So finally you admit you are a liar

But that just shows how ignorant and stupid you are. If playoffs are less important than the regular season, then it makes very little since to play for the SuperBowl

You are “MORE ROCKS IN YOUR HEAD” than I previously thought. Who in their right mind that knows his HEAD FROM HIS ANUS would ever try and make that rationale that the regular season is more important than the playoffs

What rock did you crawl from? The Super Bowl (playoff game) the most watched event in the WORLD!

You are “DUMBER THAN A SACK OF ROCKS”

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BAD NEWS-you know what, you’re extremely boring, and exchanging childish insults with the likes of you has also gotten boring. You’re obviously extremely childish, for only a child or child like individual could derive such continuous pleasure while engaging in something so trivial. It’s obvious you’re on these blogs to instigate and draw attention to yourselves, not to acquire or diseminate information.

The season starts tomorrow and I’m going to concentrate on that, not wasting anymore time with you. Oh, by the way, THE REGULAR SEASON IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE PLAYOFFS BECAUSE WITHOUT THE REGULAR SEASON, HOW DO YOU DETERMINE WHO PLAYS IN THE PLAYOFFS. You are either too young or stupid to realize this, but the NFL managed to determin its champion before there was any Superbowl or NFC/AFC playoffs.

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BigEasy830,

It should be obvious. Dimitroff chose to pay for offense (Turner and Gonzalez) and build the defense through the draft.

Yes, the Ravens were 5-11 in 2007. What was the Falcons record? Surely you can tell me, as you are so good at pointing out Falcon failures. My point stands: the Ravens are a more established team with a KNOWN and established defense and line. The reason they went 5-11? Bad coaching and no offense. They chose the opposite of what Dimitroff, and chose to build offense through the draft when they got Flacco. And it was a good choice, just a different one.

You seem to insist on ignoring one simple fact: The Falcons are rebuilding. You don’t rebuild a team over the course of one year. And when you’re using the draft to do it, it never happens in one year. Dimitroff obviously didn’t want to buy himself a defense.

Bad News,

You seem to have a bad memory as well. What did Dimitroff and Smith say when they came to Atlanta? They wanted to build a team whose offense was based on the run. So, they paid the money necessary to get Turner, and voila! He got 1,699 yards last year. Of course everybody mentions Turner, and not Ryan. This team is built on the running game! Ryan is a guy they drafted to take care of the ball and make good decisions. Just so happens that he’s quite good at it. And good decision making is better than arm strength. Don’t believe me? Remember Jeff George? He had arguably a stronger arm than Mike Vick. Where did it get us? Accuracy. It’s what Manning has (both of them). Aikman had it. Brady has it. Marino had it. Ryan’s got it.

This team’s offense is built on the running game. Turner proved that last year. Why you keep bringing up Ryan is beyond me. Sounds like an obsession.

And why do you say Ken Strickland and I are joined at the hip when you and BigEasy830 can’t seem to get enough of each other? Nor can you get enough of Ken. If you ask me, you must be the secret admirer. Seems to me like he minds his business, then you come along calling him Uncle Tom and all that. Well, I don’t understand your “Uncle Tom” fetish at all, but whatever they let you do in that loony bin over there is their business. At least they’re not stupid enough to let you out. Lord knows you’d get the color beat off your ass if you called somebody that in person…..enjoy your fetish and be nice to the men in the white suits. They might even let you watch the game tomorrow.

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An article on ESPN, written by Trent Dilfer. Notice the rankings and comments on Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco. Quite interesting. No doubt this will be waved aside by those who seek to bolster their own idiotic arguments…..

KNOCKING AT THE DOOR

Quarterbacks with immense talent and potential who haven’t won anything of significance yet. Playoff success will launch them into a higher category.

1. Tony Romo, Dallas

Analysis: Quickest release in the NFL … unparalleled ability to throw from multiple foot platforms, both intermediately and down the field … as artistic as any quarterback in the league, instinctively using all available resources (eye placement, shoulder nods, pump fakes, arm angles, you name it) … can make something out of nothing on a consistent basis … sometimes careless with the football, both in the pocket and through the air … limited big-game success.

2. Carson Palmer, Cincinnati

Analysis: As good a pure passer as there is in the league … immense arm talent … great mastery of his offensive system … needs to stay healthy … can be a little too aggressive in pumping the ball down the field.

3. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay

Analysis: Great arm talent … spins the tightest spiral in the league … makes every throw look easy … on his way to having complete mastery of his offense … inconsistent to this point in his career in two-minute and end-of-game situations

4. Matt Ryan, Atlanta

Analysis: Most dynamic passer as a rookie since Dan Marino … phenomenal instincts for the position … strong leader … the only negative is that he hasn’t played enough.

5. Jay Cutler, Chicago

Analysis: Great physical attributes … phenomenal playmaker … has shown lack of discipline in critical situations and must show more maturity on and off the field.

6. Joe Flacco, Baltimore

Analysis: Enjoyed playoff success as a rookie and is therefore an exception to the rule in this category, but defies categorization elsewhere … phenomenal poise under fire … shows the ability to make every throw … has not had to carry his team with his arm like the other players in this category.

Yep. I’ll take Trent Dilfer’s viewpoint as a former SuperBowl-winning quarterback over that of a moronic blogger who takes the name of Mike Vick’s former kennel venture….

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You gotta be kidding. Here is where some of the shine comes off the Dimitroff image. You give the guy waaayyyy too much credit. I think my vegetarian friend is smart and has good instincts but to suggest that he is wise…..is definitely presumptuous. Falcons take a big step back this season, Since you want to use the Patriots as a guide…The Falcons lack balance , have you ever seen a Bill Belichek Patriots team that was this unbalanced ???…Falcons-great Offense…very questionable defense. Falcons..7 wins 9 losses..maybe worse if we get hit with the injury bug.

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Well, well. Looks like ol’ “noodle arm” definitely looks stronger. A little wild, though. But strong.

I’m enjoying seeing more of an involvment by Jerious Norwood. That guy is a game-breaker waiting to happen!

Have to admit, the Dolphins have been getting good pressure on Ryan, and there have been a few after-the-pass hits. But he’ll be fine.

On the other hand….Kroy Biermann is gonna taste him some Pennington steak today if he can help it, and John Abraham already has!

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What do you call it when your quarterback makes it into the playoffs one year, and gets deep in….but can’t lead his team to a winning record the next year? Oh, I have a name for it, but I want to hear yours.

Matt Ryan has played one year. Did Vick make the playoffs and win his first year? He did it in his second year, a fact that you would like to suppress, no doubt. Yeah, Ryan is the only Falcon QB to go one and done in his FIRST AND ONLY SEASON. As I recall, Vick didn’t make the playoffs in his first season, now did he? Try again, biatch.

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DJ THE REALIST-is the 9:34am post and faulty analysis your idea of being realistic? What gm are you watching? The questionable DEF you referred to is pitching a shutout and dominating Miamie’s OFF.

We’ve added speed, quickness, athleticism and youth, and you can see the results in todays gm. There’s no way we would have gotten this type of hard hitting, pursuit and 4th qtr aggressiveness from last yrs DEF with DT GJackson, OLB’s MBoley & KBrooking and SS LMilloy.

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Man, what an a-hole! Bad News, it is comical how you feign innocence in your racial disparaging of Strickland. “Uncle Sambo” might not be “Uncle Tom”. It is blatantly more racist than that. Combine “Uncle Tom” with “Little Black Sambo” and your H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y becomes clear. Racist piece of garbage. And Big Ray is correct. H-Y-P-O-C-R-A-C-Y is simply our current form of government under Obama.

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HMS, was it not the Best Cake you have had ? The only Bad News was we couldn’t see his stupid face when we won! The score should have been 26 to 0, but our kicker decided to have a hic up. LOL Anyway, it was a sweet win my friend! Have a great day and talk to you next week!

Go Falcons

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[...] The Hot Button: Did the Falcons redo too much of their defense … [...]

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