Falcon's leadership

[DrReality]

Hope Horn will help our young guys.

AJC > Sports > Falcons > Training Camp Blog

Horn leads spirited drills

By Craig Custance | Wednesday, August 1, 2007, 04:03 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It’s been about 30 minutes since practice started and wanted to jump in here and give a quick training camp update. And it has nothing to do with the air conditioning. Really, it doesn’t.

From where they were letting us observe, I had the best view of the group of wide receivers. The first drill the wideouts worked on was catching passes thrown behind them. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the teams confidence in the quarterbacks in camp. The key phrase for this drill was ‘stop and pivot.’ The coaches were stressing that the pass they were working on was dropped more than any other. The only wideout to drop a catchable pass was Roddy White.

Later, the media and some gathered fans had a front-row view of the wide receivers working with the Jugs machine firing footballs at the players from a few feet away. In a camp that has been curiously quiet from the players perspective, this drill had a ton of spirit.

It was Joe Horn who led the shouting. His leadership is huge for guys like Michael Jenkins and Roddy White and you could tell it was rubbing off, especially on Jenkins. Guys were yelling each other on, it was good stuff. Nobody dropped a pass, which is pretty impressive because they moved closer and closer to balls being fired at them. Man, Roddy White is smooth. He made this drill look effortless. There was only one bobbled pass, which led one observer to remark: “If they would have caught the ball like this last season, they would have won the Super Bowl.”

The other focus of the early session of practice was special teams, although they were really just going through the motions. Billy Cundiff and Michael Koenen shared duties kicking off. Japanese import Noriaki Kinoshita showed some quickness the couple times he touched the ball. Alright, I’m headed back into the heat.

[chillzatl]

that I don't think the QB spot will be the one to make or break us. If our defense is good, our O-line solid and our position players do what they're supposed to, we'll win games regardless of who's under center (to an extent).

[hawkman]

Here's how much confidence I have in Harrington...I won't be surprised to see Shockley in there by week 3. I hope the best for Harrington, but can you imagine the reaction of the crowd if Harrington is stinking it up and then gets yanked for Shockley? If the hometown guy makes any positive play AT ALL, he's the new face of this team. I've always liked the run it down their throats and play defense style of the Falcons the past few seasons. I'd like to see that continue. But we do need a better passing game to set up the run. I hope that Jenkins and Roddy can emerge as bona fide fixtures at wide receiver this season. They both have the talent but they need to show some consistency. Roddy White looks like he can be something special if he keeps working at it.

[DJlaysitup]

Yeah...I think it all will come down to how good a start Harrington has. If the D is playing well and our running game is OK and our receivers aren't dropping balls I think he will be OK. Otoh, if he throws some picks and our receivers are still dropping balls it could be a mess and Shockley could see some action.

Also, our offensive line will have to protect him - he's a pocket passer (meaning target). The odds of him playing all 16 games are probably less than 50-50.

[hawkman]

Quote:

---

Yeah...I think it all will come down to how good a start Harrington has. If the D is playing well and our running game is OK and our receivers aren't dropping balls I think he will be OK. Otoh, if he throws some picks and our receivers are still dropping balls it could be a mess and Shockley could see some action.

Also, our offensive line will have to protect him - he's a pocket passer (meaning target). The odds of him playing all 16 games are probably less than 50-50.

---

And you can't forget that the O-line was geared toward the run, NOT pass protection. That's a concern. I hope Harrington has a better arm, or at least better accuracy, than I've seen from him the past few seasons. His decision making under pressure is kind of an issue too. Shockley is unproven but sometimes the unknown SEEMS better than the less than encouraging known.

[Dexmethylphenidate]

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

Yeah...I think it all will come down to how good a start Harrington has. If the D is playing well and our running game is OK and our receivers aren't dropping balls I think he will be OK. Otoh, if he throws some picks and our receivers are still dropping balls it could be a mess and Shockley could see some action.

Also, our offensive line will have to protect him - he's a pocket passer (meaning target). The odds of him playing all 16 games are probably less than 50-50.

---

And you can't forget that the O-line was geared toward the run, NOT pass protection. That's a concern. I hope Harrington has a better arm, or at least better accuracy, than I've seen from him the past few seasons. His decision making under pressure is kind of an issue too. Shockley is unproven but sometimes the unknown SEEMS better than the less than encouraging known.

---

You haven't been following the Falcons have you? The o-line philosophies have changed since the arrival of the new head coach. They are now geared toward pass protection. We may see a couple of new faces in the starting o-line.

[hawkman]

I hope you're right about the pass protection being improved because Harrington is going to need it.

[frosgrim]

Shokley isn't going to be any better than Harrington in the decission making process. DJ has very little in-game experience. 1 year startig at UGA, and no games in the pros. That is a recipie for really poor in-game decissions. Def coordinators will be salivating if the Falcons throw DJ into the starting role. The blitzs will be non-stop and DJ will throw a ton of INTs.

That said, Harrington also needs protection or he'll be a turn-over machine like he was in Detroit.

IMO, the Falcon's season hinges on both lines. Can the defense generate any sort of pass-rush with Kerney gone, Coleman out for who knows how long, and an injury prone Abraham? If the d-line can get a pass-rush, then the defense should be good. If we have to do a bunch of blitzing, then we're in for a long season of teams pilling up rushing yards.

As for the O-line, they have to be able to pass protect (as everyone here has said). I think as the year wears on the O-line will get better, but the first few games it might be a little porous as the guys get used to another new system and each other.