The 2010 Falcons: Looking Back, Looking Ahead

In my latest bout with insomnia, I, Zippo, bring to you the (upon further review, ridiculously long) 2009 season in review that I promised so many moons ago. This is not my roster breakdown. This is actually more along the lines of my review of our 2009 season from a fan's perspective. I'm going to try to shy away from statistics, although I may bring some in for flavor.

To quote the late, great Heath Ledger:

"And here......we......go."

LOOKING BACK

I have been to one Falcons game in the past two seasons. It was the Tampa Bay home game in 2008, the overtime game where we clinched a playoff for the first time in a few years. It was an afternoon I remember like it happened yesterday. I don't remember exactly where my seats were, but my dad and I were reppin' it up with the group of guys who would yell "1ST AND 10, DO IT AGAIN!!! GO BIRDS GO!!!" after every first down. I was in the opposite corner from where the Bucs ran out of the tunnel, if any of you know where that is.

Seeing the Birds in person for the first time in many, many years (on a win to get into the playoffs) further strengthened my love for the team that everyone here on The Falcoholic has grown to love.

After the unfortunately disastrous playoff appearance, I still had good expectations for the 2009 season. I found The Falcoholic sometime during the preseason last year, and I recall expressing how I had never felt this good about a Falcons team ever in my life. I thought, "With a rookie QB, we went to the playoffs! Now maybe we can take the next step!"

Well....life doesn't always go how we hope, does it?

THE '09 SEASON

We should have seen it coming. The dead bird at training camp, the early injury to Harry Douglas, and that feeling that we were gonna give anyone and everyone a run for their money. They all came together and took a collective dump on us.

So, after the rather interesting preseason, (Rojohombre v. Chargers was one of the best games of the entire season/preseason) we came out like angry dragons whose eggs had just been eaten by leprechauns. The defense was stout, the offense clicked, the season was off to a great start. We trounced the Miami Dolphins and let the door hit them on the way out.

Then, one by one, the Birds began to fall. The Patriots made us look like fools in their house. The "Elite" title had slipped from our grasp. We were still residing in the second tier of teams, the ones that don't make big enough splashes to win the Super Bowl. The ACLs of everyone not named Freddie Falcon tore at some point or another. Heck, my dad even had to have cadaver vertebrae inserted in his neck because of an old football injury. Even my old man was down for the count! (I'm happy to report he's fully recovered and is doing much better now.)

The injuries took a toll on us.....Our top two picks, Jerry and Moore, were both injured. Jerry was out for good, Moore was just plain out. It seemed like Murphey was doing barrel rolls in his grave (Is that man even dead? His own law should have killed him by now if he isn't. Just saying.) If he's not in a grave, then he most certainly found a jet (or star fox shaped aircraft) and was doing some barrel rolls.

Without looking at games in particular, I was particularly infuriated by the lack of defense we had for most of the season. Whether I was watching on TV or watching on GameCast, it seemed like we couldn't stop traffic even if we had a stop sign. We could also not stop a runny nose. Etc. Etc.

It seemed like whenever we needed a big play, stupid would occur (or more Murphey barrel rolls) and our pass rush would suck, or our DBs would decide to take the wrong play off, or something.

Speaking of the pass rush. I usually watch the ball instead of what the defense is doing, but I do know that Honest Abe was getting in the backfield a pretty good bit. The problem with Abe was that he wasn't shedding his blocker, he was just manhandling him 6 yards into the backfield. That's all fine and good, but they weren't resulting in sacks at all. I didn't really see him get dropped into coverage much (I didn't see all the games, and I know it was happening) but the ONE TIME they dropped JA98 into coverage, it was golden. (For those who don't know/remember. 4th and goal vs the Bears at the end of the game. JA98 was lined up at DT and dropped into a middle zone at the goal line and swatted Cutler's pass away. He will forever have one kudo in my book for that, if only one.)

I'm not gonna lie. When we dropped to 6-7, my faith in the Birds began to slip a little. Turner was hurt. Matty Ice was hurt. Even Freddie Falcon had to take some days off. I felt like if we could get by the Jets then the quest for 9-7 would be realistic.

Queue the entry of Brent Grimes and Chris Owens into our lives. Grimes had been around for a while, but he was easily a difference maker in our quest for 9-7. Owens played well enough to solidify a spot in our hearts, that's for sure.

Game 1: Falcons vs. Jets. I got to watch this heart attack on TV. Had we not intercepted Sanchise 47 times, we might've lost. The Tony G. catch in (whatever 11 is)tuple coverage at the end was so ridiculous I'd liked to have cried. When we came back and beat the Jets, I started believing we could pull it off again. I doubted the Birds for just a second, and they reminded me of one important thing: These ain't your daddy's Birds.

I got to see Falcons v. Bills on TV, but that game was....well, another notch into the heart of destiny.

Falcons v. Bucs: I didn't get to see this game on TV, and I was so sad I'd liked to have become a hermit in my room and not gone to work that day and watch GameCast. I spent all day at work and told my dad to text me the final score. During break I got to take a glimpse at the score, where I think it was tied at 10-10 (I don't remember if it was tied at 10 or not, but the game was close.) and I started to sweat. There we were, at 8-7, and I'm at work hoping, praying, sacrificing, etc. that our wounded Birds could pull off one more victory. I was praying under my breath during every customer check out I did.

Then my phone vibrated. As if my nerves weren't already firing, the weight of 44 years of inepitude was in my pocket. I knew that the message I'd just gotten had told me of the Birds fate. I snuck over to the water fountain and secretly pulled my phone out of my pocket. I looked at the message, and it said, "Falcons 20, Bucs 10" and I could barely contain myself. I did a Tiger Woods fist pump and then replied with "YES!!! No more curse!!" and went about my business.

And now here we are, the void of the offseason. We just signed Dunta the Hunta to a fat contract that supposedly guarantees nothing but also guaranteed a bunch of money. I don't know, it confused me.

LOOKING AHEAD

Looking ahead, there's one thing I've never really gotten to see. I know a lot of you guys know about the players in the Ring of Fame, and while I've never seen any of them play (sans Tuggle, whom I used all the time in Tecmo Super Bowl) I've read up on them and I know they were all great players.

The one thing I've never seen in my adolescent life is the development/career of a player that's truly special. One of those players who may not be a game changer, but is a force to be reckoned with anytime that person is on the field. You know, a Peyton, a Brady, a Barry, okay those are all game changers. I'm talking about our own Matt Ryan. As a fan of all things Atlanta, I've never seen a truly special player develop into a Ring of Fame worthy player because, at 21, I'm too young to really remember the last time Atlanta had truly great players and a great team. ('95 Braves were too long ago, and I couldn't tell you a dang thing about the '98 Falcons aside from the obvious, and the Nameless QB doesn't count.)

The Tampa game I went to in '08 was also the game where the new Ring of Fame players were announced. I forget the names, but my dad remembered each and every one of them, talking about how great they were.

I know many of you believe this already, but we have a truly special player in Matt Ryan. Saying that makes me giggle like a little girl because like I mentioned before, my life has not experienced a player like that on the team that I love. The thought of getting to see a player of his caliber develop is almost too much. I love the Falcons so much, I will do ridiculous things if we win the Super Bowl in my lifetime.

Anyway, on to actually looking ahead: Here's what I feel like we need to do in order to win.

ACTUALLY LOOKING AHEAD

We need to pump money into Sam Baker. The man either needs to get healthy or get out. We can't have him not playing 16/16 games. The less stability we have there, the worse we're going to be. We also need to get a speed demon for a running back that doesn't have brittle bone disease. Seriously, Juice Norwood. Go drink some dang fruit juice and strengthen those bones. We could probably use a better pass rush, but I'm not sold that we need to spend any early picks on our pass rush. I think this year will tell us whether we should go pass rush in the 2011 draft or not.

Obviously, this year's draft may be the most important one yet. We're lacking a 2nd round pick in a draft that's extremely deep with decent talent, so our R1 is going to have to be a surefire pick. That's another reason I'm all for Weatherspoooon. He's not only a good pick, but he's a safe pick. Our first R3 pick is going to have to be spot on as well. If we get hung out to dry with a solid R1 and crap for the rest, we could be in trouble. I don't believe Comrade will lead us astray, but crazier things have happened.

I'm a firm believer in Mardy Gilyard. I watched the kid play in college. He can play ball, there is no doubt about that. I would be very happy if we landed him in the draft. Same for Aaron Hernandez. I would not be against grabbing him in R3, either.

I'm sure we'll continue to speculate and see how this goes up until the draft and even afterward.

To be honest, I feel a bit optimistic for this season. I don't feel like that this year is Super Bowl or bust, but I can say the Bucs/Panthers won't be a threat for the next two seasons at least, and I feel like the Saints juggernaut will last one more year. I think 2011 is our year. Matty won't be a kid anymore, and our offensive skill players will still be serviceable, minus Tony G, probably.

The Bucs are still rebuilding, and the Panthers are in disarray as Fox/Hurney try to save their jobs. The Saints can't hold themselves together for much longer and like any good team, someone will figure them out. We almost had them both times last year, and I expect us to be better this season, so we'll see what happens.

I don't know about you guys, but I can't wait to see our team develop and hoist the Lombardi Trophy very, very soon.

Anywho, there's my somewhat-halfway-insomnia-brain-dead review of the '09 season and how I feel about the team's direction.

Thanks for reading!! :)