Falcoholinks: All the Falcons news you need for Thursday, Oct. 4

Welcome to the world famous Falcoholinks you hear all those cool people talking about. I wish Bradley Cooper would stop talking about the Falcoholinks all the time when I really just want to hear about his new movie.

Lets get to it.

Dan Quinn said... something?

The Falcons coach wanted us to know his plan to turn around the defense. The plan is apparently to play defense.

That sounds like 90% of playing defense, so it must be a good start.

Devonta Freeman vs. Tevin Coleman

Editor in chief Dave Choate made a good point, so we definitely want to focus on something this rare. Devonta Freeman returns this weekend against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and fans may be underrating his ability compared to Tevin Coleman. Coleman may break off some huge runs, but he has one of the lowest success rates in the league.

Freeman will be YUGE in developing a strong and consistent run game. That’s necessary if the Falcons want to make the playoffs.

But if they don’t make the playoffs, it’s OK

Writer Cory Woodruff suggests it’s OK for the Falcons to have a down year. What? We already did that last year. And in 2015. And 2014. And 2013. This team needs way more up years. If the Falcons lose on Sunday, their playoff chances drop to six percent. That was coincidentally my grade in high school Algebra, and things did not go well.

Cory brings up the good point that the core will remain next year: no big names will leave. Dave also notes that the team is giving some young guys like Deadrin Senat, Calvin Ridley, and Isaiah Oliver tons of snaps. That should improve the team’s depth and pay dividends next year.

The only window that shuts will be the window for this season. Man, that still feels grim.

Calvin Ridley ain’t bad

You shouldn’t need this stat to know Ridley is a beast, but man is it one ridiculously pretty stat.

Keanu Neal looks way ahead of schedule

The safety tore his ACL a few weeks back, and according to his Snapchat, he’s already rocking through rehab and is on a bike. We weren’t too worried about him being healthy for training camp next summer, but it is great to see he seems to be killing rehab.

Jack Crawford replacing Grady Jarrett

Quinn’s plan to replace Jarrett is to give Crawford most of his snaps.

Falcoholic editor Jeanna Thomas was in the open locker room, and reports when asked if his approach will change due to the uptick in snaps, Crawford said no because no one told him he’s got a bigger role this week.

That’s not a joke. I guess players aren’t watching the press conferences.

Don’t forget, Matt Ryan is elite

We shouldn’t have to mention that Ryan is having arguably the best three game stretch of his career.

He’s statistically similar to his MVP season, all while short Freeman and with a backup at guard.

This is just a reminder that all the people who called Ryan a Kyle Shanahan product, or even an indoor Andy Dalton, are all pretty quiet right now.