A Very Falcoholic Discussion: Where We Stand

I’m fast approaching finals week, so forgive my drained brain for the lack of an essay.

I feel, of course, fantastic about the team. With this team, I can recognize a feeling I used to have about Falcons teams: an irrational — but often prophetic — feeling that something was just about to go horribly wrong. My expectations are still touched with a measure of pessimism — being raised a UGA and Falcons fan will do that to you — but I have complete confidence in the decisions of just about everybody from the top down, from the front office to the field.

Next year? Oh man… I almost don’t want to say anything, for fear of jinxing it. That’s how good I feel about getting that consecutive winning season. The pieces are in place and I feel like we’re on the right track. Obviously this is only year one of this new era (can we call it a new era?) so it’s hard to say we know they can be consistent, but there just seems to be a feeling around the franchise so good it’s almost foreign.

I think it will be interesting to see how high expectations are come next year, in the media and the fans.

Tomorrow will tell us a lot about our Dirty Birds. Obviously this season has been amazing and we are all shocked about how well we’ve played, but now it’s go time. Teams now have realized that the Falcons are for real, not a fun little cute team. IF we can pull out a victory tomorrow against our biggest rivals (who btw are fighting for a playoff chance) then we will have a great shot at the playoffs.

After next week we’ll have TB @ home, coming off a tough Monday night game (Win or Lose), then Minnesota who may(hopefully) have lost the Williames by then, and finally against the Rams who we really should beat. Every one of those games is winnable. Will we? Probably not, but can we? I think so.

In the end whether we make the playoffs or not, this has been a helluva ride, and you’ve got to love where this team is going….

is building a juggernaut. With two more drafts, he will have his steam-rolling win machine fully stocked and loaded. He learned a lot in the Patriots organization and is applying it with early returns in Atlanta.

This is the tip of the iceberg, fans. Here’s what we’ve got already. A franchise QB, a stout running game, a serviceable receiving corps, punishing lines, and key defensive playmakers. The upcoming drafts will only strengthen our depth at these positions and continue to add fresh, talented faces to the mix. Hopefully, our defense will get stronger in the secondary and our receiving corps will be solidified with some clutch catchers.

Lord help the teams that have to face these Falcons in the coming seasons, because I feel that Matt Ryan, Harry Douglas, and Sam Baker are only going to get better as they continue their careers.

For the first time in a long time, I can honestly say with all my Falcon loving heart, that I look forward to the coming seasons. There’s little, if any, expectation for a let down after this season. We have only one direction to go from here and that’s up.

I could not be more pleased about this season. I thought I was ballsy to predict 6 wins after the draft and here we are on the verge of a winning season!!!
I also have high hopes for next season, BUT I remain guarded. We still have to break that “two consecutive winning seasons” curse. Plus we still have to decide what we’re gonna do about several defensive starters including Milloy, Jackson and Boley. Milloy’s leadership is invaluable, but at his age how much more can he possibly have in the tank??? Jackson is literally a huge cog on defense, but I guess we let him walk unless he’s willing to re-sign at a bargain price. Boley had a breakout year in ‘07, but has been less productive this season. Still, I can’t imagine how we can afford to let him walk in free agency. That’s enough question marks on one side of the ball, but we still have to think about the fact that Brooking isn’t getting younger, Abraham continues to stuggle with injuries, Davis will be a free agent and Anderson may never be an elite pass rusher.
I’m sure Dimitroff will be able to effectively restock no matter how severe the turnover, but it won’t be a cake walk.

You have to have cautious optimism with any team that is so unbelievable. Things happen in the NFL (like anyone here needs to be told that) and it everything can spiral downward as quick as it soared to the sky, with an injury here, a “big head” there, and so on and so forth. This team has shown me a lot this year. Play well at home, check. Beat teams you should beat, check. Win in hostile environment away from home, check. Win division games, check. The thing I haven’t seen yet is; Win when it counts the most. You can argue in week 14, sitting at 8-4 and in third place, with a chance to finish off a division opponent, that the time has arrived. I believe that this week will show a lot more about where this team is headed in the future (2009+) than all 8 wins before it. If they win, you have to think this team is on it’s way, regardless the outcome of the games left. Tampa may just have more talent. Minnesota is the definition of an upset; having a certain back that can just win games, in a division race with no “wild card” safety chance , at home. The Rams are the Rams..so… But this game is a game good teams win. I think (hope?) that they are already there. Matt Ryan is. Is the team? I’ll be watching every second of the answer.

But I can’t help but want one more snapshot of proof. Show me you can win a game you should win, at home, against an inferior division foe. Then I know the foundation is set, and a not-so-storied franchise gets its first chapter not beginning with “Just when you thought it couldn’t hurt more (fill in blank)”.

that the next draft will bear as much fruit as this one. With Dimitroff’s eye, it will snatch us probably a starter or two, and good depth. I just don’t think with having a bottom 12 pick (crossing fingers) in every round will leave as much playmaker talent available. The foundation, like you said, is already set.

That about sums me up. Don’t get me wrong, I am nothing short of thrilled with how this season has gone so far. But like Cerbera, I’ve been burned too many times by the Falcons and the Dawgs to allow myself to get too excited about any football team. Throw in the fact that I am absurdly superstitious about sports, and it becomes easy to see why I had to throw “cautiously” in there. But, looking at it logically, its hard not to get excited. I would find it difficult to believe that Matt Ryan will peak as a rookie. Michael Turner only has two years of wear on his 26 year old legs. Mike Smith is not going to be calling the hogs any time soon, and Thomas Dimitroff has already shown himself to be an excellent judge of talent. Those four aspects are, in a nutshell, the foundations of any sustained run of relevance in the NFL. Really, the thing that worries me the most is Mike Mularkey being offered a head coaching job sometime soon. However, coordinators are usually only offered a job if the team they are with becomes successful, so I guess I could live with that.

Of course we’re all deliriously happy NOW. It looks like we’re on the right track NOW.

I am surprised and thrilled with the way this season has developed, but I’m trying not to get too excited until next year. We’ve got to prove that this year is not a flash in the pan, and that’s not going to happen until next season plays out. I do feel more confident of that happening than I have since the LeBaron/Bennett years though. Go Falcons!