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    <title>Yardbarker: Atlanta Falcons</title>
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    <description>Recent articles about Atlanta Falcons</description>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <item>
      <title>Falcons Sign Four Draft Picks</title>
      <description>The Falcons have announced they have signed four of their eight draft picks. Clemson's Malliciah Goodman, Notre Dame's Zeke Motta, TCU's Stansly Maponga and UCF's Kemal Ishmael will now shed their college colors as they become Falcons.

	


	Terms for the deals were not disclosed. Stansly Maponga tweeted he was excited to be in Atlanta for the next four + years.

	
		Blessed to be a Falcon for the next 4+ years. #AllGloryToTheGoodLord #RiseUp2013
	&#8212; Stansly Maponga (@BeAst_MoDe90) May 17, 2013


	That leaves Desmond Trufant, Robert Alford, Levine Toliolo and Sean Renfree as the unsigned draft picks.</description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 18 May 2013 01:24:47 -0400</pubDate>
      <link>http://network.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/falcons_sign_four_draft_picks/13643485</link>
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        <yb:title>Falcons Sign Four Draft Picks</yb:title>
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      <title>Atlanta Falcons Sign Draft Pick S Kemal Ishmael</title>
      <description>The Atlanta Falcons have agreed to a four-year contract with seventh-round pick safety Kemal Ishmael. His future lies on special teams or the practice squad and even then that is no guarantee. He will have a tough time matching up physically to opposing competition at the next level.
		The post Atlanta Falcons Sign Draft Pick S Kemal Ishmael appeared first on FFLockerRoom | NFL News | MLB News | NBA News | NHL News | Fantasy |.</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 17 May 2013 22:30:24 -0400</pubDate>
      <link>http://network.yardbarker.com/nfl/article_external/atlanta_falcons_sign_draft_pick_s_kemal_ishmael/13642834</link>
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        <yb:title>Atlanta Falcons Sign Draft Pick S Kemal Ishmael</yb:title>
        <yb:link>http://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/atlanta_falcons_sign_draft_pick_s_kemal_ishmael/13642834</yb:link>
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      <title>Atlanta Falcons Sign 2013 NFL Draft Pick Safety Zeke Motta</title>
      <description>The Atlanta Falcons have signed their 2013 NFL draft pick, safety Zeke Motta, to a four-year contract. If he wants to have a shot at sticking around for any length of time this year on the talented Falcons squad, he will have to earn the right to wear their uniform by showing excellent special teams play.
		The post Atlanta Falcons Sign 2013 NFL Draft Pick Safety Zeke Motta appeared first on FFLockerRoom | NFL News | MLB News | NBA News | NHL News | Fantasy |.</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 17 May 2013 21:38:42 -0400</pubDate>
      <link>http://network.yardbarker.com/nfl/article_external/atlanta_falcons_sign_2013_nfl_draft_pick_safety_zeke_motta/13642651</link>
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        <yb:title>Atlanta Falcons Sign 2013 NFL Draft Pick Safety Zeke Motta</yb:title>
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      <title>Atlanta Falcons Sign Malliciah Goodman and Stansly Maponga</title>
      <description>The Atlanta Falcons signed a pair of 2013 NFL draft picks on Friday, agreeing to terms with defensive end Malliciah Goodman as well as defensive end Stansly Maponga on four-year deals. Of the two, fourth-round pick Goodman has the higher upside, but anything can happen. This is the NFL.
		The post Atlanta Falcons Sign Malliciah Goodman and Stansly Maponga appeared first on FFLockerRoom | NFL News | MLB News | NBA News | NHL News | Fantasy |.</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 17 May 2013 21:31:34 -0400</pubDate>
      <link>http://network.yardbarker.com/nfl/article_external/atlanta_falcons_sign_malliciah_goodman_and_stansly_maponga/13642540</link>
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        <yb:title>Atlanta Falcons Sign Malliciah Goodman and Stansly Maponga</yb:title>
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      <title>Falcons sign DEs Goodman, Maponga, 2 more picks</title>
      <description>The Atlanta Falcons have signed four NFL draft picks, including defensive ends Malliciah Goodman and Stansly Maponga.

The Falcons also announced Friday they have signed safeties Kemal Ishmael and Zeke Motta. The terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Goodman, from Clemson, was the first of Atlanta's two fourth-round draft picks last month. He had 12 career sacks at Clemson. Maponga was a fifth-round selection who had 15.5 sacks and eight forced fumbles at Texas Christian.

Ishmael and Motta were seventh-round picks. Ishmael had six interceptions at Central Florida. Motta had two interceptions in 29 career starts at Notre Dame.</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 17 May 2013 18:05:33 -0400</pubDate>
      <link>http://network.yardbarker.com/nfl/article_external/falcons_sign_des_goodman_maponga_2_more_picks/13641538</link>
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        <yb:title>Falcons sign DEs Goodman, Maponga, 2 more picks</yb:title>
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      <title>Falcons GM says Matt Ryan will get a new contract when the time is right</title>
      <description>D. Orlando Ledbetter&#160;of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution caught up with Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff and asked him about quarterback Matt Ryan&#8217;s contract situation. &#8220;We all know that Matt is going to be here for a long time,&#8221;said Dimitroff. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to be diligent and creative with how we put together our package when the time is right. Nothing new on the timing, but suffice it to say, we will have things taken care of, again, when the time is right.&#8221; The biggest question right now is whether the Falcons will give Ryan Tony Romo money ($18 mill per year) or Aaron Rodgers money ($22 million per year). &#160;I think it will be somewhere in the middle right now. &#160; &#160; &#160; Need NFL Tickets?      The post Falcons GM says Matt Ryan will get a new contract when the time is right appeared first on Pro Football Zone.</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 17 May 2013 15:49:00 -0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Smith: Atlanta Falcons no longer &#8220;10 yards from the Super Bowl&#8221;</title>
      <description>Can Mike Smith lead the Falcons to the Super Bowl in his sixth season with the team? (Associated Press)
While much of the attention so far this offseason has been directed to the NFC West, the Atlanta Falcons have been retooling their roster to make another run at the Super Bowl in the 2013 season. Longtime New York Giant Osi Unemyiora and former Rams running back Steven Jackson should be upgrades over departed veterans Michael Turner and John Abraham, and tight end Tony Gonzalez returned for a 17th season in pursuit of that elusive Super Bowl title.
Coming as close as they did to a Super Bowl berth, it could be easy for the Atlanta Falcons to dwell on what could have happened in 2012. Still, any team that truly wanted to be successful would find a way to look past the adversity of last season. That is exactly the goal for Falcons head coach Mike Smith.
Smith has to keep his team looking forward to a new year and a new opportunity to represent the NFC on one of the biggest stages in sports. The Falcons aren&#226;&#8364;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 17 May 2013 15:11:48 -0400</pubDate>
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        <yb:title>Smith: Atlanta Falcons no longer &#8220;10 yards from the Super Bowl&#8221;</yb:title>
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      <title>Falcons hoping Matt Ryan contract is done sooner than later</title>
      <description>Atlanta Falcons GM Tom Dimitroff was a guest on &quot;Late Hits&quot; with Alex Marvez and James Miller on Sirius XM radio Thursday, and touched on the need to sign quarterback Matt Ryan to an extension.

	Ryan is schedule to be an unrestricted free agent after this season. &#8220;Right now there&#8217;s nothing new on the contract,&#8221; Dimitroff said. &#8220;Understand that he will be here. We will get this done and we would prefer to have this done sooner than later.&#8221;

	Now that the NFL Draft is out of the way, we should expect&#160;some talks&#160;between the team and Ryan's agents. &#8220;We have a very good working relationship with CAA (and Ryan&#8217;s agent Tom Condon) and I&#8217;m confident that this will, when the time is right, move expeditiously to get his done,&#8221; Dimitroff added.</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 17 May 2013 06:38:08 -0400</pubDate>
      <link>http://network.yardbarker.com/nfl/article_external/falcons_hoping_matt_ryan_contract_is_done_sooner_than_later/13636613</link>
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        <yb:title>Falcons hoping Matt Ryan contract is done sooner than later</yb:title>
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      <title>State of the Falcons: Defensive Tackles</title>
      <description>When we left off, we finished up our offensive look at the 2013 Falcons as compared to the 2012 squad. We went through the RBs, QBs, WR/TE and offensive line. The biggest jump in talent is at the RB position with the addition of Steven Jackson and the biggest concern is on the OL with the departure of Tyson Clabo and Todd McClure. Now let's start our defensive look by focusing on the defensive tackle position.

	


	The Falcons currently have seven DTs listed on their roster with the most notable absence from the 2012 squad being Vance Walker. In 2012, Walker played in 16 games (starting eight) and had 21 tackles and three sacks. His three sacks were the second most from the DT spot, behind Jonathan Babineaux's 3.5 and his 21 tackles also placed him second behind Babineaux. 

	The loss of Walker will hurt but it's not crippling. Babineaux remains our best DT and he bounced back from a disappointing 2011 although he is getting up there in years. The Falcons will ne...</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 16 May 2013 23:59:37 -0400</pubDate>
      <link>http://network.yardbarker.com/nfl/article_external/state_of_the_falcons_defensive_tackles/13635575</link>
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        <yb:title>State of the Falcons: Defensive Tackles</yb:title>
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      <title>Ex-Falcon Ray Edwards claims boxing safer than football</title>
      <description>Ray Edwards made news this week but once again it had nothing to do with his one-time ability to play professional football.

First, in early November, the Falcons cut the erstwhile defensive end for a poor attitude more so than they did poor performance. Then he made news again in February when a video surfaced of his doughy-looking opponent taking a dive during a boxing match.

Earlier this week, Edwards was at it again. Edwards, who received 11 million guaranteed from the Falcons for producing 3.5 sacks in 25 regular season and playoff games combined, told Yahoo! Sports that he thinks boxing is safer than football.Funny how injuries never seemed to be an issue during his NFL career for Edwards, who missed only eight games in six and a half seasons, before the Falcons cut him.

Sometimes, as they say, where a mans paycheck (or lack thereof) comes from, tends to influence his beliefs. Remember, in December the Seattle Seahawks brought in Edwards for a workout. They had lost one of their top pass-rushers, Chr</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 16 May 2013 15:59:54 -0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Edwards: Boxing is safer than football</title>
      <description>Former Atlanta Falcons defensive end Ray Edwards retired from the league (or was forced to, since he couldn&#8217;t find work)&#160;in order to pursue his boxing career back in 2011 during the NFL lockout, and hasn&#8217;t looked back. Edwards, who played in the NFL from 2006-2010, says that his new sport, boxing, is safer than his former sport, football. On the surface, this may seem like a ridiculous claim, since the premise of boxing is taking direct blows to the face with no helmets, pads, etc. However, Edwards comes at it from a different angle.Here are some details via profootballtalk.com: &#8220;Football is the only sport that is&#160;100-percent injury prone,&#8221; Edwards tells Martin Rogers of Yahoo! Sports.&#160; &#8220;[In football], you don&#8217;t know what is coming, where you are going to get hit, how you are going to get hit.&#160; You play for a long time, chances are you are going to tear your MCL or ACL. You can break your leg, snap your femur, break your arm, break your neck. . . . &#8220;In boxing you know where the hits are comi</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 16 May 2013 11:59:35 -0400</pubDate>
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        <yb:title>Edwards: Boxing is safer than football</yb:title>
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      <title>2013 NFL Draft Team Grades: Atlanta Falcons</title>
      <description>First Round:&#160;Desmond Trufant, CB, Washington



Atlanta had been rumored to be wanting to move up for someone, and Trufant was one of the names&#160;commonly&#160;tossed around in that discussion. Atlanta certainly needed a corner, and Trufant was the best CB on the board. They were smart to jump Minnesota and Indy to grab him. I'm still surprised St. Louis traded down instead of grabbing Ogletree though. Either way, solid pick for Atlanta.&#160;Unfortunately&#160; the DE position is really going to suffer for this, which is why this grade can't get anything higher than a B.



GRADE:&#160;B


Second Round: Robert Alford, CB, Southeastern Louisiana

Alford was rumored to have late first round potential by some, so grabbing him at the end of round two is great value. Along with Trufant, Atlanta has now completely remade the CB position. If these prospects both pan out, the Falcons will have a solid secondary. The only thing I don't like is that they passed on a much needed defensive ...</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 15 May 2013 22:38:00 -0400</pubDate>
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        <yb:title>2013 NFL Draft Team Grades: Atlanta Falcons</yb:title>
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      <title>State of the Falcons: Running Back</title>
      <description>The Falcons rushing game took a step back in 2012. Some of that was because the Falcons were more dedicated to the passing game under new offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter. The Falcons ran the ball 75 less times (or around 4.6 times less per game). The Falcons also decreased in yards per carry from 4.0 to 3.7.

	


	Michael Turner took the biggest step back as he went from averaging 4.5 ypc in 2011 to just 3.6 in 2012. He clearly took a step back in 2012. Jacquizz Rodgers nearly doubled his production and also increased his ypc by 0.3. Jacquizz also took a significant step forward in the pass game as he caught 53 passes (vs 21 in 2011). Third stringer Jason Snelling didn't factor in much in the running game but he did have 31 receptions on 35 targets. Fullback was an area of opportunity after Ovie Mughelli got cut and then Bradie Ewing's season ended before it started.

	This season, Jacquizz and Snelling are back and Ewing should be healthy. In addition to that, the...</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 12 May 2013 08:54:57 -0400</pubDate>
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        <yb:title>State of the Falcons: Running Back</yb:title>
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      <title>State of the Falcons: Quarterback</title>
      <description>After taking a look at where we stand right now at WR/TE and on the offensive line, it's time to take a look at the field general. In 2012, Matt Ryan was the only QB to throw a pass last year for the Falcons and he was very prolific throwing 615 times and completing 68.6% (a career high) of those for a career high 32 TDs.&#160;

	


	Last year, the Falcons QB squad consisted of Ryan, Luke McCown and Dominique Davis. McCown's best season was in 2007 when he played in five games for the Bucs but over the last five years he had thrown 0 TD vs 5 INT. McCown is now with the Saints and it opens up space for players with a higher ceiling than he has.

	Dominique Davis is still part of the team and after making the squad as an undrafted free agent, he looks poised to be the primary clipboard holder for the Falcons. Davis's primary competition with come from seventh round draft pick Sean Renfree of Duke. Renfree played for David Cutcliffe, who also had the chance in his career ...</description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 11 May 2013 20:23:07 -0400</pubDate>
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        <yb:title>State of the Falcons: Quarterback</yb:title>
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      <title>From a Prison cell to running first team defense for the Falcons, Brian Banks is BACK</title>
      <description>From a Prison cell to running first team defense for the Falcons, Brian Banks is BACK&#160;
Brian Banks&#160;is 27 years old. It&#8217;s not a normal age for an NFL rookie, but normal really isn&#8217;t in the equation when talking about Banks&#8217; life and football career.
A former high school star who essentially lost 10 years of his life over a crime he didn&#8217;t commit, Banks is getting his shot at an NFL career&#160;with the Atlanta Falcons.
Playing in a rookie minicamp with players who mostly are six years younger than him, Banks ran the defense at the middle linebacker spot,&#160;the Falcons&#8217; official website reported Saturday.
It&#8217;s a sharp learning curve for a player who never saw a snap of college action.
&#8220;It was real good today to get out there,&#8221; Banks said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been in film the last two weeks, so to get a chance to get out there and put all the knowledge that we&#8217;ve been putting on paper out onto the field was a really good experience for the first time. It was really fast-paced. I made a lot of really good mo</description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 11 May 2013 17:51:47 -0400</pubDate>
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        <yb:title>From a Prison cell to running first team defense for the Falcons, Brian Banks is BACK</yb:title>
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      <title>John Abraham reportedly wants more playing time than teams are willing to give him</title>
      <description>According to ProFootballTalk.com, the reason free agent defensive end John Abraham has had a hard time finding a new team is because he still wants to be a full time player, while many teams don&#8217;t view him as one.
While there has been no reason to disregard the recent report that the Titans could be signing defensive end&#160;John Abraham&#160;&#8220;this week,&#8221; a source close to a calendar advises PFT&#160; that &#8220;this week&#8221; is ending soon.
&#160;
Regardless of whether Abraham signs with the Titans now, later, or never, the reason for his protracted presence on the market comes from his desire to spend extended time on the field.&#160; A league source explains that Abraham is hoping to play 60 or more snaps per game, and that most teams with interest see the 35-year-old as a 25-play guy.
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With reduced playing time comes reduced salary, which explains why he&#8217;s had a hard time getting paid the way he&#8217;s accustomed.
As to his reported reluctance to return to Atlanta, the arrival of&#160;Osi Umenyiorana complicates the si...</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 10 May 2013 17:16:35 -0400</pubDate>
      <link>http://network.yardbarker.com/nfl/article_external/john_abraham_reportedly_wants_more_playing_time_than_teams_are_willing_to_give_him/13592627</link>
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        <yb:title>John Abraham reportedly wants more playing time than teams are willing to give him</yb:title>
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      <title>With Abraham likely gone, Falcons eye replacements</title>
      <description>For those who were holding out hope that the Atlanta Falcons might attempt to sign veteran defensive end John Abraham at a vastly discounted salary after cutting him back on March 1, that idea no longer appears to be a possibility.

Citing a person informed of preliminary talks between the Falcons and Abraham, USA Today reported late on Monday that Abraham was not interested in doing so, despite interest on the Falcons end and what was described as a big push from inside the Falcons locker room. (Thats not exactly surprising news as Abraham was not only one of the Falcons longest-tenured but also most productive players on defense.)

The fact that Abraham is unlikely to return means a couple of things for the Falcons at the crucial defensive end position. 

The first is that newly signed defensive end Osi Umenyiora will likely end up playing about 85 percent of the snaps on the right side  perhaps even more, which is a much larger load than he has been accustomed to the last few seasons.

On the left side, th</description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 07 May 2013 19:09:54 -0400</pubDate>
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      <title>John Abraham not interested in return to Falcons</title>
      <description>Looks like former Atlanta Falcons defensive end John Abraham can hold a grudge.

	The free agent is still without a team after he was released by Atlanta, who didn't want to pay him the $5.75 million in base salary he was due this season. It's now&#160;being reported that the team has been in contact with Abraham and has attempted to re-sign him, and John flat out told them in so many words, 'hell no,' a person&#160;with inside knowledge of the&#160;talks told USA TODAY Sports.

	Fans have been apparently hounding Abraham on Twitter about his return to Atlanta, as he tweeted this out Monday.

		Y yall keep tweeting me like I did it I got cut stop asking to come back plz
	&#8212; John Abraham(Mr.100) (@johnabraham55) May 6, 2013

	Abraham, who also turned 35 on Monday, had only a few days ago hinted at retiring via a few Twitter messages that have since been deleted. The latest news as far as signing with aother team comes out of Tennessee, who he visited with last week. Talks are said to...</description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 07 May 2013 06:18:21 -0400</pubDate>
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      <title>John Abraham scoffed at Falcons reunion</title>
      <description>When the Atlanta Falcons let defensive end/captain John Abraham walk for the second time in as many off-seasons, they burned a bridge that may not be repairable.
Please click here to read this story.
The post John Abraham scoffed at Falcons reunion appeared first on Players View.</description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 06 May 2013 23:57:34 -0400</pubDate>
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      <title>Falcons have big ideas for new $1B stadium</title>
      <description>via sbnation.com The Atlanta Falcons are preparing for their move out of the Georgia Dome.&#160; And the engineers putting together plans for their home are not cutting any corners.&#160; They are looking to add the whole kit and kaboodle, the whole shabang, the kitchen sink and rumble seats. WSBTV in Atlanta met with the architecture firm who shared this video of the huge plans.&#160; The Georgia World Congress Center Authority and the Atlanta Falcons have agreed to a deal with 360 Architecture to design a new stadium.&#160; The Falcons will pay the firm $35 million for their design ideas.  Some of the ridiculous crazy features, as provided by WSBTV.com,&#160; include  The roof opens and closes like a camera shutter, inspired by a falcon wing. A halo video screen will replaced the outdated dangling center scoreboard. But the Falcons concede the home HD TV screen is the real problem. Fans&#8217; seats will rumble upon big hits on the field</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2013 10:12:23 -0400</pubDate>
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