jhay610

In today's day and age a head coach is only as good as his accessories. Finish it off with a dose of truth:

Ryan did everything asked of him in his third year and made the pro bowl. You have to remember that there is a steep development curve for QBs -- look back at Peyton and Drew Brees' early careers for reference. He doesn't throw the deep ball that often because schematically the Falcons don't take that many shots down the field, nor do they have the speed threats at WR to do so on a consistent basis. The entire philosophy of Mularky's offense is to grind out the game and get into 2nd and 3rd and manageable. This served the Falcons well over the course of the year and enabled them to hide a defense that still has a ways to go to get to Super Bowl caliber. Ryan had an excellent year and I will continue to expect great things in the future. Certainly there are still some pieces that are needed on both sides of the ball but for the long haul, on a structural level, the Falcons have to be considered well-positioned to be relevant in the league for years to come.

Hawks one without Horford last night -- guess big Al doesn't really mean j@ck after all. j/k Obviously Al is a big part of what we do but folks need to take one game samples with a (few) grain(s) of salt.

to the premise of this thread: Horford playing in that game does not amount to a 40 point difference.

From MC's latest blog: # Marvin participated in the (non-contact) practice. “That is the first time I’ve ran around with the team in a while,” he said. “It felt pretty good.” # Marvin plans to test the back again tomorrow. L.D. sounded as if the Hawks still want to give him more time. “With the back, it may still be a little weak,” Drew said. “I don’t think there is any pain or discomfort, but it’s something we want to take our time with. We want to make sure he is as close to 100 percent as possible. We will see how he is tomorrow.” Case closed.

Thanks for relaying all of that here coach. And there it is folks, proof that the Hawks are not the most poorly run organization in the world and that they do retain actual medical advice for these sorts of issues.

Indeed. I'm suggesting this one to my club team's coach. That is just buttery smooth against a team that hedges screen-rolls.

We need a pass rushing DE in the worst way. Abe is getting older and we need someone else to help generate a pass rush without sending the house on blitzes. They need more explosive guys on O, namely a burner WR that can stretch the field. The Falcons were great at long, clock-eating drives but were one of the least explosive teams in the league. They rarely burst loose for big plays and were ill-equipped to play from behind. Jenks is a serviceable two but he would be a beast as a three. I know Douglas has the speed to be a gamebreaker in the slot and could maybe step into that explosive role but his skills as a receiver are still raw and it remains to be seen if he will return to the promise he showed in his rookie year after the knee injury. They also need a 3rd down back to be a threat out of the backfield. Snelling is solid in this role but his style is similar to Turner. I thought Norwood might be that guy but it's time to cut ties with him at this point. Reggie Bush would be ideal but that is probably just wishful thinking. There will be a lot of questions to answer this offseason -- Grimes and a couple O-linemen are due to be re-upped. Will be interesting to see what happens, but I feel comfortable with TD in charge.

the $#!T works!

:cant believe: :shake_puter: :help wanted3: @ this thread. ...Also, breaking news: Diesel calls out Marvin! In other news, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

I still don't think it hurt to have him out there. There was no risk to further injury so if he felt ready to go I don't see the problem. They have medical personnel that are far more qualified than you or I to make these decisions.

He's answering the call here lately...of course we haven't heard much from you on the subject.

I also agree but think that line of thought should extend full measure and the seeding should be based on overall record throughout, with division champions winning any tiebreaks. When they went to a four division alignment that significantly diluted the value of a division championship -- there is no way a seven win team should even be in the playoffs, much less HOST a playoff game. I would much rather have seen the Bucs or NYG this year instead of the Seahawks; at the least the Seahawks should have been the bottom seed. Something is wrong with the format when you have an 11-5 team miss the playoffs (Patriots, 2008). This year, Baltimore (12-4) and NYJ (11-5) also had to win on the road against inferior teams -- to me, you should not be rewarded for winning a weak division. Just think, if the Seahawks had beaten the Bears in Chicago yesterday they would have had the opportunity to host a game with a super bowl berth on the line in one of the league's toughest venues. This for a team that went 3-7 outside of its division and had to fatten up on the other West fodder in order to backpedal into the playoffs. It is quite surprising because on a managerial level the NFL does so many things right.

Looks like the correct answer was "C", neither. Sorry about that.

I would go tomorrow personally. This is basically billed as a pick 'em game so certainly there is no guarantee that the second game will even be played. Secondly, the Pack is a much more compelling matchup in my opinion than either the (Sea)Hawks or Bears, though the added incentive of a potential super bowl berth would certainly make that game attractive as well.

...in related news HC Larry Drew was spotted at a nearby convenience store in snow-covered boots and a wet shovel slung over his shoulder... Speculation is rampant that Coach Drew may have shoveled extra snow in front of Thomas' door and on his drive in order to seal Etan's fate. :tongue:

In our hearts and minds. Duh. :snowballfight:

The point of the comment was not about Teague's amazing defensive rebounding numbers -- it was made to point out how awful Collins' rebounding numbers are. Teague is not a good rebounder, so there is no need to rationalize as to why his defensive rebounding rate is up, because it's not. Collins' is just really bad. This has been demonstrably borne out over the course of his career. This is Twin. As Colin Cowherd would say, "Own your baggage".

Yeah Joe. Free your miiiiiiiiiiiiind, and the rest will follow. We learned that a long time ago.

Surely, surely, no matter how poorly some of us think the Hawks are run, we must all acknowledge that at the NBA level JJ has access to the very best medical staff, correct? I don't think they would let him go out there if there was any chance of further injury in any case, but particularly given his contract and status as a multi-trip all star. As Nire has said this was an arthroscopic procedure -- when it's healed he's ready. I have to believe he would not be out there if there was any chance of reinjury. Some are of the opinion that he should practice for a week before coming back. I get that, but as a player I have always found that you don't get your rhythm back until you get in games and work it out. With Craw out I think that getting Joe back in the mix -- limiting his minutes initially and then working him back up to the mid to high 30's (minutes) is the optimum course of action

You're underselling him. He's also one of the best at the hand-shaking-in-front-of-the-face celebratory gesture and at challenging KG to mock fights. Not sure if his rhyming skills are starter quality though.

Fans tend to read too far into post-game interviews as if there is always something meaningful to infer. I wouldn't take much from this quote; I doubt his "whining" took away from his ability to "concentrate on the TEAM" -- he only played 13 mins after halftime anyway due to the hamstring -- so his mental state didn't have much bearing on the game one way or the other.

Not even sure where to start in responding to that statement -- the overstatement that this would indeed qualify as 'one of the league's great curiosities' or the assumption that Horford is not a 'featured component'. Because I replied to your post but forgot to remove your handle from the quoted text. Fixed now. :shake_puter:

Shelden was pretty epic IMO due to the reasons cited in CBA's post.

Marvin drawing comparisons to Lebron!!