Jonathan Babineaux

Pros:Has a quick step upfield to beat interior linemen with his quickness. Has good strength for his size and shows a capable bull rush to use a power move. Does his best work when he’s allowed to get upfield, penetrate and make plays in the backfield. A good run defender because of this. Can get off blocks and make the hit on the ballcarrier. Rarely gets caught out of position. Plays with a high motor and consistently plays to the whistle. Shows good athleticism to occasionally drop into coverage to make a play. Shows very good durability.

Cons: Not a dynamic pass rusher that will consistently generate a lot of sacks. His production notably drops off when he goes up against top guards. Can get pushed off the ball at times and doesn’t always match up well with bigger, more powerful guards.

2011 Outlook: Babineaux is arguably the best and most consistent defender on the Falcons defense that impacts both as a run defender and pass rusher. He is one of the best 4-3 defensive tackles in the league, and hopes to showcase that as more and more people around the league begin to realize this.

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The Bears offensive line coach Mike Tice announced the starting five for the Chicago Bears today. From right to left, the Bears will start rookie first round pick Gabe Carimi at right tackle, first-time starter Lance Louis at right guard, ex-Falcon Roberto Garza at center, former first round pick Chris Williams at left guard, and most importantly last year’s right tackle J’Marcus Webb mans the left tackle position.

John Abraham should be pretty fired up to face Webb. Webb was rated as the worst pass protecting right tackle in the league last year. Ray Edwards had two of his best games last year against Webb and the Bears, so I’m sure that he can give him some helpful tips. But Edwards himself gets to give Carimi his first real NFL test.

But not to be overlooked is the fact that if Jonathan Babineaux remains at left defensive tackle, he’ll be facing Lance Louis. Louis started the first four games of last year at right guard, before his poor play got him benched. Louis didn’t qualify to be ranked by PFF for their rankings of guards pass protection efficiency, but he would have ranked 3rd worst in the league.

Garza has a been a steady guard for them ever since they left Atlanta, but filling in the shoes of potential Hall of Famer Olin Kreutz (now with the Saints) will be a tall order, and the Falcons could potentially take advantage of many communications breakdowns.

While there might be questions on how much improvement the Falcons pass rush will have in 2011, they certainly should have ample opportunity to get off to a fast start against the Bears in Week 1.

Ryan and White celebrate the game-winner in 2010

Recapping news and headlines involving the Falcons from the week of June 12…

Roddy shows up

Roddy White participated in his first player-organized workout on Tuesday this week. White had been absent at the player-organized Falcons workouts this off-season thus far this season. Per quarterback Matt Ryan, White showed up in good shape and was productive in his first practice. Last week, White was in his hometown of James Island, SC for a youth football camp. (Source: D. Orlando Ledbetter, AJC)

Sanders to represent Falcons in HOF

The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced that 2011 inductee and former Falcons cornerback Deion Sanders sent in his Falcons helmet along with a game ball from 1990 to Canton as part of a special exhibit that will be devoted to the 2011 inductee class.

Sanders was a first round pick by the Falcons in 1989, starring for five seasons with the Falcons before joining the San Francisco 49ers in 1994. He then played five seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, and then joined the Washington Redskins in 2000. Sanders initially retired, but came out of retirement to spend two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens in 2004 and 2005. Sanders made 8 Pro Bowls during his 13-year NFL career, including 3 in Atlanta.

When he left Atlanta in 1993, he was the team’s all-time leader in punt return touchdowns, kickoff return touchdowns, and kickoff yardage. Those records have since been eclipsed. He currently sits seventh all-time on the Falcons interception leaders list with 24, as well as tied for the lead with 3 interception return touchdowns.

The gameball comes from a 38-17 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on a Sunday Night matchup on October 28, 1990. In that game, he returned a 79-yard punt for a touchdown, which continues to hold the record for longest in team history.

The 2011 class will be enshrined at Canton’s Fawcett Stadium on August 6, 2011. Sanders will be inducted along with defensive lineman Richard Dent, running back Marshall Faulk, linebackers Chris Hanburger and Les Richter, tight end Shannon Sharpe, and NFL Films founder Ed Sabol. (Source: Pro Football Hall of Fame)

Falcons promote Polk

The team announced that they had promoted pro scout DeJuan Polk to pro personnel coordinator. Polk first joined the organization in 2006 where he worked as a pro personnel assistant. He became Midwest regional scout in the college scouting department in 2008 and then moved back to pro scouting the following year.  (Source: Jay Adams, AtlantaFalcons.com)

Babineaux gets a Day

Falcons defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux is being honored by the Atlanta City Council for his off-field and charity work. Monday, June 20 will be declared “Jonathan Babineaux Day.” Babineaux contributes to over 50 Atlanta-area charities and non-profit organizations. He made donations exceeding $50,000 worth of Falcons home game tickets, some of which were awarded to deaf and blind children in order to experience their first NFL game. Babineaux, along with his brother Jordan, a defensive back for the Seattle Seahawks, established the Babineaux Family Foundation in 2005, which raises funds for lupus research. The brothers’ foundation will host its seventh annual golf tournament on Saturday, June 25 in Beaumont, Texas. Proceeds will benefit the Lupus Foundation, area student scholarships, and local community development. (Source: Sarah Baldwin, CBS Atlanta)

Dunn awarded with Jefferson

Falcons minority owner and former running back Warrick Dunn has been honored with the Jefferson Award, one of the country’s highest honors for community service. They were created in 1972 to be a Nobel Prize for public service. Along with 16 others, Dunn will receive the award in the category of Outstanding Athlete in Service and Philanthropy at a gala in Washington, DC on Tuesday, June 21.

Dunn started his Homes for the Holidays program in 1997, his rookie season in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to honor his late mother’s dream of homeownership. Through his foundation, Dunn has awarded over 100 homes to single-parent families in Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Tallahassee, and Tampa areas. Dunn’s mother was a Baton Rouge police officer that was gunned down while off-duty in 1993, two days after Dunn’s 18th birthday, leaving him in charge of the care of his five siblings.

Dunn joined the Falcons in 2002, and played six seasons with the team. He retired after the 2008 season, a year after re-joining the Buccaneers. He bought a minority stake in the Falcons organization from Arthur Blank in December 2009.

Last year, Oakland Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha was honored in Dunn’s category, and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning won the award in 2006. (Source: Heather Dinich, ESPN)

Curtis Lofton

There are two things that cannot be questioned about Curtis Lofton: first his toughness and secondly, his leadership. These are two areas where Lofton excels in. He’s a punishing, hard-hitting middle linebacker that likes to mix it up on defense. He’s taken on more of the leadership mantle during the lockout, acting as the “quarterback” of the defense during player-organized workouts according to several sources.

But there are areas where Lofton can be questioned, and often that is his play on the field. He did not play up to expectations in 2010 after a very promising 2009 campaign. The previous year, he made consistent plays against the run, while struggling quite a bit against the pass. And while he made improvements as a pass defender, his run play was not up to par. And that play against the run is mainly what Lofton is known for.

The Falcons emphasized improving their offense in this past year’s draft mainly because their brass feels it already has many of the pieces on defense to make significant strides going forward. Obviously, one of those pieces is Lofton. But he’ll have to step up his play like many of the others if he wants to prove the Falcons front office to be right.

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It seems most everyone can agree that a major area of weakness for the Falcons team and defense is their pass rush. The Falcons inability to provide adequate pressure on Aaron Rodgers was a big reason why the Falcons defense was embarrassed in its poorest showing of the year, giving up 48 points in a postseason loss.

Ray Edwards: The New John Abraham?

John Abraham had a resurgent year, going from 5.5 sacks in 2009 to 13 in 2010. But I would argue that overall, while Abe’s production improved in the sack department, his ability to get to the quarterback wasn’t significantly better. As many may have noticed by looking at the final regular season stats for Moneyball, Abraham was credited with 6.5 quarterback pressures and 5.5 quarterback hits in addition to his 12 sacks (one of his official sacks was credited as a hit under Moneyball rules). A year ago, he had 3.5 Moneyball-credited sacks along with 18 pressures and 3 hits. For those unfamiliar with the Moneyball concept, a QB pressure is considered when a defender’s pressure on a QB results in an incomplete pass. So if one were to add up sacks, pressures, and hits all as positive pass rushes (PPRs), then in 2009, Abe had 24.5 and this past year 24 PPRs.

Now I’m not quite sure how to quantify the net difference between having 7.5 more sacks in one year and 9 less pressures/hits. I’d certainly argue that a sack should count a bit more because it results in a loss of yardage, which is probably better for a defense than an incompletion. But I don’t know quite how much better, and figuring that out might be best left to other experts.

But the bigger story from 2009 to 2010 may not be how much or little Abraham improved, but the significant dropoff from other members of the Falcons front. Most notably Kroy Biermann and Jonathan Babineaux. Biermann went from 27 PPRs in 2009 to 14 this past year. Babineaux dropped from 26 PPRs last year to 15.5. The combination of Thomas Johnson, Peria Jerry, and Vance Walker a year ago combined for 10 PPRs. This year with Jerry, Walker, and Corey Peters running the show that number was roughly the same at 10.5. But Jamaal Anderson, Chauncey Davis, and Lawrence Sidbury combined for 21.5 PPRs in 2009. But this year, the Falcons only got 11 from those same players, including no production from Sidbury.

It’s clear that the Falcons probably need to work on getting more pressure from the outside for next year. Who knows what sort of changes could occur with Abraham being a year older. Will Biermann and Babineaux bounce back to their previous 2009 form? How much improvement can Jerry and Peters show? All questions that won’t be answered until the 2011 season begins. But in the meantime the Falcons would be smart to try and improve the area so that there isn’t even more decline next season.

Now getting to free agency, who knows if there will be free agency this off-season. Most signs seem to point to a protracted lockout this off-season, which will preclude any form of free agency from occurring. But for the sake of argument, let’s assume (although it might be more along the lines of pretending) that free agency does occur this off-season. But we still won’t be even sure what type of free agency occurs. Will it be the free agency of a year ago where only players with six or more years of experience were allowed to test the open market as unrestricted free agents? Or will it feature like it has for most of the past with fourth-year players allowed to hit the market? I don’t know, but I present two possible options in either case.

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The Falcons continued to garner postseason honors with four members being named to the Associated Press’s All-Pro team. Wide receiver Roddy White and defensive end John Abraham were both named first team All-Pros, while running back Michael Turner and fullback Ovie Mughelli earned second team honors.

White was also named to the PFW/PFWA All-NFL team earlier this month. This is the first time White has been honored by the Associated Press. He held the most votes among the wide receivers with 47 out of 50 AP voters casting him on their ballots. Abraham earned his 2nd 1st-team All-Pro honors, last receiving it in 2001. He received 21 votes for second most among defensive ends.

Turner had the third most votes among running backs with 8, but also received one vote as a fullback. Mughelli had 13 votes, second most among fullbacks.

Also receiving votes from the Falcons were kicker Matt Bryant, running back Jason Snelling, offensive tackles Tyson Clabo and Sam Baker, as well as defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux and cornerback Brent Grimes. Bryant received 4 votes out of 50 AP voters, fifth-most among kickers. Snelling received 1 vote, placing him seventh among fullbacks. Both Clabo and Baker received a vote each, with twelve other offensive tackles receiving more votes. Babineaux also had a single vote, placing him tied for sixth among defensive tackles. Grimes had 3 votes, seventh-most among cornerbacks.

The Eagles defense swarms Packers RB James Starks

I imagine when the line comes out today or tomorrow, the Falcons will only be favored by one or two points in this game. Considering Vegas gives the home team an automatic three points and the Falcons are one of the teams with one of the more widely known home-winning records, such a low line is actually an indicator that Vegas thinks Green Bay is the superior team.

The emergence of running back James Starks is a worrisome development for the Falcon faithful. When the Falcons took on the Packers in Week 12, Green Bay had no real running game. In that game, quarterback Aaron Rodgers was the team’s leading rusher with 12 carries for 51 yards. The Falcons rushed three for much of that game, which allowed Rodgers ample room to step up in the pocket and scramble for first days down all day. Among the Packers running backs, Brandon Jackson had a paltry 10 carries for 26 yards. The Packers were one dimensional on that November day in Atlanta, and it greatly helped the Falcons achieve victory.

In the following week, Starks emerged with 73 yards on 18 carries. It wasn’t a mind-blowing statline to the conventional fan, but one has to remember that it was the best single total by a Packers running back since Brandon Jackson’s 115-yard performance in Week 5. And with Stark’s 23-carry, 123-yard performance on Sunday afternoon against the Eagles, it doesn’t seem like the Falcons can count on the Packers being one-dimensional again.

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Falcons defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux was listed as questionable for the regular season finale this Sunday against the Carolina Panthers in the team’s weekly injury report earlier today. Babineaux missed the entire week of practice with a shoulder injury. Also listed as questionable are defensive end Kroy Biermann (calf), linebacker Curtis Lofton (knee), and center Todd McClure (ankle). Defensive end John Abraham (groin) and wide out Roddy White (knee) were listed as probable on the report.

Babineaux was the lone Falcon to miss all three days of practice. Lofton, McClure, and White each missed Wednesday and Thursday practices, but White fully participated on Friday, and both Lofton and McClure had limited participation as well.

Second-year defensive tackle Vance Walker is listed on the team’s depth chart as Babineaux’s primary reason. His absence will likely mean increased playing time for Peria Jerry as well.

More looks at which Falcon players have raised or lowered their play in recent games.

Stock Up

Jonathan Babineaux – After a slow start this season, Babineaux’s play has picked up to his usual standards in recent weeks. He’s played well this season and has made his presence and impact known throughout the year but he has not played at the consistently high level he played for most of last season. Recent games have indicated he might be back.

Brent Grimes & Dunta Robinson – Both Grimes and Robinson had strong games against the Tampa Bay. Grimes is more notable because of his game-saving interception and an interception that was overturned. But Robinson also did his part and arguably had his best game in coverage since joining the Falcons. The Falcons pass defense has been one of their weaknesses throughout this season, but if Grimes and Robinson continue to play at a similarly high level it may wind up being a strength as the games start to get more dire come January.

Stock Down

Jamaal Anderson – After a relatively strong first half of the season, Anderson’s play has tailed off in recent weeks. He’s been practically invisible for much of the past month. Early in the season, he was making his presence known as a run stopper and an occasional pass rusher on his limited opportunities there, but in recent weeks his ability as a run stopper have been on the decline. And without it, there is not much else with Anderson.

Justin Peelle – While Peelle has may his presence known in the passing game since his return, his blocking seems to be much more iffy. The gap between the veteran Peelle and upstart Palmer seems to be have been closed. Before the argument would have been that Peelle is the more reliable blocker, but that reliability has not been apparent in recent games. And if it doesn’t return before the year is out, it may never do so because the Falcons might consider going with Palmer as the primary backup to be not so significant a roll of the dice as it may have appeared to be earlier in the season.

Babineaux: A Difference Maker in Week 2?

I certainly know a lot of Falcon fans were disappointed with the outcome of last week’s game. I was too, but if you had read my preview of the game then you knew exactly what was coming. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I think I pretty much nailed that matchup. I’m trying for two in a row.

I watched the Cardinals-Rams game from last week to get prepped for my analysis of this game. And after seeing that game, I have to say that the Rams should have won that game. The Cardinals truly got outplayed, but if not for three interceptions by Sam Bradford, they probably would have lost.

That being said, I don’t expect the Cardinals to lay down for the Falcons. But I don’t see them as nearly a formidable matchup as the Steelers were.

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