Monday Morning Falcons Hangover: Special Post Draft / Post Osama Bin Laden Edition

There's an Odd Couple joke somewhere in here.

It has been awhile since I have written. To be honest, there has not been a lot to write about. The NFL Labor Mess cast a pall over all football proceedings and made thinking about football not even remotely fun for me.

Plus, I have spent much of the last two months doing everything I could to get back into school. Long story short: I had to take some time off because of personal reasons, but because I was out longer than a full academic year, I had to reapply and there were grade change issues involved, and it was pretty much a big mess.

All of that work paid off though, as I’m back in school, have only a few classes until I attain my degrees, and will be able to enjoy one last football season at UGA (looking to be a HUGE bounce-back season for the Dawgs, hoping SEC East winners!) before the real, real world beckons.

Draft Hangover

First thing’s first: anyone ripping the Falcons for trading away five draft picks for Julio Jones is WRONG.

The Falcons traded away four draft picks for Julio Jones: this year’s 2 and 4, and next year’s 1 and 4. They swapped 1’s with Cleveland, moving up 21 spots from 27 to 6 to take what many experts believe is the best receiver in the draft.

So, getting that out of the way, was the four draft picks the Falcons traded to Cleveland “too much” for a player who will change the way every single team can defend the Falcons offense, opening up the field not only for Roddy White, but for Tony Gonzalez, Harry Douglas, Michael Turner, and the new kid, Jacquizz Rodgers?

Um, no.

The Falcons were 16th in the league in total yards last year. They were 31st… THIRTY-FIRST in offensive plays of 20 yards or more. Roddy White had his worst YPC averages of his career (even when he was trying to catch errant throws from the DogKilla). Matt Ryan had the worst YPC average of his career, and the second worst of any QB in the playoffs.

The Falcons need defensive help, it is true, but the Falcons offense scared NO ONE last year. Part of that is because of Mike Smith’s play not to lose philosophy of football, and part of that is the fact that they possessed no receiver to really stretch the field (White isn’t a burner) or take double teams away from White. I mean, it is absolutely amazing that Roddy White led the NFL in receptions last year with all of the double teams he faced.

Now, the Falcons possess a burner receiver in Julio Jones who will stretch the field. He will take double teams off of White, yes, but even more than that, Jones will do so much more.

Jones will keep opposing defenses from dropping one or both safeties into the box to stop the run, meaning Michael Turner will only be seeing the normal seven or six men in the box. Imagine Turner running into the second level of a defense unfettered. Can you say rampaging bull?

By keeping the safeties honest, Jones will open up the middle of the field for Harry Douglas, the Falcons’ slot receiver and Tony Gonzalez, Atlanta’s HOF TE. Think about it: once again, TG will be single covered by a smaller, slower LB like in the earlier days of his career, no bracketed coverage with safety help. First downs to the TE all… day… LONG.

Jones will also open up a more creative ability to approaching the Falcons offense, allowing for more screen passes to succeed with Jacquizz Rodgers creating mismatches on LBs without having to worry about safeties who cheated-up.

To put it simply, Jones makes Atlanta offense much like Green Bay’s offense, or Indy’s offense, or Arizona’s offense from a few years ago.

He makes other teams fear the Falcons. When is the last time anyone said that?

As for the defensive help that the Falcons need, if you don’t think the team will fill their pass-rushing defensive end need (Ray Edwards, Charles Johnson) in free agency, y’all haven’t paid attention to how this team has done business in the last three years.

The fact is, the Falcons could afford to give up four draft picks for Julio Jones, who is faster than AJ Green, who is a better blocker than AJ, and who, by all accounts, is a better team leader than AJ (and it pains me to say that as a loyal Bulldog), because the Falcons only had two glaring holes to fill, not four or five.

And in the end, Julio Jones, like Larry Fitzgerald or Megatron, is a slam-dunk, sure-fire pick. None of the DE’s in the draft were sure-fire picks. NONE. Most of them were Big-10 players, and we all know you are far more likely to get a bust d-lineman from the Big-10 than any other conference.

If you had the chance three years ago to draft Megatron, would YOU trade four picks for him?

You of course answer “HELL YEAH!”

So stop killing the Falcons for doing the same damn thing.

As for the rest of the Falcons' draft, it was excellent if you choose to forget they took a kicker in Round 6 when TE Virgil Green was still on the board. And I choose to forget they took a kicker in Round 6 when TE Virgil Green was still on the board.

Akeem Dent is going to be a playmaker for years on this team, and I'm not just saying that as a loyal member of Bulldog Nation. The guy is Bobby Boucher... he's a Tackling FOOL!

The best steal of the draft belongs to the Falcons, taking mighty midget Jacquizz Rodgers on the 3rd Day. Rodgers is going to be the Falcons' Dave Megget, without the felony conviction. We're talking a kid who, although small in stature, can run it up the gut AND block LBs coming after his QB. Rodgers told reporters he models his game on Warrick Dunn, and it shows on tape. Plus, he has mad hands. Get him a screen pass in space on a LB, and you'll next find him 20 yards down field.

Picking up some o-line and d-line depth at the end of the draft worked out well, and the Falcons will be going hot and heavy after Ray Edwards or Charles Johnson in free agency to fill their need for the consistent LE Kroy Bierman, who works better as "instant energy off the bench guy," isn't.

As Charlie Sheen would say, the Falcons filled-up this past weekend on tiger's blood and are most certainly... WINNING! (is that still topical... I don't know).

The Seven Things I Know

1) It was completely idiotic to have the first round of the draft on Thursday night.

2) We have all heard by now that ratings for the draft were down 20%, but do not let people like the esteemed Mike Silver of Yahoo! Sports try and convince you it was because of labor issues. It was because the first round of the draft was on Thurday night, not Friday.

3) Thursday night is by far the most crowded night of television in this country, and every single show was a brand new episode. We are talking 30 rock, Bones, The Big Bang Theory, Parks and Recreation, Community, and the two biggies, American Idol, and Steve Carell’s final episode of The Office. Against that Murderer’s Row, the NFL Draft didn’t stand a chance.

4) So, WHY did the NFL decide to hold the 1st Round of the Draft on the most crowded night in television? Well, here, guys like Mike Silver have the right answer: GREED. Only this time, the NFL, like the clueless old guy they sometimes appear to be, really had no clue that they could not beat even a Simon-less AI and certainly was not going to beat Steve Carell’s final The Office.

5) The NFL would be wise to have the 1st Round of the draft on Friday, a day that is usually devoid of quality shows (except for Fringe... seriously people, WATCH FRINGE… it is easily the second-best show on television after Justified, both shows have their season finales this week… WATCH!) and much easier to maneuver a DVR around.

6) I am still amazed at how many usually smart people in the media continue to act as if all of the psychological red flags put up by Cam Newton are not the exact same red flags put up by Ryan Leaf. Conceited. Arrogant. Dishonest. Immature.

7) Yeah, Leaf did not win a BCS Title, but he led a whole team of kids who rallied around him to take Washington State to their first Rose Bowl in over FIFTY YEARS, and he did so while remaining a fake, unrepentant douche bag, just like Cam Newton. So, telling me Newton is not the same guy because he “led” a bunch of 20 years olds to a title is a line of b.s. a mile long. Newton is going to set back the Carolina Panthers for years.

As a Falcons fan, I am fine with that, and I cannot wait to watch this train wreck.

Today in History (Yesterday, 01 May 2011 Edition)

We got that mother------!!! Osama Bin Laden is now Satan’s new favorite plaything!

What an AWESOME day to be an American, a former active duty Marine, and a lover of freedom!

Oh, and one more thing: to all of those complete and utter fools on Twitter who are trying to make this into a political “win” for the Democratic Party, I hope you people seriously reprioritize your lives and understand just how pitiful you are.

Yesterday was a win for America, you tools. Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians… it does not matter!

I am happy for our President (even though I didn’t, and won’t vote for him). I am happy for our service men and women who made this victory possible.

But unlike many unfortunate, misguided ideologues, (like Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and too many douchey actors, actresses, & writers to count) I am an American FIRST.

Keep politics out of this. This is a win for America and the world, not a political party. This behavior is no better than the Republicans who tried to do the same thing when we got Saddam. They were wrong then, and you are wrong now. You people should be ashamed of yourselves!

Film Real

I do not have anything prepared for Film Real this week. I have been getting all my ducks in a row for school. Been crazy.

Smart Quote

Death comes equally to us all, and makes us all equal when it comes.

John Donne

And do y’all know what the quickest way to equality is? Two 5.56mm NATO FMJ rounds to the head, courtesy of US Navy Seal Team 6.

Rot in hell, Osama Bin Laden!

Hey, Check This Out!

Do I have to say anything else?

Please follow me on Twitter at @UGABugKiller. Thanks!

Thank Goodell It's Friday!

He's good, but he's not that good (especially in big games).

Falcons Run-Game Rep Doesn’t Match Stats

It looks like Football Outsiders, ESPN’s highly respected and brilliant stats masters, who correctly predicted Green Bay winning the NFC this year, is saying something I’ve often said about the Atlanta Falcons: their reputation as a team that runs the ball well is actually a bunch of hooey. What the Falcons are is simply a team that runs the ball a lot, and that is pretty much it.

The Falcons success, particularly against weaker teams, in running the ball comes from repetition, and not skill or explosive plays, or even successful plays… just repetition. They run the ball a lot. They run the ball a lot because Mike Smith has decided that taking advantage of all of the offensive rule changes that benefit quarterbacks and wide receivers, that have opened-up NFL offenses around the league, is for the birds. They run the ball a lot because Mike Smith has decided that taking advantage of the fast track in the Georgia Dome is silly, and would rather run a plodding, vanilla, play-not-to-lose offense that does not take any chances.

The most disappointing thing about the Falcons running game, and Michael Turner in particular, is how he and it generally disappears a a big game, a big moment, or against a tough defense. Now, Turner and the run game have had some big moments, but on the whole, they've been largely disappointing when it matters most; click the hyperlink, stats don't lie. If you are team bound and determined to run the ball, against all common sense and strategy, then this is an alarming fact the Falcons need to start considering as they move forward.

Roddy White is the only player on the Falcons offense who scares a defense, and the Falcons hardly ever run him deep, and if he does, it’s as a decoy, as the coaches don’t seem to want Ryan throwing to him on anything other than the extremely safe, but very hard to throw correctly, deep out. White is like a young TO, and what the Falcons need is speed to stretch the field on offense.

But, again, as with everything, even if the Falcons were to acquire a speed receiver to complement White on the outside, the offense would then have to have the will to take advantage of the speed. Try as I might, I just do not see a Mike Smith team taking advantage of a speed advantage if they had one. The man has proven over three seasons that he coaches scared, that he loves his vanilla, play-not-to-lose offense, and that he wants his QB to make no mistakes, ever, so he handcuffs Ryan.

So, even if the Falcons were to find a speed-receiving jewel in the draft, would they even use him, as the Eagles use Jackson and Maclin, or the Packers use their fleet-footed receiving corps?

Until I see verifiable proof that Mike Smith is willing to evolve, to adapt, and drop his Martyball philosophy, then I cannot believe that.

Game Day Predictions (Academy Awards Edition, Part I)

The Academy Awards are being held in about two weeks. Yes, it is only 16 days until Hollywood throws its most self-congratulatory party, for itself, handing 12-inch tall gold statues known as Oscar.

I thought, in the absence of football of any kind, I could do a two-part Oscar Predictions segment of the more important awards (sorry, Achievement in Make-Up, I just didn’t have the time, nor the caring, for you… cue the music!).

In this first part, I will predict the four acting awards, in the next part, the writing, directing, and best picture.

Here are my acting category predictions!

Best Supporting Actress Nominations: Amy Adams, The Fighter, Melissa Leo, The Fighter, Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom, Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit, and Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech

Who Should Win: Hailee Steinfeld. Firstly, it is a crime that she is in this category, as she is in just about every frame of True Grit. She does not support anything; it is her film, and she is outstanding.

Who Will Win: Melissa Leo, The Fighter. She has won every award up until now, and it is a great performance in a true supporting role.

Best Supporting Actor Nominations: Christian Bale, The Fighter, John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone, Jeremy Renner, The Town, Mark Ruffalo, The Kids are Alright, Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

Who Should Win: Christian Bale. Bale is electric as Dickey, the crack-addicted half-brother former boxer and trainer of Mickey Ward in The Fighter. He owns every second he’s on screen.

Who Will Win: Bale. This is as close to a slam-dunk as the Oscars get.

Best Actress Nominations: Annette Benning, The Kids are Alright, Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole, Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone, Natalie Portman, Black Swan, Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Who Should Win: Natalie Portman. Her performance in Black Swan is other-worldly, and although there are more seasoned actresses nominated ahead of her, there’s a sense that she’s “due,” and many times, a feeling like that by the voters puts a person over.

Who Will Win: Portman. Michelle Williams gives a great performance in a far more understated role in Blue Valentine, which seals it for Portman’s showy tour de force.

Best Actor Nominations: Javier Bardem, Biutiful, Jeff Bridges, True Grit, Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network, Colin Firth, The King’s Speech, James Franco, 127 Hours

Who Should Win: Colin Firth. The only performance I have not seen is Bardem’s, so with all apologies to him, I say without a doubt that Firth’s performance in The King’s Speech is one of the great ones. It hits all the right notes: it is funny, it is heartbreaking, and it is the best acting performance I have seen in the last few years.

Who Will Win: James Franco. The Academy Awards are funny things. There many are times when the best performance or the best movie is not rewarded (remember Shakespeare in Love beating Saving Private Ryan… a travesty). I’m not saying Franco doesn’t do good work, he does, and although Firth did win the Golden Globe for this performance, which is usually a good indicator, I’m picking this upset because the Academy voters like a good story, and having one of the hosts win an Oscar mid-show in an upset makes for a great story. But Firth should win, and I hope he does.

Today in History

On 18 February 2001, ten years ago, Dale Earnhardt, Sr. died on the final turn at the famed Daytona 500 while holding off the field from the two members of his race team ahead of him in first and second place, Michael Waltrip and his son, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Dale Sr. raced with a fearless ferocity that combined with his black GM Goodwrench 3 car, earned himself the nickname The Intimidator from fans and the media. Earnhardt is still tied to this day with The King, Richard Petty, for the record of most NASCAR Winston/Sprint Cup Championships at seven, a record many thought no driver but Jeff Gordon had a shot of coming close to, until Jimmy Johnson’s brand of record-breaking racing came along.

This year’s running of the Daytona 500 will be a sad affair indeed, for many fans of NASCAR.

Smart Quote

No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.

Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, 1756

Hey, Check This Out!

Would you believe The Shining was actually a feel-good, father-son comedy? Who’da thunk it?

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter at @UGABugKiller. Thanks!

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!

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.