Week 16-Atlanta Falcons vs. New Orleans Saints Preview

Atlanta Falcons-New Orleans Saints Preview - It's Hate Week, Christmas Edition

Somehow it's already week 16 of the NFL season which gives us the game we've all been waiting for, the Atlanta Falcons (12-2) and the New Orleans Saints (10-4) on football's biggest stage, Monday Night Football. This rivalry is viewed nationally and by saints fans as a one sided affair, but make no mistake this is far from a one dog fight. The two organizations have very similar histories and were birthed just a year apart, with the Atlanta franchise coming first in 1966. Falcons have an overall record of 288-392-6 (.424) slightly below that of the Saints' 285-382-5 (.427). Both teams have only one NFC championship each and as saints fans will quickly jump to let you know their visit brought home the Lombardi trophy.

The series holds different results, the Falcons hold a firm grip on the series record that stands at 46-37(1-0 postseason). The rivalry is on built deeply on hatred as anyone can tell you that's been to a contest where the two have done battle. It's not a series rooted in streaks or tendencies, however 1995 through the 2000 season never witnessed a New Orleans victory. Even during their championship run a year ago it's hard to argue, if you watched the games, that Atlanta wasn't their two toughest wins. Growing up I always heard accounts of the busses trips organized by rival fans for away games that almost always erupted into fights upon arrival. When these two teams square off you also don't see a lot of blow out, though there have been a few. The largest margin of victory came in 1973 when the Falcons handed the saints a 62-7 thumping. In 1987 the saints recoded their biggest win shutting out Atlanta 38-0.

Like in series past the 83rd addition of the rivalry saw a tough competitive fight in week three of this year. After forcing three and out To start the game the saints 1st quarter, got on the board after a big punt return by lance moore, who would be a thorn in the Falcons side all day. The away team quickly returned punches scoring on their ensuing drive to tie the game at sevens. Things got even better for Atlanta by intercepting Bresus' first pass of their next drive, but could not capitalize on the miscue and after punting were quickly bitten again by the man that wears eye black under only one eye....even in domes. The 2nd quarter only saw on score, but it was a prototypical Falcons' drive eating up over 10 minutes of clock, covering 70 yards on twenty plays, capped off by a Turner one-yard touchdown. After coming out of halftime all square at 14, the second half didn't help answer any questions as the two teams traded 7-3 quarters. The final score of regulation coming off the foot of, the soon to be goat, hartley wi under ten seconds left on the clock. In extra time the Falcon's offense gave the saints the ball after only four plays and sat back as they watched them drive nearly the length of the field before the aforementioned goat booted the would-be game winner WIDE LEFT. Not to be denied again Matty Ice and the offense overcame a 10 yard penalty to start the drive and orchestrated a drive to set up Matt Bryant from 46 yards and watched as the ball sailed throw the uprights. Falcons win 27-24

Fast forward to week 16 and a game where the two NFC South teams will face at the peek of health. Since their meeting in September the saints have posted a 8-3 record highlighted by a 20-10 win against the Steelers with loses at Arizona, to Cleveland, and last week in Baltimore. The weeks since their last meeting has also seen brees add to a season total of 19 interceptions,10 more than his counterpart, throwing at least one in his last 10 contests.

The Falcons have flown relatively under the radar while compiling a league best 14-2 record thanks in large part to a consistent offensive attack that eats away at the play clock and a very underrated 'bend but don't break' defense led by John Abraham and his 12 sacks, good for third highest in the NFL in spite of fewer plays.

This game is gigantic even without the playoff implications and the national spotlight and when you add it all together with the world war that's going on between fans online it is going to be an interesting battle Monday night. With a win on Monday or against Carolina in week 17, Atlanta can secure the number one seed in the NFC and Dome Field Advantage through the playoffs. The saints need a win to guarantee their spot in the postseason as well. This game comes down to if Michael Turner can get those tree trunks he calls legs to burn up yardage against the new orleans defense that gave up 153 yards on the ground to Ray Rice a week ago. The Falcons can also help their cause by limiting the big plays and wrapping up in the tackles as the saints an extremely fast offensive unit. I think brees attempts to go to their air very often and using his running backs as outlets routinely.

Falcons 37-29

NFL Week 15-Atlanta Falcons vs. Seattle Seahawks Review

This game is what most of us expected, a grind it out type of game. The Falcons were almost dead even on offensive plays mixing between 35 passing plays to 37 rushing. The Falcons were held to under 100 yards rushing as a team for the sixth time this season (Steelers, 49ers-98, Eagles, Ravens, Buccaneers). One popular belief of the national media is that if you stop the Falcons rush you shut us down, clearly not the case. That being said, when Atlanta rushes for 100 yards, and more importantly when Michael Turner eclipses the century mark the Falcons become a dangerous team, going 17-2 when it happens. Even without ever getting the going they won their third game road game and a league leading eighth overall.  

The defense looked shaky at best on the first drive of the game getting eaten up for yardage as the Seahawks offense went to work mixing between swing passes and runs up the gut. Van Gorder seemingly rallied his troops and took away the swing passes and receiver screens for the rest of the game. In the 3^rd quarter, when the defense has been susceptible to mistakes, they stepped up and forced 3 turnovers.

While we’re talking about the Atlanta defense that is constantly getting drug through the mud, I ask the question, who in the NFC is better on D? This same defense held the Seahawks to their third lowest yardage total on the season only allowing 235 yards. Two teams that some say are better than ATL on D are New Orleans, gave up 424 to Seattle, and the Chicago Bears who surrendered 353 yards both of these teams played their games against the Seahawks at home. I’m not saying that Atlanta has the best defense, but it is far from the liability it’s being called around the nation. They have only allowed over 25 points twice this season and it was to Cincinnati, who lit it up through the air after exhaling a little too early after heading to half up 24-3.Chicago has also only given up 25-plus points twice, elsewhere NFC teams New Orleans has done so five times, the Eagles seven times, Giants six times. The Packers have a great defense but right now they’re on the outside of the playoffs looking in.

Matt Ryan didn’t have a killer game, but he led the team in the most hostile environment in the league and communicated like a 10 year vet. His interception to lil’ Babs was about as bad as they come since he never saw him coming, but didn’t have many other poor throws. The Falcons’ signal caller now has 32 career wins as a starter in his first three seasons, the second-most wins of any quarterback to begin their career since the merger, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. His primary target, Roddy White had seven receptions to give him 106 for the season. White is the third Falcons player with 100 or more receptions in a season and is five shy of tying the single-season record set by Terrance Mathis in 1994.

With under 2 minutes to play in the first half Atlanta marched down the field and added seven points to the scoreboard and in true Falcons’ fashion did so using 13 total plays.

The special teams unit continued to play consistent football in all areas. One of the biggest plays of the game was Michael Koenenan’s 56-yard punt that pinned Seattle at their own 4-yard line and led to the Anderson strip of Hasselbeck that was recovered for a TD by big Babs. 

NFL Team's Christmas Wish List

With millions of dollars, free agency, and the draft for most teams their wish lists becomes a reality more often than not. This is an examination of what each team would like waiting under the proverbial tree.

1. Arizona Cardinals - Quarterback that doesn’t joke around. After watching Kurt Warner light defenses up and lead their teams for five years now the Cardinals have had to endure a season of Derek Anderson, Max Hall, and for a brief stint Matt Lienart. We all knew coming into the season Lienart didn’t have what it took. I haven’t and don’t expect to see Derek Anderson return to the year of greatness he had in Cleveland.

2. Atlanta Falcons - Dome Field Advantage. Two wins in the final three weeks can lock up home field advantage for a team that could us it the most.

3. Baltimore Ravens - Anti-Aging Cream. This defense is old, a really good defense, but about as old as I’ve seen in a while. They’re going to have to play a lot younger down the stretch. On Monday night they gave up two 90+ yard drives to Houston, both resulting in touchdowns.

4. Buffalo Bills - Divisional Win. They’ll get their chance this weekend against Miami, if they can’t beat the Dolphins it gets harder facing the Patriots and the Jets to close out the season. A divisional win would be big to build on for 2011, though a running back would help out more.

5. Carolina Panthers - Bill Cowher. With the Cats unlikely to resign John Fox they can only hope that Cowher is ready to return to coaching close to hope and leave Dan Marino, Shannon Sharpe, and the rest of CBS behind. John Gruden would be a nice option as well, especially with the ability to face his former Bucs twice a year, but Cowher should be their first choice.

6. Chicago Bears - Deluxe Sideline heaters. After facing the Patriots in a blizzard last week you would think anything would be better. Now they’re going to have to play Monday Night Football against the Vikings at TFC Bank Stadium, a stadium that has been covered in snow for three weeks and will be colder than Soldier Field was. After playing their last game of the season at Lambeau they might be looking forward to traveling for the playoffs.   

7. Cincinnati Bengals - Anyone at QB but a Palmer. I used to believe in Carson Palmer, but after his knee injury two years ago he’s getting progressively worse. To add insult to injury Carson’s back up is his little brother Jordan. They could also benefit from a Carolina win against Arizona that could help them get the first pick in the draft and Andrew Luck.

8. Cleveland Browns - 3 wins to finish 2010. Not only would ending the season on this streak get them to .500 it could also end the playoff hopes for one of their divisional foes the Steelers or Ravens. They could also benefit from a top notch receiver through the draft or free agency there will be plenty available from both.

9. Dallas Cowboys - Jason Garrett. I think their best move would be to take the interim title off their coaches name plate. He already knows the players, staff, and can create a smooth transition into the next chapter for America’s team. Hiring Garrett without interviewing others can also help alleviate the media madhouse that would be sure to follow.   

10. Denver Broncos - Veteran Leadership. Whether it’s through their new head coach or free agency, this team needs a veteran voice. The Broncos are a young and very talented team and the youth has shown in multiple blow out loses in which they were not at a talent disadvantage.

11. Detroit Lions - Resigning Megatron. If the NFL teams lined up to see Santa, the Lions would be the annoying kid with a two page list. They’re not nearly the worse-off team in the league, but with their history they want badly to turn the tables. They could use better luck, between injuries and losing 6 of their 10 losses by 5 points or less. I think signing Calvin Johnson is the most important. He has already come out and voiced his displeasure of losing, something that has become synonymous with Detroit. By resigning him before the last two years are up they can secure the Stafford-Johnson tandem and guarantee their core.

12. Green Bay Packers - Good Health. No team in recent history has been as hit so hard by injuries. The Pack hasn’t been bitten by the short term bug either placing 15 players on IR and losing others for various lengths of time.

13. Houston Texans - Secondary Help. No team has been worse at defending the pass than this group. Whether through the draft or free agency or both they have to improve this unit that’s giving up more than 275 yards a game through the air.

14. Indianapolis Colts - Return of the real Peyton. Like the Packers, they could benefit from better health, but Peyton hasn’t been Peyton lately. They could greatly benefit from a solid running back in the draft, but with the playoffs still very much in play for Indy, they need a solution for the rest of this season.

15. Jacksonville Jaguars - Return to the Postseason. A divisional championship is within reach and could lead to the Jaguars first playoff game since 2007. The odds increase with a win against the Colts on Sunday. Making the playoffs would be huge for first year GM Gene Smith and allow for instant gratification.

16.Kansas City Chiefs - Patience. Not only are the Chiefs currently leading the AFC West, but they’re doing it with an experienced coaching staff and a large crop of young talent. If the Chiefs fall early in the postseason or fail to make the playoffs, with the Chargers making their usual December run, the entire Kansas City family must realize they’re built for the long haul and not a one-year playoff run.

Rendering of the New Marlins Stadium

17.Miami Dolphins - A New Marlins Stadium. Nothing is worse than playing three home games with a baseball infield in the middle of your stadium. Getting the Marlins’ stadium built would be a big win to the Fins.

18. Minnesota Vikings - A New Roof. Having to move one game to Detroit and playing another outside and across town the Vikings will have the entire offseason to not only fix the roof, but to leverage local officials for a new stadium. They could also stand to erase any history of the Brett Favre debacle.

19. New England Patriots - Breakfast in Bed. What could the Patriots possibly ask for, they’re everyone’s early Super Bowl favorites, they have a stockpile of draft picks in 2011 (2 draft picks in each of the first four rounds), and all the pressure has shifted to the Jets.

20. New Orleans Saints - A loss to Atlanta on MNF. Nothing could be better for the Saints than a “L” in ATL…..right? Keeping their current coaching staff intact with all the likely head coaching position opening up would be big moving forward.

21. New York Giants - A Gameplan for Vick. A win against Philly on Sunday would keep the Giants’ hopes for a first round bye alive. It’s no secret to stop the Eagles, they must stop Vick. The Cowboys and Bears have slowed down number 7 and the Giants have the defensive speed to generate pressure.

22. New York Jets - A Delorean. From week 2 up to their bye in week seven New York was playing great football on both sides of the ball. Since their loss to Green Bay at home their offense has been anemic and their defense has gotten progressively worse thanks in large part to injuries. I’m not sure what during their week off, but it seems to be the root of their problems. They need Doc Brown to strap them in and take them back to mid-September.

Rex Ryan's Possible New Whip

23. Oakland Raiders - Quality Quarterback Play. Jason Campbell and Bruce Gradkowski were serviceable this year, but are nowhere close to long term solutions. Would it surprise anyone if Al Davis went after Cam Newton in the draft or made a play at McNabb?

24. Philadelphia Eagles - Retaining Vick. Michael Vick will have suitor lining up to talk to him after the season, that could include, Minnesota, Tennessee, Oakland, Washington, Denver, Miami, and possibly others. With piles of debt and even more talent Vick should be looking for the best situation in terms of surrounding talent, money, and length of contract. You would figure that he will listen to Philly before all others for giving him a chance. Vick is also most likely to succeed in offenses with a wealth of speed…sounds like the Eagles to me.

25. Pittsburgh Steelers - Clone Polamalu. Hey, if anyone can do it its Santa right? You can’t have what you don’t ask for. Runner-up would have to be a quite postseason for Big Ben.

26. San Diego Chargers - An Entire Season Played in December. Under Norv Turner this team routinely comes slow out of the gate, but seems to always make a late run for the playoffs. Short of the firing, retiring, or resigning of Turner, this is their best shot of putting together a solid season.

27. San Francisco 49ers - Answers. The 49ers are going to be loaded with questions this offseason. Whether to keep Singletary, stick with either or both Smith’s at QB-both will be free agents in 2010, plan for the future at running back. Frank Gore will be a free agent in 2012, so they need to judge the likelihood of resigning him to plan for the draft. I don’t think management wants to answer any of these questions.

28. Seattle Seahawks - An Actual 12^th Man. The Seahawks are known for their loud fan base, known as the 12^th man, but they’d be better off with an actual twelfth man on offense and defense playing Atlanta this week.

29. St. Louis Rams - Extra Football. Making the playoffs this year would be at least a year ahead of schedule for St. Louis. Not only would they have an extra game to get better for next year, but likely an additional home game to help pay for all the high draft picks they’ve gotten recently.

30. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Return of the Fans. The Pewter Pirates have played great this year, but even an increasing level of play couldn’t prevent blackouts when Pittsburgh and Atlanta came to town.

31. Tennessee Titans - Larry Hayes, Jr. “Larry Hayes, Jr. is a family law attorney in Nashville, Tennessee who focuses on divorce cases involving large estates or complex issues  at the trial and appellate levels.” Clearly this is where the Titans are headed with Vince Young and Jeff Fisher.

32. Washington Redskins - A New Owner. Let’s not kid ourselves by thinking Daniel Snyder is anything more than one of the worst NFL owner in the league in terms of putting out a quality product. Constantly overpaying for mediocre and aging talent, constant coaching changes, putting personalities that have no chance of messing together. Redskin fans have to be tired of this.

Agree or disagree with your team's wish? Let us know in the comments.

Week 15-Atlanta Falcons vs. Seattle Seahawks

Atlanta Falcons – Seattle Seahawks

The Falcons (11-2) could have a spot in the postseason locked up before they kickoff in Seattle at 4:15pm this Sunday, if the Giants lose to Philadelphia (1pm, FOX). Regardless of what happens around the rest of the league Atlanta can return to the playoffs by taking care of business against the Seahawks. Loses or ties by the Bears or the Packers will also punch the Birds’ ticket to extra football.

This game will be much tougher than the home team’s 6-7 record indicates. The Seahawks are still somehow fighting for a playoff spot thanks to the ineptitude of the NFC West and are coming off an embarrassing loss 40-21 in San Francisco so I expect them to come out focused and rather pissed off. The Flacons will also have to battle the “12^th Man” and avoid additional penalties after playing two straight divisional road games in non-sold-out venues. Qwest Field, known as being the loudest stadium in the league, does however have Fieldturf which will be a step up from the rather suspect fields at Raymond James and Bank of America stadiums.

The Seahawks have been up and down this year under first year coach Pete Carroll. Their team high came in week six when they traveled to Chicago and beat the Bears 23-20. Their other five wins have been much less impressive beating division rival Arizona twice and Carolina, San Diego, and the 49ers all at home. In their seven losses they have been outscores an embarrassing 241-91, and average of 34-14 be closest loss came in New Orleans by 15.

Long road trips are never easy as the saints proved earlier in the year with a loss in Arizona. The Falcons have shown focus on the road, in their last cross country road trips they traveled to San Francisco and handed the 2009 49ers a 45-10 defeat.

The forecast for this contest looks almost identical to last Sunday’s game in Charlotte, low 40s with a chance of rain. I look for a similar game plan on offense this week as we saw against the Panthers, the hopeful return of Jason Snelling should help Turner out with the carrying the rock, which he did 28 times in the game.

I expect Matty Ice to air it out early and often against the pass defense ranked 30^th allowing 266 yards passing per game. Last week this same pass defense made the otherwise incompetent Alex Smith look like an MVP candidate finishing the game with three touchdowns and a QB rating of 130.9 destroying his previous high of 92.8. Ryan should come out and distribute to everyone on the offense setting up Turner to gash the defense for a few long runs.

On the subject of quarterbacks Matt Hasselbeck is still lacing them up now in his 12^th year in the league. Hasselbeck has thrown EIGHT interceptions in his last 3 games giving him a total of 15 on the season. Conversely the other QB out of Boston College has thrown just 8 picks all year.

As prone as the Seahawks are to turning the ball over, the Falcons are just as good in creating turnovers. accumulating The defense should add to their total of 17 interceptions and at least  one in eleven games in 2010.

The Seahawks aren’t exactly blazing a path in the running game either. Their leading rusher is Justin Forsett who has 474 yards and only 2 touchdowns, though the numbers are a little low because they seem to enforce a run by committee style with Marshawn Lynch who has a whopping 5 scores with his new team.

The Falcons must stay focused on this road trip, needing to win two of the final three games to secure home field advantage through the playoffs. Otherwise they could be heading back out to Seattle in the first round of the playoffs, because someone has to win the NFC West.

Prediction: Falcons 29-13

Target Destroyed - Atlanta Falcons-Carolina Panther Review

Atlanta Falcons-Carolina Panther review

The Atlanta Falcons picked up yardage on the ground, through the air, created turnovers, and played an all around solid 60-minutes on their way to a 31-10 victory in the cold and rain. There aren’t many better ways to start a game than to force a fumble on the first play from scrimmage and cash it in for seven points three plays later. And I would be lying if my heart didn’t appreciate the week off from a stress inducing three hours climaxing in the final minute. There are some great things to take from the game and not much to complain about especially when the Falcons returned to Atlanta safely and with a league-best 11-2 record. The Falcons absolutely dominated the box score in the first half leading in total yardage; 202-33, first downs; 13-2, and time of possession 19 minutes to10.

During the game a couple of Falcons reached some milestones including John Abraham who recorded his career 100^th sack good for 26^th all-time it was also his 9^th in his last eight games. Atlanta became the first team in NFC to have a 3,000-yd passer, 1,000-yd receiver & 1,000-yd rusher this year, Houston is the only other team to have reached these numbers in 2010.

The second half run defense scared me a little bit and the lack of killer instinct on with the offensive and defensive play calling when the Falcons come out of halftime. Jonathan Stewart is an incredibly solid and explosive running back and with Goodson cleaning up, it’s not like we were run all over by Michael Robinson, Marshawn Lynch, and Justin Forsett (note is that happens this week, we have a problem). Before today, the rush defense has done a solid job this year only allowing 98.5 yards on average, good enough to be ranked 8^th in the league. Van Gorder’s group hasn’t exactly been going up against a “B” list squad of running backs either, they’ve faced Mendenhall (120 yards, only 70 before the long overtime 50 yard run), Hightower (115, 80 of which was on a busted coverage), Frank Gore (77), Peyton Hillis to (28), Cedric Benson (70), Steven Jackson (54) and Ray Rice to (59). They’ve allowed a few big runs this season to poor angles and did so today, but they’re playing the run solidly.

The defense, as predicted, got pressure early and often on Clausen and finished with 5 sacks and not just hurries like in weeks past, although Rogers, Freeman, and Bradford are more mobile than Ole Jimmy boy. Most of Clausen’s 107 passing yards came while the defense was in the prevent late in the game, almost exclusively to the rookie wideout LaFell.  

Harry Douglas looks to be closing in on or has finally arrived at 100% health, and said as much after the game. We so often see players returning from knee injuries in record time (Welker) that when a year passes and they’re not back to or better than before we tend to forget about the injury and assume there is something wrong with them. With a receiver of that skill set is built around blazing speed, it’s not a surprise that it has taken him a little longer to progress. Another thing to consider is that once an athlete is 100 percent back to ‘normal’ they have to regain confidence in their ability and their healed body. If HD is back to that level, it could add an extra kick to this offense that teams have to gameplan around.

Ryan did a great job of spreading the ball around and did so early hitting 8 different receivers while he targeted nine. All in all Ryan completed 20 of 34 (58.8%) for 227 yards. When you take away the unselfish interception thrown right before halftime while trying to put up additional points Ryan had a QB rating of 91.35 (up from 76.5 including the INT and the extra incompletion) which is good for Matty Ice on the road in the cold.

Michael Turner knew the game plan ran through him and he not only accepted it, but seemed to love it. Gartrell is serviceable in pass protection, but he's not even close to the same league as Snelling in the running or pass catching ability. If we can get away with it (assuming he's healthy enough) I'd love to practice him 2-3 days this week but keep him on the sideline in Coffeetown. Ovie provided the biggest shockedr of the day by dropping a pass, but made up for it and has shown how important he is since Snellings sidelining. Turner churned out 112 with a 4 yard average and 3 Six-pointers. For as bad of a rap left tackle Sam Baker received earlier in the year, this statistic is interesting to say the least; “Michael Turner rushed in the direction of starting left tackle Sam Baker six times Sunday and scored on three of those. Entering Week 14, Mike Tolbert led the league with four touchdowns when rushing towards the left tackle”(ESPN, Stats & Information).

There's not too much to say about this game, it's what we thought would happen. It was great to see the way Falcons fans showed up and traveled to Charlotte as there seemed to be more Red and black than teal.

The Falcons did a good job of limiting the stupid penalties, handling another divisional road game, and got out of Charlotte without any new injuries. The Falcons only had one penalty all day, an illegal block for 10 yards on a Panther punt, on 4^th and 11 that didn’t hurt the Falcons. One the ensuing drive the Falcons started at their own 15 and proceeded to drive 64 yards meticulously melting 8:48 off the clock on eighteen play, but only got a 39-yard field goal by Matt Bryant. The drive was huge in eating clock, but against better teams the offense needs to finish these drives with a throat stomping score that a touchdown would have been.   

Coming up a long road trip to Seattle for another important conference game against a Seahawk team that lost today 40-21 in San Francisco. 

An Unabashed Love of Cameron Newton

I love Cam Newton. There, I said it. He may be my favorite non-UGA college football player ever. I know; I should hate him. I should hate him as much as I hated Tim Tebow, more than I hated Jason Campbell, at least as much as I hated JJ Reddick. But I don’t. Not even a little bit. Not even at all.

After the first time I watched him play, in his SEC season debut against Mississippi State on a Thursday night, I called my dad and asked him if he had watched Auburn play. I told him that Auburn had something special; I was impressed not only with his play, but with his postgame interview. He said all the right things, he had a flair about him, and he gave a shout-out to Urban Meyer’s kids. He hasn’t done anything to make me like him less. A lot of people (read: everyone I know who isn’t an Auburn fan) are on the I hate Cam bandwagon. A lot of people think he is a smug asshole, that he is too cocky, and that he seems to have the biggest ego in the world. I think he is just a kid having fun playing football. He is the best player on the field all the time and he knows it. Is that a reason to hate him? But, I’m not here to get in the whole “did he know his dad was trying to get paid” or “should we give him the Heisman” debates here (we should give it to him, by the way). I just want to talk about what a great football player he is.

A lot of times these days, people seem to forget the past really quickly. It seems like every year there is a new greatest player ever, a new greatest game ever, or the best something. Maybe I’m suffering from early onset dementia here, but I honestly think that Cam Newton is the best college football player I’ve ever seen play. He just seems to amaze me on almost every play. You could make an argument that Tim Tebow was better at picking up a tough 2-5 yards when he needed to but as far as an all around quarterback, there just hasn’t been anyone else even close in the past twenty years. Vince Young, Charlie Ward, Tim Tebow and the others were nice, but if I had to pick a quarterback to play for me in one game, I’m picking Cam hands down. He can throw the ball, he can run the ball inside, run it outside, and he is a leader. What more could you want in a college quarterback?

You hear a lot of times that players these days, with their combination of size and speed, would run roughshod over football players from olden days. Clearly there were those type of guys that did that (Herschel Walker and Bo Jackson come to mind), but Cam Newton is doing it now. I don’t know that we have ever seen anyone in any sport have the combination of size, speed, strength, and athletic touch that Newton has shown this season. When I was watching the SEC championship the other night, they showed a clip of the Ole Miss game where Cam made a Randy Moss type touchdown catch in the endzone. It dawned on me, as I was watching it, that I’m not sure there is a position on the field that Cam couldn’t play in the SEC. Receiver or Tight End? Definitely. Running Back or Fullback? Not even a question. He might need to bulk up a little to play on the O-Line, but I would take him right now and the D-Line or at linebacker (he is 3 inches taller than Justin Houston and only 9 pounds lighter, in case you were wondering). I absolutely think he could do work as a safety too. Luckily, we get to watch him play quarterback and have the ball in his hands on every play. He makes the games exciting, even if you have no vested interest in them. I for one, have enjoyed it all along and am excited to watch him play one more game in college. Most outstanding college football player this year? Definitely. Most outstanding college football player of my lifetime? I’m pretty sure of that too.

Week 14-Atlanta Falcons vs. Carolina Panthers

The I-85 Rivalry 


The Atlanta Falcons and the Carolina Panthers have battled it out since the cats were enfranchised into the NFL in 1995, both competing in the old NFC West. The rivalry has had its share of blow outs, close games, and big plays. The first meeting led to an overtime win by the Falcons 30-23 in Atlanta. Although many Falcons consider the New Orleans Saints to be their primary rival, Atlanta has come to be the biggest rival for the Panthers. I have read articles stating that Carolina’s biggest rivalry is with the Pewter Pirates, but I just don’t believe that, they didn’t start playing regularly until the 2002 realignment. One of the biggest reasons why the rivalry hasn’t grown even more is the fact that one team is usually significantly better than the other. If one team is leading the division the other seemingly is always bringing up the rear. The series has also seen its share of streaks, from 1998 to 2002, Atlanta punished Carolina winning 9 out of 10 matchups, including a streak of 6 Falcon victories from 2000 through 2002. The Dirty Birds lead the overall series record 18-12.

Some of the biggest plays have happened when these two teams square off. One of these big plays was what I consider THE superman play by Michael Vick, a play that made your jaw drop because some how his knee never hit the ground on the dive towards the endzone for the score to send it into overtime. If you want to see the play it’s #2 on the following highlight: 

One of the biggest plays in recent years came two years ago in the Georgia Dome when Harry Douglas returned a punt for a 60-yard TD to blow the game wide open. One of the biggest player rivalries if you will grew between Julius Peppers and Michael Vick, which reappeared in Chicago three weeks ago.

This year’s first installment is a perfect of the one team up the other down philosophy to the series. Sunday’s matchup pits an 10-2 Falcons team on top of the NFC heading to Charlotte to face the 1-11 Panthers, who have faced their share of injuries this season. It’s possible that the largest margin of victory in the series could be challenged after being set in 2002 with a 41-0 victory for ATL. One reason for a possible blow out is the rushing defense currently ranked 27^th in the league. If the Falcons can commit pound the ball, wearing down the defense and sucking the safeties for added support, the deep ball should open up nicely. The Panthers’ offense has looked anemic at best throughout the season. I look for Matt Ryan to put together a solid game on the road gaining confidence heading to Seattle in a week, while Turner adds 150-plus yards on the ground. The defense should look to pressure rookie quarterback Jimmy Clausen all day and dare him to beat them through the air. Clausen ranks last in completion percentage (50.5), passing yards (1,056), TDs (1), and rating (55.3) among quarterbacks with at least 200 passing attempts.

Coach Smtih and the rest of the team are saying all the right things about staying focused, not looking ahead, and taking this road swing and season one step at a time. Even with the Panthers sitting at the bottom of the heap, the Falcons cannot overlook them.

Believe the team when they say they’re focused…Falcons win this divisional road game 32-13(Robert), 34-17(Dekalb).