Greetings everybody,

I've been saving up for a bit, and I think it's time for me to buy myself something nice for once. What better than an Atlanta Falcons jersey? I've bought one jersey before, and it was a Norwood jersey....so it's not really an ideal situation. I wanted your input on the jersey I should buy, as I'm the worst decision maker of all time. First off, I wouldn't want to buy a Matt Ryan or Michael Turner jersey, because I'd get heckled with the word "bandwagon" up here in Wisconsin. My frontrunners so far are: Julio Jones, Curtis Lofton, Brent Grimes. So what do you all think? Any input would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

The NFL consists of 32 teams. Break that down by conference, 16 teams in both the NFC and AFC. Go even further, and there are 4 divisions in each conference. That leaves us with 3 other teams that we take the most joy out of beating twice a year. The teams we love to hate. Or just hate?

As the falcons are members of one of the, in my opinion, most competitive divisions in the league, do you take pride in a division like the one we have now? (As opposed to lets say...the NFC west)  Or would you rather have a division of 3  3-13 teams and the falcons dominating for years?

Now I know the latter sounds magnificent, but honestly I like what we have now. I'll admit that with coming off a 10-6 season, the ever improving Josh Freeman, and 60 million of cap space, the buccaneers give me butterflies in my stomach from time to time. The panthers have a potentially great quarterback in rookie Cam Newton, a solid cast of guys, and quite frankly, have nowhere to go but up. Lastly, the Saints, who recently won a Superbowl if i remember correctly, and with Drew Brees and Sean Peyton reading the minds of defensive coordinators, scare me with their ability to score a touchdown on every play, no matter who is playing defense. Save for Brent Grimes.

So what would you rather have? A division like what we have now, or one where we automatically have 6 wins for the season?

I'm watching PTI right now, and they're talking about how bad the NFC is. They go over all the teams that lost in the NFC. They talk about (almost) all of the teams that can be considered the best in the NFC. They talk about New Orleans, Philly, New York, Washington, and Seattle before the falcons are even mentioned. And all they got was a mention. From Mike Wilbon, who whispered "Atlanta 5-2". That's it. I am so sick of the Falcons not getting so much as a glance from the world outside of Atlanta and this website. Don't get me wrong, I love being the underdog, but the falcons are 5-2, and just beat an AFC team that is supposedly good. I don't even know why I'm posting this, I need to get some frustration out. I'm posting the dialog of the show after the jump.

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I'm a big falcon fan, but I live in Wisconsin. I have to resort to the NFL.com gamecenter for the most up to date info on the weekly falcon game. Now since I can't actually watch the game, this post might end up being void, but I still have a question for all you lucky fans that can watch the actual game: How has Harry Douglas been playing? In the gamecenter, I've been seeing a very large numbers of incompletions to my favorite receiver HD. I went to the play-by-play, and it confirmed that I'm not going crazy. He had 6 missed opportunities week 2, and another 5 incompletions against the Saints. Can somebody just give me closure on this? Has he lost a step or two due to the ACL? Has Matt Ryan been off target? (an overwhelming amount were deep passes) Does Michael Jenkins really mean that much? Or has the opposing defense just gone Darelle Revis on him?

I didn't expect him to get 10 receptions a game, but I didn't think he would have impact that has been so insignificant.  I would just be grateful if somebody could tell me if the video has shown a different story.

The Atlanta Falcons had so much promise at this position a month ago. We have our stud number one, Roddy White. I do believe he had three consecutive 1000 yard seasons. Let's go to our number two, Michael Jenkins. Nothing great to say about him, but on the other hand, nothing awful. He's just average, which is all we really need. Our number three, Harry Douglas, is back. His speed, agility, and desire to get on that field and produce are all stupendous traits to have in a young WR. Then we have Brian Finneran, who just catches a short ball here and there for us. The consistent veteran. Next up, Kerry Meier, who was projected to come in and be exactly like Brian Finneran with more facial hair. It drops off from there, but if you look at them as a whole I would say that this was one of the most solid positions on our team. Except for one thing. Injuries.

You've probably heard the bad news about Kerry Meier, who's out for the season. I feel awful. That kid had so much promise. Hopefully he'll be back next year stronger, meaner, and with a bigger mustache.

Brian Finneran, who's now 34 years old, hasn't been injury free either. I'm pretty sure he has tore his ACL among other things, and only played in 10 games last season. When you're that old in the NFL with those nagging injuries, it calls for a little bit of concern.

Harry Douglas injured is ACL last year, and we can just hope nothing that bad happens to him ever again.

Michael Jenkins injured his shoulder a while back, and was out for 4-6 weeks. Hopefully he's back better than ever for the season opener. Maybe catch another Matt Ryan pass for a touchdown on the first play of the game to make it an annual thing.

A quick thanks to Roddy White for playing in every game last season.

All those injuries really start to add up. That's not good, it just leads to uncertainty. For the first game we have our number 1, maybe number 2 will be there, a number 3 that probably isn't 100% yet, and then an old albeit solid set of hands. Does anybody have suggestions on what the Falcons should do? Do we bring in another iffy receiver like we did last year with Marty Booker? Do we go big and try to land Vincent Jackson? Do we hope for the best? Switch Jerious Norwood to WR? Or another random solution to this little problem? I don't want this to slow the Falcons down. I want to give Matt Ryan as many options as possible. I want the position to be greater than it already is. I want to rise up, because I feel like this is our year.

I'm listening to the Falcoholic podcast right now (great job guys), and you are all rightfully giving Thomas Dimitroff credit for turning 4-12 into a playoff team in just one year. It got me wondering who had the biggest part in turning Atlanta into the team we have currently. Was it Matt Ryan, who had one of the best rookie quarterback seasons of all time? How about Michael Turner, who ran for almost 1700 yards, and provided Matt Ryan with a solid running game? Was it Mike Smith, who coached this team into contention after Bobby Petrino? How about who you're talking about, Thomas Dimitroff? His draft, his moves are just genius, time after time after time. He is an unbelievably talented general manager. What about Arthur Blank? The man behind the checkbook, who brought the personnel to Atlanta. OR another random person, or even someone of big importance that I missed? It is very late right now, and I am tired. Post your thoughts then.

We have only got a month or so until the preseason starts, so I just thought it would be fun to see which falcon is your favorite player. So just choose a current player, and post his name below. Maybe include why you like the player so much, or write a giant paragraph, or even a humorous one liner that I predict Dave will do. For the sake of popular demand, it is officially allowed to choose the great Noriaki Kinoshita if you wish to do so. And believe me when I say this, you do

The Ravens. Like the Falcons, they are a bird. But they cannot be farther apart. The Ravens reside in the Bizzaro NFC South, the AFC North. Since Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco were drafted, they have not played each other. There's no real reason to dislike them, but I do with a passion. Every time I hear Flacco's name, I clench my hand into a fist, breaking whatever I'm holding. I just don't like him because I think he takes attention away from our golden boy. There should have only been one good rookie quarterback in '08, I think we all know who that is. The question I mean to ask is, "do you not like Flacco too? Or am I just crazy?". Well, how about both? Because I think Flacco is stupid, not because he threw for more yards in his career than Matty Ice (with pretty much 3 extra games),  not because he's two inches taller and ten pounds heavier, and not because he has one less (although bigger) eyebrow than Matt Ryan. It's because he is Matt Ryan's arch nemesis, and there can only be one winner. Your thoughts?

I thought that Sean Weatherspoon was going to replace Mike Peterson this season. Mike is old, his bones are brittle, and if it weren't for his vocals and the fact he worked with Smitty, I don't know if he ever would have ended up in Atlanta. His stats this season were very, very close to Keith Brooking. And because Keith Brookings stats were like Keith Brookings stats, he left Atlanta last season.  Stephen Nicolas is young, will have more experience next season, but I'm not too set on him. Peterson had more tackles, more interceptions, and more forced fumbles. It seems like Mike can make plays. On the other hand, he's downright awful when trying to blitz. So what do you think? Start Peterson, start Nicholas, or combine Mike and Stephen into a bionic super linebacker?

So, if you keep up with other NFL news besides just the Falcons, you may have heard about Albert H. He took a $21 million check in guaranteed money then wanted a trade out of Washington. If he were on a scale of Falconliness, it would be a 0. But coach Mike Shanahan, as well as a great majority of the players have publicly criticized his decisions and actions. To my knowledge, there's just one player that has defended Albert. Want to guess who he is? Well, he played with Atlanta for a bit. He plays defense. He makes Michael Jenkins put up numbers like Randy Moss when guarding him, and he plays on the Redskins right now. Give up? Well here's an excerpt from yahoo news: "Cornerback DeAngelo Hall, who spoke with Haynesworth for about an hour on the phone Tuesday night, was one of the few willing to publicly empathize with the disgruntled player, saying that “promises were made” about the way Haynesworth would be used when the contract was signed." Doesn't that just fit perfectly?

After Clayton put Matt Ryan in as an elite quarterback, people are, in fact, questioning him. Can you believe it?  I agree with Clayton, and have been a great supporter since his first pass in the NFL. So I guess just post fond memories that you have or stats and/or facts that prove (or disprove) Matty Ice's eliteness.  I can't help but feel that he will certainly be elite at the end of his career, but what about now?

http://sports.espn.go.com/fantasy/football/ffl/story?page=TMR100604

Some good news, our own Michael Turner is number 7th overall. Roddy White is 22nd. Then we take a jump all the way to number 70, with good ol Gonzo. Jump even further to Matty Ice at number 128, the 16th best QB in Berry's eyes, behind Kevin Kolb, Joe Flacco, Chad Henne, Eli Manning, and, wait what?  Mark Sanchez?...

What are your thoughts on the placement of the beloved Falcons?

I've lived my whole life in Wisconsin. Never been to a NFL game in my life. It was my birthday today, and my parents got me tickets to the Packers @ Falcons game on 11/28. That has to be the coolest thing ever, right? But what should I expect? If you want to, reach into the deep depths of your memory to reminisce about your greatest time at the Georgia Dome. Or if you haven't been to one, just make something up that may or may not include unicorns.

I'm not talking about productivity on the field. I want the opinion of the whole picture. To be honest, I'm not that fond of him. He seems to break the mold of falcons drafted and picked up (EX: Tony G). To me he always talks about being the last on in the weight room. It seems like he just wants to be there to show other people he's committed, not for himself to get better. I know he wants to be a leader, and hopefully he is, but in my eyes it's just him putting on a show to show other people that he fits in and works hard.

They finished 13th in offense and 14th in defense last season.

On offense, Matt Ryan will be a year older and hopefully better than last season. Harry Douglas will be back to take Michael "slippery hands" Jenkins spot and start opposite Pro-Bowl WR Roddy. They have slightly above average Offensive line play, and Ovie Mughelli is a excellent blocker. Tony Gonzalez is back for at least a year to help us out, but Turner's nearing 30, and Jerious Norwood's bones are as brittle as my grandma's.

On defense, Peria Jerry is back!!!!!, as well as William Moore (Cya Eric Coleman). Curtis Lofton, Mike Peterson and Stephen Nicholas make up one of the best linebacker squads in the league. Thomas Decoud, Kroy Biermann, and Jonathan Babineaux are all rising stars, Babineaux being one of the most underrated players in the NFC South. Big Dollar Dunta Robinson is here to show us how cornerbacks should play, and hopefully teach the young CB's. On the other hand, Abraham is a year older and their D-Ends are nothing to boast about. Especially not Jamaal Anderson. Brian Williams is a question mark after the injury and the fact he is over 30. We do have some young corners with promise that could take Brian's starting spot in Chevis Jackson and Chris Owens. And don't forget Brent Grimes, who has a vertical Nate Robinson is jealous of.

Now, fathom that all the falcons are healthy next year (crazy right?) and make your selection. Don't take draft picks into account, for this post lets forget about the draft this year. Which side of the ball will play better?