NFL
The Big Game
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The matchup for Super Bowl LV is set, Kansas City (14-2) versus Tampa Bay (11-5).
Tom Brady led the Buccaneers to the Super Bowl in his first season with the team and his tenth appearance in the big game.
Tampa Bay will be the first team to play in the Super Bowl in their home stadium.
When it comes to this it seems like a technicality because there have been teams that played in their hometown but not stadium.
For instance, the 1979 Los Angeles Rams played Super Bowl XIV at the Rose Bowl. The 1984 San Francisco 49ers played Super Bowl XIX at Stanford Stadium.
This is a matchup of the young upstart QB against the greatest of all time.
The Chiefs are defending champions, led by Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes was second in the league in passing yards with 4,740, 38 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Brady was third with 4,633, 40 TD’s and 12 picks.
Both teams are loaded with offensive weapons. Tight end Travis Kelce is fifth in receptions (105) and second in receiving yards (1,416) in the league, which includes wide receivers. He also had 11 touchdowns. Tyreek Hill had 87 receptions for 1,276 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Tampa Bay’s star play makers have missed a few games this season with injuries.
Mike Evans had 70 catches, 1,006 yards and 13 TD’s. Chris Godwin played in 12 games with 65 receptions, 840 yards and 7 touchdowns. Rob Gronkowski had 45 catches, 623 yards and 7 touchdowns. The Buccaneers also have two talented running backs, Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones.
These teams met in Week 12 in Tampa. Kansas City won 27 – 24, but the game did not seem as close as the final score.
The Chiefs led 20 – 7 at halftime and the Bucs scored 14 points in the fourth quarter. Hill had 13 receptions, 269 yards and 3 touchdowns. The number one priority will be to stop him in this game.
Tampa Bay is 6th in total defense and Kansas City is 16th. The Chiefs are average on defense but in today’s NFL they just need to outscore opponents.
The road to the Super Bowl was very different for these teams. The Bucs were the fifth seed in the NFC, so they had to play three road games. They beat Washington, New Orleans and Green Bay to get here. The NFC Championship was a hard fought 31 – 26 win over the Packers.
“Tom is the GOAT (greatest of all time),” said Bucs receiver Scotty Miller, who caught a 39-yard touchdown pass with 1 second left until halftime. “Last year, we ended 7-9. This year, we’re going to the Super Bowl. He’s the biggest reason.”
The Chiefs were the number one seed in the AFC so they had home field advantage and a bye week in the first round.
They played Cleveland in the divisional round and won 22 – 17. Mahomes was knocked out of the game with a concussion.
In the AFC Championship they beat Buffalo 38 – 24. There were several times in the game where both teams got into scuffles.
I think this is going to be a very close game. Losing the first meeting should give Tampa Bay an advantage because they know what to expect.
Also, Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bienimy is the hottest candidate to get a head coaching job. This has to provide some distraction for him going in to this game.
Changing Winds
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
When it was announced the Atlanta Falcons had hired Arthur Smith as their new head coach I immediately thought “‘the guy who wrote Dueling Banjos is still alive…and he’s going to coach the Falcons?”
Ok, so maybe the latter part is a bit of an embellishment, but that is the first Arthur Smith that came to mind.
Even with my knowledge of Smith’s football career limited to his last two years as Tennessee’s Offensive Coordinator, the hire shouldn’t really be that much of a surprise.
Atlanta has a history, particular in recent years, of hiring first time head coaches. While some organizations seemed determined to only hire former head coaches, Smith’s hire will be the fourth consecutive time the Falcons have handed the reigns of their team over to someone with no NFL head coaching experience.
Even when they have gone the “recycled” route, the last two coaches to fall under that category were Jim Mora and Dan Reeves- neither of which were considered bad hires at the time.
Whether that is the best is way for them to proceed or not is completely subjective, but I do give them credit for not falling in to the relationship trap of “oh, I know who they were beforehand, but they’ll be different with me.”
What intrigues me more about the hire is what it might say about the direction the franchise is heading and what exactly the expectations are for Smith.
Typically, when you see a young head coach join a team that has several high-profile players on the backside of their career, you automatically think it’s time to tear down and rebuild.
In Atlanta’s case, bringing in a highly regarded offensive coordinator, combined with an aging quarterback and the fourth overall pick in the draft, is the ideal situation to start moving onto the next phase of the franchise’s future.
However, with Matt Ryan hopefully still having another 2-3 productive years left, and Smith’s record of success in Tennessee, however limited it may be, it wouldn’t shock me if those plans are simmering on the back burner for at least another season.
If the Falcons are trying to make one last push before their franchise quarterback rides off into the sunset, bringing in someone who revived a lesser quarterback’s career isn’t a bad place to start.
If I had to guess, how the Falcons choose to use that fourth pick will give us a pretty good indication of what their plans are, and how much leeway their new head coach is going to received.
Trevor Lawrence won’t be available, and I imagine Justin Fields will be off the board as well, so is Atlanta enamored enough with either Zach Wilson or Trey Lance to draft them that high, knowing they probably won’t see the field for a year or two?
Obviously, there are other aspects to take into consideration when you’re trying to figure out the direction of a football franchise, but none will speak louder than Atlanta drafting a quarterback that early.
Like with any hire there will always be questions- are two years enough to judge how Smith will run a team? Were there better options out there?
Regardless of how you answer you those questions, the hire falls right in line with who the Atlanta Falcons have been. Now it’s just figuring out exactly what that means.
Changing Times
By: Buck Blanz
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Change is coming in Jacksonville and it’s coming fast.
After concluding the 2020 NFL season with a horrendous record of 1-15 (earning them the first overall pick) the Jaguars have quite a bit of soul searching to do.
The Jaguars are looking to hire a new General Manager as well as Head Coach, and with the number one pick most people are looking at this offseason as one of the most important offseasons in franchise history.
The first two items on the list for the Jaguars this offseason is to find a Head Coach and General Manager, but not in a rush.
Jacksonville has been given an extremely unique opportunity to gut the franchise and rebuild to a talented roster all in the same offseason.
While it is a unique opportunity for Jacksonville, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a tall task. Ideally, the Jaguars would like to look for candidates that will be able to engage with the young talent within the franchise getting them to buy in, in order to create a winning culture.
The Jaguars met with former Ohio State and University of Florida Head Coach Urban Meyer about the Head coaching position. Meyer has since begun to put together a coaching staff in case he is able to get the job.
If the Jaguars do decide to go with Meyer, the Jacksonville fans as well as Meyer are going to have to deal with a few changes.
Meyer would come out of college having won three National Championships and a record of 187-32 as a college coach, which is incredible. However, in the NFL a three loss season is terrific where at Ohio State he might’ve been fired after three losses in a season, so both the fans of Urban Meyer and Meyer himself will have to be ready to handle some tough losses.
Also, throughout Meyer’s coaching career he has been one of the best recruiters, but that won’t transfer to the NFL very well, Jaguars fans will quickly be able to see how Meyer is able to develop the talent given.
All-in-all, whoever is able to get the Head Coaching job for Jacksonville next year is faced with turning around the worst record in franchise history.
The Jaguars are looking for leadership throughout the offseason, the franchise needs a clear vision and a plan of action for the franchise to get back on track.
For many fans, getting back on track would mean executing with their first overall pick this year.
Having said that, the Jaguars don’t have a good track record in recent years with quarterbacks, Jacksonville has passed on two marquee picks in Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes.
With the Jaguars getting their first number one pick in franchise history this upcoming draft they are looking to capitalize on it, helping change the culture.
However, fans will get more insight as to how Jacksonville will use their first overall pick after they find a General Manager and Head Coach.
Jacksonville is looking to greatly improve their status heading into the 2021 season and hoping to compete in another AFC title game in the near future.
Shot Caller
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The NFL regular season is over, and the Atlanta Falcons finished 4 – 12.
Atlanta has the No. 4 pick in the upcoming 2021 draft. They fired Dan Quinn earlier in the season and they need to hire a new coach (and GM).
Let’s take a look at some of the candidates and see who the best fit is.
I’m going to say one thing before I start. I’m not a big fan of hiring coordinators for their first head coaching position. The reason is players make them look much better than what they actually are.
For instance, Brian Billick was labeled an offensive genius as the Vikings offensive coordinator. When he coached the Baltimore Ravens, they were never good on offense.
We can also say the same thing about Quinn coaching the top defense in Seattle and coming to Atlanta.
Josh McDaniels was the offensive coordinator in New England also before becoming a head coach.
Eric Bienemy is the Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator and he’s the hottest candidate. He has the benefit of coaching Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill.
This is another case of the talent he coaches that makes him seem like a great play caller. If the roster stays the same there will be talent at the skill positions for the Falcons, except at running back. This might be a decent fit for both.
Josh McDaniels is back in New England in his second stint as OC from 2012 to now. He was also there from 2005-08 as the play caller. He was the head coach for Denver from 2009-10 and his record was 11 – 17.
In 2018 he was announced as the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts and the same day he withdrew from the position to stay with the Patriots.
I think this would be a very bad fit. McDaniels coached Tom Brady, who is one of the best quarterbacks of all time. That has helped to bolster his status, but it hides the fact he’s not an elite coach. The Patriots were 27th in total offense this season after Brady left town.
Lincoln Riley is the Oklahoma head coach. He’s had that position since 2017 and he’s led the Sooners to a 45 – 8 record.
His offense is explosive and continues to have success with whoever plays quarterback.
He has coached NFL starters like Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts.
This season with Spencer Rattler as the signal caller they were still one of the best offenses in the country.
I think this would be the best fit because offense wins championships now.
He’s also an experienced head coach. A few years ago, college coaches had a tough time transitioning to the NFL. Now the NFL has adopted so much from college football that it is not as difficult.
We have also seen former college coaches have success in the NFL with Pete Carroll being the most successful.
Brian Daboll is the Buffalo Bills OC. Before getting hired for that position in 2018 he spent one season as the co-offensive coordinator and QB coach at Alabama.
He also served as OC for Cleveland (2009-10), Miami (2011) and Kansas City (2012).
I think this would be an average fit with the Falcons. He helped develop a young quarterback, Josh Allen. Allen has improved in each of his three seasons and he is drastically better this year.
Tampa Bay Offensive Coordinator Byron Leftwich is also a possible candidate.
Hopefully Atlanta can hire a good general manager and head coach. The franchise needs a turnaround badly.
Southern Charm
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Week 11 of the NFL season is in the books.
The contenders are starting to rise to the top and separate themselves at this point.
Let’s take a look at the AFC South and grade the teams thus far.
Jacksonville: The Jaguars (1-9) have the second worst record in the league behind the winless New York Jets.
The lone win came in the season opener, so they’ve lost nine consecutive games.
Quarterback Gardner Minshew fractured his right thumb in Week 7 against the Chargers.
Jake Luton has been playing since then and he’s struggled. In his last two games he’s 34 of 72 passes for 320 yards, 1 touchdown and 5 interceptions.
Minshew may return next week against Cleveland. One bright spot has been rookie running back James Robinson. He’s rushed for 762 yards (3rd) and 5 touchdowns.
The Jags are 27th in total offense and 30th in total defense.
The best thing they have going for them is they can possibly land the top pick in the draft. At this pace they should pick no worse than second. Grade: F.
Indianapolis: The Colts (7-3) are tied for the division lead.
Veteran QB Philip Rivers is in his first season in Indy.
He has a problem turning the ball over and he has thrown 8 interceptions up to this point.
They don’t have a big-time playmaker on offense. The Colts have a couple of talented backs in Nyheim Hines and Jonathan Taylor.
They are coming off of a good overtime win against Green Bay Sunday.
The defense is elite, ranked second in total defense. They allow less than 300 yards per game and 21 points per game.
The offense isn’t bad, ranking 13th in total offense. This team is a contender because they have a great defense that can keep them in any game. Grade: B+.
Houston: The Texans (3-7) fired head coach Bill O’Brien after an 0-4 start.
He also traded All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals in the offseason.
Quarterback Deshaun Watson is a very good young quarterback, but he does not have much to work with. Wide receiver Will Fuller V has over 700 receiving yards and Brandon Cooks has 634.
Houston is 18th in total offense and defense.
They are 2 – 1 in their last three games. The one loss was 10-7 to the Browns. They can realistically win half of their final six games that include Detroit, Chicago and Cincinnati.
They are not going to make the playoffs so that might be pointless. Grade: D.
Tennessee: The Titans (7-3) look like they are picking up where they left off last season.
They play old school football by running the ball and controlling the clock.
Running back Derrick Henry leads the league in carries (229), rushing yards (1,079) and he has 3 rushing TD’s (3rd).
QB Ryan Tannehill is good enough to make plays when the run game isn’t working. He’s thrown for 22 touchdowns; 4 picks and he’s completing 71% of his passes.
They just beat the Ravens in overtime, so they play well against good teams.
They did lose to Indy 34-17 two weeks ago. They play again this week and they cannot afford to get swept. Grade: B.
Making The Grade?
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Going into the season many experts thought the NFC South would be the toughest division. Now that we’re a little more than halfway through the season let’s take a look at how each team is doing and grade them on their midseason report card.
Tampa Bay: The Buccaneers (6-3) have a lot of hype surrounding them.
As you know they signed the greatest quarterback of all time Tom Brady in the off-season. They also traded to get his favorite target, tight end Rob Gronkowski. They already had Pro Bowl wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.
They also signed running back Leonard Fournette and recently acquired future Hall of Fame receiver Antonio Brown.
They are stacked with talent, but the Saints are their kryptonite. They were swept by New Orleans and they did not play well in those games.
This past week they were pummeled 38 – 3 by them. The week before they barely beat the 1-7 New York Giants 25 – 23.
The defense is pretty good, ranked fourth in the league in total defense.
The Bucs are a playoff team but not as good as we expected. Grade: B-.
New Orleans: The Saints (6-2) are flying high. Their tied for the best record in the NFC.
They have the potential to be the top seed and have home field advantage in the playoffs. I will admit that with limited crowd sizes this season due to the pandemic it might not mean as much as it has previously.
Star wide receiver Michael Thomas has missed several games due to a suspension for a fight in practice and a hamstring injury.
In the two games he’s played in he has 8 catches and 68 yards. On the bright side he should be well rested.
The defense is 3rd in the league in total defense, allowing 312 yards and 25 points per game.
New Orleans is the total package. Grade: A.
Atlanta: The Falcons (3-6) got off to another slow start, losing the first five games of the season.
Head Coach Dan Quinn was fired, and Raheem Morris was named the interim head coach.
In those four games they are 3-1. I look at it as too little, too late. Quarterback Matt Ryan is leading the league in passing yards and he’s on his way to another Pro Bowl.
Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley are both on pace to have over a thousand yards and they both have missed games.
Running back Todd Gurley was signed as a free agent and he’s having a decent season.
Gurley is fifth in rushing yards (584) and second in rushing touchdowns (9). The defense is 28th in total defense, allowing 410 YPG and 27.9 PPG.
Grade: D-.
Carolina: The Panthers (3-6) got rid of Cam Newton and signed Teddy Bridgewater to replace him.
The best running back in the NFL, Christian McCaffrey is their only real threat on offense.
McCaffrey injured his ankle Week 2 and missed 6 games before returning Week 9.
They signed former Jets receiver Robby Anderson as a free agent and that was a great move. Anderson is fourth in the league in receiving yards with 751. DJ Moore is also having a good season with 640 receiving yards and 3 TD’s.
The defense is average, ranking 17th in total defense. They give up 362 YPG and 25 PPG.
Grade: D.
Swimming Forward
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Miami Dolphins are having a season better than most people would have expected before the season started.
They were 3 – 3 with starter Ryan Fitzpatrick. They won two consecutive games with him and were second place in the AFC East. Kind of a strange time to bench him for rookie Tua Tagovailoa.
The last time we saw Tagovailoa his final season at Alabama was cut short due to a devastating hip injury.
It was so bad we don’t even factor in the broken nose he also suffered on that play. That injury was so bad it could possibly end his football career so it’s impressive the fifth overall pick has kept battling.
The biggest factor for this QB change is the potential for a high 2021 draft pick.
They traded disgruntled tackle Laremy Tunsil to the Houston Texans and they will have their first-round pick.
The Texans are 1 – 6 and heading for a terrible season. The front office probably wants to find out now if Tua is the answer. If not, they might have an opportunity to Draft Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields.
Let’s recap Tua’s first start. I didn’t think they did him any favors with letting him play against the Los Angeles Rams.
As you know LA has super star defensive tackle Aaron Donald and corner back Jalen Ramsey. Not very quarterback friendly. Miami shocked us with an upset win, 28 – 17. Delving deeper though we see Tua was not the reason.
Tagovailoa completed 12 of 22 pass attempts for 93 yards and 1 touchdown.
Those sound like 1970’s stats. He also had one fumble. The Rams had 471 total yards and Miami only had 145 yards.
They also had 31 first downs and the Dolphins only had 8. The difference in the game was turnovers and special teams.
Los Angeles had 4 turnovers and Miami had 2. Miami scored a touchdown on a fumble recovery. They also returned a punt for a touchdown.
Here’s some of what Tua had to say about his first start. “I don’t think I played to the standard of what this offense is capable of. There were certain plays where I could have stepped up and made the right throw, made the right decision. But I’ve heard it many times from the guys in the locker room: I’s good that we still came out with the win. Aside from that, thank God we’ve got a good defense, so when we do start to string good plays together, we know that we can be able to make plays and then get the ball back and continue to try to do the same.”
Tua also added, “It was fun just being able to go out there and play a full 60-minute game now. Being that it was my first start in the NFL. We really faced a really good defense. I’m proud of what we’ve got to do offensively, but I do know that there’s still a lot of things we need to correct come Monday. But you can’t say that this defense isn’t really good — they’ve got [Michael] Brockers, they’ve got Aaron Donald, they’ve got [Taylor] Rapp, Jalen Ramsey and all these other guys — and not expect to be stopped a good amount of times. That’s just not realistic.”
Miami is now 4 – 3 but they won’t have a winning record for long. The next game is at Arizona. Kyler Murray is playing very well and living up to being the first overall pick in 2019.
I hope Tua can continue to improve because he’s on a very short leash.
Rooting for Tom Brady?
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For the past eighteen years, I’m not sure if there’s an NFL player I have liked less than Tom Brady. (I don’t count the year he took over for Drew Bledsoe because both he and New England were underdogs, and even I enjoy an underdog story.)
When other quarterbacks around the league yelled at their teammates or got in their face for making a mistake, a la Dan Marino back in the day, I viewed them as motivators who cared about winning. When Brady did it, I vilified him as a jackass.
While I applauded players for their business endeavors outside of football, I thought Brady was pompous for basically everything that had to do with his TB12 brand.
He was the rare player where I knew I viewed him through a hypocritical lens, but I didn’t care.
Yet, to my own dismay, there I was a few weeks ago watching Tampa and Chicago play on a Thursday, actually rooting for Brady.
It was as if I was having an out of body experience and my soul kept yelling at me, “No, don’t do it!”
Obviously, one of the reasons for my change of heart is that Brady no longer plays for New England. I’ve always put Patriot players in the same category as New York Yankee players- I can’t pull for them while playing for their respective teams but have no issue rooting for them once they leave.
But the main reason I’m starting to see Brady in a different light has to do with the year he’s having. Up to this point of the season, when you look at some of the major categories we use to determine a quarterback’s success- completion percentage, td/int ratio, yards per completion) the 43 year old is above his career average in every one.
And it’s not like this season is the continuation of a downward trajectory that still happens to be better than average. You could’ve made that argument over the last two or three seasons, but statistically speaking, Brady is on pace to have his best overall season in five years.
There’s no denying Brady and Belechick had a great run together with the Patriots but entering this season I was interested to see how each would adjust without the other.
My original hope was that both would implode, and I would revel in their struggles; it’s good to know New England is holding up their end.
It’s probably been four or five years since I allowed myself to admit that Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback to have played in the NFL.
Since that time, all he’s done is win a couple more Super Bowls and continued to be one of the best in the game.
The fact he’s doing this at an age when most of his peers have either already hung up their cleats or are barely clinging to a team, makes what he is accomplishing even more impressive.
I know there will be some that will argue he was surrounded by great talent and coaching, but so was Joe Montana, Peyton Manning, John Elway, and basically every other Hall of Fame quarterback you can mention.
And of course, there are those who will scream “Deflategate” at the top of their lungs, and while I won’t disagree with you, in my mind Brady has done enough to overcome that rebuttal in regards to him being the best ever.
That said, I still cringe a little saying these nice things about him, just not as much as I used to.
Lift Off
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Atlanta Falcons finally won a game.
Dan Quinn was finally put out of his misery after starting the season 0 – 5. Defensive coordinator Raheem Morris has taken over as interim head coach. You may remember when he was head coach for Tampa Bay from 2009 – 2011.
Julio Jones returned after missing the last game and a half with a hamstring injury. His return helped spark the offense.
Jones finished with 8 catches for 137 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a 40-yarder off a broken play that helped put the game out of reach. The Falcons won 40 – 23 on the road at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
It was Jones’ 57th career game with at least 100 receiving yards, which is the most among active players and the fourth-most in NFL history. Jerry Rice (76), Randy Moss (64) and Marvin Harrison (59) are the only players ahead of him. They are all in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, so he’s in great company.
“At the end of the day, I felt great coming into this game,” Jones said. “No complaints. No hamstring injury issues. No tightness and things like that to prevent me from bring who I want to be on game day.”
The Falcons scored on 8 of 12 possessions, with one kneel down at the end of the game.
Matt Ryan completed 30 of 40 passes for 371 yards and four touchdowns, with an average yards per attempt of 9.3.
“I think that’s always the mindset I’ve had, to go out there and play my best every week,” Ryan said. “We have to earn everything we get in this profession. I don’t think it really changed my approach or anything. I believe I have a really good process and a way to get ready week in and week out. I trust that process.”
Atlanta jumped on the Vikings early and went into halftime with a 20 – 0 lead. As you know they crumbled in the second half and dropped second half leads under Quinn. I thought they were doomed because the Falcons have shown us, they don’t play well with a lead. I give Morris credit because they played well in the second half.
They recovered two onside kicks. It was the opposite of the debacle in Dallas when the kickoff team sat back and waited for the ball to roll 10 yards. On both onside kicks they attacked the ball and caught it as it came to them.
The defense had 3 interceptions on the season coming into this game. They forced Kirk Cousins to throw 3 picks in this game. They did allow rookie wide receiver Justin Jefferson 9 receptions, 166 yards and 2 touchdowns. I have him on my fantasy team but for some reason I had him on the bench.
The New York Giants also got their first win of the season yesterday. That leaves the Jets as the only winless team in the league. I bring that up because they have the work record and they are front runners to pick Trevor Lawrence first in the 2021 draft.
Atlanta is not a good team, but I think they are on track to get a few more meaningless wins that will make them pick lower in the draft.
The next two games are home against Detroit then at Carolina for Thursday Night Football. Those are games that are winnable.
Who knows, they might be in the playoff hunt if they can win those games then beat Denver.
Out Of The Nest
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
“And like that…he is gone.”
It’s been 25 years since Kevin Spacey uttered that line at the end of “The Usual Suspects”, unveiling one of the biggest plot twists in cinematic history.
Yet, I can’t help but think how those six simple words may apply to the Atlanta Falcons personnel at the end of the season.
It was a foregone conclusion Dan Quinn would be dismissed at the end of the season. He did not make it that far.
The decision the Falcons front office, specifically Arthur Blank, will now have to make on the direction of the franchise- do they continue and try to make it with the roster they currently have constructed, or take a step back and begin to build for the future?
Atlanta has some big-name talent at some of the more prestigious positions, but they are more than a new coach away from being a playoff team.
That’s not to say the organization needs to dismantle everything from the ground up, but their focus needs to shift from trying to make one last run to making decisions based on what’s best for the team in the long term.
How that translation will look could go a few different ways. Does Atlanta take the Bill Belichick approach and start getting rid of productive players a year early as opposed to a year too late?
This way of making decisions certainly has proven to work in New England, but can prove to be a difficult sell to fan bases that haven’t experienced that type of success.
Do they bring in young, future starters through the draft and free agency, allowing them to learn from the veterans?
It’s an ideal way to go about things since it keeps fans happy and allows the younger players to grow.
The downside, of course, being most top tier players don’t want to spend their remaining years grooming their replacement; in most cases they’d rather be traded or released.
And let’s be honest, when I’m talking about the positions those choices will revolve around, I’m talking about Matt Ryan and Julio Jones.
Both of those guys have one, maybe two years left, before we start to see a precipitous drop in their level of play.
I completely understand if Atlanta chooses to go with whatever option suits Ryan and Jones best, they just need to make sure it’s not to the detriment of the franchise, moving forward.
Look, Atlanta’s in that unfortunate situation where they’re going to have to sacrifice the end of the careers for some of their most important players for the good of the franchise.
Again, that doesn’t mean they can’t be competitive, but it’s not easy to admit making the Super Bowl isn’t the main focus.
The NFL is full of teams that have made surprise runs to the playoffs and exceeded expectations. And I realize it’s a bit premature to start talking about next year when we’re not even halfway through this season.
It’s almost a guarantee things will look very different in Atlanta, beginning with a new coach.
