Hawley & M. Johnson

[Beef]

Don't know if any of you listened to them today, but Joe Hawley and Mike Johnson filled in for Finneran on The Front Row with Steak and Sandra for 3 hours this afternoon and it was awesome.

Johnson went in to full details on all his injuries and why he decided to retire, and Hawley really hit on why our Falcons should surprise the league this year and his own recovery from injury status.

Hawley said he won't make it back to 100% at all this year. He's currently at about 85% and should be about 90% for the season. He says he's still going to take back his job from Stone even at 90%.

He really went in to detail about the ZBS. He said its soooo much better of a blocking scheme and we will see tremendous improvement on run blocking and even pass blocking. He said all of our current OL's came from a ZBS system or have played in one and excel better at it than any other.

Hawley was asked who will be the biggest surprises this season, and he mentioned Clayborn, Beasley, Durant, and the entire secondary on defense. He said Quinn's defense is 1000x simpler than Nolan's. They essentially copied to a T Seattles defensive scheme and they don't care that opponents know what it is. He said Quinn and Smith are placing guys in a position and telling them to just make plays. Virtually no assignment football. And he said the secondary is really buying in to this and killing it.

On offense, he mentioned of course Julio and Roddy as doing their normal things, but he said watch out for Hankerson and Tamme too, and specifically mentioned that Matt is raving about Hardy.

But, most of all, he couldn't stop saying how Freeman is going to be incredible this year. He said Freeman is the hardest working guy on the team and gives 110% every time he's in. He can block, catch, and the ZBS is absolutely perfect for him and he's killin it in this system. He probably said it 10x that Freeman will be the biggest surprise of the season and become a household name very soon.

Anyway, it was an awesome 3 hours listening to them. Very entertaining. They're talking about making this a more permanent thing and doing a "Big Uglies Tuesdays" where Joe and Mike maybe do a few segments as many Tuesday's during the season as possible. They were good on the radio, so I hope it happens.

Edited July 14, 2015 by Beef

[likeriver]

Hawley said he won't make it back to 100% at all this year. He's currently at about 85% and should be about 90% for the season. He says he's still going to take back his job from Stone even at 90%.

You better hide this from R. Thems fighten words

Edited July 14, 2015 by likeriver

[AndySG]

Sounds awesome. Sorry that I missed it. Johnson was a real case of what might have been - an All-American Guard would have been awesome these last few years.

[GATXBOI]

Ooo yea...This season is going to be Fired Up!!!

[likeriver]

Guys, I'm scared. What if this team blows up? What if coaching was holding us back and this team is actually loaded with talent and Quinn has inspired everybody to be their best and everybody bought into and now when we finally play we're literally too ******* good? Like, we drop 50 on every team and hold them to 0. We're gonna tear a hole in the universe like that man.

[Beef]

Sounds awesome. Sorry that I missed it. Johnson was a real case of what might have been - an All-American Guard would have been awesome these last few years.

Yeah Johnson talked about his injuries. A bad lisfranc on his left foot in year 2, rehab'd and came back ready to go, then broken ankle and torn ligaments when someone rolled up on his leg in game 2 that third year. Then he rehab'd and came back from that. Then another lisfranc, but on his right foot this time in his 4th year.

He said he tried to rehab and was planning to come back yet again, but he was simply in too much pain. His feet were constantly swelling up and wouldn't stop hurting. And he realized that he was done. It was pretty sad hearing him go through the entire story. A 4-year starter in college and never had a major injury until he made it to the NFL. Nobody saw this coming. He wasn't an injury-prone guy. Just 3 horribly freak things 3 years in a row and that's all he ever had.

Sucks. He would have been a really good player if his time at Bama was any indication.

[Romfal]

You better hide this from R. Thems fighten words

Sometimes I fear for Hawleys life with R the Great around

[Beef]

You better hide this from R. Thems fighten words

Actually, let me rephrase better what Hawley said exactly.

Steak asked him about Stone and the center position and Hawley said, "I already told James that was my position and James respectfully agreed." But then he went on to express how he thinks Stone was an incredible find in UDFA's and he felt he did a great job in his absence. But, it's still his position once season comes.

[Romfal]

Draft Freeman in fantasy. Got it.

[Shelley#37]

Yeah Johnson talked about his injuries. A bad lisfranc on his left foot in year 2, rehab'd and came back ready to go, then broken ankle and torn ligaments when someone rolled up on his leg in game 2 that third year. Then he rehab'd and came back from that. Then another lisfranc, but on his right foot this time in his 4th year.

He said he tried to rehab and was planning to come back yet again, but he was simply in too much pain. His feet were constantly swelling up and wouldn't stop hurting. And he realized that he was done. It was pretty sad hearing him go through the entire story. A 4-year starter in college and never had a major injury until he made it to the NFL. Nobody saw this coming. He wasn't an injury-prone guy. Just 3 horribly freak things 3 years in a row and that's all he ever had.

Sucks. He would have been a really good player if his time at Bama was any indication.

Yeah, but jack-legs on TATF label him a BUST for getting hurt

[capologist]

Actually, let me rephrase better what Hawley said exactly.

Steak asked him about Stone and the center position and Hawley said, "I already told James that was my position and James respectfully agreed." But then he went on to express how he thinks Stone was an incredible find in UDFA's and he felt he did a great job in his absence. But, it's still his position once season comes.

Bolded part for our (kidney) Stone...

[likeriver]

Actually, let me rephrase better what Hawley said exactly.

Steak asked him about Stone and the center position and Hawley said, "I already told James that was my position and James respectfully agreed." But then he went on to express how he thinks Stone was an incredible find in UDFA's and he felt he did a great job in his absence. But, it's still his position once season comes.

I don't think R's gonna feel much better about that.

[hjerry]

But, most of all, he couldn't stop saying how Freeman is going to be incredible this year. He said Freeman is the hardest working guy on the team and gives 110% every time he's in. He can block, catch, and the ZBS is absolutely perfect for him and he's killin it in this system. He probably said it 10x that Freeman will be the biggest surprise of the season and become a household name very soon.

Someone call Tuggle

[Mr. Hoopah!]

Actually, let me rephrase better what Hawley said exactly.

Steak asked him about Stone and the center position and Hawley said, "I already told James that was my position and James respectfully agreed." But then he went on to express how he thinks Stone was an incredible find in UDFA's and he felt he did a great job in his absence. But, it's still his position once season comes.

Hawley is such a racist.

[Moist Words]

Hawley is such a racist.

It's a shame to see such an epic beard wasted on a racist like Hawley.

[GTBF54]

Hawley said he won't make it back to 100% at all this year. He's currently at about 85% and should be about 90% for the season. He says he's still going to take back his job from Stone even at 90%.

I heard parts of it and this bothered me..... Sign Evan Mathis and let Hawley heal, move Chester to center and the depth at OG/C is fixed......

[trubirdfan4life]

Guys, I'm scared. What if this team blows up? What if coaching was holding us back and this team is actually loaded with talent and Quinn has inspired everybody to be their best and everybody bought into and now when we finally play we're literally too ******* good? Like, we drop 50 on every team and hold them to 0. We're gonna tear a hole in the universe like that man.

yeah, coaching....but what held us back offensively was stephen jackson, harry Douglas, levine toilolo, and the injuries along the offensive lines

[trubirdfan4life]

Defensively, osi, bartu, all the nickel backs, kroy, and using babs as a defensive end

[trubirdfan4life]

I heard parts of it and this bothered me..... Sign Evan Mathis and let Hawley heal, move Chester to center and the depth at OG/C is fixed......

if we sign mathis and move Chester, hawley will be cut. A 4mil a year backup center on the last year of the contract, just doesnt work

[likeriver]

yeah, coaching....but what held us back offensively was stephen jackson, harry Douglas, levine toilolo, and the injuries along the offensive lines

That is true. It's actually two prong, coaching and poor talent. But in one offseason it seems we've swiftly remedied both of these problems. The stars aligned and we got a great new coaching staff and a slew of great new and underrated players, both in the draft and offseason. Now we just need to get Mathis and this team will be unstoppable.

Edited July 14, 2015 by likeriver

[Atlfanstckndenver]

Thanks for writing that up. Wish I could've heard it myself.

[HOYLE]

Yeah, but jack-legs on TATF label him a BUST for getting hurt

He was a bust. People bust for various reasons but

it boils down to the same thing: they can't play in the NFL.

I thought he was a no brainer pick who would have a solid

career. I was wrong.

[Lornoth]

Sad to hear Hawley won't be 100%, but glad he's still planning on taking his spot by force.

[Theyhateme : )]

Nice of him to think that he can beat out Stone at 90%...LOL...

[apl2g]

So I just got a smart phone( I know I'm late), is there an app I can download so that I can listen to Atlanta sports stations rather than my local sports talk