Here are my picks for the Falcons players most deserving of these superlative awards through the first half of the 2011 season:

Offensive MVP: Tony Gonzalez

This was tough because in recent games, Michael Turner is probably the most valuable player on offense. When Turner runs well, the Falcons tend to win. But I thought Gonzo is deserving because he’s been consistent throughout the entire first half of the season. Turner was pretty average through the first 4 games of the year, although part of that could be blamed on the changes up front. But he just didn’t look like the same Michael Turner that he has been in the past month. He’s now running harder than he was early on, and thus part of his struggles were on him. With that said, Gonzo has been money throughout the year, particularly in the redzone where he is basically our entire redzone offense. Another reason for putting him here, is because I was one of those people that thought after last year, Gonzo was done. Still a solid, productive tight end, but no longer one of the best at his position. Boy, has he shown me I was dead wrong. He still has the best hands in the business, and while his explosiveness isn’t what it once was, he still has made a number of big plays at critical moments in games.

Defensive MVP: Sean Weatherspoon

If you had to pick one Falcon defender that is truly deserving of making the Pro Bowl this year, then it’s definitely Spoon. He’s been playing lights out all year long, making plays vs. the run, as a pass rusher, and in coverage. He’s been a valuable every down defender. While Spoon hasn’t been perfect, like Gonzalez on offense he has made his presence known in virtually every game. While he flashed this level of ability early on as a rookie, he’s taken things to a brand new level. And if he maintains this level of play in the second half of the season, he should definitely be on his way to Hawaii. If I had to choose a runner-up, it would probably be Brent Grimes. But he’s not having quite the impact he was having a year ago, partially because teams are not throwing at him as often as they did a year ago. But Grimes is staying playing at a fairly high level, just isn’t getting as many opportunities to make those big, game-changing impact players like he was a year ago.

Special Teams MVP: Matt Bryant

Who else would you pick? “Money” Matt Bryant has been everything his nickname indicates he should be.

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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

Tom Van Riper of Forbes.com lists Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson as the second most overpaid player in the league, behind New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez.

Atlanta Falcons’ cornerback Dunta Robinson, whose $5.5 million salary places him in the top ten at his position despite the fact that he’s never made All Pro and who is ranked by ESPN as the NFL’s 19th best corner.

I wonder if Van Riper factored in the $40,000 hit that Robinson’s salary took this week?

Is Robinson overpaid? Yes. The Falcons paid him to be a premiere No. 1 corner, and he is not, nor is he ever going to be. That ship sailed a long time ago. But Robinson does contribute to this team despite a less than stellar performance last week against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Part of the problem is that Robinson probably won’t ever reach his full potential in the Falcons defensive scheme. Robinson shined as a press man corner with the Houston Texans, but the Falcons seem to like to put him in a lot more zone and off coverage.

But even if the Falcons did play a lot more press man, that still wouldn’t change the fact that Robinson is making more money than he’s worth. But the truth is the Falcons weren’t paying Robinson based on his ability, they were paying him based on stability. While Robinson certainly isn’t a Top 10 No. 1 corner like he’s being paid like, he is one of the better No. 2 corners around the league. And with Brent Grimes on the other side, who definitely has performed like a Top 10 No. 1 corner at various points during the past year or so, it gives the Falcons a very good pair of starting corners.

Now if only the Falcons can stabilize their nickel cornerback situation, things will be looking very good for them in the secondary. Kelvin Hayden definitely gave them reason for optimism last week.

A little more than ten months ago, a lot of expectations were heaped onto cornerback Chris Owens. And Owens failed to live up to those expectations in 2010.

Last summer, Owens was expected to compete for a starting job, but Brent Grimes did not relent and did not look back. While Owens struggled, Grimes flourished as a starter and made his first Pro Bowl. Owens began the season as the team’s nickel back and slot corner, but he did not play at a particularly high level through the first six weeks of the season. Then with Dunta Robinson out in Week 7 due to a concussion, Owens was thrust into the spotlight as a starter. And he had one of the poorest performances from a Falcons corner in recent memory. So bad that it made Tye Hill and Chris Houston’s heads spin. And it did not go unnoticed by the coaching staff, as Owens was benched in favor of the declining veteran Brian Williams. But with Williams out against the Packers in the playoffs, Owens was again thrust back into the spotlight, and he once again came up wanting.

This summer, Owens is the incumbent at the nickel spot with Williams not expected to be re-signed. The team did not add a cornerback in the draft, and doing so in free agency does not look quite so promising given the current state of the labor situation. Owens won’t be handed the job, as he’s expected to be pushed by last year’s fifth round pick Dominique Franks.

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That one reason is none other than Brent Grimes. Or probably more accurately, money.

As I mentioned back in a topic I broached all the way back in February (I know seems like eons ago), Brent Grimes is ripe for a big contract extension. In that article, I discussed potential parameters of what the deal might be.

If you haven’t read it or don’t recall, I’ll briefly summarize. Basically Grimes play has been solid enough that he deserves a nice pay day. But that pay day has likely been postponed by the labor crisis. The Falcons shouldn’t be committing huge dollars to anyone until they know for sure how to safety navigate future financial waters. And because of several other Falcon players being up for free agency at the end of 2011, it behooves the Falcons to get Grimes’ deal done as soon as possible so that they still have the option of using their franchise tag instead of using it on Grimes, who of the prospective free agent crop the Falcons possess is the most likely to deserve it.

And because of the money paid to Grimes, the Falcons shouldn’t probably get into bed with Asomugha. Not that Asomugha isn’t a great player that could help out the Falcons. But he’s going to make a ridiculous amount of money on the open market.

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This is not me reporting any insider information, just using conventional wisdom. But the Falcons are probably thinking hard about giving cornerback Brent Grimes an extension, just only waiting for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement to be agreed upon so that they can properly navigate future financial waters properly.

Grimes’ contract is up, but because he only has three accrued seasons of experience, he’d be a restricted free agent under the old rules of free agency. My expectation is that when a new CBA is struck, it will reinstitute those old rules as nothing the union or owners have said in the two years since we’ve known this battle was coming has indicated they were unhappy with that aspect governing when a player becomes a free agent.

So that would mean that at the end of the 2011 season, Grimes would be an unrestricted free agent. Cornerbacks are one of the premium positions that most teams put a lot of stock into being strong at, along with quarterback, left tackle, and pass rusher. That means if Grimes makes it to the open market, he could be really hard to keep because of an offer someone else makes.

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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.

Falcons corner Brent Grimes will join eight other teammates and his coaching staff in Honolulu this week, as he’s been added to the NFC’s Pro Bowl roster due to the absence of Charles Woodson. Woodson bowed out because his team, the Green Bay Packers, will be in the Super Bowl, to be played on February 6.

This marks the first Pro Bowl for Grimes, who was tied for the team lead with 5 interceptions this year and among the league leaders with 23 passes defended. Offensive tackle Tyson Clabo was also added to the NFC squad last week as a replacement. They will be joined by the Falcons coaching staff and seven other teammates for the all-star game that will played this Sunday in Honolulu.

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.

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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