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Wow, I had no idea these boards were still up and running. I was a Mod here for over a decade. Any old timers here?

Once again

The silver lining in not drafting Justin Fields is the Falcons didn't draft Justin Fields.

I remember, a couple years ago. Someone asked the question. If a FB was the best player in the draft, like led his team in receptions and YAC, led the league in Short Yardage 1st downs, led the team in all around TDs, and was blocking like a OL and all from the FB position...just the proven all around BPD and then at the combine shows up at 6' 245lbs 35" vert, BR of 37, runs the 40 in 4.55 seconds but leads everyone else in broad jump, 3 cone, just everything. Would you let him slide past you because he's a FB? Yeah, they would and someone would have a 1st round player in the 3rd or 4th. NFL logic. Pitts should have been the first overall. You don't have to like him, but it goes back to position prejudice and not knowing value from system to system. Pitts is NOT a traditional TE. He's Shannon Sharpe type talent. By next season, he is likely to be the most dangerous player on the team. This fanbase cries about wanting a Kelce or Kittle type, well you got one.

When you have a quarterback, you don’t need to rebuild. Plain and simple

I don't think there's any reason to realistically think that

All the tankers and "get rid of Matt Ryan" folks ain't gonna be happy hearing this!! All the "Falcons won't win 4 games this year" folks ain't gonna be happy to hear this..

Picking Anderson was bad. But trading UP for Takk might have been worse....especially with Watt right there.

Cut Pitts and see how it all shakes out.

You guys tell me what Tight End you have seen do this 'in-stride studder step' 10 yards into a route the way Pitts did in this video - I have probably watched this play 30 times since March and it still amazes me that a guy 6'6" tall can do that. The play starts at about 1:40 but they do the slow replay at 1:46 and it is a freak show.

So, really cool, Pro Football Reference has taken on the task of adding up sacks for all players prior to the 1982 season when sacks officially became a stat. This means for the first time ever, we have sack numbers for guys like Deacon Jones, etc. How does Claude Humphrey look statistically? Well he’s first in Falcons franchise history with 99.5. For context, John Abraham is second with 68.5 followed by John Zook(61), Chuck Smith(58.5), and Patrick Kerney (58). https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/atl/career-defense.htm He is also 24th all time with 130. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/sacks_career.htm Incredibly cool Pro Football Reference made the effort to do this.

The search continues. It’s been a while since Blank dismissed Reeves, the first coach to get Atlanta to the SB. It took him 4 more coaches to get Atlanta back to a SB, and now we try again. Given past performance on coaches under AB (Mora, Purina, M Smith, DQ), excuse me for not being excited to be going back to the stock room at Home Depot. I don’t expect to have a great season in 2021, I’ll be ok with a good season, but I do think it will be an interesting season. interesting because when I listen to A Smith and D Pees, I hear interesting things. Primarily that they are not ‘system’ guys. Specifically, that they fit a scheme to the players. I like that idea. We all learned as infants, that square peg won’t fit in the round hole. On defense, I like that he attacks. An offensive minded defense. Dictate the game to the offense. Make them think, make them guess, but always surprise them. It will be interesting to watch and see how it develops. I’m sure we’ll get burned a few times, but at least we aren’t just sitting back and reacting to 5, 7 and 12 yard passes. On offense, I hear people putting A Smith into a hole of “he’s a big back guy. He’s a run game guy. Look at Derick Henry.” I think this is false. I think he uses what he has. He had DH, so he used him well. In Atlanta, he will have something different and he will use it. Most would say our RB are our weakest link on offense, how will we run the ball? Maybe we won’t (much). Maybe A Smith has other plans to use what we have. MR2 can still deliver the ball, we’ve got more TE talent than an all Asian strip club, Ridley can be a #1 WR and hopefully our O-line improves….remember A Smith was an O Lineman. He understands what is needed on the O Line. I think he develops O line this year and next off season, then brings in a RB. I don’t know if we’ll have a great or even a good season, but I can’t wait for it to start because I know it will be very interesting. Go Falcons!

I know that people hate this, but football is more than one persons stats. Julio had a strong understanding of that and this is why the loyal following to the guy. On to REAL football. Davis is a deadly pass catcher out of the backfield, as are Hawkins and Patterson. Huntley is a decent if not good receiver as well. Hurst is fast, really fast. Like faster than some wideouts, he just needs to work on his routes and footwork for separation. Pitts is a scary wildcard, Gage is like Sanu, and Sharpe is dangerous. With just 2 WRs and 2 TEs along with any of those RBs, we are looking at 4 to 5 DBs and at least one or two LBs in constant coverage. Against our guys, the LBs are mostly (MOSTLY) just bodies. So, that said, Riley is getting open a lot. A LOT. I believe game one will see a lot of doubles on Pitts. We're talking a slot and safety. So, it's realistic to say Riley will lead many categories and likely the team and league in receptions and yards. I agree with the article.

I thought AS was calling the plays. I thought he just has the title pretty much.

Because 1: he got what he asked for...2: dead weight gone...3: freed a spot for a full-time player...4: etc... Loved Julio, but when he wanted gone from a owner and franchise that did everything he asked for, I was over him and ready to move on.

Would like to see him take a pre season snap first

I find this upcoming season far more interesting than either of the last 2.

The Falcons mess people up so bad they want to hurt when we win too.

No **** no Mother ******* no

There is a lot to unpack here, but I will give it a shot: 1. Defense will be better for no other reason than the offense should be a lot more balanced. That will keep the defense off the field. Less opportunities for opposing offenses, defense won't be as worn out come the 4th quarter, etc. 2. Julio was hurt half of last year anyway, and is replaced by Pitts. Even if Pitts is 75% JJ, we will be fine. 3. CR was actually better without JJ last year. 4. RB is a question mark, but he absolutely cannot be worse than a 1 legged, on the end of his career TG. 5. Matt is the least of my worries. 6. See #5. 7. OL will definitely be better with better coaching. There is a lot to be excited about. I see 11 wins best case, and 8 wins worst case. Either way, we should be in contention for a WC.

**** Cam Jordan. His window for playing in the NFL is getting small.

IMO no. The turnaround after the coaching change slightly points to that.

Any way you cut it...KS f it up but DQ/HC is where the blame lies. He should have stepped up and said run run run kick the FG and we’re world champions. No excuses or do overs ....GAME LOMBARDI PERIOD

My boy on a mission

I loved Gazoo, but he would argue and present the most insane statistics. "The Falcons lead the league in Rushing on Sundays between 1:30 and 1:45 PM in domed stadiums when it is raining outside."

Looks like Julio just got caught up in another game where Matt Ryan just doing his usual stat-padding routine. Matt Ryan is always taking advantage of backup cornerbacks and rookies, its why he is a stat padding machine of consistency. Julio has had many great games while Ryan was just padding stats against inferior competition. Its weird, Julio never has one of those kind of games (and he has had several for sure) without Matt doing his wanton display of lustful stat padding.

What do you need Coach Smith? A Gatorade? Maybe your shoulders look a little tense. Everything okay coach? I'm just happy to be here.

This whole curse thing is fan made

Maybe they'd like to see exactly what they have first. No point in rushing to sign players that no other team is rushing to sign just to satisfy the fan base

Unless you live in fantasy land like this dude on Twitter.

I'm excited. No reason not to be. I don't take it as serious as others. I just want football back

Dude's game has been silent since he was drafted

Eh, he's no Justin Fields.

Honestly, put those red helmets with just about any uniform combo and it looks amazing. I love it. I really wish we would just embrace the old uniforms and make them the default scheme.

Sorry if already posted. Gonna miss him doing SEC games.

Praying for a God's healing power to be upon Gregg & that he would restore him back to health.

Cam Jordan needs to focus on Cam Jordan - he only had 7.5 sacks last year and he's 32 years old. "Hear that Cam? - that's the sound of your diminishing returns"

He was the best talent in this draft

Matt Ryan is at his best with a hurry up, no huddle offense. For the last few years, it seems we've been doing it less and less (unless we're down by a ton). Adding Pitts and his ability to line up virtually anywhere, along with Patterson would make this an ideal weapon in our arsenal to take advantage of favorable matchups. Thoughts? Before you say, "we were always down by a ton!"... many times we were up and just crapped the bed

I don't blame you for not being excited given the history of our franchise but if I may... 1. Dean Pees - We FINALLY have a defensive coach who should at the very least give us an average defense vs the garbage tier defenses Quinn and co. have given us. All off season we loaded up on utility guys who can play up and down the line and Pees uses these types of players wisely to generate pressure 2. Arthur Smith - We FINALLY have our offensive guru we have longed for since Shanny, but unlike Shanny, he isn't going anywhere and no one is going to poach him. I mentioned in another thread but go look at the Titans offensive stats before Smith's arrival and after. It's night and day. 3. Terry Fontenot - Our GM has methodically gone about this offseason with high character, low floor types of free agents and went out and drafted for upside in the draft. In Uncle Terry we trust 4. Kyle Pitts - Need I say more? 5. Dwayne Ledford - Going to work wonders with our OL 6. We didn't really lose anyone worth a dang imo - Yeah Neal is the most high profile but he looked slow and lost in coverage after his injuries. Woulda loved to keep him in some capacity but I don't think he is a big loss. 7. Schedule - We got that sweet 4th place schedule 8. Julio - Losing Julio will allow Matt to take what the defense gives. Too many times Matt has tried to force feed Julio to force feed Julio missing wide open crossers and flats that cost this team plenty of points. 9. Mike Davis - Coupled with AS, we should FINALLY have that run game we have all desired I could go on but I think there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic. Whether they pan out or not is a whole nother story, but there is hope.

I'm in "show me" mode. No reason to get excited until we see the new product on the field

New GM and coaching staff. Exciting "unicorn" in Pitts. The unknown should get you a little excited compared to years past

Yes! Cut him now! No Sacred Cows!

Anyone who knows Chris Collinsworth understands that he’s never really been a supporter of our club. Plenty of CC game coverage examples of his sheer unwillingness to be objective while calling our games. To the point that it’s not unfair to admit that he didn’t seem to care much about making a case for the Falcons on the air. To his credit in this interview, he definitely sharpened his harpoon & got right after the two most vulnerable Atlanta Falcon transactions. Almost as though his view was the opposite & he was going to hit AS respectfully between the eyes with it & challenge him with it. CC, imho, is a pompous, politically correct & arrogant media prop whose rarely ever challenged by his colleagues. As a Falcons fan, I have reached a point at times while he’s covering our games, where I literally have had to turn the volume off in order to keep my blood pressure down. I say all that only to say this… The more I watch AS, the more I realize just how incredibly articulate & careful he is. We’ve desperately needed a man of his stature here for some time. It was masterful how he diffused those loaded questions from CC. They were dripping with contempt IMO. And yet AS outmaneuvered Collinsworth like a champ. Collinsworth would like nothing more than to eat our lunch in hindsight, hoping our strategy fails. But AS crafted his remarks so well that it sort of diffused the pointed nature of why we didn’t go & do what the media *** clowns needed us to do. Great job AS. That was impressive sir. Go screw yourself Chris. You were respectful but we know who you really are bro.