The Tampa Bay Bucs are going to be an interesting team to watch in 2013. Josh Freeman is entering the final year of his contract, and recently it was reported that the Bucs wouldn’t mind seeing rookie Mike Glennon get an opportunity.

How Josh Freeman handles this sort of adversity could impact the next five years of that franchise. I think Freeman is a talented quarterback, but I’ve never thought he had the intangibles to be a top-level starter. I liked Mike Glennon a lot, as he was the highest-rated quarterback in this draft class for me.

But I don’t think Glennon will really work as a rookie starter. The main issues I had with Glennon was that he wasn’t particularly mobile, nor does he have the intangibles that I think he could flourish as a rookie starter. In Dan Pompei’s piece linked to above, they make the comparison to Joe Flacco.

I do think that fits somewhat. You may or may not be surprised to discover that I don’t think Flacco possesses ideal intangibles. Flacco is a player that I think has benefited greatly from being on the right team. In Baltimore, he became a rookie starter because of injuries to Troy Smith and Kyle Boller. He made the most of that opportunity. But I think it helped greatly how much of the Ravens were a run-first, defensive-minded team that already had a leader in Ray Lewis. Flacco essentially never really had to assert himself as the guy up to this point. Moving forward with Lewis and others gone, and fresh off a Super Bowl he will now.

I think that’s why I’ll likely always consider Matt Ryan to be a better overall quarterback than Flacco. I know Flacco has better physical tools, and he’ll make throws look easy that Ryan will never be able to make in a million years. And for that, there are those that will consider him the better player. But I think given what Ryan has had to be in Atlanta from the very beginning, a stabilizing force, that makes him the better overall player. I just believe that if you had put Ryan in Baltimore in 2008, you’d likely to get the same if not better results. If you had put Flacco in Atlanta, I don’t think he would have had the same success. Flacco reached a level the past two years (running no huddle) that Ryan was doing Day One.

Read more…

Allen and I take part in another two-part episode in which we go week by week, breaking down the Falcons 2013 schedule. We look at favorable matchups that the Falcons can exploit along with our thoughts on how good the Falcons 2013 opponents will be this upcoming fall. In the first part, we look at the first half of the season culminating in our analysis of the Falcons Week 10 matchup against the Seattle Seahawks. You’ll hear our thoughts on each of the Falcons first nine opponents, as well as insights on how the Falcons defensive line and offensive lines will look in 2013 and odds that the Falcons pick up a veteran free agent such as John Abraham, Richard Seymour, or Karlos Dansby before the summer starts. You’ll also hear our breakdown of how Darrelle Revis stacks up against Julio Jones, and Ron Rivera in comparison to Mike Smith.

In the second part of our schedule breakdown extravanganza, Allen and I take a look at the Falcons final seven opponents beginning in Week 11 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We talk about how good a year Steven Jackson might have, along with whether or not the Falcons have made enough improvements on defense to handle the New Orleans Saints. You’ll also hear our thoughts on how the division race in the NFC East may shake out as well as some of the other NFC squads that could be wildcard contenders. We cap things off with our insights on how the 2013 season as a whole should play out for the Falcons.

Part 1:

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Duration: 51 minutes

Part 2:

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Duration: 55 minutes

Allen writes for TJRSports.com as well as the Bleacher Report. His twitter handle is: @Allen_Strk.

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.

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. You can also subscribe directly to our feed at the following URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/falcfans/LXSt

Ryan and I discuss and preview the Falcons Week 1 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs in this week’s episode. You’ll also hear our opinions on the Falcon’s additions to the practice squad, as well as whether an interview of Mike Nolan divulges some question marks within the Falcons front office. During our preview of the Chiefs game, you’ll hear our thoughts on how certain aspects of the Falcons offense and defense match up with the Chiefs. Later in the episode, we are joined by a FalcFans.com forum member in Allen Strk, who helps us reminisce on past Falcon players and games. You’ll also hear some thoughts on current Falcons, as well as predictions for the upcoming 2012 season including how good we think the Falcons will be and whether or not they are good enough to make the Super Bowl.

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Duration: 54 minutes

 

If you have any questions and comments, you can hit us up on Twitter, post in the forums in the podcast thread, or drop Ryan an e-mail at: ryan-valdez@live.com or myself at: pudge@falcfans.com. Don’t forget to drop by every week to hear our live broadcast at: ustream.tv/channel/falcfans-show

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. You can also subscribe directly to our feed at the following URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/falcfans/LXSt

The NFL season begins tomorrow, and it’s time to pull out the yearly predictions. I’ll give my perspective for how good the Falcons will be as well as predictions for all 32 teams. You’ll also see my projections for what sorts of stats Falcon players will put up.

FALCONS SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN

Final Record: 11-5 (1st place in NFC South)

1- at Chiefs – W
2- Denver – W
3- at San Diego – W
4- Carolina – W
5- at Washington – W
6- Oakland – W
7- bye
8- at Philadelphia – L
9- Dallas – W
10- at New Orleans – L
11- Arizona – W
12- at Tampa Bay – L
13- New Orleans – W
14- at Carolina – L
15- N.Y. Giants – L
16- at Detroit – W
17- Tampa Bay – W

Keep reading after the jump to see predictions on the other 31 NFL teams.

Read more…

It’s Labor Day and as many of you kick back on your day off, I’ve been busy compiling my predictions for the upcoming season. I’ll post what I think the Falcons final record will be, as well as the records of all 32 teams, and my Super Bowl winner. You’ll also see some projections on what types of numbers I think Falcon players will have this year.

First let’s start things off with the Falcons, and breaking down their schedule in wins and losses…

FALCONS SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN

1 – at Bears – W
2 – vs. Eagles – L
3 – at Bucs – W
4 – at Seahawks – W
5 – vs. Packers – L
6 – vs. Panthers – W
7 – at Lions – W
8 – bye
9 – at Colts – L
10 – vs. Saints – W
11 – vs. Titans – W
12 – vs. Vikings – W
13 – at Texans – W
14 – at Panthers – W
15 – vs. Jaguars – W
16 – at Saints – L
17 – vs. Bucs – W

Final Record: 12-4

If you want to know what I think the Falcons will do in the playoffs, then you’ll just have to keep on reading.

Read more…

You can click here to see my predictions for the rest of the league. But here, I’ll do my best to predict what I think the Falcons 2010 season may entail.

SCHEDULE & RESULTS

Wk – Opponent – Result
1 – @ Steelers – L
2 – Cardinals – W
3 – @ Saints – L
4 – 49ers – W
5 – @ Browns – W
6 – @ Eagles – L
7 – Bengals – L
9 – Bucs – W
10 – Ravens – W
11 – @ Rams – W
12 – Packers – L
13 – @ Bucs – W
14 – @ Panthers – L
15 – @ Seahawks – W
16 – Saints – W
17 – Panthers – W
18 – @ Saints – L

As you can see I predict the Falcons to make the playoffs and get bounced in the first round by the Saints.

Read more…

You can click here to see my Falcon-specific predictions. Here are my predictions for what the standings will look like at the end of the 2010 season. Playoff picks and my Super Bowl pick come after the jump.

AFC EAST	AFC NORTH	AFC SOUTH	AFC WEST
Patriots (11-5)*	Ravens (10-6)*	Colts (12-4)*	Chargers (10-6)*
Dolphins (10-6)*	Steelers (9-7)	Titans (9-7)	Raiders (6-10)
Jets (10-6)*	Bengals (8-8)	Texans (8-8)	Broncos (5-11)
Bills (2-14)	Browns (5-11)	Jaguars (6-10)	Chiefs (4-12)

NFC EAST	NFC NORTH	NFC SOUTH	NFC WEST
Cowboys (13-3)*	Packers (12-4)*	Saints (12-4)*	49ers (10-6)*
Eagles (9-7)	Vikings (10-6)*	Falcons (10-6)*	Cardinals (7-9)
Giants (9-7)	Bears (7-9)	Panthers (9-7)	Rams (4-12)
Redskins (7-9)	Lions (5-11)	Bucs (4-12)	Seahawks (4-12)

Read more…

At the beginning of September, I added two posts to the site that dealt with predictions in terms of league standings and playoff teams, as well as predictions that were Falcons-centric. Predictions are fun to do and it’s fun to look back and see where you went wrong. First, the Falcons predictions.

I predicted a 9-7 record for the Falcons, and was only wrong on 4 games in my predictions. I flipped the Panthers games, having us win in Week 10 instead of Week 2. It was the other way around. I predicted a loss to the Bears in Week 6 and a win over the Saints in Week 8 as well.

The Falcons offense was a major disappointment from my predictions. I predicted them to finish 4th in both scoring and total offense. They wound up 13th and 15th respectively. But the defense was about on par with my expectations. I predicted 15th and 26th respectively in scoring and total defense, and they finished 14th and 22nd. They were slightly better.

My statistic predictions weren’t on, but many weren’t too far off. Matt Ryan finished about 600 yards short of his passing yards benchmark, averaging 208 yards per game instead of the 220 I predicted. Turner averaged about 87 yards per game in the 10 games he played the majority of, while I predicted him to average about 82 yards per game to reach 1317 rushing yards. Roddy White finished about 100 yards short of the 1200+ receiving yards I predicted. Turner had 10 touchdowns instead of the 12 I predicted. Curtis Lofton had 130 tackles instead of the 118 I predicted. John Abraham had half as many sacks (5.5 vs. 11) as I predicted. Erik Coleman had 0 interceptions and did not lead the team with 3. But the guy that was the free safety, Thomas DeCoud did have 3. But Brent Grimes led the team with 6 picks.

The Falcons had no Pro Bowlers, instead of the 4 I predicted (Ryan, Turner, White, and Gonzo). I had Gonzo catched 71 passes for 838 yards and 8 touchdowns. He wound up 83 catches for 867 yards and 6 touchdowns. Not too far off. Mike Peterson I predicted to finish 2nd on the team with 88 tackles. He did finish 2nd but with 109 tackles. I predicted 29 sacks allowed for our offensive line, with 4 coming on Chris Redman. It was actually 27 actually with 8 coming on Redman. I predicted Jerious Norwood to have 147 total touches in terms of carries and catches, he wound up with only 95, which was less than the number of carries I expected. I did expect Jonathan Babineaux to be among the lead leaders in tackles for loss, predicting 9 and he finished with 8.5. But he had nearly twice as many sacks (6) as I predicted (3.5). Jamaal Anderson was underwhelming. I predicted 8 starts and 2.5 sacks for him. He had 13 starts and 0.5 sacks. Kroy Biermann I thought would have half as many sacks as he wound up with (5.0), and Chauncey Davis only had 1 sack instead of the 3 I predicted.

My rookie predictions were pretty off. Jerry and Moore weren’t the factors I expected due to injuries. Owens I predicted to hae 20 tackles and a pick. He had 26 and 2 picks, and got more playing time than I expected down the stretch. Reynolds, Adkins, and Walker weren’t that far off. Although Walker got more playing time than I expected, although I was right in that it was prompted by injuries.

Now on the to the league-wide predictions:

In the AFC, Cincinnati was the only playoff team I didn’t predict, making it instead of Pittsburgh.

I missed on Philadelphia and New Orleans in the NFC, predicting Chicago and Carolina to go instead.

I predicted the right order of finish in both the AFC and NFC East. I nailed the Browns, Jaguars, Falcons, Cardinals records exactly. And was within 1 win of 5 other teams. And was within 2 wins of 11 other teams. I was most off with the Bears, who won 6 less games than I predicted of 13. The Patriots were next off, by winning 4 less games than I predicted. The Bengals, Colts, and Saints all won 4 more games than I predicted.

Of course I had the Steelers and Bears meeting in the Super Bowl, and neither team made the playoffs.

My league MVP was Brady, and it appears most likely to be Peyton Manning or Drew Brees who will win the award. I said DeMarcus Ware would win Defensive MVP, but it seems that either Charles Woodson or Darrelle Revis will win that.

I picked Sanchez and Raji for my rookies of the year. I almost picked Cushing, but decided not to. But it looks like Cushing and Percy Harvin will be the rookies of the year.

Tomlin was my coach of the year pick, but I’m thinking this will go to Jim Caldwell, Sean Payton, or Norv Turner.

Wow, I was way off on a lot of these predictions.

Here are my Falcons-centric predictions:

1. vs. Dolphins - W 2. vs. Panthers - L 3. at Patriots - L 4. bye 5. at 49ers - W 6. vs. Bears - L 7. at Cowboys - L 8. at Saints - W 9. vs. Redskins - W 10. at Panthers - W 11. at Giants - L 12. vs. Bucs - W 13. vs. Eagles - L 14. vs. Saints - L 15. at Jets - W 16. vs. Bills - W 17. at Bucs - W

Stat Leaders:

Passing: Matt Ryan (3,533 yards)
Rushing: Michael Turner (1,317 yards)
Receiving: Roddy White (1,244 yards)
Scoring: Michael Turner (12 TDs)
Tackles: Curtis Lofton (118)
Sacks: John Abraham (11.0)
Interceptions: Erik Coleman (3)

RANKINGS

Scoring Offense: 4th
Total Offense: 4th
Scoring Defense: 15th
Total Defense: 26th

PRO BOWLERS

QB Matt Ryan – He’ll be an alternate behind Brees, Cutler, and Rodgers, but will play in the game because Cutler will be a scratch.
RB Michael Turner – Along with Adrian Peterson, he’ll back up Forte in Honolulu.
WR Roddy White – Another Pro Bowl bid for Roddy along with Steve Smith, Fitz, and Greg Jennings.
TE Tony Gonzalez – He’ll get in ahead of Greg Olsen to back up Jason Witten in the game.

ROOKIE REPORT

1. Peria Jerry – He will finish second on the team with 4.5 sacks and start 13 games.
2. William Moore – He’ll log at least 6 starts by year’s end and finish with 82 tackles and an interception.
3. Chris Owens – He’ll contribute in both the nickel and on special teams, have a single interception with about 20 tackles on defense.
4. Lawrence Sidbury – He’ll contribute off the bench as a pass rush specialist and log 2 sacks.
5a. William Middleton – He’ll make some early appearances on special teams for the Bucs, but will finish the year on their practice squad.
5b. Garrett Reynolds – He’ll be active for a handful of games, but won’t get much playing time.
6. Spencer Adkins – He’ll log a handful of tackles on special teams, but play sparingly on defense.
7. Vance Walker – He’ll get called up to the active roster for a few weeks in the second half of the season due to injuries and will have 4 tackles by year’s end.

OTHER THINGS OF NOTE:

1. The Falcons offensive line will give up 29 sacks this year. Four of them will be on backup QB Chris Redman.
2. Tony Gonzalez will catch 71 passes for 838 yards and 8 touchdowns.
3. Mike Peterson will finish second on the team with 88 tackles.
4. Jerious Norwood will see his workload on offense increase. He’ll only catch 29 passes, but will have a career high 118 rushing attempts. That will be 16 more offensive touches, an average of one more per game.
5. Jonathan Babineaux will only have 3.5 sacks this year, but he’ll once again finish near the top of the league with 9 tackles for loss.
6. Jamaal Anderson will show minor improvement this year, and notch 2.5 sacks, although that production will matched by Kroy Biermann and surpassed by Chauncey Davis (3 sacks). Anderson will only wind up with 8 starts this year.
7. Brent Grimes will be the early leader in passes defended on the team, but due to some bad outings against the Cowboys, Saints, and Redskins in respective weeks will ultimately lose his starting job to Brian Williams by Week 10.
8. Eric Weems will be so good on punt returns early in the year, that the team will eventually replace Norwood on kickoffs to get him more touches, which will ultimately lead to Norwood’s increased workload on offense.

Here are my predictions for the upcoming season.

AFC	NFC
AFC EAST Patriots (14-2)* Jets (8-8)* Dolphins (8-8) Bills (4-12)	NFC EAST Cowboys (10-6)* Eagles (9-7) Giants (9-7) Redskins (6-10)
AFC NORTH Steelers (12-4)* Ravens (11-5)* Bengals (6-10) Browns (5-11)	NFC NORTH Bears (13-3)* Vikings (10-6)* Packers (10-6)* Lions (4-12)
AFC SOUTH Colts (10-6)* Titans (8-8) Texans (7-9) Jaguars (7-9)	NFC SOUTH Panthers (10-6)* Falcons (9-7) Saints (9-7) Buccaneers (5-11)
AFC WEST Chargers (11-5)* Chiefs (6-10) Broncos (5-11) Raiders (3-13)	NFC WEST Cardinals (10-6)* Seahawks (8-8) 49ers (5-11) Rams (4-12)
Wildcard Round Chargers beat Jets Ravens beat Colts	Wildcard Round Panthers beat Packers Vikings beat Cowboys
Divisional Round Patriots beat Ravens Steelers beat Chargers	Divisional Round Bears beat Vikings Panthers beat Cardinals
Conference Championship Steelers beat Patriots	Conference Championship Bears beat Panthers

Super Bowl XLIV
Steelers beat Bears

Everybody and their momma is picking the Patriots to win the Super Bowl, and they are the safe bet. But I figured I’d throw caution to the win and pick the Steelers to repeat, which will shock the world. Not really, but you have to admit if any team is going to repeat in the near future, the Steelers are as good a bet as anyone. The Bears I think will be the team to beat in the NFC not because of Jay Cutler like most people think, but because I think Matt Forte is going to have a monster year.

League MVP: Tom Brady, Patriots. Because of their success and him coming off injury, Brady will bring home another MVP award. Matt Forte, Jay Cutler, and Philip Rivers will be the next runner’s up.
Defensive MVP: DeMarcus Ware, Cowboys. He probably won’t top 20 sacks, but he’ll get close and will win this award.
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Mark Sanchez, Jets. Taking the Jets to an 8-8 record and a playoff appearance, a no-brainer.
Defensive Rookie of the Year: B.J. Raji, Packers. I almost went with the USC sweep and picked Cushing here, but I figured Raji will win this since he may wind up being the best player on the Packers defense this year, while Cushing will always be second fiddle to Mario Williams.
Coach of the Year: Mike Tomlin, Steelers. While Lovie Smith and Belichick might also deserve this honor, they’ll give it to Tomlin because both of those other guys have already won one.

Coaching Carousel: Tom Cable, Jim Zorn, Gary Kubiak, Wade Phillips, and Dick Jauron will all be fired at the end of the year. The Cowboys will put on the full court press and hire Mike Shanahan. Washington will settle on Jon Gruden. Houston will replace Kubiak with Ron Rivera, while Jason Garrett will head north to Buffalo. And Oakland will eventually settle on Jim Fassel.

Last Undefeated Teams: The Patriots will start the season 11-0 until they lose to the Dolphins in Week 13. In the NFC, both the Vikings and Bears will get off to fast starts with both teams losing their first games in Week 6 to the Ravens and Falcons, respectively.
Last Winless Teams: The Raiders and Rams will go the longest without a victory this year. The Raiders first win will come against the Jets in Week 7, while the Rams won’t win until they face off with the Lions the following week.