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Can anyone help me to understand, after the games Mike Peterson had against the Texans and the Panthers, why do the coaches even think of putting Nicholas back in the lineup?

Agreed, I think it there reasoning has more to do with age and contract status than who is actually playing better on the field.

Other than the picks, there's really no discernable difference between the two. I was disappointed with how Peterson played the run vs. Carolina.

Peterson is demonstrably slower than Nicholas. He's also much better of a playmaker. Unfortunately, as Pudge mentioned, Peterson's average play has really deteriorated to the point that he's a bit of liability in both of the run and the pass.

There's really not much of a win here with either, but I think you put Nicholas back in so that Peterson is healthy and rested for when you really need a big play.

Peterson can play well in spurts....but his lack of speed makes him an every day liability. It's not a knock on him, as father time catches up to us all.

Peterson's edge is his experience and his time with Mike. Nichols has to get reps to survive. Might be neither will make the cut next year.

Boy, I hope not because that $18 million contract would sure seem like a waste then.

Peterson can play well (even really welll) when put on the spot, but when gameplanned against I'd rather have Nicholas who is far, far superior in coverage.

I really have yet to see better coveage or more speed from Nicholas, imho those both of these players biggest weaknesses.

Still not sure why Dimitrof was so casual about letting Michael Boley walk...

Because Boley's toughness and effort could be severely questioned in 2008. He pouted that year, and turning around and committing $25 million with $11 million of it being guaranteed as a reward for someone that played with no heart is probably not a good standard you want to set.

I would have liked to keep Boley based on how good he was in 2006 and 2007 and hoping that '08 was an aberration, but I don't fault TD & Co. for passing on him because they thought otherwise.

The SAM linebacker isn't that important. He basically splits snaps with the nickel corner, who is more important due to his value in the passing game. I know I sound like a broken record, but if the Falcons want to make a significant improvement to their defense, they will focus on upgrading the MLB rather than the SAM linebacker.

My hope would have been that if the Falcons opted to go in a new direction at that position after this year, they could plug in Peterson there for a year and be able to get by, but Pete's play this year hasn't inspired with much confidence that would work. So I've turned my hopes to the possibility of getting London Fletcher to defect to Atlanta for a year or two until we can draft another MLB and/or Dent develops and proves TD to be a genius again.