After witnessing the most painful Falcons loss of the young season, I began to ponder exactly why our team, young and inexperienced as it is, can't seem to hang with the big boys.

To date, we have played both of America's teams, New England and Dallas, and have come away 0-2. We can sit here and make excuses all night long. Refs sucked, defense sucked, we were in their stadium, etc. etc. Regardless of my opinion on those, especially the ref one, the fact is, we lost. What's worse is the Saints won today, putting us 2 games behind, now.

So as I sit here typing this, I'm wondering "Why on Earth did we look so bad?" I kind of posted about it in the ATL-DAL open blog, but to start off, here are some observations I've made throughout the season (in no particular order):

1) Eric Weems can play ball. He's a great athlete and he'll hopefully be around for years to come.

2) Jamaal Anderson was made to play DT. Aside from when our entire D started to fail, JA98 had some good plays at DT. I really think he's found his spot on our defense.

3) Where is Michael Turner? Could last season really have been a fluke? Many of the haters have said that his big games were against the dumps of the NFL's rushing defenses last year, but to amass 1,700 yards is no small feat, fluke or not. However, Turner hasn't shown up this season, leading many Falcons fans (including myself) to wonder what's going on. He's looked a step slower this year, and with Norwood out, we need someone to step up. Snelling has done a good job in the backup role, but how long can Turner hold out with his increasingly negative production?

4) Despite having some crippling injuries, there isn't a game we can't win. I know many of us will be questioning our team after the miserable loss to the 'Boys. I don't blame you in the least. We played miserably, and that's not the makings of a great team. We're still a "good" team with knocking on the door of "decent" imminent. That being said, we've been competitive in every game we've played.

5)The Ewing Theory. I first learned about it on one of Bill Simmons' columns on ESPN. I believe he's tinkered with it since he posted a column on it 8 years ago. But if you don't know the theory, you should look it up. I think it fits this team perfectly.

Allow me, if you will, to speculate for the future. While not directly involving one player, the Ewing Theory fits the Falcons perfectly. The schedule, crappy as it is, can't get much worse next year. Regardless of how this season ends (Please, God, let us get 9 wins) some of our expectations won't be met. With the way we played Dallas today, this season could go south quickly if we do not adjust.

As I began thinking about the Saints being so good this year, I came to the realization that the Saints are 2 weeks away from equaling their total wins from last year. "Why the sudden change?" I asked myself. Without doing an absurd amount of research, not much, if anything, has changed from last year's Saints team. Malcolm Jenkins was added. I believe DC Gregg Williams was added this year, too.

The Saints last year were plagued with injuries, most notably on defense. On top of that, they had many, many recurring injuries to keep them 'unhealthy', if you will. This year, they've spent another year together, they've gotten their health right, and look at them, they're destroying EVERYONE.

I think next year is our year. Gonzalez has one more year after this one on his contract, I believe, and we'll have Harry Douglas/Peria Jerry/Brian Williams (if he can still play) back from injury. Now how does the Ewing Theory fit this team, you ask? Well, look at the Saints now. They're dominating, they probably won't be stopped this year, while we play backseat to them. Then, the Ewing theory kicks in next season. If the Saints hold their team together, nobody will notice the secret juggernaut we're building in the shadows. Then it's game time. We've been severely hurt by injuries this year. When we get everyone back next season (and keep them here) I think we can make a run, and I think we'll surprise some people along the way depending on how ugly this season ends up. Not saying this season is gone, as we're still 4-2 and in a decent position, but we may not quite get where we want to this year.

In short, I think we're going to end up as the Saints of last year, just with 9 or 10 wins. Injuries + schedule may just be a little too much for this team to overcome this year.

Any thoughts or opinions are welcome here. :)