fuego

Seriously. Disappeared in the playoffs.

Seriously? Matt beat him twice, and the second time embarrassed him. He clearly doesn't deserve to be at the top.

Can't wait to see the whole defense this year. We're gonna be killer.

I completely agreed with his rant after that KC loss. Many here did. It hasn't been easy. And after years of hear breaking moments, when we finally make it to the SB again we choke in historic fashion. Not sure how anybody could hate on him for the way he feels. There but for the grace of God goes many Falcons fans.

The same Steelers where Big ben threw for 3 TDs in the playoffs and Matt had 9? Ben had 4 INTs and Matt none? Ben threw for an average of 245 yards a game and Matt 338? Ben had an 82.6 QBR and Matt 135.3? Those Steelers?

JONATHAN JONES Friday June 23rd, 2017 There’s no question as to which team boasts the best offensive trio in football. The Pittsburgh Steelers, with two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, receiver Antonio Brown and running back Le’Veon Bell, have been among the most dominant offensive players the past three seasons. Roethlisberger has been in the top-five in passing yards per game in two of the three seasons, while Brown has been top-five in receiving yards three times in that span and Bell has placed in the top five in rushing yards twice. It speaks more to NFL media’s lack of creativity that we have yet to give them a name better than “best triplets in the NFL.” But which trio is second-best in the NFL today? About a month away from the start of training camps, at least four teams could lay claim to having the second-best set of triplets in the NFL going into the 2017 season. With Pittsburgh at No. 1, here’s a look at Nos. 5–2. 2. Atlanta Falcons: QB Matt Ryan, RB Devonta Freeman, WR Julio Jones The Falcons have the league MVP at quarterback, one of the most freakish talents at wide receiver and one of the best young backs in the game whose gaudy numbers the past two seasons would be even better if he didn’t have to split carries. The Falcons’ triplets are the best of the rest in the league. Former Atlanta offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan unlocked Ryan’s full potential, and it’ll be up to Ryan and new OC Steve Sarkisian to repeat as one of the top-ten offenses in NFL history in terms of scoring. Jones has been in the top-three in receiving yards in each of the past three seasons (despite multiple foot injuries), including 1,871 yards in 2015 that is second-most all-time. And Freeman is the only rusher with 1,000 yards in both 2015 and ’16, and his totals would have likely been hired if he wasn’t sharing backfield duties with the excellent Tevin Coleman. Freeman’s 11 touchdowns in 2015 were the most in the NFL, and he followed that up with 11 more last season. His nearing contract extension will further solidify his place as one of the best young backs in the game. https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/06/23/nfl-burning-questions-best-offensive-trio-pittsburgh-steelers

Hang in there Gritz. I know how you feel somewhat. My wife and I had to move back from Charlotte in January of '14 to move in with my parents here in Atlanta because they got too old to live by themselves. He was 92 at the time and mother was 86. Daddy was getting dementia, and July of last year he fell and broke his hip and we had to put him in the nursing home. He did real well until just about a month ago and he just passed on May 22 at 94 years old. Makes me cry now just typing it. I spent almost every day with him the past 3 years, and went to see him in the nursing home every day. It made it a lot harder being with him every day the past 3 years. It's still hard to believe he's gone. Mother is still doing fine though. 89 now.

19 isn't too bad. At least it's somewhat objective since their basing it on their stats and how they figure them, not opinion.

Freeman is going to get his money. I don't know what anyone is worried about. But he still has another year on the contract. He doesn't have to be signed now, and I wouldn't.

SI.com ANDREW PERLOFF As they embark on a campaign to erase the memory of their own title game choke job, the Falcons should take note of how the Warriors did it. Dan Quinn doesn’t seem like a coach who needs help coming up with motivational gimmicks, but I have a suggestion for the Falcons coach to wrap up minicamp Thursday: Go into the locker room, turn on the Warriors’ championship parade and make everyone watch it. Then go to the big meeting room and put on the tape of the Warriors losing in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals. Or better yet, throw togather a montage of last year’s Finals and the end of this year’s Finals set to one of Quinn’s favorite old-school rap songs. For the Falcons, the 2016-17 Warriors are a perfect model of how to come back stronger after a crushing defeat. I know, I know … Golden State added Kevin Durant, and Atlanta hasn’t done anything like that in the aftermath of their Super Bowl LI loss. Matt Ryan couldn’t send a text to J.J. Watt or Aaron Donald and say Come down to Atlanta like Draymond Green did with Kevin Durant. But there’s a significant lesson to be learned from the Warriors’ mentality. They moved on after blowing a 3–1 lead in the Finals. They didn’t get weighed down by the past. In less than an hour, they were thinking about how to move forward. Social media made pretty clear the parallels between the Falcons and the ’16 Warriors. Both suffered the kind of losses that can paralyze any team or athlete. Think of the Red Sox after Bill Buckner or the Cubs after Bartman. Greg Norman never won another major after his collapse at the ’96 Masters. The Bills still haven't returned to the playoffs since the Music City Miracle way back in January 2000. The post-Super Bowl loss letdown is well-known in the NFL. The last team to return to the title game the year after losing it was the ’94 Bills. For a long time, Super Bowl losers rarely even made it back to the playoffs, though that jinx has softened—seven of the last nine Super Bowl losers have returned to the postseason the following year, but none of them have gone all the way. Last year, everything seemed to go wrong with the Super Bowl 50 runner-up Panthers: They made a mistake by letting cornerback Josh Norman go, defenses seemed to figure out Cam Newton and injuries plagued the roster throughout the season. The Patriots themselves have lost Super Bowls in tragic fashion to cap off the the 2007 and ’11 seasons. They didn’t immediately return the next year, but they always managed to stay on a championship trajectory. Bill Belichick seems to be a master at getting everyone to focus on what’s happening now and not the what went wrong or right in the recent past. It was the Pats who were proactive with their personnel this spring, adding offensive weapons like WR Brandin Cooks, RBs Mike Gillislee and Rex Burkhead, TE Dwayne Allen and CB Stephon Gilmore and DE Kony Ealy on defense. It’s almost as if they had lost the game and were gearing up for another run at Atlanta. But the Falcons didn’t need to do much roster tinkering. They actually don’t need a Durant. They have multiple ways to hurt you on offense. And their defense has the pieces to take a step forward this season, especially with DT Grady Jarrett stating his case as a difference-maker in the Super Bowl and cornerback Desmond Trufant returning from an injury. A large part of how the team responds comes down to Ryan. Is he the MVP we saw all last season and for most of the Super Bowl, or the QB who throws too many interceptions and takes bad sacks that we saw earlier in his career and the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl? We’ve seen QBs losses carry into the next season before—like Carson Palmer after he turned the ball over six times against the Panthers in the NFC Championship Game. And how will the loss of offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan affect Ryan? We’ve seen other QBs disintegrate after Shanahan left town. Falcons fans have to hope something clicked with Ryan that unlocked a consistent level of excellence. Everything comes down to confidence. Do the Falcons believe they can do it all again after coming so close last season? The first public window into the team’s mindset came at the draft, and it was an encouraging one. The front office and coaching staff celebrated the first-round selection of pass rusher Takkarist McKinley like they had just won a playoff game. The positive energy Quinn exudes appears to have spread throughout the organization. No matter what, Golden State and Atlanta will forever share space on the list of the greatest collapses in sports history. But the Warriors didn’t dwell on that defeat and were able to put it behind them quickly. They blew a 3–1 lead in the Finals, but that’s not how anyone will remember that core of players now. If the Falcons can adopt the same mentality and focus, they might have their own parade before long. https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/06/15/falcons-warriors-blown-lead-championship

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Atlanta Falcons running back Devonta Freemansaid he is not keeping an eye on other top running backs around the league -- namely Pittsburgh's Le'Veon Bell -- as Freeman eyes a new contract of his own. Freeman, who is entering the final year of his rookie deal and is set to make $1.797 million in 2017, is expected to be rewarded with a long-term deal. His agent, Kristin Campbell, previously expressed a desire to see the two-time Pro Bowler paid like an "elite" running back. Meanwhile, Bell, who received the franchise tag at $12.1 million for this season, did not attend the minicamp while unsigned. The Steelers have until July 15 to work out a long-term deal for Bell or else he will play under that franchise number. And if a long-term deal is reached, Bell's contract figures are certain to trigger a domino effect for other running backs, such as Freeman "Nah, I don't really get into all that,'' Freeman said of Bell and other contract situations. "I let (the media) handle all that. The media is the media, especially people on T.V. I just do me.'' Freeman continues to approach his own contract situation in a positive manner by participating in all offseason activities -- including this week's three-day minicamp, which concluded Thursday -- without any thoughts of holding out. He has maintained a good relationship with general manager Thomas Dimitroff, who said multiple times a new contract should be reached before the start of the season, possibly leading into training camp. "My main thing is, I've got people in position to handle everything, so I just try to stay focused and focused on football, but we talk all the time,'' Freeman said of himself and Dimitroff. Freeman would not reveal all the details of the feedback he has gotten from Dimitroff. "A lot of feedback, man,'' Freeman said. "I ain't going to get in-depth with it. Things looking good, though. It's just a timing thing. He said, 'Just be patient with the process.' It's a timing [thing]. But like I told him, he knows I ain't in a rush. He knows my team [of representatives] ain't in a rush. Whatever works for us ... process, timing thing.'' Freeman has put himself in prime position for a lucrative deal. He accumulated 3,175 yards from scrimmage over the past two seasons, second most in the league to teammate Julio Jones (3,280). Freeman's 27 touchdowns from scrimmage over that same span are the second most in the league behind Arizona's David Johnson (32), and his 2,135 rushing yards are second only to Buffalo's LeSean McCoy (2,162). Freeman was the first Falcons running back since Michael Turner (2010-11) to post back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons. http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/19645697/devonta-freeman-atlanta-falcons-not-eyeing-leveon-bell-talks-own-deal

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Mohamed Sanusuccessfully kicked an extra point to end the last day of minicamp early and help the players win a competition against the coaches. The entire team erupted as Sanu's kick sailed good on the hold from punter Matt Bosher. Offensive line coach Chris Morgan kicked for the coaches and missed. "It was just a little competition that Coach (Dan Quinn) had," Sanu said. "If I made it, we'd break early. If C-Mo made it, then the coaches got to break early. I had to protect the team and make it for the guys." Sanu won't challenge veteran Matt Bryant for the starting job anytime soon, but his kicking skills certainly impressed his teammates. "It was nice, man," safety Keanu Neal said. "He has a soccer background. I expected nothing less, for sure." Sanu was asked to evaluate Morgan’s miss. "He was kind of close, though,’’ Sanu said with sarcasm. "He was kind of close -- a little bit." Said Neal of Morgan, "That was a little tough." The competition is all part of the team-building and "brotherhood" Quinn stressed to his team on a daily basis as they prepare for the 2017 and try to avoid a Super Bowl hangover. http://www.espn.com/blog/atlanta-falcons/post/_/id/27415/falcons-wr-mohamed-sanu-makes-extra-point-to-end-minicamp-early

Atlanta Falcons: They May Have a Pass Rush That's Gone From Feeble to Fierce The Falcons had the league's leading pass-rusher in 2016. So it's telling that even with Vic Beasley's 15.5 sacks, Atlanta ranked a mid-pack 16th with 34 team sacks. The Falcons weren't getting pressure from anyone other than Beasley for much of the season. And if he was slowed for a stretch in any game, the Falcons secondary was left exposed. Enter defensive end Takkarist McKinley, the Falcons' first-round pick who finished his career at UCLA with 10 sacks in 2016. He aims to bring the pain on the outside while newly signed defensive tackle Dontari Poe does the same on the interior. Poe has struggled with injuries in recent years, but the Falcons are hoping he can return to his 2014 form when the now 26-year-old had six sacks. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2715403-what-weve-learned-about-every-nfl-team-so-far-this-offseason?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=nfl

And don't forget, he washed the feet of the person that He knew was going to betray Him and lead to His death.

There is a life lesson in that.