FALCONS AND PRO BOWLS AND BYE WEEKS OH MY!
By Tim Shepard
Well the season of giving has almost past and I must say that my Falcons have given me the best gift in 3 years by wrapping up another first round bye and home-field throughout the playoffs. I mean, who could ask for more? The rest of the free world that’s who. Even after winning 13 of their last 15 games, it seems Atlanta is still the Rodney Dangerfield of the NFL. As if the lack of media respect wasn’t enough, the Falcon’s peers don’t think much of them either.
Two huge Pro Bowl snubs in my opinion were the omission of Thomas DeCoud and Roddy White. DeCoud has played out of his mind this year under Mike Nolan’s tutelage, consistently making plays in coverage and making ball carriers pay for getting past the line of scrimmage. And anyone that overlooked Roddy didn’t see his game at Detroit last Saturday. This guy has been producing since day one and continues to be Matt Ryan’s security blanket. Considering he’s been hobbled the last couple of weeks, his performance last week was phenomenal. He should end up in Hawaii as a reserve.
And speaking of being hobbled… The hot topic this week is whether or not Mike Smith should rest his starters. He’s claimed he’s going to play to win the game and that’s just dandy, but if he loses the likes of a White or Ryan in the midst of trying to salvage consistency, he’ll never work in this town again because he won’t win a playoff game without those two on the field. I say play everyone two quarters and then bring in the scrubs. There’s nothing to gain from playing your stars the entire game. Especially guys who are already dinged up.
All in all it’s been a great season. Arthur Blank and Thomas Dimitroff should be proud of the product they’ve given this city. Only true Falcon fans can appreciate a season like this. We’ve been through hell and back and now stand atop the NFL. We’ve been through dog fighting, Petrino’s, Jeff George and Joey Harrington. We deserve every victory we’ve taken this year regardless of Sundays outcome. Time to get ready for a playoff run folks.