Leaderboard

That's how you bounce back! I knew all week this group was too talented to not bounce back. That was the team we expected to see to start the season. The Dome was rocking and the players made it worth it. The defense made a big statement Sunday night, shutting down the Eagles running game and knocking Wentz around to the point Josh McCown had to actually come in the game. When's the last time you could say that about a Falcons pass rush? The run defense was legit, with Davison and Bailey showing exactly why they were brought here to run with Grady. Folks thought that Eagles OL was going to bully us, but forgot to look at who the Falcons were bringing to the game as well. Same with our OL. They showed up big. Schwartz had to send his kitchen sink and his mom's to get pressure on Matt. Think about that. With Lindstrom out and McGary going down, they still needed to blitz. He got some wins, but in the grand scheme of things, all that blitzing only netted 1 sack and 6 hits. That's a win for the OL. Hat off to Jamon Brown as well. The Big Fella showed what 340lbs of mass on the OL can do for you. Cox was neutralized repeatedly and even dumped on his back for a pancake. You never saw that with Cox against this OL before. This was just a physical, sixty minute fight, and the Falcons were the ones bringing it this time. DQ also showed he's not some push over coach like some fans think. He was pissed and got that team right in a week's time. Give him his credit. We are 1-1 and I love it. Getting one win out of two versus Minnesota and Philadelphia is big. This may be a tie breaker for playoff implications, but for now, it's just a big win, at home, on primetime TV to avoid an 0-2 hole in a wide open NFC South race! On to Indianapolis: (Disclaimer: This is the Baltimore Colts logo, but I like it more than the plain horseshoe.) Head Coach: Frank Reich Offensive Style: Classic West Coast Style Defensive Style: 4-3 defense (Cover 2/3) 2018 Record: 10-6 Falcons All Time Record: 2-14 (!) The Way I See It: The Colts are a solid team. Losing Luck does not help their cause. At all. Brissett is fine, but he's not Luck. No matter what anybody tries to say or convince you otherwise, one is a four time Pro Bowler and the other was a career back up that was thrust into action when Luck was hurt in 2017. That's a massive difference. They've suffered some other injuries/losses, so it makes it a little tough to figure them out. There will be no Jabaal Sheard, no Devin Funchess, and potentially no Pierre Desir, Darius Leonard, or Kemoko Turay. Those last three guys are major parts of the Colts defense, with Leonard being the biggest potential loss. This is an opportunity to show the Falcons are a class above the Colts in their current form. Don't hang around with lesser teams or take them lightly. We saw this group get ran out of Cleveland last year because "it was the Browns". Show you take every game seriously and start re-staking your claim in the top tier of the NFL. How We Match Up: With or without the injuries, I liked this match up coming into the year. No, the Falcons don't have a great record against the Colts. But that doesn't matter to me. It's 2019 and right now, I think the 2019 Falcons have more talent than the 2019 Colts. Especially without Luck and the current slate of injuries. Brissett is a career check down QB. He's not going to throw it deep. That means team speed, tackling, and discipline is how you stop this offense. DQ is going to make his money again. Their defense was a very conservative bunch last year. A ton of soft zones to keep things in front of them. They ran zone the most in the league last year. They are trying to run more man this year so they don't just get picked apart. They improved their CB talent on the outside, but I don't think it matches up yet. To get 10 wins on the season, you are required to win on the road. This match up should favor the Falcons doing that. When the Falcons are on Offense: Welp. Matt just had back to back games with multiple INTs for the first time since 2017. That's also his worst week two game under DQ in terms of rating. But he did what he needed to do to win that game. That's all that matters. We know he's not going to keep throwing multiple INTs. We also know he won't keep missing open TDs like he has three times in two games now. We saw first hand why Koetter is one of the best OCs in the league. He was attacking all night, but was also baiting Schwartz into making a fatal mistake and timed it perfectly. That's NFL level coaching. He got the offense on track and kept it wide open for Matt to work through it. I know there are complaints about the lack of running, but when you have a QB like Matt, you give him the latitude to exploit the defense how he sees fit. Matt was 6-6 on RPOs, called runs that Matt saw the pass being the better option and he was right. This game, I expect to see the running game get going. No Leonard is going to hurt if he can't go. He's their Debo and we saw just how different our defense was with and without a star LB roaming the middle. If the OL continues to gel and find their groove, they can handle this front. It's not of the caliber of the Eagles. The Chargers ran for 6.0 YPC and the Titans ran for 5.4 behind Henry. There should be a steady dose of rushing attack this week to show Freeman still has it and Ito is a good complement. Beyond that, we continue to see nobody can guard Julio. They had trouble with Keenan Allen. The Falcons offense is trotting out Julio, Ridley, Sanu, Hooper, Freeman on any given play. I just don't think the Colts are equipped for that fight. Especially not banged up. Not if Matt plays clean football for the first time this season. When the Falcons are on Defense: Get to Brissett. He's a very safe and conservative thrower. He's averaged 6.6 YPA for his short career. In 2017, Football Outsiders rated him the #1 deep ball thrower, classifying deep balls as anything beyond 15 yards. When you dig in, you see he only threw 60 of such passers, completing only 22 of such passes. He threw deep 8.7% of the time in 2017. It's not his game. In any way. Yes, he's "accurate" but he's not threatening. There is a difference. Long pass in two games is 25 yards. He's averaging under 4 air yards per pass. He's not a mobile neither like Wentz. So if they can collapse the pockets some, he'll get rid of it. The offense is based around safe, high completion throws to get the ball out of his hands fast and into the playmakers hands. The problem is they don't have many playmakers that teams are scared of. Hilton is a dog. But beyond that... Ebron's had a resurgence. Their strength is their OL. Nelson is going to body somebody. We know that. But Grady should be able to dominate Glowinski like he's done everybody else so far. The Colts are going to have to lean on their running game, which we are equipped to defend now. They've run the ball more than they've thrown it. That's what they'll look to do here. They've broken some big ones, so they Falcons will have to be disciplined. This will be a game to see not only if Davison, Grady, and Bailey can remain consistent in shutting down running games, but Vic, Takk, and Clayborn are consistent in their run fits. They do that and put this game in Brissett's hands, it should be fun to watch their defensive performance. I'm confident in this group after Sunday. Vegas Line: Vegas has the Colts as a 2.5 point home favorite, with the o/u set at 47. Take it for what you will. Prediction: I said last week this Falcons team had to show me who they were Sunday night and I'd believe it. Well, they showed their muscles, hitting hard, flying around, and making a clear statement that they aren't to be trifled with. Now, Matt Ryan is the last piece holding this offense back from glory. If him and the running game get back on track this week like I expect, I think they win handily. They should have hung 30+ on the Eagles. They Colts only gave up 30 points twice last year, so I don't see that happening Sunday. But if this defense steps up again, they should hold this offense under 20 points. If they allow over 200 yards passing, I'll be disappointed. This is a game set up for them to show off their team speed on defense, consistently clamping down on short passes and making the Colts frustrated. Play disciplined and physical in the run game and hold this Colts team for ransom. Also, it'll be my birthday on Sunday so they better bring home a W! RISE UP!!

The refs have enough goodwill around here for their work vs.the Saints that they can have this one.

All time leading franchise receiver. And he does it on a game winning TD vs the Eagles.

Jeez I hate lazy comments like: Until "Throw an INT" is in the playbook, I'm not onboard with these kinds of comments. Koetter has been fine. Could have hung 30+ on the Eagles if not for Matt throwing another red zone INT.

While this sounds like good news for us, the historically cursed Falcon fan in me realizes they likely have the second coming Lawrence Taylor as his backup just for this game. Please dear god please let me be wrong.

Yea f***ing right someone had to do it

https://theathletic.com/1225924/2019/09/19/heres-the-catch-desmond-trufant-has-worked-hard-to-turn-that-weakness-into-a-strength/ Desmond Trufant, dripping sweat, will stand roughly 10 yards from the JUGS machine, catching pass after pass after practice has ended. He’ll stand there for up to 15 minutes doing what might seem like a mundane chore when he could otherwise call it a day. A lot of times, he’ll do this when practice ends, fatigued from the two-plus hours of work he just put in. Or he could do this before practice, depending on that day’s schedule. And if he’s not on the JUGS machine, he might ask to run some routes for Atlanta’s younger quarterbacks during their Plan D period. Regardless, it has become practically a ritual for Trufant to ensure he works on catching the football. Considering he’s Atlanta’s No. 1 cornerback, Trufant knows he needs to secure more interceptions than the nine he’s had after his first six NFL seasons. Interceptions haven’t been a staple of Trufant’s career. The most he’s ever had in a season is three, which came in 2014. Considering how fast Trufant is, he is able to stay with or recover on just about any NFL receiver. But being able to pick off passes has been a needed area of improvement and one Trufant recognizes. He’s spent plenty of offseasons bettering himself. This time around, he’s devoted even more time to become a more recognizable top-flight cornerback. “I feel like if I can just turn that weakness into a strength, there is no stopping me at this point,” Trufant said. Because Trufant plays cornerback, he’s aware of the attention the position brings. As he dropped potential interceptions during the 2018 season, he was often criticized, whether by media outlets or fans. Trufant said he did his part to keep things from becoming personal. Still, he saw what people were writing and heard what they were saying. And he wants to prove them wrong. Trufant understands this, whether it’s fair or not. It’s the nature of the game. When you’re rewarded with a five-year, $68.75 million contract, the expectations are high. Trufant went into the most recent offseason with the realization that he’d have to do more than he has previously when it comes to interceptions. “It’s the league. I’m in that position. I play corner. It just comes with it,” Trufant said. “But when you know the type of player you are, it is what it is, and I know what I can do on Sundays. It feels good to go out there and play like I know I can play.” Trufant made his presence felt early against the Philadelphia Eagles in last Sunday’s 24-20 victory. For the first time in his career, Trufant intercepted two passes in a single game. The first pick came with less than two minutes left in the first quarter. Off the snap, rookie receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside ran a go-route, with Trufant matching him step for step down the field. Quarterback Carson Wentz was forced to roll out to his right before he launched the ball. The pressure helped force an underthrow, with Trufant using his body to shield Arcega-Whiteside from getting back to the ball. Trufant jumped, grabbed the ball and secured his first interception of the season. The second occurred with less than eight minutes to go in the second quarter. This time, Trufant was matched up against Mack Hollins and stayed on top of his route while recognizing the moment Wentz was set to throw the ball. On film review, it appeared Trufant was the only one in the general vicinity to realize Wentz’s ball was about to fall well short. Trufant quit the route, changed direction and dropped low to the ground to secure the interception. He then popped up and ran it back for 10 yards. This pick, in particular, was big because Atlanta scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive. “He gets a lot of chances to jump in front of some balls,” safety Ricardo Allen said. “We’ve been telling him, ‘If you just catch them, you’ll be one of the top corners in the league every year.’ Everybody knows he can cover. Everybody knows he’s one of the most competitive corners in the league. It’s just the reason a lot of people don’t give him the respect on a yearly basis is because he don’t got as many picks as most corners. If he starts catching them like last game, there ain’t nothing they can do to deny exactly who he is as a player.” On days where Trufant isn’t on the JUGS machine after practice, he will run over to the offense’s Plan D group to catch some passes from second-year quarterback Danny Etling. The Plan D group is designed for the developmental players to get additional reps once practice is over. Obviously, Trufant is not working on being a receiver. To get the feel of catching a ball from a quarterback, he will run some routes as a receiver with Etling, which proves to be mutually beneficial, because Etling also gets additional work. “That’s a testament to how hard he works,” Etling said. “Even after a long, hard day out in the heat, he’s trying to get more catches to better himself and make the plays when they come his way.” Receiver Julio Jones has matched up against Trufant plenty of times at practice over the years. What stands out to Jones are the blended qualities Trufant possesses at the position. He has good size at 6-foot and 190 pounds. He has great speed and agility, too. Not many corners in the league have both attributes, Jones said. “With corners, they’re either long and can’t stop, or they’re too small but have short-space quickness. And they can’t really defend the deep ball or jump ball,” Jones said. “But Tru, he’s got great size, great weight, speed, things like that. He matches up well. It’s fun to get each other better every day at practice. For sure, he’s one of the best to do it.” If Trufant can start accumulating interceptions, he could be in for one of the best seasons of his career. The speed and change of direction have always been there. He spent a good portion of the offseason working on being more physical at the line of scrimmage, which has shown through the first two games. The lone area that hasn’t always surfaced has been the picks. If the game against Philadelphia was an indicator, this year could be different. Trufant worked awfully hard at improving his ball skills at the position. With those two interceptions, his confidence is only growing. “I’m just locked in. I’m ready to take my respect, it’s that simple,” Trufant said. “People say what they say. It doesn’t control me, but I feel it, you feel me? It is what it is. I’m ready to show them what’s good.”

Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Jerry Rice, Tom Brady, Joe Montana, a countless great players set records on the way to SB wins. This may he hard for you to understand but getting to a SB and winning actually go hand in hand with consistent great individual play. Over time great players set records on the way to winning a SB. This is an individual achievement of consistency. Winning a SB is a team achievement. One man cannot win a SB. Please stop comparing a players consistent play to a SB. And to win a SB you need pro bowl play at every position. QB, RB, WR, OL, DL, LB, CB, S. Bill Belichik said that. So instead of only Julio being the one player that makes the pro bowl every year by his INDIVIDUAL play how bout Matt, Free, Julio, Mack, Grady, Debo, Tru, and Neal all have pro bowl level play. That’s 8 pro bowlers from one team at every level position. That greatly increases the chance to win a SB. So while you keep *****ing and moaning about a players individual accomplishments you should actually WANT great individual accomplishments at every position.

Any game against the 2019 Miami Dolphins.

firstly they are stacked on the DL, secondly yep, consensus from the Stains fans was that he was a high-motor workhorse that made others around better, and that they were pi$$ed they let him walk. Makes it even sweeter to be honest.

So he really did hang out with Big Ben. Such a liar acting like they weren’t friends

It is tough not to root for the young man. Stole this from Moskakos_Finest FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — He’d been watching the bear for about a month now, ever since he’d spotted the tracks and the scraps of blackberries scattered across the hillsides. He knew the bear’s patterns, knew it would be here at this creek soon enough, and here it was. He raised the .338 he’d borrowed from a friend to his cheek, his heart pounding hard enough to jostle the barrel. He squeezed the tri99er and the bear lay down as if sleeping. One shot, done. He’d brought it down, all 350 pounds of it, all by himself. Kaleb McGary hunts bears alone in remote Washington state. So, yeah, an onrushing defensive tackle isn’t exactly the most intimidating sight he’s ever faced. Kaleb McGary. (Illustration by Amber Matsumoto) McGary, a first-round pick of the Atlanta Falcons earlier this year, describes his tumultuous life as a country song, and it’s added a couple new verses since he arrived in Atlanta. There is the injury Sunday night against Philly that left his knee sounding like breakfast cereal, and of course the heart surgery this past summer. No big deal. “Just a bump in the road,” McGary says, smiling. The hulking offensive tackle has the potential to be one of the league’s stalwarts. If he does, it’d still be only about the fourth or fifth most interesting thing about him. Just a good ol’ boy McGary, 6-foot-8 and 300-plus pounds, looks and sounds like an enormous version of Parks and Recreation-era Chris Pratt, a country-boy aw-shucks attitude concealing a guy who’s watching everything around him — including you — very closely. He walks through the Falcons locker room wearing a cowboy hat and boots with shorts, sporting a sleeveless ‘MERICA F**K YEAH T-shirt (with the lower 48 in place of the **, of course). It’s not an affectation. He’s been this way since high school. To McGary, the advantages of growing up in rural Washington — a town called Amboy, located in the southwest corner of the state, population 1,600 — were as immense as the Cascades. “I got to go hunt and fish when I wanted. Deer, elk, bear would walk through our yard. It’s the best kind of place I could’ve possibly grown up.” Then he gets poetic: “There’s nothing better than the smell of the pines on a frosty spring morning with everything in bloom. That can’t be beat.” McGary spent countless hours fishing, hunting, driving through the mountains with friends, chopping wood in the summer to store for the winter. That kind of life — “paradise,” McGary calls it — gets into your soul. So when McGary’s father Justin contracted multiple sclerosis, leading to the loss of his job and the family’s Amboy farm, Kaleb tried his best to bring the serenity of the wilderness along with him when the family was forced to move north to the (relatively) big city of Fife. “He was a through-and-through country boy,” says Kent Nevin, then and now the football coach at Fife High School in Fife, located near Tacoma. “He wore a cowboy hat around school. He sang country music, he took great pride in this white junker truck he drove around. It was all in being who he was.” McGary had to hold onto whatever he could of his life in Amboy, because in Fife, the family had almost nothing. They’d planned to move in with Kaleb’s grandparents. But their home was so stuffed with hoarded treasures of a half-century, there was no room for the McGarys. Instead, they lived in RVs on the property, parents in one, kids in the other. Nevin still recalls the day he met the enormous transfer student that was coming to wreck the opposition. “The first thing out of his mouth was, ‘Coach, my name’s Kaleb McGary. I’m really looking forward to playing with you.’ And then he shook my hand. You don’t see many 16-year-olds with that kind of maturity.” That presence extended onto the field, too. On more than one occasion, McGary — already towering over everyone around him — would walk over to a referee, put a catcher’s mitt-sized hand on the smaller man’s shoulder, shake his head sadly, and say, “I don’t believe that was the right call, sir.” McGary had uncommonly agile feet for someone his size, and hands that could practically slap a salmon out of a river. He lined up at tight end in high school, and all his quarterbacks had to do was loft the ball in his general direction. He’d been through **** the last few years, but at Fife, everything seemed to be stabilizing. And then his heart started fluttering. Kaleb McGary at Washington, wrecking fools. (Getty) Life-changing moment In the fourth quarter of a January 2013 basketball game, McGary lost consciousness, toppling face-first onto a row of wooden bleachers in Fife’s gym. While en route to the emergency room in Tacoma, McGary’s heart was beating 300 times a minute. Cardiologists recommended immediate surgery to replace a valve, and hinted that McGary’s days of playing football were over. McGary was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, a condition where the heart muscles flutter at random, unpredictable intervals. He underwent three cardiac ablation procedures — an operation that involves burning a small area of the heart to calm the irregular beats. One night in the midst of all the woes, Nevin and McGary talked. And the perspective McGary brought to his own life once again surprised Nevin. “I can sit here and have a pity party,” he said, “or I can turn and fight. I can control what I can control. I can’t control these other things. If I take care of my business, things will work out.” “That was pretty big for a young man,” Nevin said. “He got that he couldn’t wallow and have self-pity. He could have gotten sidetracked. He didn’t.” The cardiac ablation treatments were enough to get him prepared and ready for duty at the nearby University of Washington in Seattle — a transition he made with characteristic country-boy insight. “The traffic. My lord, the traffic,” McGary says. “And I was outraged that I had to pay to park. To spend money, I had to pay money.” While at Washington, he beefed up and leveled up. He started 47 of his 53 games, and along the way, a realization began to dawn in his mind. “I didn’t even give any thought to the NFL until my junior year,” he says. “It sounds kind of silly, but I hadn’t even thought about it. But I’d watch games of my opponents, and they’d be playing SEC and ACC teams. I’d see their tackles, who were really highly ranked, and I started thinking, I do my job as good as [ACC and SEC linemen] against some of the same people.” He won the Morris Trophy, the Pac-12’s peer-voted award for linemen, his senior year. He was selected in the first round — 31st overall — by the Falcons as part of their O-line overhaul. He struck a deal with Atlanta: four years, $10.3 million, with a $5.5 million signing bonus and $8.7 million guaranteed. That was enough to put his parents into a new house this summer—good thing, too, since in yet another verse of the country song that is McGary’s life, the family home had nearly burned to the ground. And then his heart started acting up again. McGary protecting Matt Ryan. (Getty) Delayed start in the NFL The treatment for this latest flare-up: another ablation, and several weeks on the shelf during the most important days of his career. “I was bummed, very bummed,” McGary says, recalling when he got the news that all was not well with his heart. “But [the procedure] was what all the specialists, all the experts said was the best course of action, so I trusted their judgment. It was not something that I wanted to go through again, but worse things could have happened. It’s just a bump in the road.” By late August, McGary made his way back onto the field, and even though he was weeks behind his teammates, still played his way into the starting lineup of his first game. He gave up a sack, but won praise from his teammates. “Fortunately, but unfortunately, as an offensive lineman, there’s no mystery if you messed up,” McGary says. “You’ve just got to tell the truth: you messed up this play, fix the problem, don’t do it again.” “He’s done a nice job,” Matt Ryan said after the Vikings loss. “He’s worked his way back into condition. He’s played tough for us.” Sunday night added another chapter to the McGary saga, when an Eagles pass rush threw Ryan into McGary’s left knee, which buckled. McGary had to be helped off the field, and athletic trainers loaded him onto a cart that wheeled him into the depths of Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Combined with the injury to fellow first-rounder Chris Lindstrom, who broke his foot in the season opener, it seemed a case of the same old snakebitten McGary, just a different team. But McGary wasn’t done, not for the season, not for the night. He passed athletic trainers’ tests, he put more weight on the leg, he returned to the sideline to start the second half, and he returned to the game in the fourth quarter. Atlanta won the game, and McGary won the respect of his new team. “When I saw Kaleb in the locker room at halftime, he looked better than I thought he would,” Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter said after the Eagles game. “He was saying he was going to try to come back in. Obviously, that’s a trainer and doctor decision, but the fact that he wanted to get back in there and try, that says a lot about him.” “That snap, crackle, pop [feeling] is never a good thing,” McGary said after the game. “If I sat out the rest of the game ... that’s admitting defeat and I was letting my teammates down. I never want to let my brothers down.” The Falcons live and die by their pass protection; if Matt Ryan has time in the pocket, he’s one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in the league. This season, the Falcons face four of the top six pass rush units, per PFF, this year — though they’ve already knocked out the No. 1-ranked Eagles. Much of the burden for keeping Ryan clean will fall on McGary, and he’s ready to meet that challenge. “I have goals,” he says, “but all of them amount to just contributing. If I can help this team any way I can. If they ask me to jump, I’ll ask how high.” Oh, and there’s just one more goal: “I don’t think it’ll ever happen again,” McGary says, “but one day I hope to score a touchdown one more time, relive the good old days when I was 50 pounds lighter and much faster.”

That's why our game vs the Eagles was a great game...... Mannnnnn they was lighting each other upppppppp

This is what impressed me about Oliver; he had a rough outing in firs5 game and it didn’t shake his confidence. He got blamed by many fans in game 2 for getting beat and almost giving up an easy TD against Eagles, but that was a zone coverage and Oliver CLEARLY let the receiver go and it was Neal who was late to the party. So Oliver didn’t let his confidence get shaken and then, to give it a tremendous boost, made that game saving tackle against a TE that was 40lbs (40 NFL pounds!) heavier than him. It is almost impossible to stop a TE 40 pounds heavier and a lot stronger, from turning and getting 1 yard. Many of us have been saying Oliver is a much better fit in this defense than Alford was. Oliver is more physical, allows our defense to play more aggressively and no way Alford makes that game saving tackle on Ertz before he turns and gets a yard.

'Extend....uh-huh-huh...huh....huhhuhhuh'

Yelled that in my head for sure. Both my sister (who is visiting and has a very early train tomorrow) and my roommate (who has a very important meeting for work tomorrow) were asleep in my small apartment. The level of self control it took to SILENTLY celebrate that and get through the end of the game .... I deserve a medal. Congrats Julio. What a way to set the record!!!!!

Falcons CB Isaiah Oliver is showing increasing confidence and competence The success of this defense will be impacted by how quickly this second year player can mature. By David J Walker@FalcoholicDW Sep 20, 2019, 6:00pm EDT Jason Get-USTODAYSports When the Falcons cut veteran corner Robert Alford this offseason, it was with the implied understanding that Isaiah Oliver would step up to take his role as a starter on the outside. After being selected in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft, Oliverdidn’t see much time on the field as a rookie. In his second year, though, all eyes are on him as he is now the starter opposite Desmond Trufant. A rough Week 1 outing had many fans questioning if Oliver was ready, but his confidence didn’t waver. The veteran leadership in the locker room guided him through it and he moved on to prepare for the Sunday night game against the Eagles. While he didn’t have a perfect game, it was clear that Oliver was playing aggressive and with the confidence and competency fans wanted to see. He repeatedly showed his ability to tackle — something Dan Quinn has praised during his pressers this week — and no tackle stood out more than his takedown of Zach Ertz that sealed the win for the Falcons. When media spoke to Oliver after the game, it was clear that he relished the idea of the defense getting the opportunity to close out the game at the end. For a unit that was lambasted throughout 2018, closing out a hard-fought game would be a confidence booster and something they’d look to build on. It also showed that the players are seeing the fruits of what Dan Quinn has been preaching all along. While the season is still very young, Oliver is already showing improvement. He’s also showing a knack for big plays, stopping several players short of the sticks on Sunday night, including the game winning tackle at the end of the fourth quarter. His confidence is clearly growing and if he can build on the early results we’ve seen, he could be a critical component of a defense that finally fulfills the vision Dan Quinn has had for it since coming to Atlanta.

TO never had off field issues. NEVER!! Not one. TO just told the trurh about his teams.

6 turnovers in 2 games will kill your offensive rankings. End that noise and this team will be rolling.

I didn’t think the saints would win the division with brees, but we have no excuse not to win this thing now. We are more talented than the other 3 teams, just have to keep from beating ourselves like we did week 1.

Didn't get him high, didn't lead with the helmet, Mayfield was out of the pocket and is considered a runner. What more does the NFL want? But oh no he hit him a split second late because he can disobey the laws of physics.

This new challenge is ridiculous and slows down the game. Yes, these calls are missed all the time (or the calls made when it was incidental/ticky-tack at most). But the refs don't seem inclined to change the call on the field, and it just slows down the flow of things. Let 'em play. (Yet another reason to hate the Saints. This new challenge wouldn't exist without their whining.)

PrimeTime or Matt Ryan easy. Matt Ryan has done more/ will do more than any other player in this organization. Past, Present or Future. What he has been able to do for them, cant be rewarded in just Money.

Barring any significant injuries to our team, if we don't win the division this year, I would consider the team a failure for 2019. With the exception if we go in as a wild card and win the Super Bowl. There should be no excuses this year, with our without Bree's playing.

Since we're going in against a Cover-2 team this week, thought it might be cool to take a brief look at some of the concepts we might see to attack them. SMASH: one of my favorite Cover-2 Beaters. Wreaks havoc on that "honey hole" between the corners and the safety. You have hitches on the outside and the inside receiver runs a 7-route to the sideline. You can run it out of just about any formation. I like the adding the RB running up the seam. Not sure we'll see that one. Very easy progression read for the QB. He's going to pick a side of the field and read the cornerback on the outside hitch. If the corner covers the hitch route, the QB will throw the 7. There is no way the safety can get over there unless we're facing say Earl Thomas or someone like that. If the corner sinks to the 7 route, then the hitch underneath is wide open. You can wear a C-2 defense out all day with this, especially if you run it from spread which horizontally stretches the defense. Flood - out of trips is another great one because it stretches them hi-lo. Streak route occupies the safety, clearing out grass for the deep out which will come open behind the corner and the underneath hook player. If the outside corner sinks with the streak or to cover the out route, then the flat is wide open.

When Matthews made that block that sprung him, I yelled at my TV right away "HE'S GONE!"

I just read something that I feel like I should have seen or heard before now. Waffle House is basically Southern Hibachi.

Based on the front page... Falcons should: Sign Antonio Brown Trade for Jalen Ramsey Extend Davidson This must be us with our salary cap..

Nice write-up Vel. Nice write-up Vel. Is this all your original stuff? Impressive. As you know, Hooker’s a good one back there at FS. The first key for me is Matt’s gotta quit throwing balls up for grabs. I know the OL has been getting crushed, but his play ......even with the OL issues.....has seemed off to me.

I think it's just totally random. That Bills game for example. That incomplete pass that was a fumble was the difference between a win and loss. The Chargers game was so weird. The Dolphins game was as well. Losing to the Chiefs was one of the craziest ways to lose a game. I don't put much in it. Beat HOU, TEN, and JAX in 2015. Beat OAK and DEN in 16. Beat the Jets in 17. Putting any stock in the 2018 season games is looking for a reason to think they struggle vs AFC teams.

If you want some real enjoyment, check out the Eagles subreddit and read them complain how the Falcons played too rough. this is not the Brian Dawkins generation on Reddit.

Kaleb is already one of my favorite players. I'm more country boy than city boy and I understand how much closer to Heaven you can feel with a gun in the middle of the woods than in a gotdam cubicle shuffling papers in the Big City. Rooting for him to have a long pro-bowl/HOF career and hope he wins a SB ring with this team.

You say that now but you're going to love it when he gets all three steals in the last game of the season.

And they will either have their game of their life never to be heard from again OR begin their HOF career on us. There is NO middle ground!

This is a pretty fascinating tidbit. They're out there spot dropping in the modern NFL? Wow. I know Seattle used to change up and do a fair amount of this mixed with their over C-3 stuff, but the Colts have taken it to another level. It so annoying playing teams like this, especially if they can get a pass rush going. I remember a few years ago, Carson Wentz, right before they played a Sunday night game in Seattle talked about all the stuff they had the strip out of the gameplan that week because Seattle does one thing on defense, and there's only so much stuff that beats Cover-3. You go in against these teams that run these complex schemes and all these different coverages, it's fun to gameplan for the week. You'll have your Cover-4 beaters in, your Cover-6 beaters, Man-2 beaters, etc. You go in against a team like this, my goodness. Playsheet must shrink up like a raisin.

Man don't remind me lol But I think this is the beginning of a statement run. They can lay claim to the South and a deep NFC run while Brees is out and Cam is hurt. They've got the Colts, Titans, Texans, and Cardinals the next month. If they can build a 4-2 record through that, they are in great shape going into that Rams game. From there, it's Rams, Seahawks, and then the NFC South gauntlet. This is the easiest part of the schedule until December. They have to capitalize.

I'm not impressed by him. In the slightest. Too safe and conservative and really no threat to run. People who said the Colts wouldn't miss a beat with Luck gone were fools and ignorant to just how big a drop off this is. It's like going from Rodgers to Kizer in Green Bay. Luck overcame a ton of scheme limitations to make it work. Brissett doesn't.

FACTS

Exactly right Stevie. kind of what I was suggesting to @vel. I have doubts if one can make a good living doing this, but that’s not an absolute as it’s something he’s obviously talented at..... how fun would it be to share that gift with the world in a more meaningful way part time?

The most dangerous thing the Falcons will have to overcome is assuming the Colts game will be easier than the first two. It won't. ps- I was in Atl-Fulco the day (85?) the 0-13 Colts came into town, overcame TWO double-digit deficits, blocked a Falcons punt and left town 1-13. My point being, I'm always sick to see them going against the Birds because I know the absolute worst can happen.

Literally pancaked the defender, lol. Sanu and Matthews SPRUNG Julio, that was gorgeous.