jidady

"suck less"

To the contrary, mods let too much go by here. There's a nonsensical Trufant/Peterson thread right now that doesn't deserve the underlying technology required to post it. It's not just trolling. It's the stupid, lazy kind that makes me sad that the person is that transparently desperate for attention. That's the sort of thing this board doesn't need. Mods are the filter that elevates the level of discourse here. If you're falling under that bar, it's on you to do better, not for them to pretend like you don't suck.

Nope.

Agreed.

I think most people appreciate and understand Freeman's toughness. What doesn't get mentioned enough is his outrageously high football IQ and instinct.

Thank you for answering honestly. I appreciate it.

Coleman's missing holes. I'm first in line to say that our interior run blocking has been frustrating this year, but he's had a lot of wasted chances. I'm not randomly saying this. There's something wrong with him, and we need him to work through it. Otherwise, we're terrible on defense and one dimensional on offense. I very much want Coleman to prove me wrong, but I expect Ito to pass him on the depth chart in coming weeks.

PFF's graded Ito almost 10 points higher.

Serious question: were you against the Falcons signing Warrick? I don't know. I'm asking. He had missed games for injury almost every year he was with the Bucs. We gave him a near-record deal. Here's a direct quote from the ESPN story at the time: " In truth, the Falcons were left to bid against themselves in the final stages of the agreement, as the Bucs decided the price tag was exorbitant for a veteran viewed as a situational player." Here's another: " To have made such a decision, sources said, Dunn would have had to settle for significantly less money than he was being offered by the Falcons, who apparently were prepared to overpay to land him." Here's more: " Most teams view Dunn as a third-down or change of pace back, but the Falcons apparently are telling him he will get 20 "touches" per game, a promise that might not bode well for the future of incumbent starting tailback Jamal Anderson. The consensus in the league is that Dunn, at 5-feet-8 and 180 pounds, cannot carry a running game full-time, even though he averaged 112 yards per contest in the final four games of the 2001 season."

Tevin's currently the #56 ranked RB on PFF. I'm a Falcons fan, and I love him, so I take no joy in pointing this out. He's been objectively terrible for us this year, though. So, all of those things he can allegedly do better are ones that I really, really hope he starts doing. We need a closer in the fourth quarter. That's what Freeman has been for us. Right now, I think Ito is more likely to inherit that role. Something's wrong with Tevin.

I don't know where or what your prior response was but he absolutely would have. I'm not sure if you've noticed or not, but the organization absolutely adores him. There is zero percent chance they would have let him walk nor should they have even considered it.

If you mean Freeman, waiting would have been that much worse. RB contracts spiked during the offseason. Johnson got 25% more guaranteed this year than Freeman did last year. Johnson's average guaranteed salary is $8.2 million. Freeman's only $3.66 million. The Falcons did nothing wrong here, but it hasn't worked out (yet), so people are going to complain.

It all depends on what happens next. If we're in the thick of the playoff hunt and need a positive thing for the locker room, he'll come back. If the season is lost, there's zero percent chance we see him again this year.

Larger backs get beat up, too. They're not any more durable. Running backs get the most touches on offense, which means they take the most abuse. It's similar to how Julio constantly takes a beating for us. There's a common sense factor that the guys who get hit the most have the most nagging injuries.

Speaking of which, Peyton Barber seems like a guy who could finally end your rotation at RB. I know some of that has been injury-related and some of it was because Doug Martin was crazy, but Barber seems to have nice burst and the right amount of hunger. I like the way he runs.