Monday Morning Falcons Hangover

Hey, did you know NFL players played a game, and no one, not even the guys in the game, cared?

Yeah, the Pro Bowl. Yawn.

The big news ‘round these parts, or, you know, at least how they pertain to me and y’all, my dozens of readers, is that I’ve decided on how to format my columns / posts / rantings / ravings / whatever you want to call’em.

As I’m sure many of y’all have noticed, I post in the mornings, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I had one “breaking news” post regarding the Falcons losing their QB coach, and will write blog posts like that when the occasion presents itself, but I decided that since I have a fairly easy to follow schedule, I should have some kind of reliable format to help me write, to make it fun to read, and basically, every hack writing about the NFL has a schtick, and this will be mine in as much as I’m not the first to do such things, nor will I be the last.

My Monday columns will be known as Monday Morning Falcons Hangover (if you hadn't already noticed). During the season, the main story will of course by my op-ed take on the Falcons’ most recent Sunday Game. I’m sure I’ll be writing a short, facts-and-stats-based recap of game soon after it’s over, but the Monday post will be my opinion on what went wrong, what went right, etc.

After that, on Mondays only, I’ll post The Seven Things I Know in the NFL. The fun part is, this section won’t always be Falcons related, so it lets me spread my NFL wings a bit.

I’ll be calling my Wednesday posts: Wednesday Football Two-A-Days, because I’ll not only write about the Falcons, but about the Georgia Bulldogs Football team, the SEC, or college football in general for that true, Southern taste of football life.

My Friday columns will be called: Thank Goodell It’s Friday! Yeah, I know, cheesy. I’ll write about what the Falcons need to do to win that weekend’s game, and then I will give my full slate of predictions.

After the Seven Things on Monday, the College Football on Wednesday, and the Predictions on Friday will come the bits I’ll do for all three days I write. First up is Today In History. I love history. I love how history is a cycle that repeats itself. I am two classes shy of obtaining my history degree from UGA. I want to teach history. It’s fairly self-explanatory. I’m going to find an interesting piece of historical trivia and share it with y’all. Learning is fun!

After the seven things will come Film Real on Mondays, TV Dinners on Wednesdays, and The Jukebox on Fridays. I love movies, some tv shows, and music as much as I do sports, and I’ll share some of that with y’all.

After that comes Smart Quotes, which are some of my favorite quotes from famous (or infamous) people throughout time.

And I’ll finish my scheduled posts with Hey, Check This Out! which is the expression used most to rope unsuspecting bystanders into seeing some cool or funny video on YouTube. I will post said video for your enjoyment / amusement.

Alright, now that y’all have the roadmap for how this is going to work from now on, let’s roll.

The Seven Things I Know in the NFL

1) It makes total sense that MeAngelo Hall wins the MVP of a game predicated on individual skill and talent, and not meshing that skill and talent within the concept of TEAM.

2) If Commissioner Goodell and the owners want to make the Pro Bowl meaningful in any way (which would improve ratings), they would do away with paying the losers of the game and only pay the winners. All players get the trip to Hawai’i, but only winners take home a check for $50,000.

3) If I were David Akers, there is no way in HELL I could ever play for Andy Reid again. Not when Andy Reid knew what he knew, and still blamed Akers for the loss against the Packers. Just an inexcusable lack of tact from a coach who is able to find the time to coddle a dog-killing sociopath, but has no room in his heart for a father with a cancer-stricken child.

4) Megatron would look awfully nice in Falcons’ red after the 2013 season.

5) I know it was against a base defense (kind of like what Mike Smith has the Falcons play all of the time), but Matt Ryan can cut it loose longer than 20 yards. I hope Smitty & Mularkey were paying attention Sunday.

6) Anyone willing to pay $200 to stand outside Cowboys Stadium to watch the Super Bowl on what amounts to a big television is a fool, not worthy of his or her money.

7) The Green Bay Packers “PictureGate” is the kind of distraction that can derail a team’s drive for a title. Not good, Cheeseheads. Not good at all.

Today in History

On 31 January 1865, the United States Congress formally passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery for all states in the Union, including those in rebellion. This Amendment was deemed necessary by President Lincoln, because the Emancipation Proclamation was mostly a symbolic gesture that would have no power under Constitutional Law once the Civil War was concluded, and did not include the Border States, such as Kentucky. The 13th Amendment paved the way for American life as we know it today; suffrage for all, black, white, men, women. For Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball. For the Civil Rights Movement. For an America that can elect a President who is a black American (whether he was actually worthy of those votes is another debate entirely NOT for this discussion). The 13th Amendment was a triumph of the goodness men can do. Let us be grateful today for the the anniversary of that momentous occasion.

Film Real

Late winter (after football season) is a great time to catch up on films that we wanted to see during football season, but perhaps never got around to due to real life (errands, chores, Honey-Do Lists, Holidays, etc) getting in the way.

A fun, well-reviewed film that was released at the end of the summer / beginning of autumn, Red, is a tale of retired CIA Agents played by Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren, who have become a liability for the Agency, so they send their best “cleaner,” played by Karl Urban (Star Trek, The Lord of the Rings), to take care of the problems those four pose.

Red is sharply written, with a witty sense of humor and crack comic timing displayed by the leads, who are even more impressive with their action work. Also, look for Brian Cox (X-Men 2, The Bourne Supremacy) in an extended cameo as a former KGB Agent. The film was recently released on DVD, and you can find it at a RedBox, from Netflix, on demand, or on iTunes. I recommend this film for pretty much anyone who’s a fan of smart action films in the vein of the last two James Bond films, or the first Die Hard film. Trust me, you won’t be sorry.

Smart Quotes

Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations and resentments flit away and a sunny spirit takes their place.

Mark Twain, 1897

Hey, Check This Out!

The video is kind of grainy (okay, it’s very grainy), but this is by far the funniest moment in Late Night with Conan O’Brien’s history. Man, do I miss the Walker Texas Ranger Lever. Damn you, NBC for holding the rights to all of Conan's old bits as well as the video rights of Walker Texas Ranger! (And yes, that IS Haley Joel Osment)

Follow me on Twitter at @UGABugKiller

Falcons in the Pro Bowl

Matt Ryan (photo via Newscom)

Seven Falcons starters were named to the Pro Bowl roster, with two alternates also making the team for a league high nine players from one team. This is a great honor for a franchise that didn't play a single game on Sunday Night Football and only one game on Monday Night Football. Falcons' highlights never led SportsCenter, and the team was never taken very seriously by national pundits (which as it turned out, they were right in the end). Meaning that the seven Falcons voted into the Pro Bowl by players, coaches, and fans, earned that honor without much, if any, national exposure. The Falcons' coaches will also be coaching the Pro Bowl. Their reward, I guess, for their terrible, play-not-to-lose offensive and defensive game plan against the Green Bay Packers.

On offense, Matt Ryan was the third QB named, after the DogKilla and Drew Brees. Michael Turner, who led the NFL in rushing attempts and the NFC in rushing yards, is the Pro Bowl starter at running back for the NFC, and Ovie Mughelli, acting as Turner's on-field valet if you will, is the starting fullback.

Tyson Clabo, RT, is Atlanta's first alternate to make the team and will play with starter at wideout Roddy White, who led the NFL in receptions and yards this year. Tony Gonzaelez also made the Pro Bowl for the eleventh time in his career, a record for tight ends.

Pro Bowl snub Brent Grimes, who led the league in passes defended at corner back, got into the Pro Bowl when Charles Woodson and the Green Bay Packers made it to the Super Bowl. John Abraham, Atlanta's beast defensive end will be starting in the Pro Bowl, and to bring it all home, the Falcons' do-everything special teams ace, Eric Weems, who this season became the first Falcons' returner to house a kickoff and and punt return in the same season, will be do the same in this All-Star game in Hawai'i.

These nine Pro Bowlers aren't just a team-high for this season, it sets the Atlanta Falcons' record for most players selected (seven) and playing (nine) in the Pro Bowl. While this honor is something to be proud of no doubt, I'm sure every single one of these guys, and their fans, would have rather declined the honor in order to prepare to be facing the Steelers right now. Unfortunately, many of these same players didn't have their best game against Green Bay, in fact, some had their worst game of the year, and that includes the Atlanta coaching staff, who will be coaching the NFC Pro Bowl players in Hawai'i on Sunday.

Then again, in "real" life, when us regular schmoes fail, we don't get an all expenses-paid trip to Hawaii for a week as our consolation prize, heh. So enjoy it guys. And be ready (as soon as the lockout is over) to work harder than ever (especially the coaching staff) to make 2011 a memorable season in Atlanta!

How Would a Lockout Affect the Atlanta Falcons?

As we move closer to the Super Bowl in a week and a half, we move closer to the end of the NFL season. This particular year, the end of the season brings with it more than the normal, “How will I survive my weekends without football to occupy my time” trepidation. The end of this season brings a question that should never be asked by a football fan: “Will there be football in 2011?”

I don’t want to spend any time on the how’s and the why’s of how America’s most successful and profitable professional sports business could come to a crashing stop. I don’t want to place blame on anyone, even if they actually deserve blame. No, I just want to quantify how the three likely scenarios (and the one, suicidal nuclear scenario) involving a lockout will affect the team I follow, the Atlanta Falcons.

In scenario number 1, the scenario that every single red-blooded American football fan prays for, there is no lockout. Sane men meet in the month of February and learn to share their millions in a way that is fair, that introduces a rookie salary cap (thus diminishing the power of certain men of low intentions), that boots the ridiculous idea of an 18 game season, and that allows all players to report to mini-camps and off-season workouts to prepare for a great 2011 season. I realize that this is second-least likely scenario to happen out of the four, but I can dream, can’t I? This scenario would of course have the minimum impact upon the Falcons. Or would it?

As made painfully obvious by their embarrassing playoff beat down at the hands of the Packers (at home), the Falcons have some changes they must make to their team philosophy. Basically, they need to become more aggressive in coaching offense and defense. Mike Smith needs to stop coaching scared. With a full off-season of work and meetings with the smartest GM in the NFL, Thomas Dimitroff, it would boggle my mind if Smith couldn’t be persuaded to change or adapt his football philosophy; to take the shackles off of Matt Ryan and the offense, and to allow Brian Van Gorder to coach the Falcons’ defense as he once did the Georgia defenses that dominated the SEC for the first few years of the 00’s. In that vein of thinking, this scenario would have a fairly large impact on the Falcons and how the team would look for the 2011 season. They would be similar to the 2010 team, but they would be more dangerous and more effective, and dare-I-say-it… more dominating (which, even with 13 wins, they never were particularly dominating). Dimitroff and Smith are smart football men, even though Smith seems far too stubborn for his own good. In this scenario, I could see the Falcons (if they decide to be more aggressive as a team) in a three-way battle with the Saints and Bucs for the NFC South title and making the playoffs at 12-4.

In scenario number 2, there is a lockout causing teams to miss all of the mini-camps, rookie camps, and off-season workouts, not to mention any free agent signing period, but the lockout ends just before the start of training camps. The NFL pushes back the start of the season by two weeks, giving all teams a week to sign free agents and an additional week of practices to get their rookies and free agents up to speed in the team’s playbook. In this scenario, I don’t see the 2011 Falcons from being much different than the 2010 Falcons in the beginning of the season. Thought it could go either way, I see the team continuing to play Martyball to the consternation of fans. Smith will continue to handcuff Ryan and not allow him to run the no-huddle offense any more than he has in the past, even though Ryan is almost as masterful in Atlanta’s no-huddle as Peyton Manning is in his. As the season progresses, the Falcons should be able to open up the offense more, but Mike Smith is a creature of habit as a coach, and that speculation is just that, speculation. In this scenario, I see the Falcons adding a few new wrinkles to their offense and defense, but finishing no better than a 10-6 team, battling it out for the wild card six-seed.

In scenario number 3, the lockout extends until September, and the free agent and training camp period are so compressed to bring the season in three weeks late, that the Falcons are not able to do anything different than they did in 2010. In this scenario, I don’t envision the team approaching the success in 2011 that they had this past season. I see 8-8 or 9-7 and no playoff birth. Playing Martyball simply won’t get it done anymore in Atlanta, and this is the scenario that hurts the Falcons the most, because it forces them to keep their philosophies intact, and doesn’t allow the coaching staff to take better advantage of their personnel (such as Harry Douglas on offense and Sean Witherspoon on defense) that could use more plays designed for their speed and skill. It is in mini-camps and training camp where coaches can really change and improve their team. Without that time, the Falcons are doomed. It goes without saying that they’re doomed anyway if Mike Smith proves intractable when it comes to adapting his team philosophy to better suit the modern NFL. I like Smitty. I want him to win a Super Bowl for the Falcons. I don’t want him to end up like this guy who refused to evolve, who was too stubborn to change; because that’s a road that Smith is in peril of treading.

And what’s the suicidal, nuclear option that’s facing the Falcons and the NFL if a new collective bargaining agreement can’t be reached with the NFLPA? Do I even have to say the words? I’ll just let you click on the links to this guy and this guy to remember what two idiots who allow their leagues to be shut down look like.

If the nuclear scenario goes into effect, NFL fans across the nation (and Antonio Cromartie’s 79 kids) will be the ones who suffer the most. Those of us who also love college football equally (or even more so) will suffer less, of course. Well, that is, unless you’re a fan of a college team coming off of it’s worst season in 15 years sporting an embattled coach and a fan and alumni base divided over the fact that the coach was brought back. Then it could quite possibly be the worst autumn of your life if that program isn’t restored to glory and there’s no NFL to soothe your pain. I’d hate to be that guy.

Oh, wait… crap.

Follow me on twitter at @UGABugKiller.

Up And Coming Offensive Players In the NFL

Quarterback:

Matt Ryan - As you may already know Matt Ryan is close to being an elite QB in this league.  He has that swagger that everyone talks about, he has the composer, he has all the intangibles to lead his team into the playoffs (oh ya, he already did).  He has only lost 3 games at home as a starter.  He only had 9 interceptions against his 28 TDs.  He will be an elite QB, and it might start next season.

  

Running Backs:

 LeSean McCoy - McCoy didn't have the best of seasons in 2009, partly because he was a rookie.  This season McCoy had a break out season of sorts. He averaged about 111 all-purpose yards a game. He was probably the reason why the Eagles were better than expected, right next to Vick.  With the off season for the Eagles, he will be able to come back better, stronger, and have more elusiveness.

Arian Foster - Foster led the NFL in rushing yards in only his second season, that's pretty good.  He compiled over 1,600 rushing yards and ultimately making him a pro-bowler.  He came out of the gate with a huge game against the Colts, where he rushed for over 200 yards.  He is very similar to McCoy, in the fact that he is an all-purpose running back, but better.

Wide Receivers:

Mike Williams - I usually don't like to call players up-coming in their first year, but I am with Mike Williams(TB).  He almost didn't even seem to look like a rookie.  He looked like player that had been in the league a couple of years.  He was second in receptions in Tampa Bay only behind Kellen Winslow and first in receiving yards this season and probably will lead in both categories on the team next year.

Stevie Johnson - If there were any bright spots in the Bills organization, it was Steve Johnson. He led Buffalo in receptions and receiving yards and it wasn't even close.  He had over 1,000 receiving yards and 82 receptions.  He had 10 receiving touchdowns.  He was clearly Ryan Fitzpatrick's favorite target, and would be a young QB favorite target as well  if the Bills decide to draft one.

Tight Ends;

Brandon Pettigrew - At the beginning of the season Pettigrew was not a big factor in the Lions offense, but during the middle and end of the season he was a big force.  He ended up being second on the Lions in receptions, only 6 receptions behind C. Johnson's 77.  He had 772 yards receiving, also second on team behind C. Johnson in that category.  He will be the main reason why the Lions will actually be good next year.  The Lions will be my sleeper/surprise team next season.

 Jacob Tamme - Out went Dallas Clark in came someone just as good.  Jacob Tamme has size and sure hands.  He stepped in for the injured Dallas Clark and it almost didn't faze the Colts in the tight end position.  He had 67 receptions and 631 receiving yards this season.  Whether he is still with the colts next season is to be unknown.  In my opinion he probably will be traded to a team like the Arizona Cardinals.  If the Cardinals get a franchise QB Tamme would be a nice toy for the new QB to use.

Next week I will have the up and coming defensive players, then the week after that I'll have Special Teams

BREAKING NEWS: QB Coach Bill Musgrave Leaving the Falcons - What Does it Mean for Team / Ryan?

ESPN.com’s Chris Mortensen reported on his twitter account at 1725 today (@mortreport) that Atlanta Falcons’ QB Coach and Assistant Head Coach Bill Musgrave has decided to take the Offensive Coordinator job on Leslie Frazier’s staff in Minnesota. What is Minnesota’s gain could very well be bad news for the Falcons’ Matt Ryan.

Bill Musgrave has been Matt Ryan’s QB Coach since his arrival as the number three pick in the 2008 Draft, and Musgrave’s input on Ryan’s ascension as an NFL QB is incalculable. While this new job in Minnesota provides Musgrave with a bump in responsibility (and probably pay), it remains to be seen how losing a trusted coach and confidant will affect Ryan, especially so soon after a devastating playoff loss in which he did not perform well.

Losing Musgrave will no doubt create more worries for Falcons fans in Georgia who are already puzzled at the way in which Mike Smith and Mike Mularkey choose to run their offense. It is possible that as QB Coach for the team, Musgrave would have provided a sympathetic ear for Ryan who may also have felt frustrated by the leash that Smith and Mularkey seem determined to use to hold him back from his full potential on the field. With Musgrave gone, will any possible small frustrations that Ryan may have with his head coach and offensive coordinator bubble over into something bigger?

It is obvious from the team’s playoff performance that Smith and Mularkey’s Martyball ways must change, and it may also be that Musgrave leaving provides the opportunity for a new voice to enter into the silent circle in Flowery Branch that handles all of the decisions regarding football philosophy. Many Falcons fans have been dreaming for months of what a creative offensive mind like Josh McDaniels could do with talents like Ryan and Roddy White, but now that McDaniels is going to use his considerable genius to turn Sam Bradford into the next great NFL QB, it is imperative that GM Thomas Dimitroff and head coach Mike Smith not bungle the hiring of a new QB coach, and in fact, that they hire a QB coach with a fresh perspective in regards to offense in the NFL.

Change must come to the Atlanta Falcons offense. They can no longer afford to handcuff their young, talented QB to a 20^th Century Offense in a 21^st Century NFL. It is beyond time for Smith and Mularkey to loosen the reigns they have on Ryan and let him be the QB everyone sees when he's running the no-huddle offense. What Smith and Mularkey are doing in regards to Ryan's learning curve, handcuffing him the way they do with their vanilla, ultra-conservative offense, could be causing irreparable harm to the QB's vast potential.

Musgrave leaving the team to further his own career is giving Smith an opportunity to change his need to micro-manage and control every aspect of the offense, taking away all creativity and explosiveness this offense could have with the core of young talent present. Martyball is not winning football and it's not winner's football; especially seeing as that particular offensive philosophy has never won a single game that meant anything in January (or February).

Congratulations to Coach Musgrave and his family in their new adventure in Minnesota (bring a jacket, the weather's a little different than Georgia's)...

... and to Coach Smith and Mr. Dimitroff a message: don't screw up this chance that fate has presented you for a change... you may only get the one shot.

You can follow me on twitter at @UGABugKiller.

Grading the Atlanta Falcons: 2010 NFL Post-Season Edition

There really isn’t anything good to say about the Falcons’ 2010 Post-Season performance that ended miserably, 48-21 at the hands of the Green Bay Packers. From coaches to players, but mostly coaches (coaches put players in positions to succeed or fail… rule of thumb in the NFL: good coaching and average talent will beat average coaching and good talent 90% of the time), the Falcons’ performance in their lone playoff game at home against Green Bay can be described by many words that all mean the same thing: horrible. If you want more words than that, pick up a thesaurus.

The Falcons succeeded in the regular season by playing it safe, by coaching their offense and defense in the most vanilla way possible. Martyball with the offense, basic 4-3, two-deep zone coverage with the defense. The Falcons had a remarkable 13-3 season because they were literally the most unremarkable team in the league. Mike Smith’s zeal to take as little chances as possible led to a team that was prepared and smart. The Falcons finished with the least amount of penalties and second least amount of turnovers. They were efficient, not aggressive, not flashy; just efficient. They were a Ford Focus, in other words.

Unfortunately for the Falcons coaches and players, simply being efficient can get you into the postseason, but it rarely wins any postseason games. There is a reason why Marty Schottenheimer’s regular season coaching record is 200-126-1 and his post-season coaching record is an abysmal 5-13. That reason is because his ultra-conservative approach and philosophy of football does not work when all things are equal, or even slightly in another team’s favor, as they usually are in the playoffs. In the playoffs, all teams are good. In the playoffs, any team can beat you. There are no Panthers, Bengals, Cardinals, or Redskins in the playoffs.

In games played in January, Martyball is scientifically proven to be a losing gambit. I guarantee you that Dom Capers and Mike McCarthy wanted nothing more than to play the Falcons and their Martyball ways in the second round more than going to Chicago. Those two guys saw how conservative and even scared Smith coached in the game Green Bay lost in December, saw how he routinely would not allow the Falcons to use their best offensive weapon, the no-huddle, for fear that he, Smith, couldn’t control the outcome. Yep. Capers and McCarthy had to be licking their lips to know a Marty Schottenheimer disciple (in spirit, as Smith isn’t on Marty’s coaching tree) was to man the sideline opposite their own.

HEAD COACH F

There is nothing I can say that is even remotely positive about Mike Smith’s performance in this 2011 postseason. He coached his team scared. Instead of being the aggressor, which is what is needed in the post-season, Smith had a defensive game-plan installed that was softer than marshmallows. For the majority of the game, the Falcons’ defense didn’t rush more than four, and frequently, they only rushed three. In the few times the team brought a blitz, the blitzer would reach Aaron Rodgers only to whiff on the sack; much as they did in the Monday Night game against Brees and the Saints. The explanation for such a phenomenon can only be that the players were so unused to be asked to blitz that they forgot how to sack a QB. With little-to-no pressure in his face, Rodgers picked apart the soft zone coverage of the Falcons’ defense at a historic pace. As bad as the Falcons’ secondary played Saturday night, the blame cannot fall all on them. Their coach let them down. As for Smith’s Martyball offense, the less said the better. Where the Falcons could have really used some early game aggression was on offense, but instead of breaking out their no-huddle attack, they did much as they did in the Saints game: running Turner into 9-man fronts until they got so far behind on the scoreboard it was too late to catch up. While Smith must be commended for going for an early 4^th-and-inches, it was the long 3^rd down down-and-distance from conservative play-calling that put the team in that position. I think Smith gets too much credit for his 4^th-down gambles. I feel they have more to do with situations his Martyball offense gets the team in more than any gambler mentality he may or may not have. What makes Smith’s performance in the post-season so maddening is the same thing Browns, Chiefs, and Chargers fans found maddening about Marty: the refusal to evolve, to change, when things weren’t working. The hope Falcons fans have is that this blowout, the biggest blowout of a number 1 seed in the second round in NFL history, can serve as a wake-up call for Smith. The only reason why Smith doesn’t get an F Minus for this performance is because at least he owned up to how poorly he coached this game.

OFFENSE F OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR F Minus

It is beyond time for the Falcons to scrap their ultra-conservative, vanilla-flavored Martyball offense, and this game proved it. When teams take the run away the Falcons’ coaches literally have no answer, because they don’t adequately prepare their team for that possibility (excepting of course, for the offense’s brilliant performance against the Ravens; the only time this year they acted in an aggressive, pass-first mode). Good coaching staffs will take what the other team’s defense is giving them, then turn it around and dominate that team with whatever works. For the Falcons, they lack that killer’s instinct, especially on offense, and this is a coaching issue. Mike Mularkey remains one of the least-creative play-calling offensive coordinators in the league. This is a fact proven by how well the Falcons’ offense generally does when they run the no-huddle from which Matt Ryan, not Mularkey, calls the offensive plays. Green Bay’s defensive coordinator, Dom Capers, took advantage of a few facts many in the Falcons’ coaching staff don’t care to admit: the Falcons may run the ball a lot, but they don’t do so efficiently. The Falcons’ running game in 2011 was about quantity, not quality. Capers loaded the box with 9 men, much as New Orleans did three weeks earlier, because he knew Smith & Mularkey would continue to try to run the ball and not allow Ryan to audible out of those situations, no matter the fact that the Falcons were always outnumbered, not having enough blockers to put a hat on a hat. And with each Falcons’ drive predictably stalling (because of the predictability of the Atlanta offense), the scoreboard separation got larger and larger. Matt Ryan certainly didn’t help matters in throwing two INTs, but he definitely can be forgiven for one, if not both of them. On the first INT, WR Michael Jenkins planted his feet in the endzone to jump for the ball or prevent Tramon Williams from having an INT, and as he planted, his feet slipped out from underneath him in almost a comical manner. Jenkins made the mistake of trying to plant on the giant painted NFL Shield in the endzone (note to Arthur Blank: you may not want to have your grounds crew paint giant NFL shields on plastic grass, it makes for a slippery situation, okay?). On the second INT, instead of letting Bryant attempt a 53-yard FG before the end of the half, Smith got greedy and tried to get another few yards. Mularkey had Ryan roll to his left, and throw across his body (Ryan’s right-handed), resulting in the back-breaking TAINT (Touchdown After INT) by Williams that sealed the game for the Packers. Roddy White was largely absent, and Tony Gonzalez had an APB put out for him sometime around the 3^rd quarter when he had his one and only catch. All and all, the Falcons offensive game-plan as well as the play of the unit was their worst output of the year. They sure didn’t pick the right time for such a poor game, but still, their performance was not as bad as…

DEFENSE F Minus DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR F

I can’t imagine the stupidity of supposedly smart football coaches who create a game-plan that decides not to pressure one of the best QBs in the NFL, instead, letting him sit comfortably in the pocket all night long and pick apart their uncreative, non-aggressive, super-duper soft (double-quilted so it doesn’t chafe your butt) zone coverage. I don’t care if Mike Smith is the head coach, how Defensive Coordinator Brian Van Gorder could ever sign off on or help create a defensive game-plan like this boggles my mind. The only thing I have to say about this plan is that it would have made Willie Martinez proud. And that is not good. Some people will make mention that Christopher Owens, the obviously unprepared and overwhelmed 4^th CB option of this defense, being thrown into the starting line-up (as most defenses playing the Packers abandon the 4-3 and play nickel coverage against the Packers’ base 3-wide sets) hurt the Falcons, and it did. But missing your regular nickel corner shouldn’t have hurt that badly. A special dunce cap needs to be put on the head of Dunta Robinson, who by scheme or by lack of ability, was burnt time and time and time and time and time again by Rodgers and his receivers… when they weren’t picking on Owens, that is. Now, in Robinson’s defense, he proved in Houston to be a fairly decent man coverage corner, and is ill-suited to play 10-yards off of receivers, as Mike Smith prefers, because he lacks the closing speed of a good zone coverage corner like Brent Grimes. Unfortunately, this is a fact Smith and GM Thomas Dimitroff should’ve considered before signing Robinson to a large contract. Or maybe, Smith should consider playing a little man coverage every now and again; at the very least on Robison’s side of the field. Either way, Robinson is a terrible zone coverage corner. Oh, and BTW… the Packers didn’t punt. Ever. Way to go, defense.

SPECIAL TEAMS A ST COORDINATOR A

Eric Weems is the only reason the Falcons kept the game close for a quarter and half. His TD return on a Packers’ kickoff was amazing. Unfortunately, that return was the lone highlight for the Falcons all night. I was tempted to give Keith Armstrong, the ST Coordinator and incomplete because we never got to see one phase of the special teams all night: punt return. Seriously. But the coverage units were fine, and the return units were fine. And “fine” in this game gets you an A grade all around considering how “un-fine” the other units were.

And that’s pretty much it for the Falcons embarrassing performance in the 2011 playoffs. For a number one seed to be blown-out like this, at home, in their first game, in this way, was totally unprecedented. The Falcons set a new precedent for playoff-losing-futility. It’s a totally amazing and completely undignified way to end the season. But… dare we have expected a different final result from a team so steeped in the play-not-to-lose philosophies of Martyball?

What is the old adage? When you play not to lose, you can only prevent yourself from winning. I don’t know. It’s something like that. One can only hope Mike Smith truly understands that particular bit of wisdom now.

The Falcons could of course continue with their Martyball course without a correction, and have another winning season and another shot at the playoffs, but simply making the playoffs is not good enough, as the Atlanta Braves and their fans learned over 14 years. Eventually, you need to take your talent and win. Unfortunately, Mike Smith’s football philosophy doesn’t win when it matters most. If Smith and the Falcons’ management are able, they must be brutally honest when they review how this team is coached and run, and change their ultra-conservative ways.

We’ll have the next eight months to debate all of the changes in philosophy, coaches, and personnel the Falcons should make to become a better team, and that starts in the next column. ‘Till then…

Follow me on twitter.com @UGABugKiller

Grading the Atlanta Falcons: 2010 NFL Regular Season Edition

With the emotions surrounding the Atlanta Falcons’ embarrassing and debilitating loss to the Green Bay Packers in the rear view mirror, it is time to look back and take stock of the year the team had. I’ll be splitting this review into two separate columns: the first dealing with the 13-3 regular season, and the second dealing with the one-and-done disappointing post-season.

It's safe to say that the Atlanta Falcons’ regular season exceeded all fans and pundit’s expectations, which were fairly low. The illustrious Peter King of SI.com had the Falcons missing the playoffs at 9-7, finishing third in the NFC South behind New Orleans and ahem, a Carolina Panthers team led by QB Matt Moore, who Mr. King felt was the next big star QB, potentially better than Matt Ryan. Feel free to take a good, long, laughing break here…

… Okay, done yet? Oh, you need some more time? Good, so do I…

… aaaaaaannnnnddddd, Done!

Great, now that we’ve had a good laugh, it must be said that while many sportswriters were wrong in underrating the Falcons this year, there were two lone souls who felt that the Falcons would make the playoffs after the 2010 season: Stand up and take a bow, Mike Silver of Yahoo Sports, who has loved Matt Ryan from day one, and Pete Prisco of CBS Sports. Not only did Mr. Prisco see a good season for the Falcons, he actually predicted them to win the NFC. While Pete correctly predicted Atlanta to win the NFC South, something just about no other sports writer had the cajones to do, unfortunately for Pete and many, many Falcons fans, the team didn’t even make it out of their first game in the Georgia Dome. In fact, some think they didn’t even show up for the game at all.

While it can correctly be surmised that the Falcons had a surprising season, considering they began the year watching the Saints win the Super Bowl, the team was actually set-up for regular season success by a head coach in Mike Smith who, like Marty Schottenheimer before him, took a team with a middle of the road schedule and micro-managed the offense and defense until they were as vanilla as possible to avoid the big mistakes. In going the Martyball route, Smith’s team wound up having an outstanding year (13-3), committing the league’s least amount of penalties and fifth-least amount of turnovers.

As these grades cover only the 2010 NFL Regular Season for the Atlanta Falcons, expect them to be very good, for the most part, and not reflective of how the Falcons’ season ended in a most egregious manner this past Saturday. Those grades shall be coming this week in my very next column, so you, gentle reader, won’t have to wait long.

HEAD COACH A

Mike Smith won’t be in any of the media's picks for Coach of the Year (wait a tic, he was given a COY award? Who knew? Congrats, Smitty!), as the media basically ignored the Falcons’ regular season accomplishments all year, but he deserves to be awarded for how his team performed in the won-loss column. Mike Smith did a tremendous job week-in-and-week-out in keeping his team on an even-keel, never letting them get too high after a win, nor too low after a loss. Smitty has a 24-hour rule for his team: You can enjoy a win or bemoan a loss, but only for 24 hours; after that time-frame, it’s time to get back to work. While I don’t necessarily agree with the end results that Martyball typically bring a team, for this season, Smith’s ultra-conservative, micro-managed, and vanilla approach to team football worked. The Falcons only lost one game in the regular season by more than a single score (at Philly), and that in and of itself is an amazing fact. However, the Martyball cracks were there to be found if you looked close enough, in all three losses. If the Falcons were a more daring offensive or defensive football team, and were aggressive, especially on offense, the team might’ve finished the year with only a single loss. As it is, Mike Smith must be commended with how his team finished their 16-game schedule as the NFC’s number one seed.

Best Moment by the Head Coach: Going for two fourth-down conversions in a row in the SuperDome against the New Orleans Saints, setting the tone for one of the few Sundays that the Falcons were the aggressor on the field.

Worst Moment by the Head Coach: With four minutes left in the game against the Saints at home on Monday Night Football, with the whole nation watching, Smith took the ball out of his Pro Bowl QB’s hands on 4^th and 6^th and punted to Drew Brees. What’s worse, Smith defended this boneheaded, Schottenheimer-eque decision that cost his team the game for the rest of the week instead of admitting he blew it.

OFFENSE B Minus OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR C Minus

Why a B Minus for a team that finished the regular season fifth in the NFL in scoring? Because the offense also finished SIXTEENTH in the league in total offense. Check out the statistics here. In my book, finishing sixteenth in the league in total offense means that your offense is either a) mediocre or b) has underachieved. Put me down for b). This Falcons’ offense, with FIVE Pro Bowl Starters (and two other Alternates), thoroughly underachieved during the regular season because Mike Smith had Offensive Coordinator Mike Mularkey draw up the most uncreative offensive game-plans by any team in the league by a country mile. The Falcons rarely strayed from the Martyball stereotype of run, run, pass, and it is because of this vanilla scheme that the Falcons were able to wear down the lesser teams on their schedule by the fourth quarter, such as the Bengals, Cardinals, Panthers, and Browns, but had them struggle to beat the better teams on their schedule, such as the Saints, Bucaneers, Packers, and Ravens. In fact, it can be argued that Mike Smith’s propensity to go for the most fourth down attempts in the NFL this year was not due to any particular daring of a head coach who is decidedly not daring, but because the team needed to convert so many fourth downs just to win games when their offense was bogged down in predictability. In fact, where the Falcons are assumed to be strong, they are only so because of repetitive action. The Falcons’ rushing game was deceiving all year in that yes, Michael Turner finished as the NFL’s sixth-leading rusher, but he finished first in attempts (leading to a palty 85 ypg average). You’d expect a team that rushes the ball most in the league to have the NFL’s leading rusher, and have that rusher average at least 100 ypg, but that wasn’t the case with the Falcons. Matt Ryan, the offensive line, and Roddy White, on the other hand, were the three components of the Falcons’ offense that didn’t underachieve this year. Ryan was the third-least sacked QB in the league, had a 91 QB-rating, and finished the season with a better than 3-1 TD-to-INT ratio, better than Brees, for example. Roddy White led the league in yards and receptions, setting team record in both categories, and while this is a great accomplishment, it can be argued that White did so because the rest of the Falcons’ receivers were so poor. In fact, the Falcons only had one offensive play of over 50 yards, a run by Turner. Mike Mularkey’s offensive game-plans and play-calls within the game were so conservative, the longest pass-play was a TD-pass to White for 46 yards. Boiling everything down: where the Falcons were so disappointing on offense is the fact that they never dominated teams on offense the way a 13-3 team should. Smith’s Vanilla Mandate, and Mularkey’s inability to find creative solutions around Smith’s conservatism prevented them from dominating any team on offense. And no, the Panthers do not count. Martyball strikes again.

Best Moment by the Offense: At the end of the San Francisco game at home, Ryan threw his worst regular season INT of the year to Nate Clements, but Roddy White ran Clements down, causing a fumble that Harvy Dahl the RG jumped on, setting up one of the more dramatic Matt Ryan comeback wins of his first three years (of which there have been thirteen).

Worst Moment by the Offense: The whole offensive game-plan for the Monday Night Football game against New Orleans. There was no aggression; there was no creativity. There was nothing but running Michael Turner into 9-man fronts with only seven or eight blockers ALL NIGHT LONG. Smith and Mularkey wouldn’t even let Ryan audible out of those situations. It was the worst case of coaching scared I’ve ever seen in a football game, and was a portent of future doom for the Falcons in the playoffs.

DEFENSE B Minus DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR B Plus

Why do I hand out a B Minus grade for what may be the Falcons’ weakest phase of the game? Because they overachieved like nobody’s business. And they overachieved in large part due to the coaching of Brian Van Gorder, hand-cuffed as he was by Mike Smith’s team-wide Vanilla Mandate. Where Mike Mularkey never found, or tried to find, a creative way around this mandate, BVG did everything he could to take chances when allowed. BVG is also credited for keeping and grooming undrafted free agent cornerback Brent Grimes, the unit’s MVP. The Falcons’ finished the season exactly as the offense finished the season, 16^th in total defense and 5^th in scoring. Where stats point to an underachieving offense due to the core talent on that side of the ball, they point to a defense that was low on talent, yet big on a no-quit-attitude that emulated Van Gorder’s tough demeanor. The Falcons play a basic 4-3, with a two deep zone coverage scheme. Unlike the Tampa 2, the Falcons would rarely blitz or take any real chances at all, keeping all pass plays in front of their coverage. Because the Falcons rarely got a pass rush out of their front four, QB’s threw on them at the 10^th-worst pace in the league. Where the Falcons excelled on defense, in points allowed, showed that from the 20 to the 20, the team gave up a ton of yards, but once inside the red zone, they were one of the stingiest teams in the league. It must be said that the Falcons’ defensive philosophies are a reflection of head coach Mike Smith and not of Brian Van Gorder, who ran a 4-3 defense at the University of Georgia that was similar to the aggressive, opportunistic defense run by Greg Williams, the defensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints. The uncreative defensive schemes run by the Falcons are a mirror-image of the offense. It's Martyball for defenses. Standouts on this side of the ball are few, but Brent Grimes and his 5 INTs and league-leading 28 passes defended, lead the way. SS William Moore also finished with 5 INTs to tie for the team lead, and although he’s the team’s hardest hitter he had a fairly inconsistent season, yet should improve in 2011. The Old Faithful of the Falcons' defense remains MLB Curtis Lofton, and the comeback defensive Falcon is John Abraham, whose 13 sacks lead the team and was fifth in the league. The Falcons' defense was a unit patched together by chicken-wire and duct tape. Where the Falcons succeeded this season on defense is the fact that during the regular season, they were not dominated by any offense they played against (well, except for Philly). For this, they must be commended.

Best Moment by the Defense: The play of the defense in the Monday Night Football Game against the Saints was so atypical of the Falcons this season it must be mentioned, even if the team lost the game. The defense hounded Drew Brees all night, creating two momentum-shifting INTs that Mike Mularkey refused to take advantage of through sheer uncreative stupidity. The defensive gameplan BVG cooked up for this game was reminiscent of his best UGA defenses: creative, aggressive, and unrelenting in pressuring the QB. The fact that Smith put his vanilla stamp on the defense three weeks later is unfortunate.

Worst Moment by the Defense: In a defensive struggle against the Pittsburgh Steelers that went to overtime in week one, the defense largely played their hearts out, but on the Steelers’ first offensive play of overtime, the Falcons had their worst play of the year: a 50 yard Rashard Mendenhall run for the winning TD. It came down to gap assignment, with a OLB who shall remain nameless missing his assignment, allowing Mendenhall to get to the edge and run for the score.

SPECIAL TEAMS A Minus ST COORDINATOR A

The only thing keeping the Falcons from an A grade on special teams were their early season struggles in punt and kick coverages, particularly in the home game against Tampa, that enabled teams to hang around by giving them short fields. The Falcons’ ST Coordinator Keith Armstrong took care of these problems by reinserting Kroy Biermann back into the Special Teams, and reconfiguring how they would attack the new wedge-less return schemes (as the NFL banned the wedge formations to keep gunners safe from injury). The changes worked, and the Falcons excelled in special teams for the rest of the year. The Falcons were second in the league in kicking and first in kick returns. Matt Bryant finished sixth in the league with 28 field goals made and a 90% made kick percentage. After all of the personal tragedy in his life, having him turn his career around in Atlanta the last season and a half has been one of the better, quieter stories in the NFL. The ST MVP is without a doubt Pro Bowler Eric Weems, who is the first Falcons player to take both a punt and a kick to the house in the same season. But even more than his return ability, Weems is also the team’s best gunner, seemingly coming out of nowhere on a regular basis to pin dangerous kick and punt returners behind the 20 with an outstanding tackle or assist. Weems was the Falcons One Man Special Teams Wrecking Crew.

Best Moment by the Special Teams: I’m sure most people would consider Weems’ epic return against the Tampa Bay Bucaneers in Tampa, he ran through about a dozen tackle-attempts for an amazing TD return, to be the pick here, but it isn’t. Instead, the best moment for the Falcons on Special Teams this season occurred at the end of the Ravens game in the Dome. Matt Ryan had driven the Falcons down the field for the go-ahead touchdown, but left about 45 seconds on the clock. After the ensuing kick-off, the Ravens would have time left for a touchdown drive of th– right up until the moment Eric Weems raced down the field and tackling the Ravens’ returner inside the 15 with an outstanding flying tackle. Yeah, it happened that fast, just like that, like in the middle of a thought, between the firing of a synapse, Weems rendered any Ravens comeback moot with the Falcons ST play of the year.

Worst Moment by the Special Teams: The whole of the aforementioned Tampa Bay game in Atlanta. Just an all-around pitiful effort that let the Bucs hang around the game for far too long, with backbreaking return after backbreaking return, including a 90-yard TD return after a Falcons score. The less said, the better.

In the end, the Atlanta Falcons were a team that was better than the sum of their parts. They won conservatively, and made their own breaks by not making the killer mistakes, for the most part. Based on talent alone, this was probably a 10-6 or 11-5 team that finished a bit over their heads at 13-3, and unnecessarily put their QB into too many game-saving situations because of their head coach’s insistence at coaching and playing Martyball, as opposed to being the aggressor on the field on offense and defense.

I know it seems like I am frequently coming down harshly on Mike Smith's preoccupation with ultra-conservative team play (and yeah, I am), but remember, I did give him an A grade because even though faults can be found with the Martyball philosophy, those faults generally aren't exposed until the postseason. As it is, the team finished 13-3, and Smith is to be commended for overseeing a team that finished the regular season as a number 1 seed.

The next column will grade the Falcons on their postseason, even with the limited tape available to me. After that, expect a column detailing what the Falcons must do (in an over-arching sense) in the off-season to improve their football team and truly contend for a Super Bowl.