I am joined once again by my friend Allen Strk to recap the Falcons 2012 season. We give our thoughts on a plethora of Falcon players and our favorite moments from the season. We discuss the health of players like John Abraham, William Moore, and whether Mike Smith made the right call playing the starters against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But quickly our attention turns to the Falcons upcoming playoff matchups, each giving our opinions on the different scenarios the team could see in the second round. We each give our insights on the Redskins, Vikings, Seahawks, 49ers, and Packers as potential obstacles to the Falcons potential journey to the Super Bowl. Eventually we wind up giving our picks for who will make it to the Super Bowl, as well as our thoughts on the many coaching vacancies around the league.

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Duration: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Allen writes for TJRSports.com as well as the Bleacher Report. His twitter handle is: @Allen_Strk.

 

If you have any questions and comments, you can hit us up on Twitter, post in the forums in the podcast thread, or drop an e-mail at: pudge@falcfans.com.

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. You can also subscribe directly to our feed at the following URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/falcfans/LXSt

John Manasso of FOX Sports South first tweeted this morning that Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson was cleared to return to practice today. Later, Jay Adams of AtlantaFalcons.com confirmed that Robinson did indeed participate in Friday’s practice. Robinson suffered a head injury early in the Falcons loss last Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, missing the rest of the game. But he was cleared to return to practice as part of the league’s concussion protocol (meaning he must be cleared by team doctors through a series of tests) less than a week later. Previously, Robinson had suffered a concussion in 2010, and returned to practice after 15 days.

Alongside defensive John Abraham (ankle) and safety William Moore (hamstring), Robinson had sat out this week of practice. The team will also be without cornerback Asante Samuel, who has returned home to Florida to deal with the death of his mother. His mother passed away earlier this week after a long battle with ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. The Falcons expect all three players to return to practice next Wednesday.

Falcons head coach Mike Smith indicated in his Monday press conference yesterday that he expects defensive end John Abraham and cornerback Dunta Robinson to play in the Falcons second round playoff game on January 13.

Robinson left Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after six plays with a head injury. Smith updated his status indicating that he is part of the concussion protocol. Robinson suffered a concussion in October 2010, and missed two weeks, one of which was a bye before he returned to action. It took 15 days after the injury before Robinson was cleared to return to practice. Abraham was injured at the start of the fourth quarter when teammate Peria Jerry fell on top of him, getting his left leg bent underneath. Abraham was helped off the field and was carted into the locker room with an ankle injury. Smith’s appraisal of Abraham’s likely return jibes well with an earlier report that Abraham’s injury was not serious.

I for one will feel much better if or when I see that Abraham participates in next Wednesday’s practice.

The Falcons offense looked sharp because of the explosive scoring plays they were able to generate against a weak Lions secondary. Matt Ryan had a solid game, but despite a very high earning his individual play was nothing special. But he gets credit for only have 2 poor throws, which is a fairly low total for him in the second half of the season.

The offense stagnated a bit in the second half because the Lions were able to dial up pressure. Ndamukong Suh made Peter Konz look pretty bad in this game. As I’ve said before, Konz is clearly the weakest link of the offensive line. It doesn’t mean that Konz going forward can’t become a very good player for the Falcons, particularly if he moves to center. But Suh really had a field day against Konz, with 2 pressures, 2 missed blocks, 0.5 sack, and 2 hurries all occurring when the two of them were matched up, including the safety. Konz is just miscast as a guard, as he lacks the polished technique and footwork to block 1 on 1 against quality D-tackles like Suh. He should fare better at center where those issues won’t be major liabilities. McClure’s lone pressure came when he was asked to block Suh 1 on 1 as well.

Thanks largely to Suh, the Lions were able to get Ryan a bit rattled with pressure and hits in the second half, and the running game wasn’t good enough to pick up the slack. I don’t think Turner played poorly, but there was a run in this game that I think well illustrates how much of his skill has declined. He had a run for a 2-yard loss in the fourth quarter on a sweep left. He got to the edge, and was in a one-on-one situation with rookie corner Jonte Green on the edge. The old Michael Turner would have just ran right through Green and gotten some positive yardage on that play. Instead now, Turner tried to bounce outside and run around Green, who was able to slow him up and allow his teammates to rally for the loss.

If you’re wondering why Tony Gonzalez was so quiet this week, it was a combination of a few factors. Mostly it was because Ryan was looking elsewhere, as Roddy White was near unstoppable in the first half, and Jones took over in the second half. Also, it was because there were some longer developing routes for Gonzo, and pressure forced Ryan to try and get rid of the ball quicker before Gonzo could come open. And it was also due to the fact that there were several instances where Gonzo was asked to chip as the Lions made ample use of the Wide 9s in this game.

PLAYER	PASS	RUSH	REC	BLK	SPEC	PEN	TOTALS
Matt Ryan	$20	$3	$0	$0	$0	$0	$23.00
Roddy White	$0	$0	$14	-$1	$0	$0	$13.00
Julio Jones	$0	$0	$7	$0	$0	$0	$7.00
Michael Turner	$0	$6	$1	$0	$0	$0	$7.00
Michael Palmer	$0	$0	$2	$1	$0	$0	$3.00
Jacquizz Rodgers	$0	$2	$1	$0	$0	$0	$3.00
Tyson Clabo	$0	$0	$0	$3	$0	-$1	$2.00
Justin Blalock	$0	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$2.00
Tony Gonzalez	$0	$0	$1	$1	$0	$0	$2.00
Sam Baker	$0	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$1.50
Mike Cox	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Todd McClure	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Jason Snelling	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$0	$1.00
Peter Konz	$0	$0	$0	-$2.5	$0	$0	-$2.50

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Aaron is back and is joined by Allen Strk and Scott Carasik for a lively conversation on a wide range of Falcons-related topics. You’ll hear their thoughts on many of the current Falcon players and what sort of seasons they are having in 2012 and what they could be expecting in the future. You’ll also hear them opine on some past Falcon players as well. Scott shares many of his thoughts on what the Falcons could be looking at in the draft and this upcoming off-season. They give their insights on what the upcoming playoff picture could look like for the Falcons. This episode does contain EXPLICIT content, so be forewarned.

Part 1:

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Duration: 1 hour, 2 minutes

Part 2:

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Duration: 1 hour, 6 minutes

Allen writes for TJRSports.com as well as the Bleacher Report. His twitter handle is: @Allen_Strk. Scott also writes for Bleacher Report and ScarDraft.com. You can also hear Scott on his weekly radio show: “Kvetching Draftniks Radio.” His twitter handle is: @scar988.

 

If you have any questions and comments, you can hit us up on Twitter, post in the forums in the podcast thread, or drop an e-mail at: pudge@falcfans.com.

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. You can also subscribe directly to our feed at the following URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/falcfans/LXSt

To put it simply, the Falcons got their butts kicked in this game. They just really came out with zero intensity or passion for this game and seemed to be going through the motions.

I thought Matt Ryan got off to a poor start. And it really wasn’t until late in the game did he really start to play at a relatively high level. He only looked comfortable when he was running the no-huddle. I know many will complain why did the Falcons wait so long to go to the no-huddle. Well they didn’t wait that long. They went to it on their 10th offensive play during the 3rd series. But I don’t think Ryan looked his usual self or at least the guy that was playing at an MVP level earlier in the season. I mentioned it before, but I do think Ryan does look a little less. It wasn’t until late in the game (when he got into a rhythm in the no-huddle) did I really see him put good zip on the ball. Frankly, his arm looks a little tired. He wasn’t as quick on the trigger on a some early throws that had he pulled the trigger a half-second earlier could have wound up being big plays for the Falcons. They were not, and the offense was stagnant. I also thought he struggled a bit when the pocket was muddy, not setting his feet and struggling when he was moved off his spot. That reminded me too much of last year’s Ryan, not this year’s, who for the first half of the season did an excellent job working behind a subpar O-line.

That was not the case this week. The Falcons O-line once again got pushed around by the Panthers front. Every single lineman gave up at least one pressure, and there were a number of hurries. Peter Konz struggled in this game. And I think it’s reached a point where a change might be in order. The guy just isn’t really cutting it at right guard. He gave up a 3.5 hurries, 1 sack, and a pressure. And he was somewhat responsible for another sack (the first, attributed to McClure). He and McClure were double-teaming Frank Kearse, then Konz left to chip Charles Johnson who was working against Clabo. The shove Konz gave Johnson, allowed Johnson to get free of Clabo and pressure Ryan to step up in the pocket. And at that point, McClure got beat by Kearse with a rip move and had an easy sack on Ryan. It would be one thing if Konz had been going up against Ndamukong Suh or Geno Atkins, but Nate Chandler, Greg Hardy, and Frank Alexander are beating you, then it becomes an issue. And it’s not just this game, but it’s been at least two or three straight games where he’s clearly been the weakest link on the offensive line. So the Falcons might want to think about giving Mike Johnson a shot (who got credited with the key block or rather “hold” on Turner’s touchdown).

Clabo’s false start was credited to McClure, who failed to snap the ball. As for the run blocking, it wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t good.

The Falcons passing game had a lot of success going to Roddy. I don’t know if he was working against James Dockery all game, but he was abusing him throughout the second half. Jones had a number of drops in this game. Not all were perfectly thrown passes, but still catchable for Jones.

I thought it was interesting that on Turner’s first 2 carries of the game, he was unsuccessful. Then the Falcons ran to Quizz 4 straight times, and he was successful on all of them. Then Turner got the rock twice, neither successful runs. Then he got a successful run on the 5-yard gain (his 5th carry), then was stuffed at the goalline, and then had an obviously successful run on the touchdown carry. Does any of that mean anything? Eh, not really. Just thought it was interesting that the Falcons clearly were not going with the hot hand.

For the people that want to call out Koetter for his play-calling/management in the game, there is some fodder. It did not appear that the Falcons called any plays until a minute left in the 3rd quarter that was designed for Ryan to throw downfield. That first play was the one where Roddy stumbled and Ryan overthrew him. After that point, they took many shots downfield. And by that point Ryan had 21 pass attempts. Other than that, I really don’t think you can find much fault in Koetter’s play-calling that isn’t just nitpicking.

PLAYER	PASS	RUSH	REC	BLK	SPEC	PEN	TOTALS
Matt Ryan	$17	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$17.00
Roddy White	$0	$0	$10	$0	$0	$0	$10.00
Jacquizz Rodgers	$0	$4	$3	$0	$0	$0	$7.00
Tony Gonzalez	$0	$0	$4	$0	$0	$0	$4.00
Julio Jones	$0	$0	$4	$0	$0	$0	$4.00
Michael Turner	$0	$3	$0	$0	$0	$0	$3.00
Harry Douglas	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$0	$2.00
Sam Baker	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Justin Blalock	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Chase Coffman	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$0	$1.00
Tyson Clabo	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Mike Johnson	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Jason Snelling	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$0	$1.00
Todd McClure	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	-$1	-$1.00
Peter Konz	$0	$0	$0	-$1	$0	$0	-$1.00

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This was a very bad game for the offense as the passing game never got into sync. The Falcons went nearly the full game without converting a third down and the lack of big plays was stark. I don’t think Ryan played poorly, but he certainly did not play well. He looked rattled early, as the Saints were effective pressuring him early. It caused him to be off on some throws and reads. Towards the latter part of the game, he seemed less willing to sling it downfield, and was going more for the easy completions in an effort to keep the offense on schedule. They attempted to take some shots early in the game, but they failed. Obviously when this offense is settling on 6 or 7-yard completions on a lot of dumpoffs to the running backs, then it is not potent at all.

The running game started strong, and one criticism could be that the team abandoned it during the middle portion of the game where the offense was struggling to move the ball. I don’t really adhere to that criticism. Everyone knows this team offensively is carried by its passing attack. The running game was on point against the Saints, but I don’t think you could believe it would be sustainable throughout the night.

One thing I did notice in terms of the backs was that I think Rodgers could be more potent with Mike Cox blocking for him. Cox has been an upgrade at the fullback position in recent weeks. And while he’s no Ovie, he’s at least competent to good for the most part. Traditionally, the Falcons like to use Cox in conjunction a lot with Turner, but I think Rodgers might be a better match. Turner’s late fumble was partially his fault for fighting for yards, but also it did seem that the refs were fairly lethargic on blowing the whistle for forward progress. But in the end, you still have to secure the football, which Turner did not, and ultimately the blame still falls squarely on him. After recent games, it’s going to be hard for Turner to earn the trust back of the coaching staff in order to finish games. While Turner was superior to Quizz in the early going, it does seem that the Falcons offense seems more effective with Quizz as the closer.

Up front, the line blocked well earning most of their key blocks in the early going. Konz was the weakest of the front, as he along with McClure, Blalock, and Baker all had their troubles blocking Sedrick Ellis. By my count, Ellis had a pressure (vs. McClure), 2 hits (1 vs. Baker, 1 vs. Konz), and a hurry (split by Baker & Blalock). McClure had his ups and downs, missing a couple of blocks (one of which was on a screen), giving up pressure to Ellis and Hicks up the middle. But he also made some very nice blocks in this game, so it also balances out. Clabo had a good game, as it seems like this is the first game in forever that he didn’t give up a pressure/hurry once. But overall, I think the line has been showing some improvement in recent weeks. It’s about time…

PLAYER	PASS	RUSH	REC	BLK	SPEC	PEN	TOTALS
Michael Turner	$0	$9	$0	$0	$0	-$2	$7.00
Tyson Clabo	$0	$0	$0	$5	$0	$0	$5.00
Sam Baker	$0	$0	$0	$4	$0	$0	$4.00
Justin Blalock	$0	$0	$0	$4	$0	$0	$4.00
Jacquizz Rodgers	$0	$3	$0	$0	$0	$0	$3.00
Todd MCClure	$0	$0	$0	$3	$0	-$1	$2.00
Mike Cox	$0	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$2.00
Julio Jones	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$0	$2.00
Matt Ryan	$2	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$2.00
Jason Snelling	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$0	$2.00
Antone Smith	$0	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$1.00
Tony Gonzalez	$0	$0	$3	-$2	$0	-$1	$0.00
Roddy White	$0	$0	-$1	$0	$0	$0	-$1.00
Peter Konz	$0	$0	$0	-$1	$0	$0	-$1.00

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The Falcons defense stepped up and created a number of turnovers against the New Orleans Saints to pull out the ugly 23-13 victory. The game came down to the wire with a strong defensive effort and lackluster offensive one for the Falcons. The Falcons are now a loss by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday from clinching the NFC South division crown this week with their 11-1 record.

Matt Ryan struggled in this game, completing 18 of 33 for 165 yards and a touchdown. Michael Turner led the team on the ground with 83 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown. He had a late fourth quarter fumble that gave the Saints one last late game opportunity to try and steal the win. Jacquizz Rodgers had 43 yards on 8 carries. Julio Jones led receivers with 5 grabs for 48 yards. Tony Gonzalez had 4 catches for 58 yards and Ryan’s lone touchdown pass. Jason Snelling caught 4 passes for 28 yards. Roddy White had a quiet night, catching only 1 pass for 20 yards. Matt Bryant really made up for the stalled offense, connecting on 3 field goals of 45, 29, and a 55-yarder that put the team up two scores with over 4 minutes left in the game. Matt Bosher punted 6 times, matching a season-high, averaging 53.2 yards and having 1 placed inside the 20-yard line. Rodgers returned 1 kickoff for 22 yards and Dominique Franks returned 1 punt for 13 yards. The offense started strong, rushing well on their opening drive, but then stalled out, unable to take advantage of multiple Saints turnovers. They started the game with 101 yards rushing in the first half, but only had 23 yards on 12 carries in the second half. They only managed to score 6 points off the five Saints turnovers. They finished 1 for 11 on third downs, unable to convert their first one until less than 7 minutes were left in the game.

Defensively, the Falcons gave up a lot of yards as the Saints racked up 436 total yards on the day. They also struggled to get off the field on third downs, allowing the Saints to convert 7 of 14 on that down. But they managed to pick off Drew Brees five times, which cut short a number of go-ahead or tying drives for the Saints. The run defense performed better than their last outing against the Saints, limiting them to just 38 yards in the first half. The Saints finished with 101 yards on the day. William Moore led the team with 11 tackles, including 2 for loss, and also picked off Brees twice. His second interception helped seal the Falcons victory after the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter. John Abraham (2 tackles, 1 sack, 2 pass deflections); Jonathan Babineaux (1 interception); Kroy Biermann (2 tackles); Thomas DeCoud (7 tackles, 1 interception); Robert McClain (6 tackles, 2 pass deflections); Stephen Nicholas (5 tackles); Chris Owens (3 tackles, 2 pass deflections); Dunta Robinson (7 tackles); and Sean Weatherspoon (4 tackles, 1 interception) all had noteworthy games.

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A solid game for the offense particularly when it came to producing some explosive plays at key moments. Most of those plays came via the legs and speed of Jacquizz Rodgers. Rodgers had a career high in earnings, collecting as a runner, receiver, blocker, and on special teams. It’s probably about as good a game from him that you might be able to expect from him. The disparity in burst and elusiveness between Quizz and Turner has been noticeable in recent weeks, and it really doesn’t get more apparent than it was this week. The Falcons offense now is predicated on generating big plays and the coaches will be doing themselves a favor by continuing to give Rodgers more snaps, and more carries on the ground.

But I did notice in this game that many of the Turner runs were poorly blocked. It’s almost as if the team’s effort goes down when he’s running the ball. It’s a ridiculous statement to make, yes I know. Or maybe the Bucs effort goes up because they are keying on the run harder. That sounds more plausible, but it’s not any more provable just from watching tape.

Ryan had another solid game, although there were a couple of missed throws he had this week that I’m not sure he would have missed a month or so ago. It’s a very, very minor concern at this point, but it’s something I want to keep my eye on going forward. The last player I want to see getting into a bit of a lull is Ryan.

Julio Jones had another big game. He also had a pair of dropped touchdowns (one of which was negated by his OPI penalty). The actual drop was a bad throw on Ryan’s part, but Jones did an excellent job adjusting to the ball behind him and had a chance to catch it as it sort of bounced off his chest. I’m going to say it right now, I think drops are going to be a regular thing with Julio going forward. His range and ability to get his hands on balls that many, rather most other receivers cannot is going to lead to a lot of drops. Especially when you use the litmus test where if he can get both hands on the ball (which generally I do), then it should be caught. It just might be similar to Terrell Owens (a comparison someone made in the forums), although towards the end of his career it seemed like T.O. dropped a lot of easy passes due to poor concentration. Jones has certainly had his share of lapses in concentration during his short Falcon career, but it wasn’t a problem this week and hasn’t been the past few games from what I can recall. Brandon Marshall is that same way, and all three guys are/were physical specimens which occasionally seems to be a disadvantage (although I welcome that trade-off for all the times when it’s a major advantage).

A quiet game for Roddy White, but he made some nice plays when it counted. I think his low production had more to do with Ryan attacking matchups he liked with the weaker Buc corners. And that often was Julio on whomever. Gonzo was money on third downs, as usual. I did like the flat pass to Douglas working out of trips. I’ve seen the team use that a bit more often in recent weeks, and I think it’s a nice way to manufacture yards on first down via the pass, instead of relying on the ground attack. I hope to see more of that the rest of the season. If you’ve been wondering where Douglas can make an impact on this offense down the stretch it’s potentially there.

This also was one of the better games for the pass protection, who had a nice long run of not doing a great job. A couple of hurries where the Bucs were able to move Ryan off his spot, but nothing grievous outside a pressure given up by Baker, and a hit/hurry given up by Cox on a completion to Jones.

The run blocking still needs work however. The Falcons just really struggle to create any push at the line of scrimmage. Both of those late runs by Turner that went for negative yardage were poorly blocked. Turner made a mistake on the last one, and had he not fought for extra yards, it could have been “just” a loss of two. But I’m not sure I can really blame Turner too much because it’s silly to tell him that he should let Adam Hayward tackle him. The mistake was going deeper in the backfield however, not breaking Hayward’s tackle. But nonetheless, the run was doomed from the start. Again, even if Turner had not backtracked on that play, the best you could have hoped for was a loss of 2 yards, which is a failure on the O-line.

Clabo had both of his key blocks on early Rodgers runs where he pulled and was able to cut a defender. The first was on Quizz’s opening carry for 20 yards, the second on the 5-yard TD run. But Clabo also was credited for missing the block on that -8 yard run by Turner at the end. Other Falcon blockers missed their assignments as well (Konz and Johnson) but it was Gerald McCoy beating Clabo that really blew up that play.

PLAYER	PASS	RUSH	REC	BLK	SPEC	PEN	TOTALS
Matt Ryan	$14	$2	$0	$0	$0	-$2	$14.00
Jacquizz Rodgers	$0	$9	$2	$1	$1	$0	$13.00
Julio Jones	$0	$1	$8	$1	$0	-$1	$9.00
Roddy White	$0	$0	$4	$2	$0	$0	$6.00
Tony Gonzalez	$0	$0	$4	$0	$0	$0	$4.00
Michael Turner	$0	$4	$0	$0	$0	$0	$4.00
Todd McClure	$0	$0	$0	$3	$0	$0	$3.00
Jason Snelling	$0	$0	$3	$0	$0	$0	$3.00
Tyson Clabo	$0	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$2.00
Sam Baker	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Justin Blalock	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Mike Cox	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Peter Konz	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Antone Smith	$0	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$1.00
Michael Palmer	$0	$0	$0	-$1	$0	$0	-$1.00
Harry Douglas	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	-$1	-$1.00

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Yesterday, the Philadelphia Eagles released defensive end Jason Babin, sending small shockwaves around the league. Babin had 18 sacks a year ago, ranking third in the league. He was also currently leading the Eagles with 5.5 sacks. It was a slight disappointment for the Eagles after last year’s monster season. But the Eagles seemingly looking towards their future and wanting to give more reps to young pass rushers like Brandon Graham and Vinny Curry, decided to part ways with Babin. And Babin would become subject to the waivers system with his release.

It was a move comparable to that of the Falcons own decision to part ways with Ray Edwards a few weeks ago. That same summer that the Falcons handed a five-year, $27.5 million contract to Edwards, the Eagles gave out a similar deal to Babin. With 5/16ths of his $5.6 million base salary counting towards any team that claimed him, the 32-year old Babin would come at a relative bargain.

But in the end, the Jacksonville Jaguars claimed Babin today. The Jaguars, with the league’s second-worst record, had waiver priority over all teams except the Kansas City Chiefs. Due to having the best record, the Falcons were ranked last in waiver priority. Essentially meaning that Babin would need to clear waivers in order with no other team claiming him for the Falcons to get him. Doubtful given the league-wide value on pass rushers. Even if Babin is not the same player he was a year ago, he still would be considered an upgrade on a lot of rosters, including potentially the Falcons.

Today, it was announced that besides the Jaguars, seven other teams put in waiver claims with the Falcons. Separate reports have indicated that the Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins, Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers, along with the Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins putting a claim on him. Who the last team was is not known, but it’s doubtful that it was the Falcons given last night’s report from D. Orlando Ledbetter of the AJC that sources indicated that the Falcons had no interest in Babin.

Whether Babin would provide a boost to the Falcons pass rush, it was certainly worth a look by the Falcons to try and claim him. The Falcons pass rush is one of the most glaring weaknesses on their defense. With their run defense making some improvements in recent weeks, the pass rush now may rank as the biggest weakness for the defense. And lacking a good pass rush is a major liability come playoff time, for this 10-1 Falcon team that is attempting to win its first playoff game in the Mike Smith Era.

If Babin proved to be another Ray Edwards and was a non-factor down the stretch for the Falcons, it would be a worthwhile risk. Unlike with Edwards where the Falcons gave up $11 million guaranteed, Babin would only be guaranteed about $1.6 million left of his base salary. Relatively speaking, he would have been easy to cut ties with in the off-season. If he worked out, then it could have been a significant boost to the pass rush and defense for a stretch run for a Falcon team that has lofty goals this year.

Instead, the Falcons will be reliant on John Abraham stepping up. Abraham has been on a recent lull in his production, but hopefully it is due to Abraham gearing up for the playoff push as opposed to hitting a wall. Biermann has stepped up his play in recent weeks, and the Falcons are hoping that the infusion of youth with Edwards departure might help out.