The good people at The Falcoholic provide one of the best Falcon blogs out there. Everyday you can read something interesting in order to get your daily Falcons fix. So this is by no means meant to slight that site or the people that write for them.

But recently, one of their writers, one Caleb Rutherford wrote an interesting piece about Julio Jones trade, which has been a topic of division among the Falcon fan base since the day it was done. Some view that the Falcons gave up too much. Others view that the trade was well worth it. And probably even more, no longer care and just have learned to live with it. I fall into the former group.

One of the problems with disliking the trade for Julio Jones is that you are accused of disliking the player that is Julio Jones. And for me, that coudln’t be further from the truth. I like Julio Jones the player. I like him a lot. But at the same time, I’m not going to make him out to be bigger or better than he actually is. I think Julio Jones is going to become a very good NFL player and one of the better receivers in the NFL over the next several years. But even if that occurs, I still do not think the trade was worth what the Falcons gave up.

One of the problems I have with Mr. Rutherford’s article is that some of the arguments he made supporting the trade I think are misleading if not outright false.

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The Falcons will have to make a decision on whether to keep or let Harry Douglas go in free agency. And you could make the case for either happening. The Falcons are expected to install a vertical offense under Dirk Koetter. And playing the vertical game is really not a strength of Douglas. He’ll make the occasional play down the field, but his bread and butter is really the shorter and intermediate routes where he can use his quickness and burst after the catch to make plays. So in that sense, it would make sense for the Falcons to pass on Douglas and find someone that is a better fit for the scheme.

But at the same time, it’s not like you’re going to run 3 or 4 verticals every snap of the game, and having a nice outlet option underneath to make teams pay if they set their coverages too deep is a valuable commodity.

Ultimately the main issue with Douglas is the price. For the right price, the team should want him back. But at the wrong one, it’s probably best if the team lets him walk. And that’s going to be the big question surrounding this year’s free agent market at wide receiver.

Last summer, the market wasn’t very big for a lot of players. Outside Sidney Rice and Santonio Holmes, no one really got paid that much. Now making $2-3 million a year is not chump change, but a lot of young receivers were expecting to cash in with lucrative long-term deals and did not. If that repeats this off-season, then a lot of players like Douglas could be left out in the cold. And that would make the chances that the Falcons can get Douglas for a modest price very high. And it seems based off deals that players like Earl Bennett and Jordy Nelson signed this past fall/winter, it doesn’t seem like teams are willing to break the bank for these complementary receivers.

If the Falcons are looking for a receiver that is a better fit in their more vertical-oriented passing attack, targeting someone with size and speed would be best. There are a number of players that sort of fit that mold as guys that are good going down the field. The ideal player would likely be Brandon Lloyd (St. Louis), but he’s likely to price him out of the Falcons range since Lloyd should be looking for starter’s money. The same could probably be said of Pierre Garcon (Indianapolis).

Next on the Falcons list would probably be Mario Manningham (NY Giants) and Robert Meachem (New Orleans). But both are quasi-starters for their respective teams, and will probably be looking for more lucrative deals and playing time. But with both, they have proven they are good No. 3 receivers and able to make big plays downfield, their primary roles with their respective teams.

Another pair of cheaper options I like are Chaz Schilens (Oakland) and Devin Aromashodu (Minnesota). Schilens is more big than fast, but his size allows him to make plays downfield because he can be so valuable on the jump balls. Aromashodu has a better mix of size and speed. The good thing about both is that it’s very likely both will come fairly cheap because neither have had more than 29 receptions in a single year. Frankly, if the Falcons could keep Douglas as well as sign one of them, it would be a good move for their wide receiver corps.

One issue the Falcons may face if they do choose to retain Douglas, is that whoever could potentially join the team as the fourth receiver would need to be able to play on special teams. That is a role that none of the previously mentioned free agents have really done. It’s a role that Douglas has performed little of. And it’s why the team has valued players like Eric Weems and Kerry Meier in recent years. That could make a player like Devin Thomas (NY Giants) a bit more attractive. Of course Thomas has been plagued with inconsistency throughout his career and has made minimal contributions on offense. If the Falcons signed him, it might be too lofty of expectations to think he will make any significant contributions on offense. It could be similar to when the Jaguars signed Kassim Osgood a year ago to be more of an offensive playmaker than he was in San Diego, and that did not work out so well.

Either way, the Falcons will have to address their receiver depth this off-season. If none of those free agents can be had at the right price, they might turn their attention to getting bigger and faster via the draft.

While twenty players appeared on the Falcons Friday injury report, the majority of them were able to fully participate in the last two or three days of practice this week. Listed among the players that were not are linebacker Stephen Nicholas and cornerback Brent Grimes. Nicholas is doubtful for Sunday’s playoff game against the New York Giants, while Grimes is listed as questionable. Nicholas (turf toe) did not practice all week, and has missed four of the past five games with that injury. He is expected to be replaced by Spencer Adkins, who got his first career start last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Grimes missed both Wednesday and Thursday’s practices with his knee injury, but was able to go on a limited basis on Friday. Missing Thursday practice was considered a precautionary measure by head coach Mike Smith. Grimes missed last weeks’ reguar season finale after returning the week before against the New Orleans Saints. If Grimes is unable to go, then Dominique Franks would likely get the start at left cornerback. Before returning against the Saints, Grimes had missed three straight games, all of which he was replaced by Franks in the starting lineup.

Also listed on the injury report as probable were wide receivers Harry Douglas (groin) and Kerry Meier (groin), safety William Moore (groin), tight end Michael Palmer (knee), and running backs Jason Snelling (knee) and Michael Turner (groin). All except Snelling (limited participation) were held out of Wednesday’s practice. All would go on a limited basis on Thursday. Palmer and Snelling were able to participate fully on Friday, while the others still were limited.

For the Giants, linebacker Mark Herzlich was listed as out for the game with an ankle injury. Defensive end Justin Tuck was added to the injury report on Friday with a shoulder injury, but is probable for Sunday’s game. Ahmad Bradshaw (foot) missed both Wednesday and Thursday practices, but returned on a limited basis on Friday. He is listed as probable along with tight end Jake Ballard (knee), running back Da’Rel Scott (knee), offensive tackle Tony Ugoh (ankle), defensive end Osi Umenyiora (ankle/knee), and cornerback Corey Webster (hamstring).

This might be the hardest pick to make. At the mid-point, I chose Corey Peters as my pick. At that point in the year, he was playing his best football and looking like an impact pass rusher and playmaker. But unfortunately for Peters, the second half of the season was relatively quiet and it allowed for other people to be considered.

One obvious choice would be Sean Weatherspoon, who was picked as the defensive MVP. Weatherspoon had his moments as a rookie, but injuries and inexperience curtailed his success last year. The fact that he moved from role player last year to MVP this year, probably be default should make him this pick. But since I want to honor as many people as people, we’ll just leave him out of the running.

That could leave Harry Douglas, who went from afterthought last year to a guy that made some plays this year, particularly in the games in the middle of the year where Jones was out with injury. But unfortunately, Douglas sort of returned to being an afterthought once Jones came back from injury and was hitting his stride late in the year. So he too gets passed over.

Will Svitek would be another good pick, having stepped in and filled in for Sam Baker competently and being one of the major reasons why the Falcons were able to stabilize their ground attack and blocking up front. But as the season wore on, Svitek started to fall back to Earth a bit, so he too is out of the running.

Another good candidate would be Lawrence Sidbury, who hardly played a snap last year to finishing tied for second on the team with four sacks. Another good pick would be Dominique Franks, who also was a player that had a very limited role last year, playing on special teams. But late in the year with injuries mounting in the secondary, he was able to step in and solidify the nickel spot and seemingly improved with every single performance. But unfortunately for Sidbury and Franks both, it’s hard to pick them since while they were key contributors, their contributions were smaller due to the fact that they were role players and/or only played a smaller portion of the year.

So that brings us back to where we started with Peters as the best choice for the player that improved the most. Peters was a liability last year vs. the run, but was solid in that area this year. And his ability to make big plays and provide some pressure on the QB up the middle, coupled with the fact that he was a starter throughout the entire year makes him the best choice.

A lot of great plays have been made by the Falcons offense this year. Some bruising runs by the backs and some acrobatic catches on the part of the receivers.

It was very tough to pick a winner and it really came down to three acrobatic catches that really stood out in my eyes, each from a respective receiver: Tony Gonzalez, Roddy White, and Julio Jones. But in the end, I had to give the rook the love for his diving catch against the Colts.

The Gonzalez one-handed grab in the back of the endzone against the Eagles and White’s finger-tip grab vs. Detroit were the other two plays.

Here are some other plays of note for the year, including some more from the receivers:

• Michael Turner’s bruising run vs. the Titans
• Turner’s game-busting run vs. the Eagles
• Snelling’s bruising catch and run vs. the Saints in Week 10
• Quizz’s 31-yard TD catch vs. Carolina in Week 14
• Douglas catch and run vs. Vikings
• Gonzo’s one-handed snag vs. Seattle
• Julio’s 49-yard catch vs. Tampa Bay in Week 3
• Julio’s 29-yard sprint vs. Jacksonville

The Falcons released their injury report this week, and Sam Baker was listed as questionable after limited participation in all three days of practice. Baker missed the past three games with a back injury. Two weeks ago he was reportedly expected to miss 3-4 weeks. He has been replaced by Will Svitek in the team’s past three outings.

Wide receiver Julio Jones was also listed as questionable, despite not practicing all week due to re-aggravating a hamstring injury in last week’s loss to the Saints. Jones suffered the original injury in a Week 5 loss against the Packers, missed two games, but then returned two weeks ago to have a big game against the Colts. If Jones is unable to go on Sunday, he will be replaced by Harry Douglas who is coming off a career high performance against New Orleans.

Expected to miss a second consecutive game is William Moore (quadricep), as he also did not practice this week. James Sanders will start in place of him at strong safety.

Several other players were listed as probable for this weekend’s game against the Tennessee Titans. Harry Douglas (thigh), Ray Edwards (knee), and Antone Smith (knee) all were able to participate fully in the past two days of practice and were probable. Brent Grimes (knee) and Jason Snelling (hamstring) were both limited on Wednesday and Thursday, but participated fully in Friday’s practice. Curtis Lofton (ankle) was added to the injury report after Thursday, but also went full bore on Friday. John Abraham and Todd McClure were also included on the injury report, but only because both were held out of Wednesday’s practice for non-injury related rest. They had full participation in both Thursday and Friday’s practices.

The Titans linebacker corps is shaken up with starters Gerald McRath (hamstring) and Barrett Ruud (groin) both listed as questionable on their injury report. Both were able to practice fully on Friday. Backup linebacker Colin McCarthy (knee) is also questionable after missing the last two days of practice. Defensive end Dave Ball will miss the game with a concussion.

Unfortunately, this little feature has slipped my mind the past two weeks. So we’ll bring it back again. This week’s highlight has to be Jason Snelling’s 24-yard catch and run where he broke several tackles and rumbled through practically all of the Saints defense. He would not be denied.

Snelling Rumbles

Honorable Mentions

Harry Douglas 46-yard catch & run

Ryan threads needle to Gonzo

Bryant’s game-tying FG

 

 

A lot of highlights from the Detroit Lions game, and it was hard to pick a winner. But I had to go with Matt Ryan’s 49-yard pass to Harry Douglas because it involved the drama of Ryan returning to the game after what many feared to be a horrific injury, and on his first pass back in the game hit Douglas down the middle on a critical 3rd down play to keep a drive alive.

The other pick probably would have won had it been a normal game where there was no injury involved with Ryan. That would have been Roddy’s excellent fingertip grab on Ryan’s lob throw into the back of the endzone.

Ryan to Douglas: 49 yard catch & run

Honorable Mentions

Roddy White: 18 yd TD catch

Tony Gonzalez: 30 yard catch

Michael Turner: 50 yard run

Curtis Lofton: Pressures Stafford to end the game

Corey Peters: sack

Sean Weatherspoon: sack

Probably a no-brainer this week. Has to be Corey Peters’ one-handed grab for the INT to pretty much seal the win for the Falcons in the fourth quarter.

Peters does his Vince Wilfork impression

Honorable Mentions:

Harry Douglas 34-yard catch and run

Brent Grimes INT with the William Moore assist

Michael Turner’s 33-yard run

Ray Edwards shows speed off the edge for a sack

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