Rewind nearly five years, when I began this humble blog. It helps if you picture me with a handlebar mustache, and pretty much everything else in sepia tones.
Those were not the brightest days for the Falcons franchise. The ineptitude of Jim Mora Jr. was followed by the a series of fiascoes that culminated in Michael Vick serving a prison sentence and Bobby Petrino flying out of Flowery Branch as fast as his little legs could carry him. At that point, I wouldn't have trusted the Falcons front office to make me a slice of toast, much less successfully manage the transition to a new coach.
Of course, we all know that not only did they make toast, but it was toast deep-fried in manna and covered in a syrup of success. It was a remarkable turnaround, but I didn't realize how completely the Atlanta Falcons had transformed until the other day.
How's that, you ask? Only half a decade after the lowest lows in the Falcons' ignoble history, I wrote an articlee that was fairly skeptical about Jamaal Anderson's potential to suddenly transform into a decent pass rusher. I further expressed doubts that rolling with the guys on the roster instead of signing a free agent pass rusher, while not an awful idea, might backfire on the team.
The responses were interesting. Some agreed with my premise, which didn't surprise me, and some didn't, which surprised me a little. But the common thread running through all of this was a sense of trust that Comrade Dimitroff and the front office would do the right thing, regardless of whether it was signing a new guy or molding Jamaal Anderson into a quarterback-killing machine who sacks on command, like a defensive end version of The Manchurian Candidate.
That trust is warranted, but it struck me today nonetheless. We've come a very long way in a very short time.
What's your confidence level in this Falcons team?