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.

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The Falcons laid a beatdown on the defending Super Bowl champions, routing the New York Giants by a score of 34-0. It marks the first regular season shutout of the Giants since 1996. It is also the first time the Falcons have shut out their opponent since a 24-0 win over the Oakland Raiders in 2008, and their first time doing so in the Georgia Dome since a 30-0 victory over the Carolina Panthers in 2002.

After a couple of lackluster performances, Matt Ryan bounced back with a strong effort completing 23 of 28 passes for 270 yards and 3 touchdowns. He started the game completing his first 8 passes. His efforts today give him 4,202 passing yards on the season, breaking the Falcons all-time season high of 4,177 he set a year ago. On the ground, Michael Turner led the Falcons with 52 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown. Jacquizz Rodgers added 11 carries for 25 yards, while Jason Snelling closed out the game with 6 carries for 39 yards. Julio Jones had a pair of touchdown grabs, leading the team with 6 receptions for 74 yards. He passed the 1000-yard receiver mark for the first time in his burgeoning Falcon career. Tony Gonzalez also had 6 catches for 49 yards and a touchdown. Harry Douglas (3 catches, 83 yards), Jason Snelling (3 catches, 16 yards), and Roddy White (2 catches, 16 yards) also contributed on the day. Matt Bryant hit on a pair of field goals, from 38 and 19 yards. Matt Bosher punted a pair of times for an average of 40 yards. Dominique Franks returned a pair of punts for 10 yards, and the Falcons had no kickoff returns on the day. The Falcons offense was efficient, converting 9 of 13 third downs. They also dominated on time of possession, holding the ball for nearly 39 minutes, compared to the Giants’ 21-minutes of possession.

Defensively the Falcons clamped down on a Giants offense that put up 52 points last week against the New Orleans Saints. They were held to only 256 total yards, their second-lowest output of the season. They only converted 4 of 10 third downs, and were 0 for 3 on fourth down attempts. The Falcons picked of Eli Manning twice, and also forced a late fumble. Sean Weatherspoon led the defense with 9 tackles. John Abraham (2 tackles, 1 forced fumble); Kroy Biermann (1 tackle, 1 sack); Thomas DeCoud (5 tackles, 1 interception); Akeem Dent (3 tackles); Chris Hope (5 tackles, 1 fumble recovery); Robert McClain (4 tackles); Stephen Nicholas (5 tackles); and Asante Samuel (1 tackle, 1 interception) all had notable games.

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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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The Falcons extend their record to 10-1 with a 24-23 win over division rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road. It was another nail-biter that potentially came down to the final play, as the Bucs had a chance to win with a hail mary as time expired.

Matt Ryan started off strong, as he completed his first 10 passes. He finished the game completing 26 of 32 passes for 353 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Jacquizz Rodgers led rushers with 49 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown. Michael Turner also scored a touchdown, adding 17 yards on 13 carries. In the air, Julio Jones had a strong game despite still recovering from an ankle injury. He led receivers with 6 catches for a career-high 147 yards and a touchdown. Tony Gonzalez (5 catches, 62 yards), Roddy White (5 catches, 57 yards), Jason Snelling (3 catches, 33 yards), and Rodgers (2 catches, 30 yards) also made big contributions on the day. Matt Bryant hit on only 1 of 3 field goal attempts. He connected on a 31-yarder, but missed from 22 and 48 yards. Matt Bosher punted only once for 45 yards, placing it inside the 20-yard line. Rodgers had 2 kickoff returns for an average of 36.5 yards, while Dominique Franks had a single punt return for 10 yards.

Defensively, the Falcons run defense stepped up big and bottled up Doug Martin. He and the Bucs team was held to just 50 yards on the ground. They did give up 326 total yards and allowed 4 of 10 third down conversions. Stephen Nicholas led the unit with 7 tackles. Jonathan Babineaux (2 tackles); Kroy Biermann (2 tackles, 1 sack); Akeem Dent (4 tackles); William Moore (6 tackles); Dunta Robinson (6 tackles, 1 sack); and Sean Weatherspoon (6 tackles) had noteworthy games.

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This is an idea that has been rattling around my brain for a couple of weeks now, and only now am I really putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) on the subject.

I have been thinking about where this team’s future lies, and it makes me wonder that if this year’s Falcon team doesn’t go deep into the playoffs, and I’m talking like conference championship deep, then they might live to regret it.

I have come to this conclusion because from what I can tell, the league as a whole is down. There is really no great team that everybody points to as saying the path to the Super Bowl goes through them. The team that many have ranked at or near the top throughout the entire season, the Houston Texans doesn’t quite fit our classic definition of a great team. At least no one looks at the Texans and sees them as “scary good,” a team that you’d immediate cross the proverbial street to avoid if seen coming around the corner. How does that compare to some recent years? Back in 2009, you had the Colts and Saints both nearly run the table and go 16-0. The following year you had the Patriots scoring in droves, as well as the Steelers sporting a dominant defense. In 2011, it was again the Packers nearly pushing for perfection, and you now had the 49ers thrown into the mix as the top team with a dominant defense.

Now this year, teams like Houston, Chicago, and San Francisco do sport those caliber of defenses. But all three offensively are primarily running teams. If teams helmed by Matt Schaub, Jay Cutler, and/or Alex Smith respectively were playing in the Super Bowl, your first instinct is probably to put your money on the other team. All three quarterbacks have a long way to prove they can win the big games between now and February.

And offensively, the two lone standouts are the Patriots and Broncos. And while this year’s Patriot team is on pace to put up the most points it’s had since the 2007 season, it’s managing to also be on pace to give up more points than they did a year ago. With early season losses to Arizona and Seattle, and some other close shaves, this year’s Patriot team looks a lot more vulnerable than some recent years’ teams.

Maybe it’s because he’s on a different team, or because the Falcons beat them, or some other reason, but it’s hard to really buy the Peyton Manning-led Broncos as an elite team. They are a good team no doubt, but in comparison to past Colt teams and other teams in recent memory, they too look much more flawed.

Old reliables like the Steelers, Ravens, Saints, and Packers are also down in comparison to recent years. Baltimore and Pittsburgh, two teams that generally rely on their defenses to make deep runs in the playoffs, now sport old defenses that are nothing special. The Saints and Packers typically exploit high octane offenses to do their damage, but neither unit is really separating itself from the pack this year.

The point I’m slowly working my way towards is that we might look back on this season and see that everything was ripe for the taking. Without a clearly defined strong team that everyone has to go through to get to the Super Bowl, 2012 might represent the Falcons best chance.

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Today, the Falcons released their injury report for Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals. On it, wide receiver Julio Jones (ankle) and linebacker Sean Weatherspoon (ankle) were listed as questionable. Neither player practiced during the week, and according to head coach Mike Smith will be game-time decisions. Jones suffered his injury during the first half of last week’s loss to the New Orleans Saints, but later returned to the game in the third quarter. Weatherspoon has missed the past two games with his injury.

Wideout Kevin Cone (groin) and safety Charles Mitchell (calf) also missed the week of practice nd were listed as out for the Cardinals game. It’s the third consecutive game missed for Cone, while the second for Mitchell.

Also listed as questionable were defensive end John Abraham (back), running back Michael Turner (groin), and defensive tackle Vance Walker (ribs). All three players were limited in practice for all three days of practice this week. Listed as probable on this week’s report were defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux (thigh), wide receiver Harry Douglas (ankle), tight end Tony Gonzalez (shoulder), linebacker Stephen Nicholas (groin), and linebacker Mike Peterson (foot). Peterson fully participated in all three days of practice, while Babineaux, Douglas and Gonzalez were full participants on Thursday and Friday. Nicholas was upgraded on Friday and fully participated in practice for the first time all week.

Douglas and Peterson will likely replace Jones and Weatherspoon in the lineup, respectively if the pair sit. The injury to Abraham plus the release of Ray Edwards this week could mean a significant increase in reps for Lawrence Sidbury, Cliff Matthews, and/or Jonathan Massaquoi at defensive end. Turner’s injury could lead to the team giving increased reps to Jacquizz Rodgers and/or Jason Snelling at running back.

Sorry for the delay in getting this up. I know the rest of the world has moved on from this game, and re-hashing why the Falcons lost this game so late in the week is not fun.

I thought offensively the Falcons did a lot of good things, but there was too long a gap (particularly the second and third quarters) where they were unable to put points on the board, which caused them to get in too deep a hole to dig out of. One of the trends I’ve noticed with this year’s team as well as past years’ is that they rarely give you a solid three or four quarters of strong play. I think that is a big reason why they have struggled to win big games, including in the playoffs. That sort of inconsistency is fine if you’re facing Carolina, Minnesota, or Oakland, but simply can’t cut it against teams like New Orleans.

Matt Ryan played well, but he seemed to play with a bit of a sped up clock due to the pressure he was seeing. I think that pressure was a major contributor to the drought in scoring. I did like the fact that the Falcons continue to show the ability to generate explosive plays downfield. That is going to be the key to whether this offense can really rise to the top because that was sorely lacking over the first month or so of the season. Gonzalez continues to play at a high level and he might really be doing himself a disservice by retiring. Even if he’s only 75% the player he is this year from now on, he could easily remain a premier TE in this league for another 4 or 5 years. The Falcons clearly missed Jones, and it’s no coincidence that their struggles to put points on the board were primarily when he was out of the game.

This game exposed many of the masses to really how poor the Falcons running game is this year. In key games, they are essentially one dimensional and if they get into a situation where they need to get a single yard on the ground, they are very likely to fail. I don’t really want to point fingers at Koetter, but I do think his decision to run Turner on that 3rd & 1 at the goal line was not a good decision. Frankly, I bet he called it not because he actually thought the play would work but because he didn’t want the talking heads and second guessers talking about how they threw it 3 straight times from the goal line with Michael Turner in the backfield. Or maybe because of some pipe dream from the coaches that there is some semblance of physicality with this offense. Memo to Koetter and Mike Smith, if you thought there was a physical element to this offense, then you haven’t been watching them this year. I suggest you embrace the fact that you are a finesse team. Not saying you should shoot to throw the ball 50 times a game, but in the do or die situations, keep the ball in Matt Ryan’s hands, your best player, rather than Turner who might now be sixth best on offense due to the ascendancy of Jacquizz Rodgers.

The Falcons just can’t win up front. I noticed many instances where if guys could hold a block for more than a split-second, it could have sprung Turner for longer runs. Turner just lacks the burst to take advantage of those short-lived creases, and the Falcons need to be willing to give Rodgers and Snelling more reps as runners. The ground game will still be terrible, but potentially not as terrible.

I don’t wish to pile on Turner as many have done this week, but the Falcons brass have had an overwhelming sense of denial to how much he had left in the tank this year. I can’t be too harsh on him, because Turner has stepped up in recent weeks. But this game showed that in these bigger games, he’s been at best a non-factor and at worst a liability.

PLAYER	PASS	RUSH	REC	BLK	SPEC	PEN	TOTALS
Matt Ryan	$16	$1	$0	$0	$0	$0	$17.00
Tony Gonzalez	$0	$0	$9	$0	$0	$0	$9.00
Jacquizz Rodgers	$0	$3	$4	$0	$0	$0	$7.00
Julio Jones	$0	$0	$5	$0	$0	$0	$5.00
Roddy White	$0	$0	$5	$0	$0	$0	$5.00
Michael Turner	$0	$2	$0	$1	$0	$0	$3.00
Harry Douglas	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$0	$2.00
Mike Johnson	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$0	$2.00
Peter Konz	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Tommy Gallarda	$0	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$1.00
Jason Snelling	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0.5	$0	$0.50
Justin Blalock	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0.00
Tyson Clabo	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0.00
D.J. Davis	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	-$1	-$1.00
Antone Smith	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	-$1	-$1.00
Sam Baker	$0	$0	$0	-$1	$0	$0	-$1.00
Todd McClure	$0	$0	$0	-$1	$0	-$1	-$2.00

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The Falcons suffered their first loss of the 2012 season at the hands of NFC South divisional rival the New Orleans Saints. In a 31-27 loss on the road, the Falcons got off to a quick start, but then struggled to get stops as the Saints were then able to take a lead. But the Falcons got their act together and had two opportunities in the final minutes of the game to pull out the win, but fell short both times. The Falcons record moves to 8-1.

Matt Ryan set a career high with 411 yards passing. He also completed 34 of 52 passes, had 3 touchdown passes, and an interception. On the ground the Falcons got very little. Jacquizz Rodgers led the team in rushing with 29 yards on 3 carries, most of that coming on an 18-yard run. Michael Turner had only 15 yards on 13 carries with most of that coming on a 9-yard run. Tony Gonzalez had a big day, catching 11 passes for 122 yards and a pair of touchdown catches. He would get his 100th and 101st career touchdown catches in the contest. He passed Steve Largent and Tim Brown with those plays to move up to 6th all-time in career touchdown catches. Roddy White (7 catches, 114 yards), Julio Jones (4 catches, 75 yards), Harry Douglas (4 catches, 49 yards), and Rodgers (4 catches, 33 yards) would also make contributions in the air. Offensive lineman Mike Johnson caught Ryan’s other touchdown pass, on his lone reception for a single yard. Matt Bryant hit on both of his field goal tries of 37 and 20 yards. Matt Bosher had three punts for an average of 46.7 yards, with one placed inside the 20-yard line. Dominique Franks had a pair of punt returns for 9 total yards, while Douglas had one return for no gain. The Falcons got no opportunities to return kickoffs, as all were touchbacks. Throughout the game, the Falcons really struggled to run the ball in short-yardage situations and near the goalline. They had 6 tries inside the redzone, and scored touchdowns on half of them.

Defensively, the Falcons struggled to slow down the Saints offense in the first half. They gave up 440 total yards on the day, with 268 coming in the first half. Akeem Dent led defenders with 9 tackles. Kroy Biermann (3 tackles); Thomas DeCoud (6 tackles), Robert McClain (4 tackles, 1 pass deflection); William Moore (6 tackles); Stephen Nicholas (7 tackles, 1 sack); Mike Peterson (5 tackles); Dunta Robinson (7 tackles,  1 pass deflection); Asante Samuel (2 tackles, 1 interception, 3 pass deflections); and Vance Walker (4 tackles) had noteworthy games. The defense stepped up in the second half, limiting the Saints to convert on 2 of 7 third down attempts and holding them to 172 total yards. The Saints had 116 rushing yards on 13 carries (8.9 avg) in the first half, but gained just 32 on 16 carries (2.0 avg) in the second half.

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Typically these previews consist of two parts, the first detailing how the Falcons upcoming opponent could beat them, and the second consisting of what the Falcons can do to counter that. But this week, I just couldn’t really find enough material to write up how the Oakland Raiders could beat the Falcons this week.

Not to say it’s not possible, but it really is just a repeat of what I’ve said the past two weeks with the potential gameplans of the Carolina Panthers and Washington Redskins. The Raiders will rely on a ground attack to keep the explosive Falcons offense sidelined, and try to generate some big plays offensively, as well as create turnovers on defense and try to get a boost on special teams. Not exactly a ground-breaking formula, as it’s going to become the norm for most teams that play the Falcons this year.

But as the Panthers, Redskins, and Raiders all try to adopt the same gameplan/formula for beating the Falcons, unfortunately for the Raiders they are the weakest team of the three. And thus, it will be hardest for them to execute such a plan. See, in the cases of both Carolina and Washington, they had a couple of playmakers on either side of the ball that if things went their way they could really challenge the Falcons. And to a certain extent, things did go both teams’ ways, which is why the Falcons had to come from behind in both games to pull out the victory.

But I don’t expect the Raiders to get such luck. While Darren McFadden presents a challenge to the Falcons defense, I don’t think he presents as much as DeAngelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart, and Alfred Morris did. The Raiders run a zone-blocking scheme similar to what the Redskins have, but they are not quite as good upfront, and McFadden has not quite gotten the hang of the Greg Knapp offense. Outside a 64-yard run against the Steelers in Week 3, McFadden is averaging 2.4 yards on his other 57 carries. That run, and another are the only gains he’s had of the year longer than 10 yards. Morris has been one of the better runners after contact in the league this year, while McFadden is more of a finesse, speed guy. I don’t expect Falcons defenders to have as much trouble getting him down as they did against Morris.

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This was not Ryan’s best game at least in terms of how he started, as he had 5 poor throws on the first two series. I think the slick conditions could be a culprit, but I noticed the majority of those missed throws were downfield ones. The deep ball to Jones on the first series was almost counted as a drop, but it wasn’t clear that Jones would have come down in bounds, so ultimately it was chalked up by another poor throw by Ryan. But after the pick-six, Ryan seemed to settle in and play at his usually high level this week.

Tony Gonzalez had an excellent game, winding up with 7 of the Falcons 19 passing first downs in this game, which doesn’t include his touchdown. Jones had a nice bounce-back game, although part of it seemed to be that there was a concerted effort by Ryan and Koetter to get him the ball in the first half. 11 of his first 15 targets came before halftime. Roddy White didn’t get a ton of work, but he made the most of his opportunities.

Turner had a nice game on the ground despite a limited workload. The blocking up front was solid given how many times the Falcons dropped back to throw, and there were holes created on the ground. It’s extremely rare in games where Sam Baker stands out as a run blocker, but he did a good job in this game with a pair of key blocks (including a good one on Turner’s TD run). McClure had his trademark struggles in pass protection vs. the 3-4 nose tackle, but he did a fairly solid job run blocking at times. There were really no bad performances by the Falcons blockers up front despite only modest earnings by all except Baker. Giving up only 4 pressures/sacks in 53 dropbacks is rock-solid. There were a couple of times where they gave up some pressure, but Ryan was able to move around the pocket and still find an open receiver. Baker and McClure were usually the culprits on those plays. But for the most part they gave Ryan ample time to find open receivers, and I did notice Ryan took more shots than normal downfield, which is also a testament to added time in the pocket.

The Joe Hawley Experiment at fullback/tight end did not really work out in the passing game. But their jumbo package with Hawley and Johnson on the field did seem to be quasi-effective in opening run lanes. I’m sure most people groaned when Hawley dropped those two passes, although I found them humorously inept. Against a better opponent in a tighter game, it might have been more irksome, but for now I can shrug it off as a one-game outlier.

PLAYER	PASS	RUSH	REC	BLOCK	SPEC	PEN	TOTALS
Matt Ryan	$14	$1	$0	$0	$0	-$2	$13.00
Tony Gonzalez	$0	$1	$11	$0	$0	-$1	$11.00
Michael Turner	$0	$9	-$1	$0	$0	$0	$8.00
Julio Jones	$0	$0	$7	$0	$0	$0	$7.00
Roddy White	$0	$0	$5	-$1	$0	$0	$4.00
Sam Baker	$0	$0	$0	$3	$0	$0	$3.00
Harry Douglas	$0	$1	$2	-$1	$0	$0	$2.00
Garrett Reynolds	$0	$0	$0	$2	$0	-$1	$1.00
Tyson Clabo	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Jacquizz Rodgers	$0	$1	$0	$0	$0	$0	$1.00
Jason Snelling	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Justin Blalock	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0.00
Todd McClure	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0.00
Joe Hawley	$0	$0	-$2	$0	$0	$0	-$2.00

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