Angry Birds: A Quick Look At The Tuesday Press Conference

Now you never have to do it again.

But yeah, be aware that it’s something we never do here.

Never have been. He’s a tremendous athlete, to be sure, and our best corner, but the fact is that he’s just too small to deal with the modern receiver, much less the modern tight end. The bigger guys in the league eat him for lunch, and even though he can break the big play and make spectacular picks, he can’t consistently cover the best #1 receivers in the NFC or the rest of the NFL. If he asks for a big raise, I’d be tempted to let him walk.

and said as much about a month and a half ago!! My post was more about firing the OC and DC but as it turns out, BVG left on his own and Jacksonville gave us a VERY early 2012 Christmas present by taking MM off our hands!!

Who knows, MM may make a much better coach than coordinator but Jag’s fans should not hold their breath, not if they want a “living” fan base to go see games anyway!!

I KNEW A. Blank was gonna be pissed!! You could see it on his face the last 3 or so losses (including the Giants game). This is NOT what he bought this team for and I am glad he is the owner of this team…PERIOD!!!

As far as Mike being pissed…he should have been pissed about half way through the season!!

I expect there to be drastic changes and improvements as well, which is why I don’t think Bratkowski will be getting the OC job…but that’s just me…

Smitty knows his seat is about ten degrees warmer than it was in 2011.

That makes logical sense. I guess that makes someone like Jack Del Reo or Steve Spagnuolo a more desired commodity. I think it also makes the postion of OC or DC more attractive for those who’d like an opportunity to inherit a team.

Based on responses in the press conference I get the impression Mike Smith will not be picking his future DC and OC instead it will be a collective effort.

I see your point, and body language does tell a lot in this case.

However, it is not uncommon for HCs and GMs to make a joint decision on who’s to be hired as coordinators. the hierarchy you mentioned exists in many, but not all teams. so to me, this move is not a sign of Smitty’s weakness (I agree his seat is becoming warmer though), but some sort of an attempt to share responsibility in making such an important decision – and it’s actually a good sign.
Many owners and GMs around the league tale active role in selecting staff, and while organizational culture may be different, the HC should still be having the final say, because it’s the HC who’s ultimately responsible for running the team.

the smart move would be to take over the hiring of the DC and OC and insure your next potential HC is already in the building.

you might be right, but I’d still look at it with some caution. let’s put it this way – Smitty will be fired from this team (with or w/out TD) only if the team doesn’t reach the goals within next 1-2 years. However, if that happens (God forbid) the blame will also fall on the coordinators (unless the whole season comes to one dumb HC call or non-call, like missed TO with 40 secs remaining and 2-3 timeouts left.). in other words, if history repeats itself in Atlanta (unless its 1998) we will see a complete overhaul, not just the HC.
Obviously, we will be able to tell if your idea is closer to truth or not when we see which candidates end up with the coordinator jobs.

But that may be unrealistic.

Schottenheimer did decently well with some pretty putrid pieces in New York. Still would not be my first choice.

But we need a little better than just “ok”…..

is Theisman. He’s been putting his foot in his mouth for years. I’ll take it with a grain of salt until someone else confirms it.

Out:
Redman (JPW takes over), Kelvin Heyden, James Sanders, Jason Snelling, Todd McClure, Kroy Biermann, Michael Palmer, Joe Zelenka, Mike Peterson

Stays put:
Lofton, Grimes, Harry Douglas, Gonzo (I bet they are counting him already), DeCoud (or Sanders, it’s up in the air), Antone Smith, Weems, Vance Walker, John Abraham

My guess anyway.

might still have something left in his tank, if he can be brought back at some veteran pay.

…it’s hard not to like Grimes and Lofton. I think that whoever takes over will make a push to resign both.

He’s thinking more about Special Teams tackles and blocking – and I can definitely say the little guy hustles in coverage and is always at the ball. His return game was middling, but, well, it was the best on the team (sample size = 1).

I’d say the Falcons are a little less opaque than the average NFL team. I get where DOL is coming from, but I also get where Blank is coming from.

You start aggressive and you stay aggressive til the last whistle blows. You can still run the clock getting first downs and friggin trying to keep scoring period. Same with our 3rd down problems on defense. We’d drop into “safe” zones and still give them the 1st downs. Make the opposing QB make quicker decisions by oh….say…not rushing THREE DL?!

I think that’s been a function of the zone defense and MM’s “safe” playcalling than Smitty. But the buck does stop with him.

That has to be our main focus going into the offseason.

Corey Peters

was the guy we also said was overvalued by TD during the draft. but he played almost at the 1st rounder level.

I hate to say it, but Peria became a non-factor and Babs wasn’t spotted anywhere around positive defensive plays after midseason.

“9 of the last 21 draft picks used on OL and DL”.

9 of the 22 starters are OL and DL… so that’s almost exactly the right rate to be drafting linemen. But when you consider than most of those draft picks have been in the 4th Round and later, I could make the case that Dimitroff has under-drafted those units. This is a possible off-season FanPost item for me (I’ve started collecting some of the data), but here’s a quick and dirty version:

Generally the team has kept 9 O-Linemen on the 53 every season. That’s 17% of the roster. 5 OL (Baker, Reynolds, Mike Johnson, Hawley, and Andrew Jackson) out of 35 draft picks to aquire players (including trades for Tony G, Tye Hill, and Domonique Foxworth) – that’s only 14% of the picks used. And even including the First Rounder spent on Baker, he’s only spent 11% of the draft value on O-Linemen (using a Draft Value chart). Same story for DE (and Cornerback). Our LB’s are so strong (and deep) because we’ve spent a 1 (Spoon), a 2 (Lofton), and a 3 (Dent) in the last four drafts (in addition to FA’s and guys that were already on the roster).

That would get our D-Line to an elite level.

Tom Clements would be amazing. He has done wonders for Rodgers and Flynn. Plus he is from the McCarthy tree and I would like to see what he could do with MR.

Actually don’t think Hawley played too bad having been shuffled from emergency center to Guard and as a first year starter at that.

He reaches too much for me. Its different when they pan out but Baker, hawley, and even dent could have been drafted in the later rounds.

A bevy of tee’d off geriatrics in jumpsuits and walkers rushing the podium during post game.