Most of the highlights of the Falcons loss to the Green Bay Packers last Sunday night come from the first half. This week’s highlight is nothing flashy, just a mundane one-yard touchdown run by Michael Turner. But it was nice to see the Falcons bully the Packers a little bit early on. Had the 47-yard throwback pass to Harry Douglas stood, that play probably would have been the highlight of the game, but alas Tyson Clabo made sure that did not happen.

Michael Turner’s 1-yard punch in

Honorable Mentions

Sean Weatherspoon chases down Rodgers for the sack

Corey Peters gets a sack and does a dance

Jones 17-yard run on an end-around

Roddy White’s wide-open touchdown catch

The Falcons released their injury report this afternoon. On it, cornerback Chris Owens was listed as questionablee with an ankle injury. Owens missed practices on Wednesday and Thursday, but was able to participate on a limited basis on Friday, opening the door for him to suit up this week against the Philadelphia Eagles. Owens served as the team’s nickel cornerback in Week 1′s loss to the Chicago Bears. Those duties will likely be filled by Kelvin Hayden against the Eagles.

Also on the injury report were center Todd McClure and defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux, both of whom are out with knee injuries. Babineaux suffered a partial tear of his MCL last week against the Bears. McClure injured his knee during the Falcons third preseason contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers on August 27.

Returning to the Falcons lineup is defensive tackle Corey Peters, who will help alleviate somewhat the loss of Babineaux. Peters injured his knee on August 14, and has been out since. Wide receiver Harry Douglas was also listed as probable this weekend after suffering a concussion last week, but he was cleared by doctors on Thursday, and participated fully in Friday’s practice. Also the Falcons will expect to see fullback Ovie Mughelli (knee) and wide receiver Roddy White (knee) this week, as both are probable.

For the Eagles, defensive end Darryl Tapp (pectoral) is listed as out, linebacker Akeem Jordan (shoulder) is listed as doubtful, and cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (ankle) and quarterback Vince Young (hamstring) are both listed as questionable.

Previously, I broke down the Falcons top wideout: Roddy White. Now it’s time to look at his little buddy, Harry Douglas.

Pros: Has good speed and burst. His quick first step allows him to be a dangerous runner after the catch. Good with the ball in his hands due to his speed, burst, and quickness. That also makes him an effective punt returner. Does his best work on shorter routes such as screens or hitches where he can get in space and be dangerous. Most effective when he’s in the slot. Not afraid to go over the middle and shows the speed to challenge the seam at times.

Cons: Lacks ideal size for a wideout, and it shows when he’s trying to make grabs in traffic. Doesn’t have great length, and isn’t a guy that is going to stretch or lay out to make a lot of grabs away from his body. This makes the windows for him a lot smaller, and puts more onus on the QB to be accurate for him to be most effective. This also diminishes how effective he is when asked to run deeper routes since most corners and safeties won’t be outmuscled for the ball. For similar reasons, his production is limited when he lines up outside. Doesn’t contribute much as a blocker.

2011 Outlook: Douglas disappointed last year coming off an ACL injury. The positive is that players that typically suffer from ACL tears tend to be much better 2 years removed from the injury rather than a year later. That means that Douglas should be better this year than he was a year ago.

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Traditionally, we tend to think of slot receivers as smaller, quicker guys like Wes Welker or Jordan Shipley. But when the Falcons drafted Julio Jones with their top pick, they got a player that could buck that trend.

Not always do teams employ smaller receivers in the slot, as some teams like to make use of guys with more size and physicality to present matchup problems with corners there. Two good examples of this are Anquan Boldin and Marques Colston.

According to Pro Football Focus, Colston led the league last season in yards receiving from the slot with 696. Boldin placed sixth with 561 yards.

The Falcons should do their best to utilize Jones in a similar method. Since Jones selection, some have speculated that Jenkins would move to the slot. But such a move really doesn’t fit either players skillset. Jones has experience playing in the slot from his days at Alabama, where his size and toughness as a blocker made him effective taking out smaller nickel corners, as well as matching up with linebackers. Jenkins is much more at home on the outside. In the slot, you need guys that have explosiveness to separate in space, as well as guys that are comfortable in traffic. Another major quality one looks for in slot receivers is the ability to get yards after the catch. These are all areas that are strengths for Jones, but not for Jenkins. In fact, these are Jenkins greatest weaknesses.

Thus he would be a poor match for the slot. Prior to the draft, I mentioned that the Falcons should look for a big, vertical option to help them out in the slot. It seems they came to a similar conclusion when they traded up to get Jones.

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When Harry Douglas tore his ACL on the fifth day of 2009′s training camp, it was not a career-defining injury. Meaning that it would probably not mean the difference between Douglas making a living catching footballs or bagging groceries.

Douglas, as a third round pick the year before, was coming off a solid rookie year in which he had worked his way up the depth chart from fourth to third option and made an impact in the latter half of the season on special teams. It all meant he was poised to grow into a viable role player for the Falcons. His injury would be a hindrance to his growth, but his potential would earn him future opportunities with the Falcons and other NFL teams alike.

On the other hand, for Falcons 2010 fifth round pick Kerry Meier, that may not be the case. His ACL injury suffered at the end of his rookie training camp last summer could potentially be career-defining. It might be the difference between Meier potentially playing several years in the NFL versus never suiting up for a single game.

Meier does not have a high draft status or a productive rookie campaign to buoy his chances of making this year’s roster like Douglas did coming off injury a year ago. There is no proven value on special teams to make him proven depth either. And bluntly, Meier does not have Douglas’s skill and athleticism that makes his upside and potential obviously worth developing. Even if there was another NFL team that liked Meier coming out of Kansas a year ago, they would have only viewed him as a sixth round value at best, which is not exactly the caliber of player that there is a mad scramble to claim in the event the Falcons let him go.

Meier possesses good size and steady hands, but the biggest question mark about him coming into the league was whether or not he had the speed, quickness, and burst to be able to use those traits effectively. Regardless of how big and strong you are, and how much your hands resemble velcro, if you cannot separate from cornerbacks at this level then the quarterback will not throw you the ball, and then those traits are meaningless.

And Meier’s injury directly impacts those question marks about him, and makes him an even bigger question mark. ACL tears sap explosiveness, speed, and the ability to cut, traits and skills that are essential when it comes to running routes and separating from defenders.

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With now two more days to let the Falcons Julio Jones mega-trade sink, I’m not nearly so negative about it. Why? Because it seemingly is sending the Falcons in a new direction. I don’t necessarily completely embrace that new direction, but I am at least interested and curious to see where it leads them.

And that new direction is for the Falcons to more of an explosive finesse team. It seems the Falcons are trying to take a page from the New England Patriots. I think the Falcons popped in the tape of the past few Patriots seasons and got envious.

I think the Falcons really strengthened their offense in the 2011 NFL Draft. The addition of Jones gives the team an Andre Johnson-esque playmaker at wide receiver. The team drafted Jacquizz Rodgers, who reminds me a lot of Warrick Dunn when he was carving up NFC South defenses in Atlanta years ago. And the Falcons added another good, developmental offensive guard in Andrew Jackson.

And if the Falcons are going to really make the most of this draft class, then they need to embrace this new direction which is to score a lot of points. The new identity of the team should be less of a power-oriented rushing attack, but more of a pass-heavy attack. They gave up a lot for Jones, and in order to get the most out of him going forward and trying to make him into a Johnson-esque playmaker on the outside, then they need to feed him the rock. And that means less touches for the running game. The Falcons should re-focus their offensive identity around the notion that their four most dynamic players and best assets are all in the passing game which is Jones, White, Douglas in the slot, and Rodgers out of the backfield.

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Many mock drafts project the Falcons to target Troy wideout Jerrel Jernigan in the second round of the draft. And admittedly, I have pegged him as a potential Falcon pick in my recent 7-round mock.

But in truth, Jernigan is not a great fit in Atlanta. At least not with the way the team currently runs their offense.

The last thing the Falcons need to be looking for is another pure slot receiver. This is essentially the problem that the team has run into with Harry Douglas. Douglas has yet to emerge as a strong option on the outside. And that’s the area of most glaring need at wide receiver. The Falcons need a player on the outside that can make teams pay for paying too much attention to Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez.

Michael Jenkins has failed to be that option. And while Jenkins had a decent season after a dismal 2009 campaign, he’s not a guy that is going to make plays if the spotlight is put upon him.

Jernigan is an explosive receiver, but it remains to be seen if he can be an explosive receiver on the outside. Primarily what he did at Troy was run a lot of shorter routes and use his speed and burst after the catch to make plays. This is the same type of receiver that Douglas is.

Now, Douglas struggled throughout 2010. But he did his best work when he was running shorter routes. On passes that went 10 or less yards, Douglas caught 15 out of 28 attempts (53.6% catch rate) and totaled 97 yards after the catch for a total of 138 yards. On passes where the ball went beyond 10 yards, Douglas had just 7 catches on 25 attempts (28% catch rate) with 31 yards after the catch for 156 total yards. Getting Douglas more work on the short passing game will make him a more effective receiver, and to a level where he’ll be at the very least acceptable if not very good in that realm.

Instead, the prototype for what the Falcons should be looking for on the outside is a big, tall, physical receiver that has speed and burst to get downfield and stretch the defense. Current and recent NFL receivers that fit this bill are Marques Colston and Plaxico Burress. Jenkins is tall with decent speed to challenge downfield, but he doesn’t separate well from corners and doesn’t have the ball skills and body control to go and get the ball. That is why Matt Ryan needs more than anything out of a big, vertical option.

Jernigan is not this type of player. Players like Miami’s Leonard Hankerson, PItt’s Jonathan Baldwin, Indiana’s Tandon Doss, UNC’s Greg Little, and Tennessee’s Denarius Moore are much more this type of receiver than Jernigan. Now each one has their own faults and weaknesses. Baldwin is similar to Jenkins in that he has the high-cut build that will make it hard for him to separate from corners under 15 yards. Doss and Little too are more used to running shorter routes despite their size, but they have very good ability after the catch. Little is fairly raw as a receiver and may take extra time to develop. Hankerson and Moore probably don’t have as much upside as the other guys do as playmakers, but are good complementary options that have very little risk involved with them.

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As previously discussed in the post about what running backs the Falcons could potentially be looking at, the Falcons want to get more explosive on offense. And what’s the best way of diong that by improving your options on the outside at wide receiver.

Roddy White put together a very impressive season, one that simple blew away previous great Falcons receiving seasons. After all, when Andre Rison, Terance Mathis, and Eric Metcalf were putting their names in the Falcons record books, they were doing so in a Run N’ Shoot offense that was designed to put up big passing numbers. Not the case with the Falcons current offense, which is a much more run-oriented attack. So it’s clear that Roddy White is not the problem.

On the opposite side of the field, Michael Jenkins had a relatively good year considering he missed a big chunk of the beginning of the year with a shoulder injury, and was coming off one of his worst seasons as a Falcon. But it is becoming increasingly clear that the Falcons need an explosive option in the passing game that can make teams pay when they double Roddy, something that teams did to a good degree of success in the second half of the season.

Harry Douglas failed to step up when he had the opportunities, but he did flash some explosive potential in the latter half of the season when the Falcons made better use of him on the shorter routes and trying to get him in space to use his ability after the catch. If the Falcons can continue to do that, they should be able to improve their explosive offensive potential somewhat.

But it’s probably not going to be enough. So adding some more explosive options in the draft makes a ton of sense for the Falcons going forward.

They can start with options in the first round. And the player topping the Falcons draft board is likely to be Maryland wideout Torrey Smith. Smith is a fast, explosive playmaker that grades highly as far as character goes, making him a very attractive first round option if available. Smith appears to be everything the Falcons want in a wideout opposite Roddy. He blocks, he plays hard, he’s fast, and has been getting glowing reviews by many in terms of his character and reportedly wowed many at the combine.

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So continuing on from earlier about how the Falcons need to get more explosive on offense, what sort of pieces can the Falcons find out there that can help them.

Well with the uncertainty of the Collective Bargaining Agreement this off-season, we cannot be sure if the Falcons can rely on free agency to help them at the position. It would be a shame really because this is potentially a very strong crop of free agent receivers.

Players like Santonio Holmes, Braylon Edwards, Malcom Floyd, Steve Smith (from the Giants), Steve Breaston, Sidney Rice, Lance Moore, and James Jones highlight this class, which doesn’t include Vincent Jackson, who was recently franchised by the Chargers.

So that may mean the Falcons will have to rely on the draft to upgrade their wide receiver corps. Players such as Maryland’s Torrey Smith or Pitt’s Jon Baldwin are expected to be available options in the latter half of the first round. Both provide vertical potential due to either speed or size and would be potentially explosive additions to the Falcons lineup.

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I did this in the preseason when it came to discussing which players had their stock up and down as far as making the roster, but I think it’s time to break it out for the regular season as well. Just trying to look at which players stock is up and down as far as playing well, poorly, etc. And since this feature was non-existent through the first 9 games of the season, for this first time, I’ll try to incorporate performances in recent weeks.
 

Stock Up

Roddy White – This is a no brainer. Roddy is on a ridiculous pace so far this year with his production. His 70 catches in 9 games makes him on pace for 124 receptions this year. For the record, the single season record for receptions is 143 which Marvin Harrison accomplished in 2002. But the second most ever is 123, accomplished by Herman Moore in 1995 and Wes Welker in 2009.

Michael Palmer – In the absence of Justin Peelle, the undrafted rookie has performed well as a role player, contributing as a receiver and blocker. His play hasn’t been stellar but he’s made some key blocks in recent games and been a very reliable outlet for Ryan underneath. He looks like a keeper long-term. If his play continues to improve, the Falcons may have little reason to bring Peelle back next year.

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