News On The Wing, June 3 Edition

by Dave the Falconer on Jun 3, 2009 8:00 AM EDT in Falcons News Comment 9 comments

I never promised you a rose garden, but I sure as heck promised you a news roundup.

By popular demand, I'll attempt to establish a news roundup that can in some small way live up to the compiling J. Mike already does over at at the Official Site. Rather than have you click through the jump, we're going to do all of this right here on the front page. Daring? Yes. But I've always envisioned myself as a visionary.

You can tell how slow it is right now when this is the best list of possible additions the AJC can come up with. One guy is actually on the roster (Eric Weems), one guy is just going to another team (Lawyer Milloy) and two are young guys currently competing for roster spots (Aaron Kelly and Troy Bergeron). I guess that's responsible journalism, but I kind of prefer out-there choices to something this obvious. Blame it on the Falcohol, I guess.
According to this CBS Sports story, Harvey Dahl is a brutish ogre who feats on the kindness of other souls. I've long said that Dahl's nasty edge gives him a well...edge...but it tends to backfire when he gets so mad that he gets stupid penalties called on him. It's a double-edged sword, and hopefully he can still be nasty and learn to keep himself in a check a bit more in the year ahead.
Daniel Cox at Atlanta Falcons Examiner takes a look at Jerious Norwood, the man of many talents who should get a chance to display plenty of them in the year ahead. He's a scary weapon in so many ways, but I'd like to see Michael Turner get a few less carries, and doing so might mean taking Norwood out of the return game so as not to risk injury. If that happens, someone will have big shoes to fill on special teams, but I'd rather see Norwood get more snaps and help throw defense into disarray.
Tampa Bay Bucs fans mull over notorious foot-shooter Plaxico Burress, coming to the conclusion that he's a great fit for their team. While I definitely think Burress has made a string of dumb mistakes, his quality hands would make him a nice fit on a team that doesn't have a lot of top-end talent at receiver. Not sure where that legal issue is going to leave him, though.
Few Panthers have riled up the fanbase as much as Jake Delhomme. There are those who love him, those who think he stinks and those of us from around the NFC South who think the contract they gave him was criminally insane. He's just a Cajun enigma, that guy.
Saints fans are a bit excited about this Pierre Thomas kid. You won't find a bigger fan of Thomas outside New Orleans than Your Fearless Leader, but the fact that he's got a clear shot at a starting job is troubling because I really believe he's got a ton of talent. You can, uh, cut him now, guys. I'm sure he's no good.

Got a news item I missed? Submit it at davethefalconer@yahoo.com.

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Dahl

I love the man’s enthusiasm. He obviously plays through the whistle, and he doesn’t mind making a block late in the play, but I wonder what other kinds of “dirty” tactics he employs. Thoughts anyone?

Reporter: How will you address all of the dropped passes?

Mike Smith: I don’t think that we were as sharp as we have been catching the football. It’s something that is very fixable. It’s VERY fixable.

by FrankyWren on Jun 3, 2009 9:25 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Well

You just know there have got to be a few pile punches, finger pokes, and general nad slapping going on in the trenches. I don’t think I have ever played against a lineman, offensive or defensive, that didn’t do something to you while under the pile.

"If Woody were Captain of the Titanic, he'd argue the boat sinking speaks to how effectively they put rich people in life boats and lock the poor folks below."
-jrauch commenting at Hoopinion on Woody's (non)logic in his post-game comments

by Jesse28 on Jun 3, 2009 9:39 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Dahl

And I quote:

“Dahl isn’t just a nasty player — he’s also a good one. His ability to drive block in the run game makes him one of the best guards in the league.”

Not too bad from a guy signed off the practice squad. He might be my favorite lineman just because he plays with such a mean streak.

"If you can’t get excited for Ryan throwing to Gonzalez, you’re either a robot or clinically dead. Or you’re a zombie robot, which is just plain awesome."
Dave the Falconer

by Pregame with Pabst on Jun 3, 2009 10:07 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Dave,

First I just want to say that I love, love LOVE this feature – thank you!! Do you have plans to do it on any regular schedule, or just whenever there’s new news? Just wondering.

Now, comments:

Totally 100% agree on Norwood – I want him getting 150+ carries, and I certainly don’t care if they feel they have to give KR duties to somebody else to make sure that happens. I also don’t want Turner run into the ground in year 2 of his 6 year contract, so he needs to be limited (in my opinion) to ~300 carries. There’s just no need to keep pounding him and pounding him, when we have such a “scary weapon” in Norwood.

The Delhomme contract was ridiculous. But I think it was something they almost had to do – they were really up against the cap, and (especially with the Peppers thing not being resolved) they had to extend/re-structure his deal to push $$ around to the future. Now they’re just going to be screwed in 2 years or so (if there’s still a cap then).

I’d be in the running with you for biggest Thomas fan – he was great for them last year, and very good the year before that (he’s probably been their best back the last 2 years, but he always had to wait for everybody else to get hurt to get his shot). He is obviously a way better runner than Bush, but if you look at his advanced metrics at Football Outsiders – he was a better receiver out of the backfield than Bush last year, too! I hope they’re stupid this year again and try to split carries at least evenly with Bush, and maybe even give short yardage stuff to Bell (or whichever UDFA RB makes the team)…

by orang3b on Jun 3, 2009 11:14 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Well

My track record indicates that it will stay around for a while and then disappear, but I’m working on keeping things regular. The plan now is to do this on a weekly basis.

by Dave the Falconer on Jun 3, 2009 11:33 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Exlax helps with the regularity, not sure if they make it for websites though.

"If you can’t get excited for Ryan throwing to Gonzalez, you’re either a robot or clinically dead. Or you’re a zombie robot, which is just plain awesome."
Dave the Falconer

by Pregame with Pabst on Jun 3, 2009 12:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

LOL

thanks for the dietary advice…..your not the one who recommended Starcaps though!?

go hard or go home

by TO falcon on Jun 3, 2009 2:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oh, I forgot

From the list of possible veteran additions – I know he probably wasn’t really in the team’s plans anyways, but Rodney Harrison has decided to retire.

by orang3b on Jun 3, 2009 11:22 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

great job, Dave

and this feature also let’s me know when it is worth paying our division rivals accross the SBN a visit.

I had read that Dahl article via falconsLIFE, but it was a good one. The guy is fun to watch, and he gives me a reason to bite my fingernails when the offense is on the field.

That Jake Delhomme stuff was quite entertaining too, hadn’t realized that the Panther’s fans hadn’t reached a point of acceptance yet. Very different organizations the Falcons and the Panthers have. You notice how much more “accepting” we are of our coaching staff’s decisions than other teams tend to be?

know what you believe in and why you believe in it

by MentallyMIA on Jun 3, 2009 11:39 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs