SI’s Peter King looks at the Falcons and sees mediocrity
Mike Smith reacts to news that his team is the 16th-best. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
Perhaps you noted during minicamp that Matt Ryan said to the world’s worst journalist — that’d be me — that he believes the Falcons are “a lot closer to 12 or 13 wins than to eight.” Twelve or 13 wins would make this a really good team. The esteemed Peter King of SI.com, however, regards it differently.
In his newest power rankings, Mr. King ranks the Falcons 16th in a 32-team league, which would be the utter definition of mediocrity. He also sees the Falcons as the third-best team in the four-team NFC South, behind both New Orleans (No. 5) and Carolina (No. 8).
That’s correct. He has the Panthers, who historically are the NFL most’s overrated bunch, eight spots ahead of the Falcons. Mr. King believes dumping Jake Delhomme and will propel Carolina onward and upward, which it might. But still: A team with an unproven quarterback (Matt Moore) and a potential lame duck of a head coach (John Fox) is going to jump above the Falcons, who with all their injuries still finished a game ahead of the Panthers in 2009?
(Oh, yes. One thing more. Julius Peppers no longer plays for Carolina.)
Enough. The point here isn’t to argue with the esteemed PK but to note his reasons for not loving the Falcons. Quoth Mr. King:
The Falcons are healthier, and better. I just think there are two teams in the division better right now — unless Matt Ryan has a Drew Brees-type year. I don’t think he has one of those in him … yet. Not many quarterbacks do.
OK, a bit more quibbling (sorry, can’t resist): The whole point of the Falcons’ offseason — signing Dunta Robinson, drafting Sean Weatherspoon — was to upgrade the defense to the extent the Falcons don’t have to score 30 points a game to win. And I can’t understand how Carolina minus Peppers is a more enticing team than the Falcons plus Robinson.
But reasonable folks can, I submit, disagree reasonably. And I guess that’s what I’m doing here. Because I think the 2010 Falcons will be really, really good. Division-winning good.
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226 comments Add your comment
Peter King is MORON
May 17th, 2010
3:35 pm
He always picks the Panthers to do well. regardless how bad they suck. Where did he have them in his last pre-season power rankings? Not the “power rankings” mean anything…
Peter King
May 17th, 2010
3:45 pm
I steal cars and ride bicycles!!!!! Bweigh! I don’t like Matt Ryan! Meow! I fart in my mouth!
Captain Dood
May 17th, 2010
3:47 pm
Man Peter King is freaking crazy
SeenThisB4
May 17th, 2010
3:48 pm
Houstondawg: Don’t get too overconfident on that kool-aid you’re drinking too. Matt Ryan is not a top tier QB. And Mike Smith, LOL!, …. (excuse me)…Mike Smith is no where near being a quality head coach. And don’t forget, Atlanta, well Atlanta was the only team in the NFC South that the Saints beat twice last year. Atlanta has a lot of ground to make up, and I don’t see where they have made enough improvements so far, to get the Division Title.
Mr. Dood
May 17th, 2010
3:50 pm
Seriously Peter King is freaking crazy
ATL Observer
May 17th, 2010
4:35 pm
I think P. King himself said these ratings don’t mean much…and really, he’s probably just a couple of bad preseason Carolina starts away from jumping Atlanta to 12th.
The Saints depend a lot on Darren Sharper and if he and the defense will be in the same ball-hawking form they were in 2009. If not, then they’ll go back to what they were in 2008: a .500 team that scores a lot.
Trying to predict how Carolina will do is like trying to catch a greased pig: damn near impossible.
True Fan
May 17th, 2010
4:45 pm
So the mighty king had the ain’ts 24 and they won the Superbowl. Enough said……..
scottbravesfan
May 17th, 2010
4:50 pm
Peter King is never right about any sports not just football. The guy last year ripped the Tampa Bay Rays for trading Scott Kazmir, who’s a nutcase, and now they are the best team in baseball. His football picks are about as terrible as well.
The Falcons all the way in 2010!!! FTW!!!
Barticus Maximus
May 17th, 2010
4:51 pm
The King of Peter has an opinion. Now look down, he also has an a-hole. Everybody has an opinion and an a-hole. In this case, the opinion might of been better coming out of his a-hole.
Eddie
May 17th, 2010
5:17 pm
The games are not played in Peter King’s rankings, they are played on the field. Many things can happen over the course of a season to make the favorite the underdog, and vise versa.
Jermy
May 17th, 2010
5:19 pm
@ Mark Bradley.
SO! He wrote something becuase that’s his job. So what if it doesn’t happen like he said, he’ll just write a new story.
Kinda like you Mark!
Joseph
May 17th, 2010
5:26 pm
The Falcons will be a better team in 2010 with a more favorable schedule. We are due to avoid injuries given how the team was beset with them last season. Defense is much improved over playoff team’s defense. Looks very promising. Matt will prove the naysayers wrong in year 3.
Patrick
May 17th, 2010
5:37 pm
He’s not a moron, but his ability to predict teams is, as he mentioned himself in the article, notoriously awful.
Patrick
May 17th, 2010
5:37 pm
Well, he was for a obamacare, so politically and socially, he’s a moron, but he’s does know football.
Mark Bradley
May 17th, 2010
5:40 pm
Doc Rivers is under contract through 2011. He’d have to break that to come here.
jc_dawgs
May 17th, 2010
5:54 pm
rediculous! PK is an idiot for thinking this and here is why.
Simply put…The Falcons are every bit as good as last years team and I really dont see how one can argue that they are not better.
Last year they finished 9-7 despite some key injuries and a brutal schedule.
No way the Falcons are a plain Jane average team. This is an above average team across the board with the only weakness being pass rush on defense.
hangman
May 17th, 2010
6:06 pm
who the heck is King Peter?
Dirty Byrd
May 17th, 2010
6:09 pm
Peter King is a HaCk!
nativefalcon
May 17th, 2010
6:26 pm
I like Peter King articles a good bit, but his picks suck, hes always been a 50/50 picker and if you professionaly bet on his picks you would go broke quick. He said the Falcons would go 7-9 in 98 and we went to 14-2 and the Super Bowl, and hes a closet panther homer, if he can’t see they suck, Just comment and don’t give picks you look stupid when you do, hes no Dr. Z.
jerry
May 17th, 2010
6:26 pm
The man is paid to predict something. Maybe he was going on a track record regardless of other factors.
DW
May 17th, 2010
7:02 pm
Peter King is verbose, has never written a SI article under four pages long. He’s a good writer, just not very bright in a ’sports’ kind of way, or at least ignorant as to the power shift in the NFC South.
The Falcons have improved where the Panthers have taken a step or two backwards. The Falcons have another year of continuity with the same system and coaching staff, have added Robinson and Spoon to the Defense. Ryan should bloom in his third year and there is a lot of talent for support at WR for a change. In fact there is more depth everywhere. Turner is mean and lean again so this should be a very balanced and high powered Offense. And our schedule is easier than last years with our Bye placement at week eight and only one term coming off their Bye week. Unless Moore, Jerry, and Douglas are not rehabbed enough to provide some impact or the injury bug hits us again, we should be at least an 11-5.
The playoffs and three winning seasons in a row. Things are looking up. GO FALCONS!
mr
May 17th, 2010
7:49 pm
@sid
sorry it took me so long to get back at you,first of all Mike Vick 2 playoff wins and one championship game Matty ice none and i’m not a Vick apologist.Stop thinking that everyone who is critical of Matt is a Vick fan,if you wnat to see an example of progress see Joe Flacco who also has more playoff wins than your boy .Secondly did you make a point,watch the games,he constantly throws in double and sometimes triple coverage not to mention staring down recievers.Look at the numbers please his ints have gone up in just one year and with the defenses he will se this year they will only get worse.Check back with me in December and we’ll see!! Is that enough punctuation for you!
@sho-nuff
Are you really comparing Matt Ryan to Drew Brees!! Conversation over!At this point shouldn’t he be compared to someone like Alex Smith!Or maybe you would rather compare him to say Peyton Manning or Tom Brady!All i’m saying is this guy is getting alot of praise and hasn’t really done much.
ctfalconsfan
May 17th, 2010
8:27 pm
To the Saints Fans or as most of them are called, Band wagoner’s, go back and put paper bags on your heads.
It is great news when ATL is not picked to do well. Here are season’s that we weren’t suppose to do anything but we made the play-offs:
1998, 2002, 2004 and 2008 (remember SI had us winning 1 or 2 games in 08′), IDIOTS!!!!!!!!
The years we were picked to do well and we stunk:
1999, 2003, 2005
So, I’ve noticed most writers just pick the same play-off teams from the year before, they might change 1 team.
ATL will hopefully be healther this year and we play an easier schedule than last year so we should be able to win 10-12 games.
falconcrest
May 17th, 2010
8:55 pm
I like and respect PK….but agree with MB on this one. If healthy, the Falcons should win at least 10 gms and I’d bet it’s 11 or more. The Falcons for the first time I can remember (been a Falcon fan since ‘75) finally have depth at all positions. Think about it…the OL with Johnson, Reynolds and Hawley, WR Douglas back and the guy from KSU, RB Snelling, Norwood, TE Peelle, QB Redman is the best back up in the league, DB’s last yr was the biggest weakness, is now one of strength’s of the team with Grimes, Chris Owens, DF, BW, De-Coud, Moore, Coleman, LB Spoon, Adkins, Wire DL yet unproven Sidbury, Beirman, Johnson, Peters, Walker, Jerry. On top of all that depth, the defense was playing really well at the end of the season. The run defense was outstanding and the CB’s Grimes and Owens were light yrs ahead of how they played in Sept. The unproven DE’s must perform and HD need to come back strong and the Falcons could win the division.
hiramsaint
May 17th, 2010
9:09 pm
pete sure got those feathers ruffled didn’t he!
hiramsaint
May 17th, 2010
9:15 pm
falconcrest- you forgot 1 main part, you have arthurs footstool instead of a coach
Barton
May 17th, 2010
9:17 pm
I’m just going to say it, Mike Smith scares me a little bit… and I think he’s the reason the Falcons should never be underrated
hiramsaint
May 17th, 2010
9:21 pm
why does he scare you ? did you get to close to him on the sidelines?
poppa falcon
May 17th, 2010
9:27 pm
Peter King picked the Bears to win the Superbowl last yr………..
I think I’ve said enough.
Realism Sucks
May 17th, 2010
9:42 pm
*snicker*
UP NORTH
May 17th, 2010
9:44 pm
I’ve been a Falcon fan since the year they started, King has never been a Falcon fan. I can go back years, even decades, and he has never been supportive as he has a few others–he does it every year. And every year he picks off base. Yes, he just guesses, but SI pays him big to take a stupid pill everyday.
hiramsaint
May 17th, 2010
9:49 pm
up north- do you get paid to take yours or just because you like it
falconcrest
May 17th, 2010
10:07 pm
hiramsaint—–Mike Smith is one of the best and so is Blank……we the Falcons finally got it right with TD and coach Smith. Just watch…you don’t have to like it…but you can’t stop it!!!! The Falcons will be a force to be reckon with for yrs to come
Chop Buster
May 17th, 2010
10:18 pm
Little Peter is entitled to his opinion. I don’t know what he’s basing this on but it seems to be a little far fetched. We’ll show them…our team will show all doubters what we can do this year. Let’s bust ‘em in the mouth Falcons!!!
UP NORTH
May 17th, 2010
10:19 pm
hiramsaint-we all take that pill sometimes, but most fans aren’t addicted unless they wear bags on their head when their team sucks.
falconcrest
May 17th, 2010
10:30 pm
up north—-LOL!!!!
Matty
May 17th, 2010
10:34 pm
Alot of people are talking about the Falcons injuries and strength of schedule and the fact that they still won one more game than the Panthers.
Here’s the flipside of that. Panthers lost Maake Kemoeatu, their only big DT, before the start of the season. For the first few games teams exploited the hell out of that fact and ran all over us until we finally found someone to stopgap the position. Lost LB Thomas Davis, who was having a Pro-bowl year, 7 games into the season. Lost Pro-bowl tackle Jordan Gross halfway into the season.
Falcons had the 4th hardest SOS? Panthers had the 2nd. Perhaps it’s actually telling that the Panthers only lost one more game than the Falcons with a QB starting most of the year throwing 8 TDs against 18 interceptions.
hiramsaint
May 17th, 2010
10:34 pm
falconcrest-jibberish because you can’t validate anything you just said- oh , i’m sorry- back to back WINNING seasons–WOW! up north– speak for yourself. this ain’t the 1990’s anymore and we have the lombardi. where’s yours? thats right, in denver
falconcrest
May 17th, 2010
10:51 pm
saint– congrats on your trophy last yr and you guys will be hard to unseat…..but we gunna b purdy darn good. SO GET USE TO IT!!!!!!!
falconcrest
May 17th, 2010
10:53 pm
Matty—good point on the panties…but we will own yall next yr
hiramsaint
May 17th, 2010
11:04 pm
falconcrest– i agree with you on both points. looking forward to next season and i think y’all should be better than the kitty cats. don’t take any thing i say personally , i just like to stir it up a little once a day
Big Ray
May 18th, 2010
12:43 am
The King is wrong. Down with the King.
Big Ray
May 18th, 2010
12:45 am
hiramsaint
Damn straight we’ll be better than them kitty cats.
Peter King ranked your team as 5th. How does that work? I thought the champion was the champion until somebody else took the trophy. Yeesh…
Bill King
May 18th, 2010
4:21 am
Who gives a damn what Peter King thinks says or projects about and Atlanta team !!!
Carolina Panthers Ranked Eighth, Out of 32 NFL Teams | Cat Crave | A Carolina Panthers blog
May 18th, 2010
4:30 am
[...] a differing perspective, I’ll also submit the point of view provided by Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. That’s correct. He (Peter King) has [...]
Eugene"HighMorals"Robinson
May 18th, 2010
4:39 am
Peter King’s probably right. You moronic Falcon fans are too delusional to see that. He is ranking them squarely where they belong…in the realm of mediocrity where they have resided for +40 years. And I highly doubt anything will change this year. This is the sad truth, the way the world is. It’s nice to know there are a few constants in an ever-changing world. Like, say, the Falcons NOT winning a title, again!
THE ASSASSIN
May 18th, 2010
5:41 am
THE one thing nobody mentioned is TONY gonzales his second year with matt ryan and maybe his last im not saying the falcons go to the super bowl but they will make the playoffs.DON”T you think that will make a big difference MARK?
jeff
May 18th, 2010
6:47 am
Mark- I am a long time Falcons Fan and it pains me to have to say this. But- with our current roster; I am being a little conservative I guess. I tend to agree to some degree. I don’t think we can be serious
pre-season contenders unless we get some FA help in these two areas. 1. WR and 2. RB. White, TG, and Douglas coming off of injury we aren’t very good there (I don’t think Jenkins is a dependable receiver) my opinion . RB- We have Turner and Snelling, Norwood can’t stay on the field so I don’t mention him either. We are not looking good here either and injuries do happen often at both positions. I hope we aren’t looking for Depth at these positions with the Rooks we brought in.
Have you heard any secrets of TD and Company looking at some FA to come in and bolster these two areas? Are we taking the wait and see approach?There is a short to medium list of FA out there that could possibly come in and be a big impact at the positions. Training camp is usually when TD has made his moves in the past. Do you see that happening?
Singletary
May 18th, 2010
6:50 am
Dwayne, you are so totally “da man.” Classic, or as the Aussies say, “useful.”
Wasn’t Peter King the fat guy on Cheers that drank beer all the time with Cliff Claven?
fatboy
May 18th, 2010
7:05 am
middle of the pack is a good starting place. make the coaches and players work hard to prove some folks wrong. sometime players on teams picked high early in the year may get a little big headed and start to think they are going to have easy sledding. i look back at both New Orleans games last year, the falcons were in both, and it could be argued they should have won one or both, and a few more field goals and the falcons and the saints fortunes would have been reversed. i think with Daunta and Spoon, and the return of Douglas, falcons easily distance themselves from carolina, and close the gap on New Orleans.