Why Is Our Fan Base Scared Of Letting Younger Players Play?

[capologist]

These guys are drafted for a reason. Abraham looks like he might be leaving and so everyone wants to sign Mario Williams (which pretty much means free agency would be done for us).

Sidbury has gotten better every season. Why not give him a shot at it?

Hawley played well at center (1 sack, 1 hit, 1 pressure) in 25% of the season at center and wasn't horrible at guard (wasn't great but again, he's not a guard).

Franks and Owens showed improvement last year. Why not give them the opportunity to take that next step?

If we truly want to be a team that competes each and every year, we have to become a team much like the Patriots that picks and chooses among free agents and restocks the shelves on draft day. I think that's exactly what Dmitroff has been doing and I think the changes we will see will be our youth stepping up and staking their own claims...

[Jah]

Did we watch the same Hawley?

[The Daywalker]

honestly my question would be why is our front office scared to let our younger players play?

[phattywankenobi]

These guys are drafted for a reason. Abraham looks like he might be leaving and so everyone wants to sign Mario Williams (which pretty much means free agency would be done for us).

Sidbury has gotten better every season. Why not give him a shot at it?

Hawley played well at center (1 sack, 1 hit, 1 pressure) in 25% of the season at center and wasn't horrible at guard (wasn't great but again, he's not a guard).

Franks and Owens showed improvement last year. Why not give them the opportunity to take that next step?

If we truly want to be a team that competes each and every year, we have to become a team much like the Patriots that picks and chooses among free agents and restocks the shelves on draft day. I think that's exactly what Dmitroff has been doing and I think the changes we will see will be our youth stepping up and staking their own claims...

That's what is suppose to happen but in his limited snaps the talent drop off from Abe to Sid is huge. Owens has a good moment once in a great while but generally looks lost or gets fooled on the route too often. After 3 years, I don't think he's going to make it. Franks has steadily improved but can he really replace the best CB the Falcons have had in a long time?

[Trouble]

Baker and Anderson.... are 2 reasons that come to mind.

[falconidae]

Really like to know how many snaps Sidbury got last year , and if he wasn't in on every 3rd and long, why not?

[delaigle]

A lot of it has to do with only 45 (now 46) players on the gameday active roster. That means 7 players are inactive each gameday. These will normally be several your backup players ie your newly drafted/signed players.

Example in 2010

5 starters --Baker Blalock McClure Dahl Clabo

2 backups-- a C/G this had to be Hawley since he was the only other center on the roster

and a swing OT Svitek.

that means the #8 & #9 O-linemen were inactive

Reynolds and M. Johnson all 16 games

I guess thaey could have make a starter inactive and let one of these guys play BUT

Same concept holds for each group DB, DL etc

[capologist]

That's what is suppose to happen but in his limited snaps the talent drop off from Abe to Sid is huge. Owens has a good moment once in a great while but generally looks lost or gets fooled on the route too often. After 3 years, I don't think he's going to make it. Franks has steadily improved but can he really replace the best CB the Falcons have had in a long time?

I'm not so sure the drop off is all that huge. I did a comparison of the stats Abe put up and what Sid put up. Extrapolating Sid's numbers out for the same number of snaps Abe got and the numbers were very close. I'd like to see him get a chance to play a whole season before we look elsewhere...

[Falcon Fantom]

These guys are drafted for a reason. Abraham looks like he might be leaving and so everyone wants to sign Mario Williams (which pretty much means free agency would be done for us).

Sidbury has gotten better every season. Why not give him a shot at it?

Hawley played well at center (1 sack, 1 hit, 1 pressure) in 25% of the season at center and wasn't horrible at guard (wasn't great but again, he's not a guard).

Franks and Owens showed improvement last year. Why not give them the opportunity to take that next step?

If we truly want to be a team that competes each and every year, we have to become a team much like the Patriots that picks and chooses among free agents and restocks the shelves on draft day. I think that's exactly what Dmitroff has been doing and I think the changes we will see will be our youth stepping up and staking their own claims...

Exactly.

[capologist]

Really like to know how many snaps Sidbury got last year , and if he wasn't in on every 3rd and long, why not?

I posted that in a thread elsewhere and can't find it now but it was 220 total.

[vel]

Because they are conditioned by the coaching staff that doesn't play the younger guys. Guys always complain about TD not finding that "gem" in the draft, well even if TD found an Arian Foster, he wouldn't have shown up because MM wouldn't have played him. He wouldn't have found a Ladarius Webb because BVG wouldn't have played him. HeIl if Grimes wasn't already on the roster, they wouldn't have even played him.

Like you said, Sid has shown promise. Franks has. Owens has at times. Meier has crazy hands but is relegated to blocking. It took how many weeks to get Quizz involved? They were scared of mistakes and they knew the younger players would make mistakes so to avoid mistakes you avoid the younger players. Simple really.

[vel]

That's what is suppose to happen but in his limited snaps the talent drop off from Abe to Sid is huge. Owens has a good moment once in a great while but generally looks lost or gets fooled on the route too often. After 3 years, I don't think he's going to make it. Franks has steadily improved but can he really replace the best CB the Falcons have had in a long time?

I think you can say that (bolded part) about everybody in our secondary except Grimes and Moore. That's why I think it's more scheme than lack of ability. Everybody at some point or another looked completely lost on the play and this happened at least once a game. No, I'm not saying Owens will become a stud in Nolan's scheme, but everybody had that dumb look before in this scheme.

[Falcon Fantom]

Because they are conditioned by the coaching staff that doesn't play the younger guys. Guys always complain about TD not finding that "gem" in the draft, well even if TD found an Arian Foster, he wouldn't have shown up because MM wouldn't have played him. He wouldn't have found a Ladarius Webb because BVG wouldn't have played him. HeIl if Grimes wasn't already on the roster, they wouldn't have even played him.

Like you said, Sid has shown promise. Franks has. Owens has at times. Meier has crazy hands but is relegated to blocking. It took how many weeks to get Quizz involved? They were scared of mistakes and they knew the younger players would make mistakes so to avoid mistakes you avoid the younger players. Simple really.

That makes my blood boil. When I think about how GB and NO used there wrs, i get very frustrated. We have had some solid back up guys and yet we never field them. Weems is not all that bad either! Hopefully we will not see this type of cowardice from the coaches next season.

[phattywankenobi]

I'm not so sure the drop off is all that huge. I did a comparison of the stats Abe put up and what Sid put up. Extrapolating Sid's numbers out for the same number of snaps Abe got and the numbers were very close. I'd like to see him get a chance to play a whole season before we look elsewhere...

I love nothing more than seeing the young guys step up and start. I'm just really nervous considering there was very little pass rush outside of Abe. Curious to see what numbers you projected since the eye test is only part of the equation.

[phattywankenobi]

I think you can say that (bolded part) about everybody in our secondary except Grimes and Moore. That's why I think it's more scheme than lack of ability. Everybody at some point or another looked completely lost on the play and this happened at least once a game. No, I'm not saying Owens will become a stud in Nolan's scheme, but everybody had that dumb look before in this scheme.

Every DB has that moment. I just remember Owens having a lot of them. Even the Bucs game a few years back Owens started. He made a few great plays and he was suddenly the talk of the offseason. I went back and watched that game and he looked like he was new to the team. I wish he would have success though. The guys a stud in training camp but the routes are pretty watered down.

[delaigle]

Because they are conditioned by the coaching staff that doesn't play the younger guys. Guys always complain about TD not finding that "gem" in the draft, well even if TD found an Arian Foster, he wouldn't have shown up because MM wouldn't have played him. He wouldn't have found a Ladarius Webb because BVG wouldn't have played him. HeIl if Grimes wasn't already on the roster, they wouldn't have even played him.

Like you said, Sid has shown promise. Franks has. Owens has at times. Meier has crazy hands but is relegated to blocking. It took how many weeks to get Quizz involved? They were scared of mistakes and they knew the younger players would make mistakes so to avoid mistakes you avoid the younger players. Simple really.

I kind of agree with you --but at mid season 07

Grimes, Weems, and Snelling were on the PS,, Clabo and Dahl were backups

MM and BVG had all of these either starting or contributing by early 08.

[FalconFanSince1970]

Cappy I think we are going to see a lot more young players this year. Too many free agents. Not enough cap room. In the past we didn't see as many youngsters because they had better players ahead of them.

We did see Ryan, Blalock, Reynolds, Hawley, Julio, Peters, Jelly, Beirmann, Lofton, Spoon, WillyMo, DeCoud, Bosher, Owens, Svitek and Quizz get snaps early. Some because of draft status, a few because of ability, some due to injury and others because of holes that had to be filled.

I think you will see a lot more young guys filling holes this year. Sid, Franks, Meier, Johnson, Jackson and Mathews may be a few that get more ink.

I think most of our fans would rather see younger players. I prefer experienced vets but even I just want the best players on the field.

[capologist]

I love nothing more than seeing the young guys step up and start. I'm just really nervous considering there was very little pass rush outside of Abe. Curious to see what numbers you projected since the eye test is only part of the equation.

I found the post and here's the analysis:

Abe had 394 pass rushing snaps with 11 sacks, 8 hits, 40 pressures

Sid had 129 pass rushing snaps with 3 sacks, 2 hits, 12 pressures

Now if Sid had 394 snaps: 9 sacks, 6 hits and 36 pressures.

Not saying that's going to happen but you give me those numbers with Matthews rotating in for some snaps and either Biermann coming back or a draft pick to rotate in? I'd be quite happy with that production...

[vel]

I kind of agree with you --but at mid season 07

Grimes, Weems, and Snelling were on the PS,, Clabo and Dahl were backups

MM and BVG had all of these either starting or contributing by early 08.

They had no choice. They had nothing to lose. That's why I think the early success did more bad than good for the team. If Clabo, Dahl, Snelling, and Grimes didn't pan out, nobody's head was on the chopping block given the crap they were coming into. But in 2010, and 2011 after going 13-3, the pressure is a lot greater to produce and you don't want to put your job in the hands of the unproven if you don't trust yourself or the player to perform.

Payton/McCarthy aren't scared to play a Graham/Cobb because they know they will put that player in the best position to succeed and do what they were drafted to do best. Unfortunately, MM and BVG didn't think the same way. How many times did I see HD and Meier blocking? Were they drafted for that? How many times did we see Abe dropping into coverage? Was he brought here for that? It also doesn't help when position coaches aren't developing the talent as well.

[vel]

Cappy I think we are going to see a lot more young players this year. Too many free agents. Not enough cap room. In the past we didn't see as many youngsters because they had better players ahead of them.

We did see Ryan, Blalock, Reynolds, Hawley, Julio, Peters, Jelly, Beirmann, Lofton, Spoon, WillyMo, DeCoud, Bosher, Owens, Svitek and Quizz get snaps early. Some because of draft status, a few because of ability, some due to injury and others because of holes that had to be filled.

I think you will see a lot more young guys filling holes this year. Sid, Franks, Meier, Johnson, Jackson and Mathews may be a few that get more ink.

I think most of our fans would rather see younger players. I prefer experienced vets but even I just want the best players on the field.

That's all I ask, and that's not even a MM or BVG thing. Get the best players out there doing what they did to get to the NFL. Weems is a solid return man, get him the ball in space. Sidbury has pretty good pass rushing ability, let him play some third downs. Don't just confine them to the depths of the depths chart, only to be seen in case of emergency.

[Free Radical]

I'm annoyed when we have really good veterans who aren't dropping off at all get turned on by some of the fan base the moment they're a free agent. All the sudden a Top 5 CB or pass rushing DE is mediocre, or even garbage. Yeah, I'm not buying that noise.

[vel]

I'm annoyed when we have really good veterans who aren't dropping off at all get turned on by some of the fan base the moment they're a free agent. All the sudden a Top 5 CB or pass rushing DE is mediocre, or even garbage. Yeah, I'm not buying that noise.

Lol it's hilarious how all of a sudden Grimes went from a stud top 5 corner to a mediocre, small, limited corner with knee problems. I took none of it serious.

[capologist]

I'm annoyed when we have really good veterans who aren't dropping off at all get turned on by some of the fan base the moment they're a free agent. All the sudden a Top 5 CB or pass rushing DE is mediocre, or even garbage. Yeah, I'm not buying that noise.

We definitely have our extremes in the fanbase for sure!

[Trouble]

Lol it's hilarious how all of a sudden Grimes went from a stud top 5 corner to a mediocre, small, limited corner with knee problems. I took none of it serious.

Whats even funnier is if Grimes was on any team but the Falcons, people would swear he would be our saving grace.

Seems like the most appreciated players are the ones who dont wear a falcon uniform.

[vel]

Whats even funnier is if Grimes was on any team but the Falcons, people would swear he would be our saving grace.

Seems like the most appreciated players are the ones who dont wear a falcon uniform.

You'd see some many stats from PFF, his ranking on their top 50 free agents list, his Pro Bowl berth, his vert, how he shut down Megatron....

Lol everything, even some made up things.