Beyond Matty Ice and the Burner: Five Guys Who Must Step Up for the 2009 Falcons

Everyone knows that guys like Matt Ryan, Michael Turner and John Abraham are the key cogs that make the Falcons machine go, but there are a few guys who aren’t superstars that could make the difference between playing in January or fishing in January. For the sake of this article, we’re sticking with veteran players only. While some rookies will be counted on to play big snaps, those guys get a one year benefit of the doubt.

How History Would Be Different If Atlanta Never Traded Brett Favre

It’s safe to say America is suffering from Favre overkill.  For the 14th consecutive off-season (I think?) America’s sweetheart, Brett Favre, is stringing everyone along as to whether he’ll play football in the Fall.

This could have been avoided.  Favre overkill would have never existed if the Atlanta Falcons had never traded Brett Favre. I know for certain how history would have been different had Favre never been traded to the Packers.

In 1992, instead of trading Favre to the Packers, the Falcons organization sees Brett’s tremendous talent and instead fire Jerry Glanville, who promptly disappears off the face of the Earth in his eternal search for Elvis.  Atlanta then hires young Bill Walsh protege Mike Holmgren.

The Falcons trade incumbent starter Chris Miller and hand the reigns over to Favre.  The precocious Favre leads the Falcons to a 9-7 record, the first ever back-to-back winning seasons in franchise history and a Wild Card berth.  Atlanta upsets Minnesota in the first round before losing a divisional playoff game to the 49ers. 

Free agent superstar Reggie White likes what Atlanta is building and decides to sign with Atlanta after a tense bidding war with Green Bay.  With a revamped defense in 1993 Atlanta goes 11-5 and wins the division for the first time in more than a decade.  They make the first NFC title game appearance in franchise history and lose a classic to the Cowboys at Texas Stadium.

The humble and quiet Deion Sanders decides to finish his career with the Falcons and Atlanta enters the 1994 season expected to again compete with Dallas for the NFC crown.  Atlanta this time bests Dallas and makes the first Super Bowl in franchise history.  Favre has a historic Super Bowl against the Chargers and Atlanta hoists the Lombardi Trophy for the first time and do so in dominant fashion.

The rest of the NFL trembles at the thought of an Atlanta dynasty at the start of the 1995 season and Atlanta lives up to the hype.  They bury the Cowboys dynasty once and for all and then top the Steelers in the most watched Super Bowl in NFL history and Favre gets his second MVP trophy and Super Bowl win.

It starts becoming old hat for Atlanta as they win a third straight Super Bowl in January of ’97, though this time Kick Returner Eric Metcalf becomes the first special teams player to win Super Bowl MVP.  Atlanta dominates the ’97 season and Denver gives them a good run in the Super Bowl.  John Elway, trying to lead a comeback drive, dives, gets crunched, spins in mid-air, fumbles the ball and Atlanta recovers to hold on for Super Bowl title number four.

Atlanta beats Minnesota in an epic NFC title game in 1999 and get a rematch with Denver.  Eugene Robinson, who spent the night before the Super Bowl building houses for Habitat for Humanity, assisting at a free medical clinic and volunteering at a soup kitchen, intercepts Elway three times and Atlanta wins one for the thumb.

Atlanta and their old rival St. Louis battle in an epic NFC title game.  Atlanta wins a shootout and Favre couldn’t be more excited.

“They say St. Louis is the greatest show on turf,” Favre said. “Well, we proved that Atlanta is the bestest show on turf.”  Sure it’s really nonsensical, but Favremania has gripped America unlike any phenomenon football has ever seen.

After two more Super Bowl titles, Atlanta is set for title number eight, but they get upset by the Patriots in 2002.  After a trying Fall in which we saw our foundation shaken by the 9/11 tragedy, the Patriots define the American spirit of never giving up in the face of adversity.  Everyone feels good about themselves…except for Brett Favre.

Favre wins his fifth NFL MVP in 2002 and after a second round win over Green Bay and their explosive rookie Quarterback Michael Vick, Atlanta romps over Oakland for Super Bowl number eight.  Favre wants more.  That loss to New England sticks in his craw. 

Favre’s foundation, however, is shaken when his father dies a day before a pivotal Monday Night game against Tampa.  Favre, to the surprise of people everywhere, decides to play and has another career defining performance against the Bucs on Monday Night Football.  Atlanta wins a ninth title getting revenge over the Patriots.

With the loss to the Pats avenged and still troubled by the loss of his father, Favre quietly begins contemplating retirement.  The Falcons have a few respectable seasons, but Favre’s play begins to deteriorate and retirement becomes more of an attractive option.  He decides the 2007 season will be his last. 

Atlanta back doors its way into the playoffs. They have an impossible task ahead of them, three straight road wins are needed to make a Super Bowl.  The Falcons shock the world and beat the Giants in overtime to advance to the Super Bowl where they are expected to get smoked by the 18-0 Patriots.

New England jumps out to a lead early, but America’s Hero Brett Favre leads the charge back.  With just 50 seconds left, Favre hits Roddy White for the game winning touchdown and Super Bowl win number 10.  It’s the cherry on top for Favre.  At the end of the championship parade, Favre announces, with a tear in his eye, that he’s retiring. 

Favre heads back to the farm in Mississippi never to be heard from again.  He’s content being super dad watching his kids grow up and spending his time tending to his land.  Thanks to a trade, Atlanta ends up with the third pick in the draft and select Matt Ryan a wide eyed rookie out of Boston College.  Kid has a lot to live up to, hopefully he’s up to the task.

So there you have it, history would have been radically different had Atlanta never traded Brett Favre.  The Falcons would clearly have won ten Super Bowls and Favre would be remembered as the greatest quarterback in NFL history.  It’s shame how things turned out otherwise.

Michael Vick: One Shot at Redemption

Michael Vick begins his road back to the NFL on Wednesday once he is released from federal prison to home confinement.  Vick is set to begin working out with a trainer upon his release to begin getting back into playing shape.  However, it’s going to take a lot more than success on the field for Michael Vick to find his redemption.

Michael Vick is going to be a difficult sell to the fans of whichever team signs him.  80 percent of employers polled nationwide said they would not hire a convicted felon to work in their company.  If NFL teams follow that same convention, Vick has a shot to catch on with six or seven teams.

The team that signs him will have to have the benefit of the doubt with its fans that it makes the right decisions in personnel moves and that Vick can help the team.  There are going to be protests and a boat load of hoopla surrounding Vick wherever he goes.  His teammates will have to deal with a consistent Vick talk and the circus-like atmosphere that is sure to follow.  It’s a lot to ask of a team.

Michael Vick can turn to a familiar face to help repair his public image.  He recently met with former Colts head coach Tony Dungy within the walls of Leavenworth. 

Dungy has spent much of his time working with prison inmates since retiring from coaching.  He can provide guidance for Vick in two pivotal areas; dealing with adversity and exhibiting humility in the public spotlight.

Despite the completely different nature of the adversity both have publicly faced, Dungy can still counsel Vick on how to make a positive situation out of the negative one he created.  Dungy could have spiraled downward after the suicide of his son, James, but he persevered and became a resource for families dealing with similar tragedies.

While Vick’s situation is entirely of his own doing, there is still a possibility he can become a positive influence for people.  He can be an example of someone who did wrong, indefensible things, but served his time, learned his lesson, and became a better person because of it.  Dungy can help guide him in that respect.

Michael Vick will also need consistent reminders of humility.  Losing a fortune, making 10 cents a day working in jail, and being confined to a cell for two years would be humbling for anyone, but we’re still talking about someone who was a multi-million dollar athlete at one point.

Michael Vick will get out and find that he still has the million dollar arm and the blazing speed.  He believes he can still be a star in the NFL.  His ego will return and he’ll need to learn to keep it in check.  Dungy has never been one to put himself before anything.  He can provide Vick consistent reminders that it’s not always about him.

Vick also needs to be honest with himself and others.  It would go a long way if he would partner with the Humane Society or the SPCA and give talks about what he did and why it was wrong. 

Vick needs to put the facts on the table; he was foolish, he was involved in things he shouldn’t have been involved in, he continued to let bad people influence him, he made some awful decisions, and animal cruelty is never, under any imaginable circumstance, acceptable.

Michael Vick needs to show genuine remorse for his actions.  That’s the key issue.  He is certainly remorseful that he got caught and sent to jail, but does he think what he did was wrong?  If the answer is yes, he needs to make that point abundantly clear.

The odds are certainly against him.  42 percent of felons return to prison within three years of their release.  Michael Vick showed consistently bad judgement prior to the dog fighting conviction. 

Whether it was the Ron Mexico fiasco, flipping off his home fans, or trying to bring a trick-bottom water bottle, used for transporting marijuana, through security at an airport, Vick’s decision making skills have been poor.

Vick has one shot at redemption.  His margin of error is small.  We should all be rooting for him to succeed.

There was a time when the off-field exploits of athletes were kept quiet and the athletes were just celebrated for their on-field performance.  Thanks to our ever expanding information, the curtain has been lifted and the warts of professional athletes are magnified.

Can you imagine if Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle had to deal with high speed internet, wi-fi, blogs, camera phones, text messaging, and all the other technological advances we’ve seen in the last two decades alone?  How would their legacies be different today if some of their uncouth behavior was publicly documented?

We’ve seen some very public falls from grace.  Whether it’s steroids, drug use, or violent crimes, we see ego-maniacs and fake contrition. 

Roger Clemens is such an ego maniac that he honestly believes he never did steroids.  OJ didn’t think what he was doing was wrong by robbing someone at gun point.  Alex Rodriguez gets up in front of the media and lies through his teeth.

It leaves us with an uneasy feeling.  We want to root for athletes and care about them, but it’s getting harder and harder to root for the name on the back of the jersey instead of the name on the front.  We want to believe that the good guys like Warrick Dunn and tony Dungy are the rule, not the exception.

We’ve never seen a public fall from grace as dramatic as Michael Vick’s.  His redemption can be just as dramatic. 

If he follows the steps I outlined above and makes a considerable effort to show remorse for what he’s done, most people will forgive him.  If people don’t forgive him for taking every step imaginable to clean up his image, then it says more about those people than it does Michael Vick.

I don’t have a great deal of faith it will happen, given his past transgressions, but I hope Michael Vick will do the right thing.  We need someone to make us feel good about professional athletes and hopefully it will come from an unlikely source. 

Good luck, Michael, here’s hoping you can find your redemption.

Who Will Win the NFC South? Your Guess Is As Good As Mine

No division in the NFL exemplifies the salary-cap era parity better than the NFC South. In five straight seasons, the team that finished last one year won the division the next year.  From 2003-2006, every team in the division had a worst-to-first run. The streak was broken last year, but just barely. 

Atlanta was minutes away from a sixth straight worst-to-first division champ, but Carolina rallied to beat New Orleans and wrap up the division in the final game of the regular season. Given the volatile nature of the league and the division in general, there’s plenty of reason to believe the NFC South will come down to the wire again in 2009.

It was a quiet offseason for the Carolina Panthers, much to the chagrin of the Panther faithful, but when you’re coming off an 11-5 season and division championship, why mess with success? The Panthers made sure to resign Offensive Tackle Jordan Gross, the lynch pin in an offensive line that paved the way for the league’s third best rushing attack.

Perhaps the best move Carolina made wasn’t a move at all.

They decided not to trade all world pass rusher Julius Peppers so the pass rush should be fierce again, but Carolina didn’t improve the interior defensive line aside from third-round pick, Corvey Irvin, this offseason and when you’re second worst in the league against the run, that could be a potential recipe for disaster.

Tampa finished third in the division last season, but they might be the biggest enigma in the division. They have no quarterback right now. Josh McCown and Byron Leftwich aren’t the answer and I’ll go on record saying I think Josh Freeman will be a tremendous bust. 

Derrick Ward was a great pick up for the run game, but the offensive line is just OK.  Kellen Winslow would be a nice pick up ordinarily, but again, who is going to throw to him?

The Bucs built their reputation on defense, but Tampa will have a glaring hole in the defense. Derrick Brooks was the heart and soul of the Buccaneer defense for 14 years making 11 Pro Bowls and nine All-Pro teams. Tampa cut ties with the future Hall of Famer this off-season and filling the void in terms of performance will be hard enough. 

Replacing his leadership will be nearly impossible.  With the architect of the Tampa Two, Monte Kiffin, leaving to join his son’s parade of fools in Knoxville, the defense ought to be a big question in the Bay this season.

After two straight disappointing seasons following an NFC title game appearance in 2007, the New Orleans Saints are in the enviable NFC South position of cellar dwellers. Drew Brees put up video game numbers in 2008 and the Saints were the top scoring offense in the league. There is little reason to think the offense won’t be explosive again in 2008. 

The Saints couldn’t run the ball last year and did little to improve in that area, for that reason New Orleans had better hope the defense is improved or they’re going to find themselves in a bunch of shoot-outs again this season.

Bigger than any player acquisition was the hire of Gregg Williams as defensive coordinator. Williams was the coordinator of a Super Bowl defense in Tennessee and had top ten defenses three times in four years in Washington. His defensive philosophy revolves around terrorizing quarterbacks, so the pass rush should improve in 2009.

The Saints used free agency and the draft to upgrade a bad secondary. They signed free agents Jabari Greer and Darren Sharper. They drafted Ohio State Corner Malcolm Jenkins 14th overall and will get last year’s second rounder, Safety Tracy Porter, back after his rookie season was wiped out due to injury. 

In an already competitive division, the rest of the schedule is brutal all across the South.  Each team has those six heated divisional games, four games against the NFC East and four games against the AFC East. The Saints may have a huge advantage in the games against non common opponents.

By finishing last in the South, the Saints get games with the last place teams in the North and West divisions. For those with short-term memories, those teams would be zero win Detroit and two win St. Louis. 

Carolina gets a road game with Arizona and a home game with Minnesota sandwiched between December road games against the Patriots and Giants. Atlanta gets a road game at San Francisco and a home Sunday night game against Jay Cutler and the Bears. 

Tampa, fortunately, gets Green Bay at home, but has to play a late season road game in Seattle. New Orleans should have two games in hand while the rest of the division will scuffle to split those games.

Last season the NFC South compiled a 27-5 home record which was by far the best combined home record for any division. That’s another element to consider when trying to project a division champ. Given the upgrade in competition across the board, it’s unrealistic to expect these teams to match that in 2009.

All four teams have major question marks on defense: Can Carolina stop the run?  Can Atlanta overcome its youth? Who will emerge as the leader in Tampa? Is Gregg Williams a miracle worker?

The team that answers the question most successfully will likely walk away with the division title.  In this division, throw out convention and expect the unexpected.

From Coach Anonymous to Coach of the Year

When the Atlanta Falcons hired Jacksonville Defensive Coordinator Mike Smith to be the team’s new head coach on January 23, 2008 one question rang out among fans and critics alike.

Who?

Smith was largely anonymous to football fans and didn’t seem to be on the radar for any other head coaching vacancies. He coached Ray Lewis and Adalius Thomas in Baltimore.  He led the Jaguars defense which was always ranked near the top of all defensive categories.

Smith, overly common moniker aside, is no longer anonymous. Smith met the enormous task of rebuilding the Atlanta Falcons head on, and when all was said and done he was named NFL Coach of the Year. While it seemed like an out-of-left-field hire at the time, in hindsight it makes sense why the Falcons chose Smith.

He was the anti-Petrino. While Bobby Petrino ruled with the iron fist and control freakishness befitting only an SEC coach, Smith was more upfront and honest with his players. You can’t treat professional football players like 18 year old college kids. They are grown men. Smith treated them as such.

He was open eared towards his veterans and showed them the respect with which he expected to be treated. His philosophy is simple: Work hard, give it your all every snap and we’ll take care of you; slack off or give me anything less than your best and I will bust some heads.

The players ate it up. 

It was a weight off their shoulders to be free from the oppressiveness of Petrino’s regime. A former Jaguar player said Mike Smith was a bad hire and was essentially a care taker for Jack Del Rio’s defense. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that there were reported chemistry issues in Jacksonville during last year’s 5-11 season.

Smith was smart and knew he’d need great football minds alongside him to turn Atlanta’s fortune around. He handed Atlanta’s offense over to Mike Mularkey, one of the most respected offensive minds in football.

Mularkey spent years with Pittsburgh championing the pulverizing running attack while also designing a bevy of plays to utilize the versatility of guys like Hines Ward and Antwaan Randle-El. In year one with the Falcons, Mularkey’s offense was the second best rushing offense in the league and featured the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and two Pro Bowlers, Roddy White and Michael Turner. 

On Defense, Smith brought in Brian VanGorder who he coached alongside in Jacksonville.

VanGorder cut his chops around his home state of Michigan and at Western Illinois before entering the national radar as the Defensive Coordinator at The University of Georgia. After a third stellar year with the Dogs, VanGorder was given the Frank Broyles Award, given to the nation’s top assistant coach. After a year in Jacksonville, VanGorder had a disastrous year as head coach of Georgia Southern and returned to Georgia to coach Atlanta’s linebackers in 2007. Smith promoted him to Defensive Coordinator in 2008.

VanGorder, in the parlance of Spinal Tap, keeps his volume and intensity level cranked to 11 at all times. He’s just as likely to get in a player’s face in celebration as he is in anger. His infectious attitude paid dividends in 2008.

While the Falcons were prone to giving up plenty of yards in both the pass and run games, they held opponents to 20.3 points a game, 11th best in the NFL. The Falcons ranked 29th in points allowed in 2007. 

Even with so many well thought of coaches on board, it’s Smith’s operation and the organization appears to have a bright future with him at the helm. Not bad for a guy who once could have been mistaken for a young Ernest Borgnine and probably needed a name tag at any league function. Now people know who he is. Mike Smith. Plain name, heck of a coach.

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