What a DAY for NFL football yesterday! I ran the Score Atlanta Scoreboard Show yesterday as IJ was out and boy did I have a fine slate of games to talk about. Zonetastic finishes, upsets galore, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, after seizing defeat from sure victory. WOW.
Why I'm sad: The Redskins lost to the FLIPPIN' RAMS.
Why I'm glad: The Cowboys lost to the Cardinals and the Falcons won a dramatic game and made me look a bit smart on the air yesterday. So thanks for that. I made the point yesterday that Thomas Dimitrov is the ANTI-McKay in that it seems whatever TD touches turns to gold ala Midas (the Ryan/Baker/Lofton/Douglas picks, the Turner signing, the trading of Hall, the Mike Smith hire...) v whatever McKay touched turns to rusted bronze (Hartwell signing, the drafting of WRs in 9 straight drafts, Mora/Petrino hires, etc...)
So the Falcons are 4-2 with a bye week. Wow, who would have thought that? Certainly not Sportsbyfletch Falcons correspondent Paul "The Body" Mac. Here is an exchange we had yesterday....
ME: are you Flyin' with Ryan now? And you wanted Glen Dorsey!
PTBM: Awesome. I love that I was completely wrong but that's part of fandom, and it's part of having an opinion. I told you several weeks ago I believe after a loss, that Matt Ryan was the right choice. Is he ever... no one... NO ONE thought he would be this good this soon. He won the last 2 games. I've never felt better about the falcons QB position, not to mention both losses did not include Sam Baker at LT.
ME: but honestly, you DO have to be a little pissed at Jason Elam right? I mean, I know he kicked the GW FG, but if he JUST MAKES the one with 2:43 to go, none of the dramatics are needed.
PTBM:Sure, I was very annoyed with Elam. Though he kicked what 5 FG's yesterday? I was very annoyed with our non NFL caliber corners especially one Chris Houston... for about 2 minutes.
ME:and if MAYBE JUST MAYBE Michael Turner wasn't an overrated/ underperforming bust of a free agent, maybe he could have found a way to churn a first down and/or touchdown after JNor got him to the freaking 18 yard line with 3 minutes to play. MAYBE? I know "The Burner" was leading the league in rushing coming into the game....thanks to early scheduling of the Chiefs and Lions.......good thing you have a rookie QB who MIGHT JUST BE the next Jim Otto!
PTBM: No response
ME: the REAL story though................JAMAAL ANDERSON IS A BEAST! 4 tackles, a sack and a pass deflection! WHO CALLED HIM A BUST? He should have gone #1 overall last year! STUD CITY! JaMARCUS RUSSELL, BOW DOWN TO JAMAAL ANDERSON!
PTBM: As for Anderson. How about that. A sack, a 3 and out on his own.. fantastic, I expect that once in a while from the #8 pick at DE. If he can continue that, the DL gets a lot better and getting Gravy Jackson back has been a huge boon for the DL interior, as has Curtis Lofton.
Ultimately, this is the combination of philosophy, coaching, discipline, and effort coming together. These are the right people at the right time. I think they should stay the course here. They'll still lose some bad ones this year and that's OK. They run the ball, they stop the run, and they have an effective passing game and special teams. We knew they would win games 22 - 20 or 17 - 16. I'm not expecting playoffs by any stretch, but if they could manage to win 9 games I'd be ecstatic. I
already am.
My perspective was wrong because I'm used to losing. I wanted the DT because there was less risk. I've always desired a competitive team capable of back to back and then some winning seasons I couldn't be happier right now. They picked the right GM, he picked the right coach, and he brought in real, BONIFIED professionals with a professional offense putting people in position to make plays. It's incredible how
well their offense is performing compared to the last 7 years. They actually have a philosophy that moves the ball rather than 3 and out all the time.
Not only that, they beat a team that played well at the end. Kyle Orton was excellent.
ME: wait, did you just call Kyle Orton EXCELLENT?
I am not a Falcons fan, but I do like it when they are better rather than terrible. Calls will be more likely to call us up at 790 for our Sunday shows when the Falcons are doing well opposed to how it was on EVHEI when the Braves were fork-worthy donezo. So I will live with the Falcons staying around in the playoff hunt and with Ryan doing well. And, if the Falcons HAD to win yesterday, how they did it was the BEST WAY for it to happen. Clearly they should have put it away much earlier, but the way they came back and how Matty Ice grew up there in the last :06 with that THROW and giving his team a chance to win...good for him and good for them.
Now if the Redskins would just stop losing to the FREAKING RAMS.........
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