Joey Harrington To Start On Turkey Day

by Dave the Falconer on Nov 20, 2007 3:46 PM EST in Falcons News Comment 10 comments

If Byron Leftwich wasn't so fragile, Bobby Petrino might've been forced to make a really dumb decision. Thankfully, the AJC is reporting that he had his mind made up for him, as Leftwich has a tailbone injury.

I hate to make light of injuries to anyone, but this needed to happen to keep Leftwich from actually getting killed against the Colts. That's not a guarantee that Joey Joe Joe will do better, but after Leftwich's performance last week he needs to ride the pine for now. Chances are Petrino will throw him back into the fire, of course. I'd just prefer it didn't happen against one of the best teams in the league.

In the same article, we learn that Rod Coleman, Trey Lewis, Todd Weiner and Blakley are all likely out. Ojinnaka will start in Weiner's place and Blakley will be replaced by Courtney Anderson, but I'm definitely more concerned about the defensive tackle tandem than anything else. Babineaux is a known quantity and should perform well, but damned if I know what Montavius Stanley is capable of. This is especially alarming because Joseph Addai is a talented back who tends to expose a lack of quality up the middle.

In short, this could be a rough one, folks.

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Break out the wishbone?

this sounds like it is going to be a whole lot of fun.

We can only hope that Mike Zimmer has some wizardry up his sleeve in the form of some timely turnovers from the secondary. I don't expect Indy to put up a ton of points with their injuries, but even when healthy we are scoring only a handful more than a dead man.

by mercerjd on Nov 20, 2007 4:19 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

The defense

Is really our only hope of winning, unless something comes out of left field. We've allowed plenty of yards, but I credit Zimmer and the personnel for keeping scoring low.

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by Dave the Falconer on Nov 20, 2007 4:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The J-Wing Formation

I think the Falcons should run the J-wing offense. What is that you might ask? Well it seems my good pal Jason has created a custom formation on Madden 08 which consists of no WR's along with an FB, 2 TE's and a RB in the backfield. Now I don't even know if this is legal in the real world, but maybe it would help our running game?

Let's matriculate the ball down the field boys.

by runningback on Nov 21, 2007 10:27 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Leftwich

Hi, I'm a Colts fan. I'll be around for the next couple days until after the game. I love talking about the Colts so I'll be happy to answer any questions you have and/or discuss the game.

I'll start with the best line on Leftwich I've ever heard, "Someone needs to teach Leftwich to pitch from the stretch." -From Football Outsiders Audibles column

I've seen lots of him while he was the Jags starter and he is slow personified.

by shake n bake on Nov 20, 2007 10:10 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Welcome

You are of course welcome here, but if the Colts win, you'd better get the hell out.

I'm just kidding. What are your thoughts on Manning as of late?

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by Dave the Falconer on Nov 20, 2007 11:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Manning struggling

The Injuries on the offense have brought his supporting cast down to a lower level than he's had in years.
Backup tackle Charlie Johnson filled in well at right tackle last year, but is awful this year on the Left. Right Tackle Ryan Diem is playing hurt and has left the last two games injured. He's been replaced by the starting right guard sliding over and backup G/C Dylan Gandy moving into the lineup. This has really hurt the protection.

The receiver situation is just as bad. Aaron Moorehead has been filling in for Marvin Harrison. Marvin is a future HOF WR, if you look up scrub in the dictionary you'll see Aaron Moorehead's Reche Caldwell (O_O) eyes staring at you. Clark and Anthony Gonzalez have missed time forcing them to use practice squad receiver Craphonso Thorpe in the slot position that is critical to the Colts offense.

If it was just the Line or just the receivers they could deal with it. Line problems means quick short passes. Those don't work too well if your receivers can't get open fast. Poor receiver play can be countered with longer routes that give them more time to get open and running the ball more, but those aren't possible without a good line.

I'm not saying Manning doesn't deserve any blame though. You could see in the Chargers game, things went wrong early because of the backups, he started to get frustrated and press, which means more bad things. He put himself back together in the second half but still wasn't very effective.

Basically, Manning's human like all QBs. You take away most of his good receivers and throw in the backup tackles and he's no longer clearly better than every other QB in the game (who are playing with their WRs and intact O-lines)

by shake n bake on Nov 21, 2007 12:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs