Anybody Seen This Guy?

Ok people… The streak is over. The ’72 Dolphins can continue talking smack for another year, and hopefully we can focus on football instead of our pedigree. That seems to be quite the feat right now considering that the city of New Orleans thinks we’re “classless.” Saints players talking about class? I guess if setting up a bounty program to purposefully injure players is their definition of class, then yes. We have no class. But I digress… Now we have some bulletin board material and a future blog for me.
So let’s move on, shall we? The Falcons welcome the Arizona Cardinals to the Georgia Dome on Sunday in a clash of birds both looking to start new winning streaks. Arizona is coming off a bye week and riding a five game skid. They’ll have their hands full against an Atlanta squad that hasn’t lost consecutive games since 2009. Not to mention they’ll be facing a team that should be pretty salty after last week’s tough loss.
Offensively, Atlanta has got to find a way to get the ground game going. The Falcons could only muster 46 yards against the Saints’ porous defense, and that’s just not gonna cut the proverbial mustard. The “Burner” has looked more like a candle running out of wick recently. The offensive line has got to a better job run-blocking, especially in short-yardage situations. If not, we might see another early playoff exit, or worse.
Of course the big news this week in Flowery Branch was the release of Ray Edwards. I can’t say that I saw it coming, but it was no surprise either. Edwards had only nine tackles in nine games with zero sacks. I’m pretty sure if I suited up Sunday, I could register nine tackles. Apparently he wasn’t a clubhouse favorite either, so I’m not sure how much he’ll be missed by teammates either. Arizona ranks dead last in the league on the ground, only racking up 76 yards a game. So if the Falcons want to solidify their rushing defense, the Cardinals are the ideal opponent. But then again, the Saints were terrible at rushing as well. And we all saw how that worked out for us. The pass rush should be more productive this week as well. Arizona has allowed an NFL-high 41 sacks this year to opposing defenses. Hopefully the D-Block is licking their chops.
Listen guys, perfect would’ve been nice…perfect even. But I’m personally glad all of that talk is over so we can focus on more important things. Like tackling with two arms. Atlanta needs a convincing win to get the taste losing taste of their mouths. A visit from the reeling Cardinals may be just what the doctor ordered. Blackbirds 38, Redbirds 17. I hope.