It is an ESPN Insider piece, and they had this to say about Spoon:

OLB: Sean Weatherspoon, Falcons
Weatherspoon was involved in 16 percent of Atlanta's total defensive plays, third among outside linebackers. He was particularly strong when it came to stopping the run, and made his average tackle on run plays after a gain of just 2.0 yards, which ranked second among 4-3 outside linebackers. Weatherspoon was also part of a Falcons linebacker group that played excellent pass defense. The Falcons ranked first in the league in DVOA against tight ends and seventh in DVOA against running backs as receivers.

A great read on how Jeff Fish has established a unique and progressive culture of conditioning and athletic performance. The Falcons have been among the "luckiest" teams when it comes to injuries in the last few years. Well, it turns out it's not all about luck.

In his article for today's matchup John Clayton reiterates what Pat Yasinskas first stated in his QB Watch: The misconception that Matty Ice has never thrown a 80+ Rating outdoors on grass.

Apparently, ESPN has forgotten his 130+ performances in San Diego and Oakland. And Cleveland, Candelstick and Lambeau too.

Also considering Miko's extravaganza, you gotta love the passion the 2011 Falcons are evoking in people...

Good ol' Football Outsiders split up their DVOA Stats according to the number of WRs used. Atlanta was okay with run-oriented formations with one or zero WRs, as well as with 3 WR sets. They were pretty good when throwing to 2 WRs.

But when lining up with four or five wideouts, Atlanta's DVOA was a staggering 45.1 %, ahead of the usual "versatile passing offense"-trademarks like Green Bay and New Orleans, and good for fourth place in the NFL.

Of course, a look at the frequency shows us, that we used those sets in only 6% of our snaps. This can be interpreted as "We used our best formations the least! Fire Mularkey!", but also as "Those formations were so effective because they were not used so often/had an element of surprise to them/weren't scouted or gameplanned against so much."

Either way, those numbers are one more reason to look forward to Julio Jones. Even without him, we looked good when spreading the field. The Coaches maybe realized how good Matt Ryan is, when he has many options to throw to, and plan to expand the playbook accordingly.

Football Outsiders' Mike Tanier takes a quick and dirty look at which Defenses were at the top and bottom of the so called Simplicity Score, measuring the amount of zone-blitzes, three-, five- and six-man rushes.

The Falcons - and some might find that surprising - rank among the most complex Ds out there, with Tanier mentioning that they "may not be as daring as the Jets or Ravens, but their system has a lot of subtlety."

You can and should also read his article on least and most complicated Offenses (where the Falcons didn't make either top five list). Both articles follow the general idea that the lockout is preventing the more complicated playbooks from being installed properly.

Over the summer King's already had Nnamdi Asomugha, Maurice Jones-Drew and Eric Winston filling in for his SI-column, now it's Matty's turn. Keep an eye on sportsillustrated.cnn.com next Monday.

Remember how the Falcons plan to up the no huddle usage in 2010? D. Orlando Ledbetter went through the 2009 play-by-play data: "An analysis of last season’s play-by-play gamebooks, reveals that the Falcons went into the no-huddle offense 16 times in five different games. They scored seven touchdowns and two field goals while in the no-huddle." Seems like Mularkey was using the no huddle very effectively when trailing. That, obviously, means that we're going to have a perfect season this year.

Is this the first mention of such a possibility?

"One thing is for sure: The camaraderie between Turner, Norwood and Snelling is unique and each one wants the best for the others. Turner even admitted that he wouldn't be opposed to running in a three-back system. 'If you want to use me, Snelling and Norwood,' he said, 'I'm not against it at all.'"

Of course, it doesn't mean anything at all at this point, but we know Turner's workload was to be reduced for the upcoming season, and a three-back system would be a way to accomplish this.

(And even if it's just mere throwing caps over the windmills, the team spirit expressed here is very well good to hear.)

He's out for the Pittsburgh opener for violating the personal conduct policy after being charged with battery:

"Police in suburban Gwinnett County said Ojinnaka was arrested in May 2009 on a simple battery charge after his wife confronted him over his contact with a female friend on the social networking site Facebook. He was accused of tossing her down some stairs and throwing her out of the house."

Mike Florio reasons that this"move implies strongly that Ojinnaka eventually pleaded guilty or no contest to the charges".

The Falcons will warm up vs. the Chiefs, vs. the Patriots (nationally televised), at the Dolphins and at the Jaguars.