Summertime Observations

First, I'd like to apologize for my absence. Over the last month-and-a-half, I've embarked on a new employment opportunity, and am in the process of re-balancing work, work, family and my Falcons blog. But enough about me. I wanted to share this link to an amusing article. Something about the greatness of man versus the greatness of ego. It's June. Falcons OTAs are in full swing. The rookies are being signed and integrated in the offensive, defensive and special teams schemes. Falcons are helping charities, communities, and supporting our armed forces. Mike Vick is 600 miles away. Things are looking good. Heck...with Tony Gonzalez, Michael Turner and Roddy White, we even have three players in the Madden '10 top ten at their positions. Still, Panthers, Saints and even Bucs fans seem to think they each have the best team in the division. Saints fans will - in the same breath, mind you - point out that the Falcons defense is unproven, so they can't beat the Saints this year, while the [ahem, unproven] new Saints defense will bolster the vicious attack by Drew Brees and company. Panthers fans tout their underachieving starting quarterback, their disgruntled DE and their one-dimensional passing game as their aces-in-the-hole in their quest to defend their division title. Buccaneers...well, they hope the Bucs can do what the Falcons did last year... To give credit where credit is due, the Saints do still have a great passing offense, the Panthers a strong running duo, and the Bucs a better-than-average defense. But they can't all play us at once. The Falcons are attempting to build the best all-around team. The offense was already strong, and the addition of Tony Gonzalez completes their attack. The defense is young, and, I'll admit, unproven, but built around a solid core (Lofton, Abraham, Babineaux, Peterson, Coleman) and getting very deep at multiple positions. The competition for DE, DT, corner back, safety and linebacker is strong, and whomever emerges at the starting positions will have had to earn it. Mike Smith is a defensive mind, and that will only serve to make this team better. No one is resting on their laurels. I've been reading a lot of reaction to many debates going on in the sports sites, and I'd like to address some of the misconceptions I've seen: The Falcons have never had back-to-back winning seasons - Prior to 1998, they had never been to a Super Bowl. That didn't change the fact that they made it there. Unless you are willing to put your stock in superstitions about curses, there's no reason to believe that this kind of random statistic has any bearing about what can happen in the future. The Falcons will have to beat the NFC East and AFC East, two of the toughest divisions in the NFL - Though I can't argue that, based on the statistics these teams have, these might be the toughest divisions in the NFL (though I'd argue the NFC South is right there with them), I would like to remind everyone that the Saints, Panthers and Bucs all have to play the same two divisions. The Saints will have to face the same pass defenses we do. The Panthers will have to try to build their running attack against the same defenses. The same potent offenses will try to beat the Bucs defenses. This division, as it usually does, will come down to how we do against each other, and I like the Falcons chances here. Teams have plenty of tape on Matt Ryan and they will have figured him out - I'd like to point out that teams have even more tape on Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and even Drew Brees. There's not much to "figure out" about Matt Ryan - he reads defenses, checks down his receivers, and hits the open man in stride. I've seen Mike Tyson box plenty of times, that doesn't mean I can "stop him". The best news of all of this chatter is, people wouldn't be so fixated on "proving" the Falcons can't do it, if they weren't terrified they could.Enjoy the blog? Join the Facebook group! I'm happy to field whatever questions you may have (time allowing).