Jul 26 2008
Will the Falcons Fly High?
Atlanta has something to be proud of this year. What it is no one knows. The Atlanta Falcons have not shown me anything more than they have no true 
direction. Head coach 
Mike Smith has his work cut out for him. Out is Warrick Dunn who was the only bright spot in the Falcon’s backfield all year. So, did Atlanta go out to find a great running back to replace the running game? Well, they have Michael Turner who played in San Diego for the first 4 years and we know who he played behind there, so to me it is an unproven back. Jerious Norwood is still around and did a good job when called upon last year. But not sure that he can carry the team. And then there is UGA standout Thomas Brown who is a rookie but even he split time as a senior in Athens. So, is there anyone there that has played an entire season and asked to carry the ball over 300 times?
So, where did the Falcons put their money? It does not take far to look to see that as the Falcons picked up ACC and Boston College star quarterback Matt Ryan to be their golden child. Then that leaves the question of where does that leave Coach Smiths “boy” Chris Redman? Or former UGA QB and Atlanta native D. J. Shockley or for that matter well traveled Joey Harrington? When you consider that a team never wants to carry more than 3 QBs my thoughts go like this. Redman will start the season and Ryan will be his back up for this year. Once they sink, Ryan will become the starter. As for Harrington, he will ride the bench until they can use his worth for a trade somewhere. And Shockley seems to be a better fit in the NFL as a wide receiver.
Now, as for the core of receivers goes, I love Joe Horn to death but I think that his time as a lead receiver is up. He might be a 3 or 4 guy now. Michael Jenkins is by far the best receiver that they have in camp but even that is not saying much. At best he is a number 2 guy. Atlanta desperately needs to find people that can catch the ball and put yards up after the catch.
As for the defense, I do not even want to get started on them, Atlanta needs to improve on both sides of the ball and to do that, this will not be their year. Atlanta fans will hate to hear this former Georgia boy say this, but the best to hope for is maybe 7 wins. I really think it will end worse than that, but I am going to give them the benefit of someone elses demise.
Jim, I was trying to be nice in saying that. LOL. Thanks for the comments.
I’m a falcons fan to the core and Georgia Boi, but we ain’t going nowhere this year, we rebuilding, and i kind of feel bad for lawyer milloy, joe horn, john abraham, and keith brooking, cause they been doing this for a while and they deserve to win, but the future is ours, mark my words, all the young studs they got on that team, man lofton is a beast, i know yall remember him from college, and i also like the move getting rid of all the players that like to talk alot, but i will miss that warrick dunn, he was a good leader.