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Any old timers remember the 97-98 season?


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I’m sure I’ll get flamed on this, but WTH.  
 

Has AB come full circle? He bought the team and fires Dan Reeves.  DR was a coach that came in and applied discipline to a faltering team. A late pick RB named Jamal Anderson emerged as the RB1 and punished defenses. An O-Line that wasn’t great, but could maul defenses when run blocking.  DR loved TE’s (who doesn’t), and everyone thought he was crazy for drafting them with high picks. In 97 after a rough start, we hit a 6 or more win streak and carried that into the 98 season.  Even with a 14-2 record, nobody believed in the Dirty Birds because they were not a fancy offense, but they were a low penalized, run first and run often, grind the clock team with a young nobody defense that just won games.
 

Not a 100% direct analogy, but pretty close.  
 

I know many of you hate the AS offense, but I love it.  A punishing run game does so much in setting you up to win in the NFL.  YES, you do need to be able to hit some passes, but it:

- Burns the clock, shortens the game, and keeps the opposing offense in the bench, minimizes opponents opportunities on offense.

- Demoralizes and wears down a defense & nullifies a pass rush 

- Allows you to close about a game

Eager to see how our defense improves.   
 

Go Falcons and it’s time to bring back the Dirty Bird!

 

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5 minutes ago, richardc said:

I’m sure I’ll get flamed on this, but WTH.  
 

Has AB come full circle? He bought the team and fires Dan Reeves.  DR was a coach that came in and applied discipline to a faltering team. A late pick RB named Jamal Anderson emerged as the RB1 and punished defenses. An O-Line that wasn’t great, but could maul defenses when run blocking.  DR loved TE’s (who doesn’t), and everyone thought he was crazy for drafting them with high picks. In 97 after a rough start, we hit a 6 or more win streak and carried that into the 98 season.  Even with a 14-2 record, nobody believed in the Dirty Birds because they were not a fancy offense, but they were a low penalized, run first and run often, grind the clock team with a young nobody defense that just won games.
 

Not a 100% direct analogy, but pretty close.  
 

I know many of you hate the AS offense, but I love it.  A punishing run game does so much in setting you up to win in the NFL.  YES, you do need to be able to hit some passes, but it:

- Burns the clock, shortens the game, and keeps the opposing offense in the bench, minimizes opponents opportunities on offense.

- Demoralizes and wears down a defense & nullifies a pass rush 

- Allows you to close about a game

Eager to see how our defense improves.   
 

Go Falcons and it’s time to bring back the Dirty Bird!

 

I love the offense. I hate finesse football. 

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I think this current run game is more like the guy who replaced Reeves in Denver: Mike Shanahan. Everyone who came in became a 1000 yard rusher. After Elway retired he struggled to find a replacement QB eventually losing the job after a few losing seasons.

Reeves Atlanta offense was built on the back of Jam but also on the deep balls to Mathis and Martin. They both averaged 17.9 ypc.

If you haven't already dig into this. Maybe the greatest football game of all time...

 

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7 minutes ago, richardc said:

Dirty Birds because they were not a fancy offense, but they were a low penalized, run first and run often, grind the clock team with a young nobody defense that just won games.

Yes it looks like we are getting there with the offense and yea I’ll take that defensive scenario 

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Just now, Jesus said:

I think this run game is more like the guy who replaced Reeves in Denver: Mike Shanahan. Everyone who came in became a 1000 yard rusher. After Elway retired he struggled to find a replacement QB eventually losing the job after a few losing seasons.

Reeves Atlanta offense was built on the back of Jam but also on the deep balls to Mathis and Martin. They both averages 17.9 ypc.

If you haven't already dig into this. Maybe the greatest football game of all time...

 

I'm about to end my movie search and watch this

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6 minutes ago, Jesus said:

I think this run game is more like the guy who replaced Reeves in Denver: Mike Shanahan. Everyone who came in became a 1000 yard rusher. After Elway retired he struggled to find a replacement QB eventually losing the job after a few losing seasons.

Reeves Atlanta offense was built on the back of Jam but also on the deep balls to Mathis and Martin. They both averages 17.9 ypc.

If you haven't already dig into this. Maybe the greatest football game of all time...

 

By maybe the best commentating duo 

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6 minutes ago, Jesus said:

I think this run game is more like the guy who replaced Reeves in Denver: Mike Shanahan. Everyone who came in became a 1000 yard rusher. After Elway retired he struggled to find a replacement QB eventually losing the job after a few losing seasons.

Reeves Atlanta offense was built on the back of Jam but also on the deep balls to Mathis and Martin. They both averages 17.9 ypc.

If you haven't already dig into this. Maybe the greatest football game of all time...

 

Man that game was epic.  So many things happened lol.  I remember halfway through I had to go in my parents room to watch it alone on mute because the football gods told me to.

You’re welcome

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6 minutes ago, KRUNKuno said:

Man that game was epic.  So many things happened lol.  I remember halfway through I had to go in my parents room to watch it alone on mute because the football gods told me to.

You’re welcome

On mute? It was classic Summerall and Madden. If anyone who complains about today's announcers need to go listen to how it was done. Madden gets so excited before overtime.

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27 minutes ago, Jesus said:

I think this current run game is more like the guy who replaced Reeves in Denver: Mike Shanahan. Everyone who came in became a 1000 yard rusher. After Elway retired he struggled to find a replacement QB eventually losing the job after a few losing seasons.

Reeves Atlanta offense was built on the back of Jam but also on the deep balls to Mathis and Martin. They both averaged 17.9 ypc.

If you haven't already dig into this. Maybe the greatest football game of all time...

 

Definitely one of my favorite games to watch. The end was crazy but ended perfectly.

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36 minutes ago, Jesus said:

On mute? It was classic Summerall and Madden. If anyone who complains about today's announcers need to go listen to how it was done. Madden gets so excited before overtime.

On mute.

Madden and Summerall had to take a backseat that day for the greater good. 

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Couple things. 
 

Old timer?  Thanks. 
 

Those were the seasons leading to our first Super Bowl appearance. You could see the team’s trajectory. But that 98 winning season was one and done. It was 10 more years before we had back to back winning seasons for the first time in team history. 
 

I am always of the belief that we can become a dynasty. Bengals sucked until 2 years ago. Always hoping but also always waiting. Go Falcons 

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1 hour ago, richardc said:

I’m sure I’ll get flamed on this, but WTH.  
 

Has AB come full circle? He bought the team and fires Dan Reeves.  DR was a coach that came in and applied discipline to a faltering team. A late pick RB named Jamal Anderson emerged as the RB1 and punished defenses. An O-Line that wasn’t great, but could maul defenses when run blocking.  DR loved TE’s (who doesn’t), and everyone thought he was crazy for drafting them with high picks. In 97 after a rough start, we hit a 6 or more win streak and carried that into the 98 season.  Even with a 14-2 record, nobody believed in the Dirty Birds because they were not a fancy offense, but they were a low penalized, run first and run often, grind the clock team with a young nobody defense that just won games.
 

Not a 100% direct analogy, but pretty close.  
 

I know many of you hate the AS offense, but I love it.  A punishing run game does so much in setting you up to win in the NFL.  YES, you do need to be able to hit some passes, but it:

- Burns the clock, shortens the game, and keeps the opposing offense in the bench, minimizes opponents opportunities on offense.

- Demoralizes and wears down a defense & nullifies a pass rush 

- Allows you to close about a game

Eager to see how our defense improves.   
 

Go Falcons and it’s time to bring back the Dirty Bird!

 

He HIRED Dan Reeves... not FIRED Dan Reeves... at least not until his quadruple bypass made the health insurance go up 🤣

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1 hour ago, richardc said:

  Even with a 14-2 record, nobody believed in the Dirty Birds because they were not a fancy offense, but they were a low penalized, run first and run often, grind the clock team with a young nobody defense that just won games.

This is where I have to respectfully disagree. We had one of the most prolific passing attacks that year with Mathis and Martin. We trailed only Minnesota that year by something like 7 yards, and that was with Minny having a Chris Carter in his prime and a young stud named Randy Moss. 
 

The reason why so many think about our running game was due Anderson being such a personality who was excellent with the media. 
 

Lastly, can we put to rest this whole “Dan Reeves loved his TEs” junk? Dan Reeves took over this team just after our Run-n-shoot days. The team literally had NO tight ends. His cupboard was bare so he began drafting them for a couple of years in order to “stock the shelves”. But he did a fine job in this department (Reggie Kelly, Alge Crumpler, OJ Santiago). 

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