Live from the Dome: An important Falcons’ season begins
"Hut one! Hut two! Hut three! Play championship football!" (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
If you can win four seasons running and make the playoffs three times in four, you’re not far off. You’re not a team without talent or an organization without savvy. You are, as they say, in the mix.
The trouble with the Falcons is that, three times in four Januarys, they’ve played their worst game of that season (or very near) at the moment it mattered most and the watching world was paying rapt attention. Three times in four seasons they were eliminated by a team with a lesser record.
The Falcons have become, to invoke the British term, the NFL’s nearly men. They’ve almost made it. (Had the Falcons beaten Green Bay here in January 2011, they’d have won the Super Bowl.) They’ve gotten close enough to make you – well, maybe not you, but me for sure – think this time would be different, and to date it hasn’t been.
The offseason just past marked this franchise’s first real period of recalibration since Thomas Dimitroff, Mike Smith, Matt Ryan and Michael Turner arrived in 2008. A staff of four years’ standing underwent major upheaval, and the message has been both sent and received: No longer will “nearly” be good enough.
The exhibition part of this massive season is about to begin, and I’m here at Ye Olde Dome to monitor developments. I’d be happy if you tagged along. And I thank you, as ever, in advance.
By Mark Bradley
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
462 comments Add your comment
Kerryb
August 9th, 2012
8:26 pm
Falcons clicking on all cylinders in the first preseason game. Usually teams don’t.
Mark Bradley
August 9th, 2012
8:26 pm
Big sack on Flacco. Dent. Aptly named.
JesusHChristo
August 9th, 2012
8:27 pm
Dent looked good there – played RIGHT to the whistle..
Mark Bradley
August 9th, 2012
8:27 pm
First first down. Flacco to Smith.
Nite Owl
August 9th, 2012
8:27 pm
What’s great is that this is the Ravens, not the [fill in NFL bottom-dweller here].
Prometheus
August 9th, 2012
8:27 pm
I like Mike Nolan’s game calling
Kerryb
August 9th, 2012
8:27 pm
I wish they would shut this woman up on TV. She’s going on and on with her 15 minutes of fame.
Joe "CHOKE" Flacco
August 9th, 2012
8:27 pm
THAT HURTS
Mark Bradley
August 9th, 2012
8:28 pm
OK. Ravens starting to move against the No. 2 D.
Kerryb
August 9th, 2012
8:28 pm
The Ravens can finally move the ball against the 2nd team.
J.J.M.
August 9th, 2012
8:28 pm
I havent seen any edge rush yet
Prometheus
August 9th, 2012
8:29 pm
Shillinger got got
Sam
August 9th, 2012
8:29 pm
That was a bad tackle by franks
JesusHChristo
August 9th, 2012
8:29 pm
Damn – Leach is a blob. isn’t he?
Mark Bradley
August 9th, 2012
8:29 pm
That was a missed tackle by Franks
Beastly
August 9th, 2012
8:30 pm
Before you guys start getting worried about our defense, this is the NUMBER TWO defense. Not the starters okay?
JesusHChristo
August 9th, 2012
8:30 pm
Thanks Beastly…..for the heads up…………..
Mark Bradley
August 9th, 2012
8:31 pm
Ravens inside the 10.
Should have drafted Flacco. (Except that he just missed an open man in the EZ.)
Kerryb
August 9th, 2012
8:31 pm
I guess they want Flacco to feel good move the ball against a 2nd team defense.
Prometheus
August 9th, 2012
8:31 pm
Its probably backup quarterback time for the Falcons. More Quizz though
Mark Bradley
August 9th, 2012
8:31 pm
There’s the touchdown. Hits tight end Dickson. Might have been Akeem Dent at fault.
Beastly
August 9th, 2012
8:32 pm
Flacco was getting SHUT DOWN by our first team defense. I feel good still about our defense.
Mark Bradley
August 9th, 2012
8:32 pm
If any Falcons starter plays another down, I’ll be stunned.
Nite Owl
August 9th, 2012
8:32 pm
Nice little confidence boost for Flacco.
(pats Flacco’s head)
Don’t worry, we won’t let that mean 1st team defense beat you up anymore.
Phar71
August 9th, 2012
8:32 pm
Hope Dent can man the middle. That’s the position that worries me the most on this D right now.
JSS
August 9th, 2012
8:33 pm
Bradley, after last pre-season’s fiasco, do they play to win or evaluate?
Kerryb
August 9th, 2012
8:34 pm
I noticed that Peterson was starting in the middle with the first team instead of Dent. I guess they trust him more than Dent.
Mark Bradley
August 9th, 2012
8:34 pm
Evaluate. That’s not even an issue.
Winning four exhibitions won’t make 24-2 go away.
JesusHChristo
August 9th, 2012
8:34 pm
Phar71 – You’re right – Dent needs to show up a little. Nic looked real good in the First…
Nite Owl
August 9th, 2012
8:35 pm
Good call, Kerryb. Not throwing Dent into the deep end yet. Will be very curious to see how that develops.
Sam
August 9th, 2012
8:35 pm
Dent will mostly play on 1st and 2nd downs at most. We’ll go with Sean and Nicholas most of the time with 3db
Mark Bradley
August 9th, 2012
8:35 pm
Redman at QB.
Ryan 9 for 13, 155 yards, one touchdown, one interception.
JesusHChristo
August 9th, 2012
8:37 pm
Anyone have Ryan’s numbers after last year’s first preseason game?… – Did I just make year a person?
Kerryb
August 9th, 2012
8:37 pm
Sam
August 9th, 2012
8:35 pm
Dent will mostly play on 1st and 2nd downs at most. We’ll go with Sean and Nicholas most of the time with 3db
___________________________________________________________
Dunta better be good in run support in the nickel because that will invite teams to run on us.
Phar71
August 9th, 2012
8:38 pm
Sam – no doubt, but not sure he is a starter in this league…time will tell I’m sure.
Phar71
August 9th, 2012
8:38 pm
Also get Rogers out of there, he is to important this year
Nite Owl
August 9th, 2012
8:38 pm
No, that was good grammar, Jesus.
A year can possess things.
Sam
August 9th, 2012
8:38 pm
Kerryb, dunta can’t be any worse against the run as he is against one on one. At least he dives hard
Beastly
August 9th, 2012
8:39 pm
Redman is a horrible QB. We definitely need to look at a younger, more athletic backup QB for Ryan. I just don’t trust Redman.
POPCORN UNICORN
August 9th, 2012
8:39 pm
Redman is solid but we need an upgrade
Mark Bradley
August 9th, 2012
8:39 pm
Game has begun to disintegrate. That’s what happens when you sub.
Redman had two batted down.
J.J.M.
August 9th, 2012
8:39 pm
why is redman still our backup?
JSS
August 9th, 2012
8:39 pm
Dent!!!
Mark Bradley
August 9th, 2012
8:39 pm
Uh oh. Akeem Dent down.
Mark Bradley
August 9th, 2012
8:40 pm
Got hurt covering punt.
JesusHChristo
August 9th, 2012
8:40 pm
Uh oh….Dents down…
Kerryb
August 9th, 2012
8:40 pm
Akeem Dent just went down for the count. I think he got knocked out.
Sam
August 9th, 2012
8:40 pm
Shouldn’t Parker or Davis playing instead of redman. We already know redman is the #2
Nite Owl
August 9th, 2012
8:40 pm
I thought that was Dunta’s one strength, being physical. Thought the knock on him is that he can’t cover outside.
J.J.M.
August 9th, 2012
8:40 pm
welp there goes our season