The dust has finally settled in Flowery Branch as the off-season officially begins.  In the past week the Falcons’ coaching staff was raided as the team lost both its defensive and offensive coordinators as well as their quarterbacks coach.

Brian Van Gorder left Atlanta to go back to the college ranks and coach Auburn’s defense while Mike Mularkey was hired as head coach of Jacksonville.  He in turn hired quarterbacks coach Bob Bratkowski as his offensive coordinator.

Well, despite the success since Mike Smith’s arrival in Atlanta four seasons ago it was time for new blood.  Raiding of the coaching staff probably should have started sooner. Usually when a team is as successful as the Falcons have been since ’08 teams keep an eye on the coordinators and hatch schemes to grab them for themselves.  That being said there was need for change.

Van Gorder did fine work the last four seasons with the Falcons taking a bottom-feeder defense and making them a top 11 unit the past season.  That being said, there were a number of issues that have not been addressed be it because of personnel decisions or poor execution.  While the defense under Van Gorder became one of the toughest against the run, its pass defense was shoddy at best.  It was nothing for a team even a second or third string quarterback to throw for well over 300 yards against the Falcons secondary.  This has been an issue from day one for Smith since landing in Atlanta.  That, and the number of third down conversions allowed, often for big yardage haunted Atlanta all season.

There are a number of candidates the Falcons are looking at including Steve Spagnuolo, Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary.  All three candidates have had head coaching experience with all failing miserably.  As coordinators that’s a different story.  The top prize is Spagnuolo, who is the architect of the Giants defense during their Super Bowl run a few years back.  He didn’t fare to well as head coach of St. Louis, but the Rams are thin on talent on the offensive side of the ball, along with injury issues.

Nolan has been the defensive coordinator of the Dolphins the last couple of seasons.  The defense has been top-notch but never could overcome the deficiencies on offense as head coach Tony Sparano was let go with a month left in the regular season.  Nolan, another failed head coach wasn’t given enough time at San Francisco.  He is a coaching legacy in the NFL, his father Dick was a long time head coach of the 49ers as well as the Saints.  Most legacy coaches have been successful as coordinators.  See Wade Phillips, the Ryan boys as prime examples of that.  And Singletary… a wild card candidate.  The Hall of Fame  linebacker is almost too emotional at times to think rationally – a far cry from the stoic, almost quiet nature of Mike Smith. Singletary can motivate like no one’s business, but his choice in talent has suspect in San Francisco.  Spagnuolo would be the big prize but Atlanta is fighting with the Saints to get him.  Saints lost coordinator Gregg Williams to the Rams last week.  Nolan may be the best fit as if the defense tightens up the Falcons can live up to their playoff potential.

I’m glad Mularkey is gone.  While the Falcons have averaged 11 wins over the past four seasons, the offense sputters once post season begins.  In the past two years the Falcons have scored a total of 15 points in two playoff games.  Mularkey’s play calling was often predictable and at times mind-boggling.  Twice against the Giants and again against the Saints they failed on fourth and inches – all three times not even handing the ball to 245-pound Michael Turner to make the necessary inches.  And all three times they failed.  With new offensive toy Julio Jones it took a while to get used to having the extra target.  Towards the end of the season they finally figured it out and Jones became a highlight reel with some great catches and nifty footwork.  But actually Harry Douglass impressed me more.  Douglass has speed and is long and lanky who could be a number one receiver elsewhere if scouts are doing their job. 

Despite the potent offense the team still averaged the same amount of points the previous season when they were a run first offense.  Ryan at times looked uncomfortable throwing as much as he did, but despite the speed of his receivers most of the plays were short outs, not really stretching the field.  Bratkowski was in his first year working with Ryan, so it is hard to evaluate his impact after one season.  When the offense was firing on all cylinders they could take your breath away, almost on oar with the “greatest show on turf”, but more often than not it left you wanting more.

To fill Mularkey’s place Smith made a curious hire of Jacksonville’s offensive coordinator Dick Kuetter.  Kuetter’s Jags were one of the worst offenses this past season, scoring a league average of only 15.1 points a game.  A lot of blame can be placed on personnel decisions of now fired coach Jack Del Rio, who cut their starting quarterback at the end of preseason and starting rookie Blaine Gabbart with little prep.  The Jags did have the best run game in the league with Maurice Jones-Drew, but no vertical  passing game.  We will see if Kuetter just needs a new home to get things rolling again.

Many are wondering if Mike Smith, himself is on the hot seat.  Smith, in four seasons is 0-3 in playoff appearances.  There’s a simple answer to this.  No.  He’s got about two or three more years before his seat will begin to warm up and Blank decides to make a change at the top.  You see, any long-suffering Atlanta Falcons fan knows the facts.  Prior to Smith arriving in Flowery Branch the Falcons have never had back-to-back winning seasons, let along back-to-back playoff appearances.  Smith has had four consecutive winning seasons and has made the playoffs the last two seasons.  In fact, Atlanta wasn’t supposed to be competitive in 2008.  Still reeling from the Michael Vick fiasco that sent the franchise into a tailspin in ’07, Smith was a surprise choice.  If you remember Blank tried to hire Bill Parcells to run the team, but Wayne Huizenga in Miami outbid him.  How did that work out for Miami?  Smith will have to finally produce a playoff win in the next season or two otherwise he’ll become like Tony Dungy in Tampa Bay and be expendable.  People love to win, but they also love to win it all.

Smith and his offensive coordinators are pretty stocked on offense minus the need for help on the offensive line to give them a little umph.  Sam Baker has been pretty much a wash and there are a few top-notch linemen coming available in free agency.  The Falcons will also need to decide who will eventually succeed Michael Turner in the backfield.  Turner is at that age when running backs start to break down.  Is Jason Snelling an heir apparent or will they opt for a more elusive runner like Jacquizz Rodgers who is reminiscent of Warrick Dunn.  It’s the old battle of power versus finesse.  Maybe in the next year or two start looking in the draft for a fresh pair of legs to ease Matt Ryan’s burden.

Defensively the team has first and foremost address a secondary that has been pieced together for way too long.  Despite his ego and temper you almost (but not quite) miss the talent of DeAngelo Hall.

The defensive line under performed a lot this year.  While John Abraham stayed healthy again, his sack number dropped considerably.  It rose at the end of the season thanks to the play of Tampa Bay and Jacksonville, but he’s getting up there in age.  Abraham is 33 now.  He has managed to stay healthy almost the entire reign of Smith, whereas under the other coaches dating back to his days with the Jets he would play a year and miss the next (or it would seem that way) due to injury.  While averaging giving up less than 100 yards a game rushing, towards the end of the season that was suspect as Maurice Jones-Drew ran a mile against the Falcons as well as the Giants in the first round of the playoffs.

There will be some major tweaking this offseason as the Falcons have 17 unrestricted free agents.  They have only a limited number of draft picks (5) thanks to the Julio Jones, so it will be interesting to see what Thomas Dimitroff does.   He, in fact may be the one on the hot seat if this and the Julio Jones trade doesn’t work out.  We’ll see.  The draft is only three months away.

 - Dave Weinthal

The 2011 Atlanta Falcons can best be described as being a kid on Halloween and the day after.  You a while there you are riding a high sugar buzz bouncing off the walls.  But unfortunately what happens after the initial sugar buzz is you crash.  And that’s what the Falcons did Sunday in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.

Coming off a huge high last week, scoring 42 points in the first 22 minutes of the season finale against Tampa Bay, the Falcons’ season and Super Bowl hopes crashed on the tundra of Met Life Stadium as the New York Giants outlasted and then put their foot on the throat of Atlanta winning 24-2.

That’s right, the Falcons managed only a safety.  The high-powered, highly-touted offense was shut out.  The only points scored by a defense that was bore much of the scorn of yours truly and many others as an exposed secondary and an aging defensive line took abuse a lot of times this season.

Sunday the defense played valiantly for two-and-a-half quarters, but got absolutely no support from the offense.  The wheels quickly fell off midway through the third quarter as the Giants increased their 7-2 lead to eventually 24-2 making Matt Ryan and coach Mike Smith 0-3 in playoff action.

The game was a defensive struggle from the onset.  The Giants managed only one first down in their first four possessions.  The suspect Atlanta secondary, missing two of their key components held check until the final minutes of the half when the Giants made a couple of big third down conversions and finally pushed the ball over to take a 7-2 lead at the half.

The high-powered Atlanta offense sputtered the whole day.  Twice they were stuffed on fourth and less than a yard.  The first time, opting to go for it instead of a 41-yard field goal attempt and the early lead and later in the game when it was still a manageable 10-2 game, opting to go for it instead of a 38-yard field goal attempt.

It was hard to believe and watch at times after last week’s offensive showcase to see such an anemic offensive showing – an offensive showing that was indeed offensive. 

After last season’s disastrous loss to Green Bay in the playoffs the Falcons made some risky trades to trade up and draft a play maker or the offense.  They selected Julio Jones with the fifth pick in the draft to try and keep up with offensive juggernauts like the Packers.  Well, once you have those pieces you’ve got to be able to do something with them.

The Falcons attempted to become a more pass-oriented team with Jones and wideout Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez.  A couple of things hurt this transition.  First, there was the lockout.  A new offense requires practice to get all the parts working in sync.  The lockout ended less than two weeks before the start of preseason,, so there was no time to properly work on new offensive schemes.  This explains the up and down nature of the offense all season.  Second, Ryan was working with a new quarterback coach, bob Bratkowski as Bill Musgrave was promoted to assistant head coach. And last, the play calling of offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey.  Mularkey seems to tense up in close games and against better opponents.  They whipped up on Tampa Bay, Jacksonville and Indianapolis.  They didn’t beat a single playoff team this season.  And under Mularkey’s play calling they haven’t won a playoff game, either.  In fact, the last two seasons they have scored a combined 15 points and only one touchdown in the postseason.  Ryan threw a lot of passes (41) completed a lot of them but still only managed 199 yards in the air.  The short, conservative passing game and unwillingness to stretch the field played right into the Giants’ wheelhouse.  Throw in a running attack that never got going and well, this spelled doom.

I don’t know what else Atlanta can do to fine-tune their offense.  They should be set for another year or two before they’ll need another feature back.  Michael Turner is 29, but has a lot of tread left, especially if Ryan passed more effectively.  White and Jones are one of the most exciting pass catching tandems in the NFL reminiscent of Marvin Harrison/Reggie Wayne and Marks brothers (Clayton and Duper).  Tony Gonzalez at 35 is still one of the best if not the most clutch tight end in the game.  That leaves coaching and play calling.  Maybe it’s time for a change.  Then again, with a full offseason to work out the mechanics the new style offense the Falcons are wanting to run can finally take flight.  And in this year’s draft maybe they can address some much-needed upgrades for the secondary, whose shortcomings were brought into full focus in the second half of the game Sunday.  But you can only do so much when your offense doesn’t do their part.

 - Dave Weinthal

Poor Tampa By.  Poor Raheem Morris.  And poor New York.  The Atlanta Falcons unleashed with a vengeance like nothing ever seen before in the Georgia Dome Sunday as they totally demolished the visiting Buccaneers 45-24.  The score is no indication of what a wipeout this was.

Still seething over their embarrassing showing Monday night in losing to the Saints,, the Falcons scored 42 first half points – all 42 coming in under 22 minutes a franchise records for points in a half and possibly a league record for amount of points scored in a short time span.

Everything was firing right for Atlanta. Matt Ryan threw two touchdown passes to Julio Jones, Michael Turner ran for 172 yards and a score and the defense even returned an interception for a touchdown.  This game was so out of control that before the two minute warning coach Mike Smith gave Ryan and Turner the rest of the game off and let Chris Redman, Jason Snelling and Jacquizz Rodgers pick up the slack in a wild show of force.  Let us not forget a couple of sacks by John Abraham and one play where Abraham literally grabbed the ball out of quarterback Josh Freeman’s hands for another turnover.

The only call Tampa Bay’s coach got right was two challenges, one which overturned another turnover, but that wasn’t enough to save his job as he was give the axe promptly Monday morning after finishing the season with ten consecutive losses.

There was something magic in the air as I drove to Atlanta Sunday afternoon for the game.  A heavy rain the night before gave way to bright sunshine on the way down and an oddly empty freeway.  I cruised into my usual parking spot with no problems, no traffic, and looked like no one there.  It was odd.  The last game of the season with playoff implications and barely a dull roar.  As I checked the newswire before I headed onto the field and a story had been posted that tight end Tony Gonzalez had signed a one-year extension.  I was starting to feel more confident.  Then I stepped onto the field and the crowd was at fever pitch cheering for their Falcons and taunting the lowly Buccaneers.

From the first play from scrimmage I knew something was up.  Michael Turner went off tackle for 26 yards on the first play.  He hadn’t run like that all season.  It had been over a month since he rushed for over 100 yards.  He ran for 172 with time to spare by the time he was give the rest of the game off with 2:14 to play in the half.

Ryan was an efficient 6-of-9 for 106 yards and two touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 146.3.  Julio Jones led the team with four catches for 76 yards and two scores, one on a spectacular catch and run which saw him dive between two defenders to catch the ball and them straight arm one of them as he made his way into the end zone.

Roddy White also hauled in four passes, Gonzalez kept his consecutive catch streak alive and the defense played better than I ever remember them playing since the ’98 Super Bowl team.  The only thing missing in this game was the crowd never started the wave, although they waved goodbye to Tampa Bay’s coach – kind of prophetic considering the news Monday morning.

The game saw a lot of team records set.  First, it is the first time in franchise history the team has made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.  Second, it’s the first time they have had back-to-back double-digit winning seasons in franchise history.  And here are the individual records set Sunday:  Roddy White is now the franchise leader in total receving yards passing Terrance Mathis.  Michael Turner is now the franchise leader in rushing touchdowns with 50 passing Gerald Riggs’ old mark.  And Matt Ryan passed for a franchise best 4,177 yards taking down the old record held by Jeff George.

It’s off to the playoffs again for Atlanta as they travel next Sunday to play the New York Giants.  The all-time record between these two team is 10-10 with the Giants winning the last five in a row.  Eli Manning has not lost to the Falcons since he was a rookie in 2004, but if Atlanta plays anything like they did Sunday, I will feel sorry for Giants fans (not really).  Kickoff is scheduled for Sunday at 1pm.

 - Dave Weinthal

What? It’s over already? The Tennessee Titans’ season ended Sunday, winning the battle but losing the war. The  Titans defeated the Texans 23-22 but are going home. With the victory over Houston, the Titans end on a winning note, finishing the season 9-7.

As disappointed as many Titan fans are about not making the playoffs, I still feel like the season was a real success. With a new coaching staff, a new quarterback, no off-season workouts, Chris Johnson spending the preseason on vacation with Missy Gentry, it felt like a “four win” kind of year.

It’s exciting to know that this years rookie class could end up being terrific down the line. The Titans played winning football while Jake Locker was able to listen and learn from a pro. Sure, I’d like to have seen more of him but it’s hard to argue with the professional performance of Hasselbeck.

The words professional and quarterback were not used much in recent past.

The Titans enter the off-season with no drama. Last year at this time, shoulder pads were being thrown and fingers were being pointed.

It was a wonderful Sunday of football but with strange results. The Texans haven’t won a game since I finished digesting Thanksgiving dinner, but are ecstatic to be in the playoffs for the first time.

It’s hard to determine what is more important to Texan fans. The fact that they are going to the playoffs, or that the Cowboys are not. Houston partied like it was New Years Eve, again, as the Boys went down to the Giants.

The Texans go against Cincinnati next weekend. I know it sounds exciting but I’m planning to wash my hair that day.

The New York Jets tanked but according to Rich Dotero and Fran Gredel, Jets Mark Sanchez future looks bright, as a male model.

“Mark did a fine job posing throughout their loss to Miami,” Rich said.

The Jets loss made Dave Wakstein very happy as his Pat’s head into the playoffs. “I agree with Rich, Sanchez will be a fine model, and I know male models.”

What Sanchez won’t be much longer, is a quarterback , if he can’t improve his play. Breaking it down further, Kate Mincy had this to say.

“Quarterback-Sugarerback, that boys hot.”

I’ve had a wonderful year watching the Titans play, and all that comes with it. People I’ve brought up to a game now have season tickets. I made some new connections at the stadium and my hope is to upgrade Kevin Marchetti from the handicap tailgating space, to his own full fledged tailgating area. Kevin and his crew are so generous, they deserve the step up.

I’m hopeful that Tim will be at more games with Bubba next year. There’s something about hearing “Where ya going... Tim and Bubba’s.” It rolls off the tongue like PBR and BBQ.

We all love our teams and that’s what brings us all together. Poking fun at Ross Whitaker because he loves Drew Brees slightly more than one of his children is fun. Rose Marie Coleman loves Katie, so she loves the Eagles. I know it’s sad but that’s what makes the world go ‘round.

My good friend Greg Amell loves the Cowboys. He’s gone through two bouts of cancer and I swear the Boys inflect more pain than the surgery. Good news is he’s cancer free.

The bad news is he still loves Tony Romo.

Kimberly Dougher looks at Titan players and assesses their character. You have to measure up to her standard or you’ll get no love.

Ernie Dempsey is the most passionate fan I know. He leads the cheers, waves the flag and love his Falcons.

We all have our lives to live but football brings us together and gives us common ground. Thanks to everyone that has written me this year, from Steve in Fla. to Bart in Ktown. We are a community of fans and our teams give us great enjoyment.

Finally, my good friend Dan LaGraff, diehard Bills fan, was voted “board member of the year for the Orange Grove Organization”. Another great football fan, doing good work when he’s not watching his team. You may not know him, but watch this video, you’ll feel better if you do. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQNBGySKImM

 - Mike Dougher

Remember back in ’03 when the Rams destroyed Atlanta so bad on Monday Night Football that owner Arthur Blank penned a formal apology to the commissioner over the play of his team?  I wonder if he saved a draft of that letter after the drubbing New Orleans gave the visiting Falcons Monday night?  When all was said and done and the fat lady sang, the Saints proved victorious 45-16.  That’s right they beat our redbirds by four touchdowns.  Hard to believe three months ago the Falcons were the sexy pick to go to the Super Bowl.

Not only did the Saints dismantle the Falcons, quarterback Drew Brees set the NFL career yardage record, breaking the 27-year record held by Dan Marino.  That makes Brees a marked man in my book.  I now must officially wish him ill will.  You see, Falcons fans, to be honest, I am a lifelong Miami Dolphins fan.  I have all sorts of Dolphin swag in my office.  Framed pictures of Dan Marino and Bob Griese, a commemorative coin with the images of Don Shula and Joe Robbie celebrating the perfect season of 1972.  I even have the yellow dog-eared sports section of the Chattanooga Times announcing the formal retirement of Mr. Dolphin Bob Griese, not to mention Bob Griese home and away jerseys here.  Despite the post-Shula and Marino years I still bleed aquamarine.  Dan is the man.  He always will be.

I hate Peyton Manning.  He was the first to beat Marino’s single season touchdown pass record.  Most of his 49 TD passes were two yards or less.  A real man would have run the ball in.  I hate Tom Brady.  He topped Manning the next year by one (50).  I hate him for that and he plays for our archrivals, the Patriots.  I hate Brett Favre who broke Marino’s career touchdown total.  Hell, everyone hates Favre these days, I’m just one in the crowd.  And now I hate Drew Brees.

Do I really hate Drew Brees or do I hate Dave Wannstedt and Nick Saban?  When Brees came out in the draft, most pundits including myself had the Dolphins drafting Brees.  Nope.  They decided to sign free agent AJ Feeley.  I remember getting into an email argument with Dan Lebotard over this.  He thought Feeley was what Miami needed.  We argued back and forth and I explained to him the history of the Dolphins and a franchise quarterback.  In the first 33 years of the franchise, two quarterbacks led the team in 31 of those seasons, which included five Super Bowls, two titles and countless playoff appearances.  Lebotard actually conceded this argument to me.

When Brees became expendable in San Diego Saban elected to sign Dante Culpepper over Brees, who wanted to play in Miami.  Since that move the Saints have won a Super Bowl, been to the playoffs four times and Miami has had at least a half dozen guys or more under center.  Well, Brees now owns the most sacred of Marino’s records he had left in his name.

But ironically enough Brees barely passed for 300 yards (307) and was picked off twice – once in the end zone.  He did throw four touchdowns.  I guess it could have been worse if the one interception wasn’t made.

Matt Ryan set career marks in passing yardage (374) and completions.  But for a fourth week in a row there was an absence of a running game.  It was way before Thanksgiving the last time Michael Turner hit the century mark on the ground.  He rushed for only 39 Monday night.  I’m beginning to get the feeling he’s about run out.   Coach Mike Smith has used Jason Snelling and Jazquizz Rodgers more and more each week.  A good running back is lucky to last six or seven years in the league as a mover and shaker.  He’s finishing his fourth season with Atlanta and it makes you wonder if the team is going to start looking for an heir apparent.

Despite their success in the air as both Roddy White and Julio Jones had well over 100 yard a piece in receiving yards the Falcons three times had to settle for field goals instead of punching the ball in.

The only saving grace of this game is the fact Atlanta had already clinched a playoff berth.  Coming into the game they still had an outside chance of winning the division.  They need to win their home finale Sunday against Tampa Bay and Detroit to lose to Green Bay and Atlanta will move into the fifth seed.  Their opponent in the first round would then be the winner of the Dallas/New York Giants game.  Otherwise they’ll be headed back down to New Orleans to face the Saints again.

Sunday’s regular season finale kicks off at 4:15 and will be aired on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

The Tennessee Titans brought home an early Christmas present, beating the Jacksonville Jaguars 23-17 on Saturday. The Titans bounced back from a bad effort last week and kept themselves in the playoff race. I think if you asked people before the season started if they'd take the possibility of a shot at the playoffs on week 17, they'd take it. It's hard not to think of what could have been, giving away games to Cincinnati and Indianapolis, but if if's and but's were pizza and nuts, we'd all have a happier Christmas, or something like that.

The Titans played well enough to win although they lost several opportunities to put the game away.  I asked my cub reporter Yogi Dougher if he could give me some hard hitting analysis of what he saw at the game.

Mike: "So, how do you feel about the game today Yogi?"

Yogi: " I only wish you were here to see these cheerleaders today."

Mike: "How does the team look Yogi?"

Yogi: " The girls have the cutest Santa outfits on, and if the skirts were any shorter, they'd get a 15 yard penalty and be sent to my room."

Ok, I know that Christmas is on Sunday this year, but the NFL should really look into the habits of football fans before moving games. I've been screwed up all week, knowing games were on Saturday, my pre game rituals cast to the wind. Shower on Saturday, drink beer in a parking lot at noon on Sunday, hung over and do nothing on Monday. I've been doing this for 16 freakin' weeks, now you're going to change it? I know, I know, it's all about the children. Whatever...

I am in New York as I write this so the idea of watching the Titans/Jags game was just not going to happen. In fact, I suspect its easier sneaking a stripper out of North Korea that it is getting news on a team other than the Jets or Giants. I diligently fiddled with my phone, trying to find a station carrying the Titans. I managed to skip the 1000 stations carrying the battle of New York and found one lone station, forging bravely ahead with the Titan game. A Christmas miracle.

Before the game, I did what most New Yorkers do pre game, head to the store. This wasn't a normal game day on Long Island though, this is Jets - Giants day. Loser gets made fun of for an entire year, or at least till baseball season. Anyway, at 12:30 on Christmas eve, what do I see? Late shoppers hurrying for last minute purchases? Little children with there noses pressed to the glass, looking at dolls and trains? Santa wishing everyone a merry Christmas? Forgetaboutit. No, no,no.

Everyone is either in a Jets or Giants jersey. When I went to the counter to get some German potato salad, the lady asked if I was a Jets or Giants fan. My hunger weighed in the balance of my choice. I saw a hint of Giant blue under her apron, so I went with the Giants. She eyed me for a moment before agreeing to fill my order. Cashiers would only work with similar bag boys with the same jersey on. Giant fans bought Bud, Jet fans Miller Lite. When I brought my PBR to the counter, I explained I was from a distant country called Chattanooga. I confused them long enough to get out of the store.

There are two things I learned after being around a Jets/Giants game. First, the New York Jets think they have a quarterback in Mark Sanchez. I am here to tell you  he is not in the top 70% of NFL quarterbacks. That team wins despite him. The second thing I learned from being up here, is that I want my own fragrance. Everyone seems to have one, I want one too. Maybe a touch of pizza sauce, a hint of bourbon and a whiff of cocoa butter. Yeah, it screams, "smell me."

So, the final game of the year against the division winning Texans is here. The Texans have lost two in a row but do not want to go into the playoffs with a loss so they will be playing hard. For the Titans, I feel like they're playing with house money. Let it ride.

 - Mike Dougher

Without a doubt, the Titans – Colts game was the worse thing I’ve seen since Encino Man with Pauly Shore. As the gun sounded, Indianapolis was able to raise their finger high, shouting to the world, “we’re number one.” Err, I mean “we won one.” The Colts earned their first victory over the hapless Titans, 27-13.

As this sad game began to unfold, thoughts raced through my mind. No, not should we be playing man coverage, it was more like… “ I wonder if I should clean the basement….if you mix blue and red paint together, what color comes out… remember that night at the fraternity house when …” I actually asked my wife if I could paint the living room, just so I could watch it dry. The excitement level of this game was nill.

I finally cut the sound off, only to hear a constant sound outside. It turned out to be closet doors slamming all over town as Colt fans dug out their Peyton Manning jerseys.

You see it happen all the time. Your congressman gets a DUI while on a date with a 16-year-old illegal alien and has a stash of guns and bootleg Lady Gaga CD’s in the trunk. The media is going to have a field day. But… the next day your town is hit by a meteor and suddenly you forget.

Well, at 4pm Sunday the Titans were congressmen but at 4:15, the meteor hit when we learned Green Bay had lost its first game in a year. Tennessee will have to live with the fact they stunk it up but to a football nation, the game will be an after thought. That’s the good news. That’s it, that’s the list.

Blame you ask? This one is easy. This loss is laid at the doorstep of the coaching staff. The team came out like they were headed to the dentist. When they left, I felt like I’d been at the dentist.

It was obvious the Titans QB Hasselbeck was still injured from last week. He was limping from the first play. Mike Munchak, Tennessee head coach, channeled his inner Jeff Fisher, deciding it was better to leave an injured veteran in that go with Jake Locker until it was too late. The Titans were so lethargic, so lifeless; a change was screaming to be made, but no.

I think what bugs me the most is not that they won’t make the playoffs, we all knew they really weren’t that good…it’s the fact that it cuts a week of beer drinking as I watch them.

Collage coaches love going to a bowl game because it means they get three more weeks to practice. Whatever. I like the playoffs because it’s one more week of PBR.

The Titans play their last home game of the year on Saturday. Nothing says Christmas Eve quite like a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. I plan on spending the day at church so I may miss this one.

 - Mike Dougher

Wow.  I liken Thursday’s Falcons-Jaguars game to that of the Harlem Globetrotters versus the Washington Generals.  From beginning to end it was the first complete game by the team that last year was the best record in the NFC.  The Atlanta Falcons buried the Jacksonville Jaguars 41-14… and it wasn’t even that close.

Matt “Meadowlark Lemon” Ryan found Julio “Goose Tatum” Jones early hooking up with him four minutes into the game for the early 7-0 score.  Both Jones and Roddy “Curly Neal” White put on an entertaining display of acrobatic catches and touchdowns as the Falcons jumped to a 27-0 lead at the half thanks in part to the passing of Ryan and multiple turnovers by the Jaguars.

The abbreviation of Jacksonville is JVL.  JVL must stand for junior varsity league.  It was like watching a Division 2 level school playing the University of Alabama.  Poor Blaine Gabbert.  He was on his back more than Kim Kardashian except this video was viewable by the entire family.  The Jacksonville rookie was sacked on their first offensive play and it didn’t get any easier.  Gabbert was dunked five times by the Globetrotters… I mean Falcons.  John Abraham collected 3.5 sacks almost doubling sack total for the season.

Aerial acrobatics and big catch-and-runs by White put him over 1,000 yards receiving for the season for the fifth straight year.  Once again he hauled in double-digit catches (10) for 135 yards and two touchdowns. 

Jones continues to make these improbable catches in double coverage.  It’s truly a thing of beauty to witness.  The only downside of the offense was that Michael Turner was held to under 100 yards for the fourth straight week.  But we hardly missed him.  It was the Matt-Roddy-Julio aerial show that had fans at the Georgia Dome “oohing and ahhing”

It was like an early Christmas for Falcons fans as Arthur “Santa” Blank’s team delivered one gift after the other and filled Jacksonville’s athletic stockings with lumps of coal.  Things were so out of control that midway through the third quarter with the score 41-0 the stadium started “the Wave”.  As the third quarter started to wind down, coach Mike Smith started to rest his stars, as he put Chris Redman in and gave Jacquizz Rodgers running duties.  As the fourth quarter started the Dome began to empty.  The stadium was about 1/3 full when Gabbert hit Chastin West in what you can consider a “mercy” touchdown.

The only bright spot for the Jaguars was Maurice Jones Drew.  MJD ran for 112 yards on 17 carries.  During the Jag’s second possession he broke free for a 43 yard run, but the drive stalled  as Gabbert could not find a receiver and the Falcons’ defensive line bottled up MJD not allowing him any more yards on the drive.

Jacksonville’s two touchdowns were gimme scores. Their first touchdown was a blocked punt recovered and returned for a touchdown and by the time the offense scored with 59 seconds remaining it was mainly second and third stringers in the game for Atlanta.

The much-anticipated offensive juggernaut we were promised in the offseason finally kicked in 14 weeks into the season.  After sputtering and being hit and miss most of the season in a five quarter span (second half of last week’s game and three quarters Thursday) the Falcons have reeled off 65 points, a little over three touchdowns a quarter.

With Ryan’s three touchdown passes he climbs into second place in career touchdown  passes for a Falcons.  He jumped over Chris Chandler and Chris Miller.  The only hurdle left standing between Ryan and the record is Steve Bartkowski, and that could fall at the end of next year and by 2013 for sure.

Thanks to a Thursday night game the Falcons have a long rest before their next game.  They play what is their most important game of the season as they play the New Orleans Saints on Monday.  Atlanta trails the Saints by two games with two games remaining in the season.  The Falcons will win the division if they end the season with the same record as the Saints.  Monday night’s game takes place the day after Christmas with kickoff at 8:30.  The game will be aired on ESPN.

 - Dave Weinthal

Well, that was fun. It might seem odd to put a loss in your top 10 games you’ve seen, but I’ll put the Titans 22-17 defeat up there. I’m not sure I’ve heard this much positive talk about the team all year, again, after a loss.

Going into this game, no one gave Tennessee much of a shot. The Saints are a Super Bowl caliber team, the Titans, not so much. It’s always fun to see how you’ll match up against a really good team. I think if you’d asked the Titan coaches before the game, “would you take a scenario of Tennessee down by 5, with 7 seconds to go on the New Orleans 5 yard line, there would be a collective “hell yes.”

Painting with a broad brush, the future looks bright. We finally had a glimpse of the quarterback that will lead this team for the next 10 years. When Matt Hasselbeck went down with a calf injury in the second quarter, Jake Locker came in.  Locker looked confident and threw the ball down field, something we haven’t seen much of this year.

In the end, Locker and the boys came up five yards short but here is a look at your future. Locker 282 yards in a little less than three quarters. McCarty, six tackles. Klug two quarterback sacks. Ayers seven tackles. Casey two tackles and just missed an interception. All rookies. This against the number two team in the NFC. Hats off the Titans GM and his draft team. We often to hammer these guys when they make a bad move in the draft. This Buds for you!

Injuries are a part of the game, but for the Titans yesterday, it got out of hand. Against arguably the best QB in Drew Brees, Tennessee found themselves with a special teams player at linebacker after Ayers and McGrath both went down. Washington, already playing on a bad ankle, was hurt so bad at the end of the game, Chris Johnson carried him off the field so the Titans wouldn’t be penalized. Anthony Smith went down and Jevon Ringer is gone for the year with a broken hand.

Add it all up and you see why people are excited about the future. Average team, playing a great team, losing your starting QB and six other players, and you are within one play of a win.

The feeling about this team sure is different than year ago, with Vince Young throwing a fit and half the city wanting Fisher gone.

In other news, Missy Gentry was seen leaving Tim Tebow’s home last week, and as a result, was let go by Chris Johnson. No surprise that Johnson only ran for 26 yards against the Saints.

Kenny Britt has hired Bart Mathews this week for any future brushes with the law. “ I heard Bart say the if he’d been Pacman’s lawyer, he’d have gotten him off, and I need a man like that. Mathews had a solid defense of Pacman making it rain. You simply say  Pacman was  helping the environment. Everyone loves trees and rain and stuff. Maybe work something in about the children too. That’s always a nice touch.”

A sad story from the shores of Long Island, where cub reporter Fran Gradel checked in. During her yearly family intervention, Fran confessed that she’s lost control of her children. “Melissa is rooting for the Buffalo Bills, Katie pulls for the Falcons. Jaclyn is going to school in North Carolina. When asked if she was a Jets or Giants fan, she said she pulled for the Titans.” How does someone root for the Titans when they come from New York?” A smart one obviously.

Fran, in the circle of love stated, “look, I did everything right for my children. We ate pizza four times a week, had a picture of Tom Seaver in our living room, and never missed the Greenlawn Fireman’s Fair.” As for Fran and her fragmented family, we can only pray that two of her children will see the light.

It’s on to play the winless Colts this week. Look for Locker to start his first game for the Titans.

  - Mike Dougher

And as if shot out of a cannon Julio Jones was gone… 75 yards untouched for the clinching touchdown as the Atlanta Falcons rallied to defeat the Carolina Panthers 31-23 in spectacular fashion Sunday.

Jones’ catch a run along with a 17-yard scoring catch a few minutes earlier erased all of Atlanta’s early troubles in a literal tale of two games as the Falcons scored 24 unanswered points in the second half to overcome a 16 point deficit to remain the top seed in the Wild Card race and remain two games behind New Orleans with three games to go.

After scoring on their second drive the Atlanta offense and defense was non-existent until the third quarter.  Cam Newton and Carolina reeled off 23 unanswered points including sacking Ryan for a safety that made one wonder which team was the defending NFC South champs and who has the first overall pick in last year’s draft.

After falling behind 7-0 it took Carolina 12 minutes to rack up their 23 points.  As the first quarter ended Newton found Jeremy Shockey across the middle from six yards out to tie the score.

Carolina added a safety after guard Sam Baker was beaten badly off the snap as Ryan was tackled in the end zone.

No matter what Atlanta did they could not get the ball moving.  Tony Gonzalez made a few nice catches but Jones and White could not get open and Jones actually dropped two long balls that went through his hands.

21 seconds after the safety, Carolina scored again.  DeAngelo Williams broke free around the right corner and was virtually untouched as he roared 74 yards to give the Panthers a 16-7 lead.

Another frustrating drive by Atlanta gave Newton and the Panthers the ball back and right back to work he went, hitting Steve Smith across the middle.  Smith led all receivers on the day with six catches for 125 yards. 

With the ball on the Atlanta 44 Newton hit Greg Olsen along the right sideline, dodged a couple of tacklers and did some fancy open field running to score to give the upstart Panthers a 23-7 leas as they headed into the break.

“We talked about showing our resiliency and playing it one play at a time. That’s the way you’re going to get back into this game. That’s exactly what our guys did. They took it one play at a time,” said Falcons head coach Mike Smith.

The second half was a different story… a really different story.  Carolina took the second half kick-off and went three-and-out.  Eric Weems made a nice move on a return of the punt returning to 12 yards to give the Falcons their best field position of the game.  Ryan engineered a nice drive hitting Tony Gonzalez twice as they drove to the Carolina 12.  Three straight dropped passes stalled the drive and Atlanta kicked a field goal to close the gap as you got the feeling something was going to happen.

It a first and ten on their 40 Newton was pressured out of the pocket.  He moved right stepped up in the pocket and was attempted a shuttle pass.  The ball landed in the arms of Mike Peterson for his 19th career interception, giving the Falcons the ball right back on the Panther 35.

Two plays later Ryan found Jacquizz Rodgers from 31 yards out in the corner of the end zone for his first career touchdown reception and Ryan’s second of the day to make the score 23-17.

The natives were beginning to get restless in Carolina.  After blistering the Falcons in the first half Newton reverted to stereotypical rookie play.  He was intercepted once again.  William Moore picked off Newton at midfield and brought the ball back to the Carolina 24.  The Panther defense held and Matt Bryan missed only his second field goal of the season.

Atlanta’s defense held once again as they got the ball back.  Ryan reminded everyone why he is called “Matty Ice”, as he engineered a 10-play 91-yard drive highlighted by nice catches by White and runs by Michael Turner.  Then Jones made his presence felt as Ryan hit him at the two-yard line in double coverage, spun around and dived over the goal line to give Atlanta their first lead with 12:42 to play.

“There were some opportunities. We threw some balls to him in the endzone early and he didn’t come down with them. We have to know that you’ve got to keep taking those shots. He’s going to make more plays than not. He did that. He made a great play on the flag route where he was contested, caught the ball and was able to dive into the endzone. The in-cut at the end of the game, he’s a special talent and there’s not many guys that can do that. We’re fortunate to have him,” said Ryan.

Carolina came driving back and made it to the Atlanta 18 before the drive stalled.  Olindo Mare hooked the ball left, preserving the Atlanta lead.

Two plays later Ryan hit Jones on a crossing pattern in the middle of the field.  He shook off the cornerback who collided with the safety and Jones put his head down and ran untouched for the clinching touchdown.  Jones didn’t bother to look up until he crossed the goal line.  The Falcons sideline went crazy.  The crowd started booing as they saw their team schooled by last year’s top seed and front runner for the Wild Card.  24 unanswered points made the score 31-23.

“Matt, he just sees the matchup I have. If he feels I’m the better athlete than the guy across from me, he’s going to keep feeding me. Then I have to step up and make a play,” said Jones.

Ryan came back strong Sunday with four touchdown passes – tying his game TD record and 320 yards and no turnovers.  Jones, who dropped a number of potential big passes nabbed four for 104 yards and two touchdowns.  Tony Gonzalez moved into 11th all-time in receiving yards with 82 yards on seven catches.  He needs only seven yards to make the top ten.  Turner gained 76 yards on the ground and broke 1,000 yards for the third time in four seasons with the team.

Newton started off hot and made some nice throws, but as the pressure stepped up he began to whither.  His first interception on a shuttle pass to avoid a sack was pure rookie stupidity.  The rookie signal caller ran the ball seven times for 36 yards, but the Atlanta line didn’t let him run free.

Atlanta improves to 8-5 on the season still trailing New Orleans with three games remaining.  They are number five seed in the playoffs and if the season ended today they would face the Giants in the first round of the playoffs.

It’s a short week for the Falcons as they return home for a Thursday night affair against the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Kickoff is 8:20pm and the game will be aired on the NFL Network.

 - Dave Weinthal

Sunday was like a family reunion of sorts for the Atlanta Falcons as they traveled to Houston to play the Texans. And like a family reunion someone whizzed in the punch bowl to ruin things for the surging Falcons as they put on a lethargic show falling 17-10.

A reunion you ask?  Take a good look at the coaching staff of the Texans.  The defensive coordinator is good ole Wade Phillips, a former defensive coordinator for Atlanta and interim head coach during the Dan Reeves and Jim Mora Jr. era.  Quarterback coach Greg Knapp was the Falcons’ QB coach and mentor to Matt Ryan before he shuffled off to Houston in the off-season.  A third former Falcon is Matt Schaub who is on IR now but was Michael Vick’s understudy before getting a chance to start in Houston.

Coming off one of his best games statistical-wise, Matt Ryan sorely missed the mark Sunday as he threw two early interceptions that helped the Texans claim an early 10-0 lead.  Ryan’s touch was off most of the day as he badly missed open receivers Roddy White and Julio Jones.  The running game never amounted to much as the Falcons were held to under 100 yards for the first time this season.

“It wasn’t the way we wanted to come out and play. We did some very uncharacteristic things, some procedural penalties, dropped passes, a number of things. When you do that you don’t give yourself a chance to win,” said Falcons’ head coach Mike Smith.

Playing with a third string quarterback Houston played ball control and despite being sacked three times T.J. Yates did not look rattled at all in the backfield.  Add to that Arian Foster’s 111 rushing yards, the most the Falcons have given up to a back this season and you have a recipe for disaster.

But what you had was a battle of the NFL’s top defense and NFC’s third best and that is pretty much got – a defensive struggle.  Ryan wasn’t sacked but he had a number of balls batted at the line of scrimmage and faced extreme pressure all day.

But despite all that Atlanta was able to claw back into the game and forge a tie at 10-10.  One of the few bright spots for Atlanta was Ttony Gonzlez who hauled in seven passes for 100 yards.  The future Hall of Fame tight end extended is streak of consecutive games with a catch to 175 and for 13 years in a row he’s caught at least 60 passes – an NFL record.

“They’re a good defense, that’s why they’re No. 1 in the league or No. 2, whatever it is. It’s something that we can learn from. Going forward the next time that happens we’ve got to be able to make the plays more often than not,” said Gonzalez.

Penalties and flags kept victory out of Atlanta’s hands.  In the fourth quarter Atlanta looked to have finally edged ahead on a pick-6.  But a Dunta Robinson holding call away from the ball nullified the score.  The Texans were able to capitalize and with just ove six minutes to play Foster scored what ended up being the winning touchdown.

“We came out and knew we had to stop the run. We did a good job of that. We got out of our gaps, had some missed tackles and gave up some big runs to let them get going and keep extending drives. You can’t do that when you want to win,” said Curtis Lofton.

With the loss the Falcons fall to 7-5 on the season, two full games behind New Orleans who beat up on the Lions Sunday night with four games remaining on the schedule.  However, with the Lions and the Bears losing Atlanta is still in contention for the Wild Card.

The Falcons travel to Carolina Sunday to take on division rival Carolina Panthers, who improved to 4-8 by defeating a reeling Tampa Bay squad.  Kickoff is scheduled for 1pm and will be aired on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

A sentence I never thought I’d write. It was a beautiful day in Buffalo New York on Sunday. In the end, the sun was a little brighter on the Titan side of the field. Tennessee 23, the Buffalo Bills 17.

I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Buffalo. They created the greatest bar food ever with the invention of wings. When I complain that its too cold out in January, all I have to do is watch the news to see 10 feet of snow in Buffalo and I get that “warm all over” feeling.

My neighbor and good buddy, the infamous Dan LaGraff, comes from the Buffalo area. Dan is no stranger to pain when it comes to the Bills. He was lucky enough to get tickets to the Music City Miracle game. He’ll still scream if you bring it up. Suddenly he’s a physics major, explaining how that lateral went forward. Titans 22 Bills 16.

Dan made it to Super Bowl 25, the Bills and the Giants in Tampa Florida. He was on his best behavior, only getting pulled over once, and had just the briefest of conversations with cops in the parking lot. We know it as the “wide right” game. If you ever walk behind Dan, you’ll notice that he leans ever so slightly to the left, still trying to bring that last second field goal back over the cross bar. Giants 20 Bills 19.

With Sunday’s defeat of the Bills, I noticed that same dazed look in Dan’s eyes, as he quietly worked in his yard. Well, it was either the defeat, or that bottle of Old Grand Dad in his hip pocket.The Bills.... the gift that keeps on giving.

I was disappointed to see that the stadium was not sold out. Cub reporter and future lawyer, Melissa Gradel, reported from Buffalo that the fans are bummed about the Bills recent performances and decided to stay home, drink and shine up their snow shovels.

From a Titans fan point of view, this was a win you could hang your hat on. A blue collar team, grinding out a win. Sometimes you learn things about your team and the coaches in a single play. In Dallas, with 25 seconds left in the game, their coach was afraid to run another play, fearing they might lose yardage and miss a field goal opportunity. Lost.

Atlanta coaches had three, third and ones, and, forgetting they have one of the best backs in the NFL, threw incomplete passes on each play. Lost.

The Titan coaching staff faced a forth and one. Forgoing the field goal, the Titans went for it, eventually scoring the go ahead touchdown.

I learned a lot about the relationship between coach Munchak and his team on that single play.

Coaches that show faith in their team are often rewarded.

She is a small town girl with big city dreams. From humble beginnings, standing in a cornfield, she heard words from beyond, “ If you help him, he will run.” I am, of course, speaking of our own Missy Gentry. I explained last week that she has dedicated her life to assisting Chris Johnson in his quest to be the runner he once was.

“ I felt that, after a close examination of his body, Chris needed to lose a couple pounds this week,” Missy said.  “I put him through some vigorous exercises to trim him down. He told the press he was sick but I know better. Did you see him Sunday? That was fast, and I know fast. He showed moves only a very few of us know about.”

Asked about reports that she was seen with Tim Tebow six weeks ago, she would neither confirm nor deny.

Memo to Dallas: Please do something right. My phone blows up every week when you invent new ways to lose.

Good news for cub reporter Katie in Philly, the Eagles didn’t lose this Sunday.

The Titans will take on the New Orleans Saints this week. Its always fun to see great players like Drew Brees play. I hope he has a bad day, but still fun to see. The stadium will be full of VIP’s including Ross and Melissa Whitaker, Chuck Thorton and Bill Pollard. Tim and Bubba might want to gear up for this crowd.

 - Mike Dougher

Despite their best efforts to give away the game, the Atlanta Falcons won one they so desperately needed as they topped the Minnesota Vikings at the Georgia Dome Sunday 24-14.

Much like the week prior the Falcons jumped out to a big lead only to watch it erode in the second half.  But thanks to a goal line stand and an ultra accurate passing performance by Matt Ryan the Falcons held on to win by ten and jump right into the wild card race and remain only one game behind division leading New Orleans.

Efficiency-wise Ryan had one of his best days under center as he completed 27-of-34 passes.  The fourth-year signal caller threw three touchdown passes including a game-clinching three-yard strike to reserve tight end Michael Palmer with 6:40 remaining. He finished with a quarterback rating of 128.2.  “I don’t put a whole lot of stock in the rating, but I thought we played efficiently today, offensively. We kind of took what they gave us,” he said.

But that almost wasn’t safe as on the ensuing kickoff Percy Harvin returned the kickoff seven yards deep into the end zone back the Atlanta’s 3-yard line.  Christopher Owens’ diving tackle saved the day for Atlanta. “I said ‘Oh shoot’ when he broke. Then I said to myself ‘Go get him.’ That dude is fast and I was fortunate to get him down,” he said.

The Atlanta defense was up tp the challenge and stuffed the Vikings on four straight plays, stopping the Vikings’ last threat of the afternoon.

The first half of the game went according to plan.  Like a cat that captures a mouse and then toys with it before the kill, that’s what Atlanta did to Minnesota.  The Falcons sprinted off to a 17-0 first half lead.  Ryan was efficient as he found Harry Douglas and Roddy White for scores.  White appears to be coming out of the doldrums as he had his second consecutive big pass catching day snaring 12 or Ryan’s passes for 120 yards.

Prior to their last possession of the half, the Vikings were unable to cross the midfield stripe and had only 38 yards of total offense.  A prevent defense allowed them to move into Atlanta territory before the half ended.  Minnesota ended the first half with only 97 total yards. 

On their second possession of the second half Vikings’ quarterback Christian Ponder engineered a 13-play 80 yard scoring drive mixing runs by Toby Gearhart and passes to get on the board.  Gearhart went over from the one to make the score 17-7.

The Falcons offense couldn’t muster anything again and punted back to Minnesota.  Once again defense for Atlanta shined, but a miscue on the ensuing Viking punt gave Minnesota the ball on the Atlanta 36.  Netting -3 yards on the next three plays the Vikings decided to go for it.  On fourth down, avoiding the oncoming rush, Ponder threw the ball deep towards the back of the end zone. There Harvin came up with an acrobatic catch in the back of the end zone to make the score all of a sudden 17-14.

Atlanta finally got things back in gear with 10:33 to play.  Two long passes to White (26 and 23 yards) along with catches by Tony Gonzalez and Jason Snelling gave the Falcons the ball on the Minnesota 3.  That’s where Ryan found Palmer across the middle just over the goal line to increase the lead to 10.  “I think everybody was in a pretty good rhythm. We used the short passing game pretty effectively today to kind of move the chains and then we took some shots. I thought it was a good game plan,” said the Falcon QB.

For the Vikings, rookie Ponder did a commendable job under center.  The rookie out of Florida State completed 17-of-25 passes for 186 yards.  A lot of those came on desperation throws during their last offensive series of the half as Atlanta played a prevent defense, and on a Hail Mary touchdown pass in the back of the end zone to Percy Harvin on fourth down.  He was constantly under pressure throwing on the run and sacked four times.  The Falcons run defense was once again dominating as they allowed the Vikings only 64 yards on the ground and allowing a measly 83.4 yards a game.

The win improved Atlanta’s record to 7-4 and ties them with Detroit and Chicago for the wild card lead.  The team takes to the road the next two weeks before returning home to host Jacksonville on a Thursday night.  First up this weekend is AFC South leading Houston who are down to their third string quarterback.  Kickoff is 1pm and will be aired on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

The Tennessee Titans swam their way to a sloppy win against the Tampa Bay Bucs Sunday, 23-17. The weather was the worst I can remember since the Titans came to town. While most of us hated the driving rain, in my case it makes my hair curly, most of the players seem to love it.

Tampa Bays coach Raheem Morris said this. "Obviously there was a lot of rain. But it's football. That's what we play this game for. Nobody wants to play in pretty (weather) all the time. It's about the elements. That's why we play, and that's what we signed up for. I actually enjoyed it. I want to play more games like that."

You gotta like that. Titans rookie Colin McCarthy said much the same, commenting that he loved nasty weather. “ Football players love getting wet and falling in the mud.” All I know is that rain waters down my beer.

Speaking of Colin McCarthy, it is obvious that he will be the cornerstone of the Titans defense for years to come. He again had double digit tackles. Add rookie starters Jurrell Casey, Akeem Ayers, Karl Klug and the future looks up on the defensive side of the ball.

Another rookie, Tommie Campbell, ran back the Titans first kickoff on a trick play. Marc Mariani fielded the kick, then handed it off to Campbell who quickly out ran the Bucs.

There was an interesting twist to the coaches involved in the play.

When Bucs coach Raheem Morris played at Irvington (N.J.) High School, he played for coach Chet Parlavecchio,  probably never dreaming that they would one day face each other on opposite sidelines of an NFL field. But it happened, and it was an important subplot Sunday. As it turns out, it was Parlavecchio, the Titans special teams assistant, who cooked up the beautifully timed reverse that resulted in a touchdown.

"I got outdone by my high school head coach," bemoaned Morris afterward. "Unbelievable, isn't it?"

After watching the Bucs, coach Morris, actually I can believe it. Another of the example of the teacher sticking it to the student.

The good news for Titan fans, of course, was that Chris Johnson ended his holdout, running for 190 yards. After the game, Chris had a few revealing comments.

“As you know, I had been caught in the Kim Kardashian Booty Effect. I knew I couldn’t break out on my own, so I asked for help from Missy Gentry. She’s a local hottie here in Nashville, and a fan of mine. I won’t go into how she treated me, let’s just say I’m free at last. I’m planning on weekly treatments, just in case.” Good news for all Titan fans that we have someone as dedicated as Missy, doing her best for the good of the team!

In other news around the NFL, the Lions Ndamukong Suh, did a little Hokey Pokey on a Green Bay player, stomping on his arm. Suh, after the game said, “Everything was going well, until I put my left foot in, then pulled my left foot out....”

Next Sunday, the Titans will face another genius, Stevie Johnson, of the otherwise hardworking Buffalo Bills. In case you missed it, Stevie caught a touchdown pass and his celebration involved pretending to shoot himself in the thigh -- an attempt to have fun at the expense of the Jets' Plaxico Burress, who served time in prison for shooting himself in a New York nightclub. The resulting penalty cost his team the game.

You can’t make stuff like that up, not that I ever would.

Lastly, cub reporter,  Katie Colman Baldwin reports from Philly that our own Vince Young threw for 400 yards Sunday. Who knew?  LeSean McCoy, one of the best running backs in the NFL, only got the ball 10 times. Memo to Philly coaches: this is not the way to go.

On to Buffalo for the Titans. If they liked rain, they’re going to love snow.

 - Mike Dougher

Sunday the Battle for Chattanooga took place at the Georgia Dome.  What?  Chattanooga is a unique city as it is centrally located between major cities like Atlanta, Nashville, Birmingham, and Knoxville.  Until 1998 this was Falcons country.  Once the Houston Oilers moved to Nashville to become the Tennessee Titans the loyalty to Atlanta has split the city in two.  Like true bandwagon fans, whomever has the better record has the most fans.  This was Titans Town for many a year with an occasional interest in Atlanta.  A Super Bowl appearance by the Titans after the 1999 season about sealed the fate for the Falcons.  But thanks to some smart draft choices a few handy trades and some coming of age of others, the playing field has leveled for the most part, especially when the Falcons were an NFC best 13-3 last year and the Titans suffered through another losing season. 

Sunday saw our area’s two favorites sons square off, both sporting 5-4 records.  The Titans were coming off a dominating win over Carolina while the Falcons were still stinging from an overtime loss to the Saints.

Atlanta prevailed 23-17 and it wasn’t pretty.  By my calculations the Falcons should have won this one 49-3 or greater.  Atlanta missed many opportunities to really drive a stake into the heart of the visiting Titans, but were only able to squeak out a win.

Over the years written in these very pages by Titan correspondent Mike Dougher and Scoop Doomer before him, a lot has been written about how bad the Titans’ receivers were and how they’ve dropped too many passes thrown by the likes of Steve McNair, Vince Young, Kerry Collins and now Matt Hasselbeck.  After witnessing this game I’m wondering who the real culprit is.  There were about five dropped passes by the Atlanta secondary and linebackers as they kept first Hasselbeck and then rookie Jake Locker on the collective toes.  Even Atlanta receivers couldn’t catch a pass.  But the way they’ve been playing most of the season that was expected, however.

The match up of marquee running backs never materialized as Chris Johnson appeared to hold out again as he was held to 13 yards on 12 carries, most of those for no gain or a loss of yardage.  Michael Turner had another 100 yard day for the Falcons scoring once and losing a fumble on the Tennessee 8-yard-line that in turn was converted into a touchdown a few plays later.

Matt Ryan looked much better this week completing 22-of-32 passes for 316 yards and a touchdown pass to Tony Gonzalez on the opening drive.  Roddy White came out of what seems like a season-long slump catching seven passes for 147 yards

But Atlanta’s suspect secondary once again reared its ugly head as they gave up three long passes by Locker, one that looked to be a Hail Mary as the Titans found themselves trailing only by six points with over three minutes to play.  Michael Turner took the pitch from Ryan, turned the right corner and ran for 27 yards and the Falcons were able to run the clock out and preserve the win.

The game wasn’t pretty.  There were a ton of penalties and turnovers on both sides. “A win is a win and like I said last week hopefully we can use that as a spring board to catapult our season. We’re a good football team and to lose the way we did last week was a little devastating so it feels good to get a win today. We just have to keep it up, that’s one in a row and we have the Minnesota Vikings next week,” said Gonzalez.

Atlanta improved to 6-4 and will remain home this weekend as they face the Minnesota Vikings.  And for at least another week or two will be the flavor of the month in Chattanooga.  Kickoff is 1pm and will be aired on Fox.

“I think we saw a lot of positive things like we do in any ballgame. There were some things that we’ve got to get fixed and it’s funny; it doesn’t matter what the outcome is as a coach, that’s what happens. You come out of watching that tape and you know you’ve got to get things fixed, regardless of whether it’s a win or a loss. We talked last week about trying to flush the last game out in 24 hours. We’ve got to do the same thing this week and we’ve got a big challenge against the Minnesota Vikings,” said Falcons head coach Mike Smith.

 - Dave Weinthal

How quickly things change in the NFL. A Titans team that’s been questioning every aspect of their game crushed the Carolina Panthers on the road, 30-3.

When you hear words from the opposing team like “pathetic,” “terrible,” “embarrassed,” you know you’ve had a good day.

When the opposing punter has to leave the game from exhaustion, you know you’ve had a good game.

When a Carolina player says, “We came out here, we got hit in the mouth, and we didn’t do anything about it,” you’ve had a good day.

Like Donn Hanson always says,  a bad day usually begins with a bad start, and he would know. The Titans Marc Mariani returned a punt 79 yards off the Panthers not so special, special team, one minute into the game, and the tone was set.

Before getting too excited about the win, you need to remember that Carolina has won two games, one more than last year. Strange, but the reason why many thought Cam Newton and the boys would win, was how good they looked in defeat. That’s not always a good measuring stick, it appears.

To all Titan fans, you’re welcome. After extensive research, I finally figured out what happened to Chris Johnson. Talking to several sources, I found that there is a phenomenon few are aware of. It pulls many of us to varying degrees; some are more susceptible than others.

Research shows that the main target group is male, 16-60, with a tendency to watch Entertainment Tonight. I am, of course, referring to KKBE, better know as the Kim Kardashian Booty Effect.

It apparently has a gravitational pull stronger than the sun, and once you’re in the zone, it pulls you like a tractor beam.

I spoke briefly with a NASA official. He stated that they always had to check where Kim K was before they launched the space shuttle.

“With five men on the ship, we knew there would be a pull toward the Kardashian compound. We tried everything to counteract the Booty Effect, but in the end, it was easier just to scrap the shuttle program.”

In talking to Kim, she was very humble about her power.

“Like most gifted people, I try to use my gift for the good of man kind.”

“What do you mean Kim?”

“Well, some people have a gift, like Einstein and his brain or Tim Tebow walking on water. Don’t forget about Moses, having that stick thing that parted the Red Sea. I’m not the deep thinker that my sister Khloe is, but you know what I mean.”

“Wow.”

“My booty has magical powers,” Kim said. “I try to be careful not to use my booty too much but sometimes I just have to break it out like last year.”

“What happened last year,” I asked.

“You haven’t seen Paris Hilton lately have you?” Good point and I must say, well done.

All this brings us back to Chris Johnson. Chris was not in a hold out last summer, he was in the pull of the booty. It’s well documented that Reggie Bush was trapped by the Kim Kardashian Booty Effect for an extended period of time before finally breaking lose of its grip. He has never been the same player. We can only pray for him.

So too with Chris Johnson. We can’t get mad at him, he had no control. The Titans road trip to the East coast may have broken the beam, we can only hope. The KK booty is all powerful. The latest victims appear to the entire Philadelphia Eagles team, and the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. You cannot defeat the booty, you can only hope to contain it.

My wish is that, with treatment, CJ2K will recover from KK and the Boo-ta.

By the way, for those of you brave enough, both the McRib and Kim are back on the market.

So, for the Titans, it’s on to Atlanta. Matty Ice will be ready and it will be a must win for the Falcons. Then again, if CJ has truly broke free from KKBE, who know what might happen.

 - Mike Dougher

Sunday’s game at the Georgia Dome may go down as the game with the big gamble that didn’t pay off.  For others like me, it was a true game, a chess match if you will as the New Orleans Saints topped the Atlanta Falcons 26-23 in overtime.  That’s right, it more than 60 minutes to decide this one.

The two have been bitter rivals and divisional foes for over 40 years.  Only within the past five years has this rivalry been for more than pride.  The Saints are two years removed from a Super Bowl championship and Atlanta is coming off a league best 13-3 record last season.

The last couple of years the game has come down to the last possession and this year was no different.  Atlanta lost, and that sucks, but it was a great ride for 67 minutes.  Both teams battled back and forth and the team that blinked first, folded.  Needless to say, Mike Smith and the Falcons blinked.

Atlanta once again let their emotions get in the way as big penalties negated big plays and there was only one turnover between the two with over 800 yards of offense.  Atlanta once again blinked on this one as well.

Drew Brees played near flawless as he completed 30-of-43 passes for 322 yards and two touchdowns.  Matt Ryan was almost his equal as the Atlanta signal caller went 29-of-52 for 351 yards and two scores as well.  The only difference was an interception.

Trailing 17-13 in the third quarter, facing an oncoming Saint rush Ryan looked to hit a wide open Jason Snelling in the flat for what would have been a first down.  Snelling who two drives earlier produced a highlight reel catch and run to give Atlanta brief lead at 13-10 let Ryan’s pass go through his hands, bounce off his shoulder pads and into the arms of an awaiting New Orleans’ defender.  The turnover set up a John Kasay field goal that extended the lead to 20-13. 

The lead was extended even further to 23-13 before Atlanta got things going again.  Ryan went to work.  Hitting Roddy White, Eric Weems and Tony Gonzalez with a pair of passes culminating with a 20-yard scoring strike to the tight end, the Falcons pulled within three at 23-20 with 4:13 to play.

Atlanta stopped the Brees express on the next series and got the ball back on their 6-yard line with 1:48 to play.  Last week was Julio Jones’ coming out party. This week was Harry Douglas’.   Douglas caught eight passes for 133 yards on the day.  Most of it came on this last drive.  Ryan hit the number three receiver on two consecutive pass for 23 yards apiece to give the Falcons a first down on New Orleans 48-yard line.  Two plays later Ryan found Douglas open again across the middle for another 20 yards.  Atlanta found themselves with a first and goal at the New Orleans’ 9, but three straight incompletions led to a 27-yard Matt Bryan to tie the score with 0:00 showing on the clock.  Overtime.

Ironically, both defenses showed up in overtime.  Prior to the extra period both teams moved the ball at will with a minimum of three-and-outs.  Atlanta won the toss and took the ball.  The drive started with promise with Ryan hitting Douglas for an eight yard gain.  The next two passes were also aimed at Douglas but he was unable to hold on and Atlanta was forced to punt – three-and-out. 

New Orleans took the ball.  Three plays later they punted.  Everyone in the stadium was astounded.  After 60 minutes and nearly 800 yards of offense both defenses stiffened up. 

Atlanta got the ball back.  Ryan hit Gonzalez for nine yards setting up a third down and one.  On third down Douglas once again dropped Ryan’s pass making it fourth down.  Coach Mike Smith sent out the punting unit then changed him mind.  He sent the offense back on the field with less than a yard to go for a first down.  Give the ball to Michael Turner, right?  Well, everyone saw that coming, especially the New Orleans’ defense.  Turner was dropped short of the mark and the Saints took over at the Falcons’ 29.  Smith gambled and he lost.  Four plays later the game was over as Kasay hit his fourth field goal of the game, this one from 26 yards out to give the Saints the hard-fought 26-23 victory.

“It was something that I take full responsibility for. It’s my decision and my decision solely. First we were going to punt the football, then had a change of heart and I wanted us to go for it. I thought that the ball was inside a half a yard and thought that we could get it. I did not want to give the football back to the Saints,” said Smith.

“That one hurts. That was tough because I really did think we had a shot at the end of that game. Thought it was ours and we just couldn’t come up with it. I think the way we have to look at this is to try and find the positives in it and grow from it,” said Gonzalez.

The victory gives the Saints a 1 ½ game lead in the division with a bye week coming up.  At 5-4Atlanta has two more home games – very winnable games as they face a rebuilding Tennessee Titans followed by a 2-7 Minnesota Vikings team.  Sunday’s game at the Dome vs. Tennessee will kickoff at 4:15 and be aired on CBS.

 - Dave Weinthal

Much like the Titans, I intend to divide my column into two parts. Just when you think things look good… The Tennessee Titans continued their meteoric path towards average today. On a scale of 1-10, they’re an aaahhh.

With Pacman “Chuckles” Jones in the stadium, there is always a chance of rain. However, on this November day, the weather stayed beautiful. The sun did shine a little brighter on the Cincinnati Bengals, who won their fourth in a row, 24-17.

Where to begin. First, we need to create bigger milk cartons to put all the missing faces of club level ticket holders. There were thousands of empty seats.

We did have a Chris Johnson sighting. You heard a collective gasp from the crowd as he ran for 65 yards in the first half. I was walking around singing David Cassidy’s “I think I love you.” Ah, but then they had to play the second half. I hate it when that happens. To sum it up, I give you this hard-hitting assessment from CJ himself.

“We had some pretty good runs, pretty good execution in the first half and then in the second half, we just came out and nobody played really too good in the second half, and it showed,’’ Johnson said.

Let that be a lesson to you kids out there. I might get that quote printed on a T-shirt.

Without beating that dead horse too many more times, without Kenny Britt, this team is going nowhere. They need play makers in the worst way and it can happen if you draft correctly. Just look at Cincinnati. Two of their rookies, Dalton and Green, are in the top three for rookie of the year.

The Titans will take on Carolina  Sunday, playing against this year’s rookie or the year, Cam Newton.

I didn’t make it to the game in Nashville; I just wasn’t in the mood. I’d found out on Saturday, that an old employee of mine had died. In my line of work, employees tend to come and go, working for awhile before heading to something else. I’ve always been blessed with wonderful employees, who tend to stay a long time. I joke that we are like the mafia. You can join, you just can’t leave.

Sweet Sarah worked with us for 5 years. That’s a long time to cocktail in one place but she loved her time, loved the music, and we loved her being here. We have a wall of photo’s at the club. Sarah is all over that wall, laughing and smiling.

Sarah eventually moved out of town, trying to figure out life. I heard from her or about her every now and then. I sensed that maybe life was a bigger struggle than she’d bargained for.

Sarah was found on some railroad tracks near Nashville. She died in a random industrial area, alone, a footnote on page 8 of the local paper. How could a beautiful, full of life 28-year-old end up at this spot… this moment in time? What happened in her young life to place her on such a cold and impersonal piece of ground?  I doubt we’ll ever find out the events leading up to those last hours, I just wish she’d reached out to someone.

I don’t have a point here; I just wish you’d known her… you’d have been better for it. Love those around you, let them know you care and if you sense some trouble, take the time to listen. Life is so fleeting and way more important than a 3-4 defense.

 - Mike Dougher

Sunday was the kind of coming out party the Atlanta Falcons and their fans have been waiting on all season from high-touted first round draft pick Julio Jones.  Until his performance Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts, one might have considered the pick on the verge of being a bust.  No longer now… at least not yet.

“He’s just scratching the surface on the type of player he can be. That great catch that he made down there, you can just throw the ball up in the air and he’ll go make a play. If you throw it to him short, the little slant that was, you’re not going to catch him from behind. I’ve said it from the beginning, he is the most talented rookie I’ve ever seen. The future is so bright for him,” said future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez about Jones.

The University of Alabama receiver had two catches that were highlight reel material including a 50-yarder from Matt Ryan that literally had to be reviewed to believe.  Jones beat the defender in coverage at the goal line then undercut back to make an acrobatic catch. It was initially ruled incomplete, but Jones jumped up and down and upon watching a review on the Jumbotron coach Mike Smith threw the red challenge flag.  The ruling was overturned.  Things went like that for the Peyton-less Colts as they reeled to their ninth consecutive loss with no end in sight by a 31-7 score.

I’m not sure which is the bigger story – Jones and his speed and catches or the Colts fall from first to worst.  Jones touched the ball five times Sunday and accounted for 154 total yards and two touchdowns, one of the play described above and an 80 yard catch and run where he left Colt defenders in their tracks.

And the Colts’ collapse this season makes you wonder how great Peyton Manning is as a team leader.  Even with a roster full of Pro Bowl receivers and tight ends the Colts went 30 minutes at one stretch without registering a first down.  And the defense… do they have one?  Even with Tony Dungy, the Colts defense was a little suspect at times but teams have been running up points left and right on them.  Ironically their only points Sunday came on an errant pass by Ryan which was picked off at the 6-yard-line and run in for a score by Jerruad Powers. Even the bad Indy defense scored more than their offense that was greeted by loud boos before the stands started to empty midway through the third quarter on Ryan’s third touchdown pass of the day, a one-yarder to Gonzalez.

Ryan was an efficient 14-of-24 for 275 yards and three scores.  Ryan still looks a little shaky under center this year, but with the Colts defense as lax as it was Sunday, had to help out a lot.  He found six different receives to throw to with Roddy White and Gonzalez each grabbing four and Jones three.

Michael Turner ran well Sunday as well as he started the scoring frenzy for Atlanta on a one-yard burst following an Indy turnover two plays into the game. Jaquizz Rodgers also saw some extended action carrying the ball ten times for 44 yards.  Turner fell short of the century mark for the first time in a month as he gained 71 yards in only 19 carries.

“Coming off the bye week, we wanted to make sure that we started fast and I really liked the way our team did. It started with the second play of the ballgame, forcing the turnover and then we were able to establish the run which is something that we wanted to do. We had five rushing attempts in that five-play scoring drive and it kind of set the stage for the game. I thought our coaches did a really good job in preparing our guys last week,” said Smith.

The defense pitched their first shut out of the season as the Colts score came on the interception return. “Anytime you keep a team out of the endzone, you’ve had a great day on defense. I think our defensive staff did a great job putting a game plan together,” said Smith. “The guys continue to get better on defense. Now we’re going to have a big challenge. We want to try to put this one behind us. We’re going to have a big challenge this week, when you start talking about the New Orleans Saints, Drew Brees and the receivers and the tight end and the running backs that they have. We can’t rest on our laurels.”

After a month away from home the Falcons return to the safe confines of the Georgia Dome Sunday as they take on the division leading New Orleans Saint Sunday. “I think they’re a very good football team. Since we’ve been here, we’ve had some very competitive games with them. We’ve ended up on the top of the standings one time; they’ve done it a time or two as well. It’s very competitive. I know this, I found out real quickly by traveling down to New Orleans for our first trip down there that it is a heated rivalry. Very heated. That makes it fun for the fans. It makes it fun for the cities. But for us, we’ve got to stay focused on what we need to get accomplished and on what we need to do and we’re going to approach it no different than any other week,” say Smith.  Kickoff is scheduled for 1pm and will be aired of Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

I have official confirmation that the Greyhound bus line is still in business. Nashville was filled with unemployed Indianapolis Colt fans on Sunday. The Colts continue to strive for a perfect season, in reverse, just like they did two years ago. The Tennessee Titans sent the men in blue packing with a 27-10 beat down and the Colts go to 0-8.

Some days walking to LP Field, I look for a sign to tell me how the day will go. First, I saw an ad on a car, pushing the Barely Legal Club. Humm. I think I know a couple season pass holders to that place.        

Then I learned it was “Undie Sunday” at the stadium. I’m going to let that pass, it’s just too easy.

Finally, I had to weave my way through homeless guys and midget football teams begging for money as well as a preacher telling me I’m going to hell because I’d rather go to the game then listen to him. Has he seen some of these Titan games??

The match on Sunday was more about the Colt epic collapse this year than a Titan victory. Much can be said about how the Titans have been put together in the past, draft picks like Vince Young and Pacman Jones not working out. However, with the absence of Peyton Manning this year, all the Colt warts have become visible. Their draft picks over the last several years have been terrible, but because Peyton was so good, you didn’t notice as much.

Sunday’s loss by the Colts was a snapshot of how bad they are. The game was lost largely by the Colts special teams. Last time I checked, Peyton Manning was grabbing a Gatorade or doing a commercial while special teams were on the field, he was not a factor.

The Colts had one punt blocked resulting in a Titan touchdown, and another one almost blocked. On kickoffs, the Colt returner tried to run kicks out regardless of how deep in the end zone he was. Here’s a suggestion. Pretend you’re in church and just take a knee.

In past years, field position didn’t matter much to the Colts. Peyton and his boys led the NFL in 80+ yard drives. I remember just a few years back when the Titans used to on side kick all game long. Their reasoning was, it didn’t matter where Manning was, he would score, so why not try to steal a couple of possessions.

With Manning, Indianapolis is pretty, without, it’s going to be tough. It makes me think...   when I’m out on the town with a super model or two, I always look great. When I’m out drinking a PBR with Tim and Bubba, not so much. Same thing with Colt coach Jim Caldwell. When he has Peyton, he looks good. Without....he’ll be riding the Greyhound.

For the Titans, an interesting twist at running back. Jevon Ringer had as many carries as Chris Johnson. Ringer averaged two yards better a carry so look for more drama at the running back position.

As I walked through downtown Nashville, I noticed Eric White with a group of good looking women.

“I’ve decided to go with the trend. I’m heading the group... Occupy Hooters. Just like those other groups, I will not leave until I figure out what I want.... and that may take awhile.”

Pacman Jones comes to town this week as the Bengals roll in. Yup, that Pacman. Just goes to show, it doesn’t matter what you do, if you have talent, the NFL is the place for you. Did I say that it was “Undie Sunday” yesterday?

 - Mike Dougher

Chalk another one up to the formula.  The Falcons won again going over .500 for the first time all season downing the up and coming Detroit Lions 23-16 at Ford Field.

Atlanta won in convincing fashion as they relied on the legs of Michael Turner, the leg of Matt Bryant and a quarterback that kept his cool despite two turnovers.

The high-powered Lions offense was able to do little as they keyed on the receiving corps that has been setting records so far this season.  Calvin Johnson was shut down most of the day with only two long receptions on the day, one of 27 yards in the first half and the other a 57-yard touchdown that brought the Lions within a score late in the game.

“Brent [Grimes], I thought, had a very good game. I thought our secondary, especially our corners with the challenges that they had with regards to Calvin Johnson. Brent Grimes had a very big play on a deep ball on a double cut. Again, you know going into those games that you’re going to have to try to slow those guys down; you’re not always going "to stop them and I think we’ve been able to do that over the last two weeks. Brent, again, just like he played last year, he’s playing very, very good football for us at the corner position,” said Falcons’ coach Mike Smith.

Things started ominous for the Falcons (4-3).  After hold the Lions to a three-and-out on their first series.  Ryan was picked off promptly deep in Atlanta territory.  Two consecutive sacks of Matthew Stafford forced the Lions to settle for a 43-yard field goal and an early 3-0 lead.

Atlanta retaliated with ten points in the final three minutes of the first quarter.  Matt Bryant connected with a 23-yard field goal and then Detroit fumbled the ensuing kickoff with Ryan and Atlanta taking advantage of the mistake.  Ryan snuck in from less than a yard out to give the visiting Falcons a 10-3 lead as the first quarter expired.

Detroit answered with another field goal, but Atlanta went to work mixing grinding runs by Turner and accurate passes by Ryan to the likes of Tony Gonzalez, finishing the drive by hitting Roddy White who made a spectacular catch in the back of the end zone to make the score 17-6.

Turner once again ran for over 100 yards (122) including a 50-yard jaunt that wore out the Lion defense.  Gonzalez had five catches on the day to vault himself into second place in all-time receptions ahead of Cris Carter and Marvin Harrison.  He only trails Jerry Rice on the list.

Ryan was 20-of-34 for 216 with a passing and rushing touchdown and two interceptions.  He left the game briefly when we tweaked his knee but returned two plays later to lead the Falcons to their second straight victory.

The much-maligned defense deserves great credit for securing the win for Atlanta. Atlanta’s defense held the explosive Lions offense to minus-1 yard of total offense in the game’s first quarter. It took five possessions before Detroit was able to gain positive yards. The Falcons held the Lions to 263 total yards in the game.

The Falcons impressive defensive performance was punctuated by the fact that they did not allow the Lions to convert a third down until the 2:27 mark of the third quarter. Atlanta held Detroit to a season-best one for 12 on third down attempts, surrendering a first down on just eight percent of their attempts.

Turner rushed for 122 yards on 27 carries en route to posting the 23rd 100-yard game of his Falcons career. Turner’s 23 100-yard games put him in front of RB William Andrews (22) for second-most in team history, and he trails RB Gerald Riggs’ franchise record of 24 100-yard games by one.

“Sunday, I thought was a good day for our football team. We needed to start a streak. We’ve kind of been on a yo-yo in terms of wins and losses. We wanted to start a streak and we were able to get that accomplished by getting a victory on the road,” said Smith.

The Falcons have this Sunday off as they enjoy a much needed bye week.  Their next game is November 6 against the winless Colts and return home the following week to face divisional foe New Orleans.

 - Dave Weinthal

Ok kids, now it’s time to play “Rank That Disaster.” First up, we have the Hindenburg. They had a little trouble parking. “Oh, the humanity.” Yeah, but it crashed in New Jersey so I don’t think it counts.

Next up, the Titanic. They had a problem negotiating the Atlantic ocean. Still, they got a movie deal out of it, and that famous line, “What iceberg?”

Finally we have the Titans. Where the Hindenburg crashed and the Titanic sank, the Titans simply vanished. In the worst home defeat ever, Tennessee never showed up in Sunday’s game, losing 41-7.

I should have known. The signs were everywhere. I wasn’t 5 miles out of Chattanooga and the first bumper sticker I saw said, “why are you going in this direction?” Uh oh. Suddenly I noticed small animals running for cover, sensing what I was to witness. Finally, I made it to the stadium and what do I see but the building draped in pink. “We are so toast.”

It was the strangest thing. In what was supposed to be the biggest game in years for the Titans, no one got the memo. The team came out of the tunnel, not running with rage.... more like a stroll with concern.  Hum. I looked around the stadium and on one of the prettiest days of the year for football, empty seats.

Strange.

Well, lets get this out of the way. The Titans are who we thought they were. They are a ship rocketing through mediocrity on their way to the number 5 draft pick.

Kenny Britt’s absence is now apparent. We have no receivers to pick up the slack. Then there is Chris Johnson. There was a moment on his second carry that sums up his situation. He was one on one against a linebacker. These were the situations CJ would live for, but not any more. Johnson went down easily for a 2 yard gain. The burst of speed we’ve come to know is not there. Hurt, conditioning, holding out, no training camp, lost his burst in a poker game. Take your pick because it doesn’t matter, CJ is a non-factor these days.

 On a brighter note, I always try to be hip, current and trendy with what’s happening so I decided to Occupy Nashville early Sunday. I hung out in a parking lot with a large group of people. The only real difference I could see was these people had jobs....well they were clean too. Greg Nazer was a gracious host, setting a wonderful tone for the day. Bubba and crew threw one of the biggest pre game parties, trying to fire up the fans. “I’ve done all I can do,” said Bubba.  People like Bubba and Greg are putting in overtime to get fans ready but the Titans are not reciprocating.

The highlight of the day was at halftime. The final round of the regional punt, pass and kick was held. Braden DiClemente, a strong 9-year-old, had won several competitions in Birmingham and Chattanooga. A win on Sunday would have put him in the Super Bowl. Braden came up a bit short, finishing a close third.

I caught up with Braden and asked what helped him reach this point.

“ Well, my dad, has had me in training. He has me sprint from the couch to the fridge, grab a beer, and sprint back to him. After doing this everyday for the last five years,  I’m under 10 seconds flat.”

Well, that should certainly build up your legs, how about passing?

“I think I inherited that talent from my dad. I’ve always heard he threw a lot of passes in college.”

Actually, I had heard that as well.

How about the mental toughness of competing against all those other kids, I wondered.

“Look dude,” Braden said. “Dan LaGraff is part of my family and I’ve had to deal with him for 9 straight years. If that doesn’t get you ready, nothing will.”

Excellent point.

I believe we will be seeing young Braden DiClemente again next year.

Next up, the winless Colts. “Winless Colts, winless Colts,” God I love those words. Guest celebrities for this weeks game will include Holly and Eric White. Holly is famous for her post game celebrations, Eric is famous for dealing with said celebrations.

 - Mike Dougher

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, according to Newton’s Law of Motion.  Well, in Atlanta on Sunday for every Cam Newton action there was an equal and opposite reaction called Michael Turner as the Falcons won 31-17 over the Hewiman trophy winner/number one overall draft pick and his Carolina Panthers.

The Falcons played like it was 2010 as Turner impressively rumbled for 139 yards and two touchdowns to help Atlanta even their record at 3-3.

Newton, returning to the Georgia Dome for the first time since leading Auburn to the SEC title and eventual National Championship last year, looked impressive at times and very much a rookie at times.  He showed poise in the pocket most of the time but threw three interceptions, twice in the end zone.

Without the services of Julio Jones (hamstring), the Falcons went back to the formula that won them 13 games last year and 33 the past three years.  Turner ran for 100 yards for the first time since the Philly game as he bowled over defenders, turned the corner and rumbled downfield on numerous runs that have been few and far between this season.

“I saw a lot of green as a running back today. The offensive line provided huge running lanes to make big runs,” said Turner.

Matt Ryan took more of a supporting role completing 14-of-22 passes for only 163 yards and one score.  Ryan played smart and error-free as he faced little pressure and was not forcing any throws.  He spread the ball around to nine different receivers Harry Douglas catching two passes for 57 yards and Tony Gonzalez catching three for 29.

It was a game of long drives as each team only had the ball three times in the firs half.  Carolina drew first blood with a 13 play drive, settling for an Olindo Mare 42-yard field goal.

The Falcons answered right away helped by a pass interference penalty in the end zone as they scored on the last play of the quarter on a Michael Turner one-yard plunge to take a 7-3 lead.

Carolina answered that immediately as well as New ton completed a number of passes to Jeremy Shockey mixed with some nice runs by Jonathan Stewart to take back the lead 10-7.

The see-saw battle continued as Atlanta answered.  Highlighted by a 23-yard pass to Douglas and a 33 yard run from Turner, Ryan capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown pass to Ovie Mughelli.

Newton brought his troops right back as he drove deep into Atlanta territory. Brent Grimes then came up with the biggest play of the half for Atlanta.  With time running out on the half and Carolina on the Falcons’ 23 he picked off Newton’s tipped throw in the back of the end zone to preserve the 14-10 lead.

Carolina got the ball back to start the second half and marched 80 yards on 13 plays to take the lead scoring on a Newton 14 yard run.  Newton besides throwing for 237 yards also led the Panthers in rushing with 50 yards on six carries.

Atlanta tied the game on a 24-yard field goal by Matt Bryant.  The drive was highlighted by runs of 14 and 24 yards by Turner.

Early in the fourth Atlanta took the lead as Ryan hit Douglas once again for a big gain and Turner rumbled again.  Ryan scored on a quarterback sneak to make the score 24-17.

“Obviously they were big plays. I can’t remember the down and distance. The first one to Tony, he just ran a great route. He had man-to-man coverage had patience on the route, got his depth and came up big. The one to Harry, again, a similar type route to what we had with Tony and again, ran a really good route. He put me in a position that I could kind of lay it out there and let him run to get it. Those guys made big plays on third downs and really helped us out,” said Ryan.

Atlanta’s defense came up big on the next series as Corey Peters picked off Newton’s pass giving the Falcons the ball on the Carolina 39.  “He did a great job. That was a great individual effort in reading the screen,” said Falcon’ head coach Mike Smith about Peters’ play.

Six of the next eight plays were runs by Turner as the Falcons’ line wore down the Carolina defense.  Turner squeezed into the end zone from two yards out to increase the lead to 31-17.

Newton and Carolina once again drove deep into Atlanta territory. Thomas DeCoud finished the game by intercepting Newton on the last play of the game deep in the end zone.

The Falcons find themselves in second place now one game behind Tampa Bay and New Orleans who are both 4-2.  Atlanta will travel to Detroit Sunday to take on the 5-1 Lions.  Kickoff is at 1pm and will be aired on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

Let me be the first.  The experiment has failed.  Instead of addressing issues in the secondary that were exploited to an extreme in the first round of the playoffs last season, the Atlanta Falcons traded up to draft Julio Jones with the sixth pick of the 2011 draft to compliment if not compete with Roddy White to be the number one receiver.  This failure was oh so evident in Atlanta’s 25-14 loss to Green Bay, a close carbon copy to that playoff game that the Packers downed the Falcons 46-21 back in January.

Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers exploited the Falcons secondary for 396 yards completing 26-of-39 passes and two touchdowns.  The Green Bay quarterback spread the ball around to 12 different receivers as they stay undefeated and Atlanta falls to 2-3.

The game started well for Atlanta as they took the opening kickoff and in typical Mike Smith fashion they ground the ball downfield.  Matt Ryan engineered a 14-play 80 yard drive mixing Michael Turner runs, passes to Tony Gonzalez and Harry Douglass, finishing the drive off by hitting a wide open Roddy White in the left corner of the end zone for an early 7-0 lead.

Green Bay mounted a drive of their own.  They seemed to get the running game going as they drove into Falcons territory.  Ryan Grant them fumbled and Ryan and company took over. 

10 plays and 60 yards later Turner bullied his way into the end zone to give the Falcons a 14-0 lead.  That was the last we heard or saw of Atlanta’s offense for the rest of the game.

The Packers scored 25 unanswered points, 19 in the second half as Rodgers found receiver after receiver open and nothing the supposedly high-powered Falcon offense tried seemed to work.

It seems the goal for Atlanta this season was to outscore everyone.  That hasn’t been the case.  Ryan was a pedestrian 18-of-32 for 167 yards a touchdown and two interceptions in the second half.  Julio Jones who the Falcons traded up for in the draft in what has been considered the biggest gamble made in the last draft caught one pass for 16 yards and gained 17 yards on an end around on the opening drive.  He left the game early with a hamstring injury.

The Falcons secondary was once again victimized as for the fourth time in five games allowed well over 300 passing yards.  Rodgers’ yards didn’t come easy as the Packer signal caller was sacked four times and knocked about.  But his mobility helped him find the open receiver.

Trailing 14-9 in the third Rodgers hit James Jones on a crossing pattern and the Packer wide receiver sprinted almost untouched 70 yards for the go-ahead score and a 15-14 lead.  On their next drive Rodgers found Greg Jennings from 29 yards out as he too, outran the Atlanta secondary to make the score 22-14.  A Mason Crosby field goal with 3:14 left iced the game for the Pack.

Let’s get back to the anemic offense of the 2011 Atlanta Falcons and their porous defense.  So far this season they are scoring on average 20.8 points a game.  That is the lowest this offense has performed during the Smith era. It has actually been on a slide since Smith’s first year at the helm.  In 2008 through the first five games they averaged 29.25 points per game, 24.6 in 2009 and 22.5 last season.

Currently the defense has given up more points on average through the first five games as well during the Smith era.  So far the Falcons defense is giving up an average of 26 points a game compared with 14 last season, 15.4 in 2009 and 21.4 in 2008.

Michael Turner also had another pedestrian day running the ball.  His legs are really starting to show their age as he’s in his fourth season as the feature back for Atlanta.  Turner has only hit the century mark two this season and his overall yards per rush are way down.  Of course he can’t be blamed for only gaining 56 yards against Green Bay.  The Falcons midway through the second quarter pretty much abandoned the running game and tried to be too one dimensional with the passing attack. 

Despite having two top speed game breaking receivers tight end Tony Gonzalez led the team again in receptions as he hauled in six passes for 60 yards.  White was behind him catching six as well for 50 yards.

While it is easy to start pointing fingers five weeks into the season when you’ve already lost as many games as you did the previous season, one culprit for the offensive woes is probably the lockout.  Without proper amount of training and practice it takes an offense to gel.  Atlanta has a number of new receivers on the roster and a new running back.  Getting in sync will take time.  But will they gel in time to catch the Saints who are 4-1 and look to be in ’09 form?

Atlanta will try to get on track again this Sunday afternoon.  They host the Carolina Panthers featuring rookie standout and Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton.  Newton has already set rookie passing records this season so far.  How far will he go this Sunday?  Stay tuned as the Falcons offense tries to get in sync for an entire game and the secondary gets tested once again.  Kickoff is at 1pm and will be aired on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

Back in the day when watching the Walton’s, the Baldwin sisters called it a taste of the recipe. For the Titans, a trip to Pittsburgh was a taste of reality. If this game was measuring stick of where Tennessee stands, they were hit with the old two by four. The Steelers prevail, 38-17 on a beautiful fall day in keystone state.

First, it would be appropriate to point out that the Steeler defense played very well. There was more popping from their boys than a Saturday night on Market Street. I knew this was coming after a visit to my psychic last week. She said that the Steelers are at their best when they face adversity.

“Will the adversity come, like the Eagles signing Michael Vick to a big contract, thinking he was the future?”

“No, nothing that bad. Pittsburgh has several players banged up, but they’ll get better. Philadelphia thought they knew the future with Vick. They should have come to me, or at least called Atlanta.”

Pittsburgh’s defense still has the mentality of the steel curtain. There might be a little rust of that curtain, like a 16oz can of PBR, but it still works. Hats off to them.

The reality is the Titans are thrilled with a 3-2 start. The Steelers were desperate to get to 3-2. So look, everyone is happy.

I did have an issue with Pittsburgh running back a kick off for 50 yards. Didn’t they get the memo that there are no more kickoff’s in pro football? We need to protect the pro’s. Now the 18-year-old college kids can risk their life with the death defying act of a kick off, but the pro’s don’t want to risk it. What ever happened to “it’s all about the children?”

For the Titans, the absence of Kenny Britt was obvious. Tennessee receivers dropped the ball like Vince Young was throwing. They also continue to have a case of “lack of Johnson.” Chris Johnson just continues to dance at the line instead of hitting the hole. Preseason is over, time to start running Chris.

When you watch a game on TV, you are at the mercy of the announcers. Most do an adequate job. You might want a little more slant towards your boys, but in general, it’s ok.

That is, until Ben Roethlisberger is on the screen. I thought Dave Wakstein’s lovefest with Tom Brady was something. At least Tom has hair and a hot wife. The announcers were so in love with Ben, I had to cut off the sound.

“Welcome to the Ben show.” Really?

The Pittsburgh record was 2-2 coming into this game, getting crushed by Baltimore and losing to Houston. The record of teams they’ve beaten? 1-7 ! I repeat, 1-7.

Big Ben. To quote my wife, “how quickly people forget.”

“Ben is a real warrior.” Really? Show me a warrior, that pumps his pink wristband in the air.

I lost it when they put up a picture of Ben’s naked foot, using the on-screen pencil to show where it hurt....and people wonder why this country is going to hell.

Here’s the deal. When I stop injustice in America and get tendonitis in my elbow, do I quit drinking? No.

When Steve Jones sprained his finger saving a small child from certain harm, did he quit smoking? No.

When Tommy Thompson sprained his ankle walking to the strip club, did he show up at his job the next day? Yes, well one day late, but he did show up.

The point is, everyone in life has problems, and they suck it up. Please stop making out big Ben to be some martyr. He’s a really good quarterback, with a very bad reputation. His foot hurts. The rest is an insult to all American’s, especially those who drink PBR.

The Titans have next week off so looks like a party at Michael Geracioti’s house on Sunday. Houston will hit Nashville the following week. That will be for the division lead, I feel a rockem-sockem game coming on.

 - Scorpio Jones III

This week’s Falcons game was another case of too little too late.  This time, owever it played into Atlanta’s hands as they held on by their chiny chin chin to down the Seattle Seahawks 30-28 out in the Pacific northwest.

For the first time all season the Falcons’ offense played as well as they have been hyped all off-season.  Matt Ryan had a hot hand in the first half as he completed 15 of 20 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown.  On their opening drive Ryan went 4-of-4 finishing off the drive hitting Tony Gonzalez from a yard out to make the score 7-0.

Michael Turner also got into the action in the first half as he scored on runs of 21 and 1 as the Falcons built a 27-7 halftime lead.

The second half was a completely different story.  Atlanta increased the lead to 27-7 before the wheels started to come off on defense.  The secondary which had been burend once in the first half on a 52 yard throwing strike from Tavaris Jackson to Sidney Rice, made the Seahawks quarterback look like Brett Favre.

Jackson led three scoring drives throwing two touchdown passes to bring the Seahawks to within 30-28 with under two minutes to play.  A 61-yard field goal by Steven Hauschka with 13 seconds remaining to preserve the victory.

Jackson was 25-of-38 for 319 yards and three touchdowns as Seattle, with one of the most anemic offenses the first three weeks of the season scored and passed at will in the second half.

The run defense was outstanding once again as it allowed only 54 rushing yards, but for the fourth week in a row they allowed over 300 yards passing.

Julio Jones led all receivers with 11 catches for 127 yards.  Gonzalez hauled in seven and Roddy White six in a passing attack that saw Ryan hit six different receivers and for the first week did not get sacked or commit a turnover.

“He hits a lot of single coverage and a lot of press coverage. Julio is a big, strong physical guy that can get open against press coverage. I thought he did a great job for us today,” said Ryan about Jones.

“He had the big play. We knew coming out at halftime we were going to take a shot and get the ball in his hands. He was able to come through and make a great catch, but unfortunately we only got three points out of it. It would have maybe changed the whole complexion of the ball game if we could’ve taken it in and got seven,” said Falcons’ head coach Mike Smith.

Right tackle Tyson Clabo was happy with his entire line’s performance after struggling for a few weeks to begin the season. “It’s been difficult. We haven’t really played up to our standard and we all know that. We have high expectations for ourselves. To come in here with the noise the way it was and to do that, it was an accomplishment.”

The Falcons return to the friendly confines of the Georgia Dome Sunday night as they will be the featured Sunday night game as they host defending Super Bowl champions and undefeated Green Bay Packers.  Kickoff for Sunday is scheduled for 8:20 and will be aired on NBC.

 - Dave Weinthal

Dateline: Laguna Beach, Florida

The Titans played the Browns up in the scenic city of Cleveland Ohio on  Sunday afternoon. Tennessee cruised to an easy 31-13 victory. After the game, Browns coach Pat Shurmur was asked about his quarterback Colt McCoy. Colt had 61 pass attempts for 350 yards on the day.

" Those statistics get screwed, err skewed, excuse me," Shurmur said.

"Is that what you call a Freudian slip? I'll let you laugh. I don't feel like it."

He's right. There was nothing funny from a Cleveland point of view. Tennessee seemed to overwhelm the Browns at times, hitting all the right buttons.

Cleveland coaches made some questionable calls, helping our Nashville cats out as well. Looking at 4th and 1, Shurmer decided to go for it, pitching to 190 pound Armond Smith, instead of handing off to the human bulldozer, Peyton Hillis. Thanks coach.

Hot shot quarterback Colt McCoy, has written an autobiography. Do you have your copy? I haven't gotten mine yet but if Sunday’s game is any indication, its called "I live in Cleveland and I suck." Some of his passes were so bad, they were uncatchable.... for receiver or defender.

With the game totally out of reach, McCoy simply used the 4th quarter to pad his stats. Titan defensive coach Gray had finally seen enough and turned Finnigan loose on some blitzes. You wouldn't normally do that late in a game, but the Browns QB was asking for it. Oh...and he got it.

Life without Kenny Britt, at least for one week, went well. All Titan receivers were involved and had catches, except for Donnie Avery. Tennessee picked up Avery for a ham sandwich after Britt was injured last week. It should also be noted that Chris Johnson did pick up his 1st 100 yard game.

Its hard to remember the last easy victory...it's been awhile. Matt Hasselbeck has been all the Titans could have hoped for and more.

Speaking of great quarterbacks, cub reporter Dave Wakestein of the Boston area, called in with some very exciting news.

" Mike, I have created a new app for everyone's phone. It's going to be huge. I call it the Brady Button. You simply hit the Brady app on your phone and a choice of video's pops up. The newest has Tom Brady standing on a mountain top, you know, looking manly, and you watch as his hair blows in the breeze. My personal favorite right now is Tom on a white horse, shirt off, galloping on a sandy beach. Wow, his hair looks great. There is even a feature that takes that same video, but places Tom and his horse in a field of daisies. I can't get enough. There must be a thousand different ways to watch Tom’s hair blow.

Plus, it saves me money and it can save you money. I dropped my gym membership because this app makes me sweat harder than any treadmill ever did..

Glad to know we have solid cub reporters out in the field, always bringing us hard hitting stories.

It’s on to Pittsburgh for the Titans next game. The Steelers will be in a bad mood after losing to the Texans last week. Big Ben is banged up so his defense will be coming after Hasselbeck. Football in the fall....yes!!

 - Mike Dougher

You win some, you some.  For the Atlanta Falcons these days that seems to be the motto as three games into the 2011 season they have already lost two games – one less than they lost all last season.  Sunday afternoon it was too little too late as the Falcons’ rally fell short as they fell to the pesky Tampa Bay Buccaneers 16-13.

I’ve always hated the Bucs as they have been a thorn in the side of the Falcons going back 30 years.  I remember way back in the day the Falcons started 6-0, I believe it was ’86 or ‘87.  Next on the schedule was the also-ran Tampa Bay Bucs.  The Bucs humiliated the Falcons and the rest of the season Atlanta tanked.  I personally hold Tampa Bay responsible.  Before they were in the same division, Tampa Bay would humiliate Atlanta on a regular basis.  This was during the Tony Dungy era in Tampa Bay.  Even Warren Sapp scored a touchdown on a trick play and I remember him dancing in the end zone like the Michelin Man on steroids.  Did I mention I hate Tampa Bay?

Well, Sunday was coach Mike Smith’s first loss to Tampa Bay since the second game of his coaching career in Atlanta.  The Falcons had won five in a row.  That streak ended Sunday as the Falcons played very uncharacteristic for a Mike Smith coached team.  Three first half turnovers – two Matt Ryan interceptions and a Ryan fumble inside the ten-yard line pretty much spelled doom as Atlanta was lucky to only trail 13-3 at the half.

With a less than a quarter to play the Falcons decided to try and make a game of it.  Trailing 16-3, Ryan led a furious comeback.  With under 11 minutes to play Ryan hit Julio Jones for 49 yards to set up a touchdown pass on the next play to Tony Gonzalez to bring the score closer at 16-10.  Jones had a breakout game catching six passes for 115 yards.  He was actually overshadowed by veteran Roddy White who had his biggest game of the season catching nine passes for 140 yards.  The running game was nonexistent however as Michael Turner was held to 20 yards on 11 carries.

 “We needed a momentum shift. When we got into our no-huddle package we moved the ball pretty effectively. Whether we’re huddling or in no huddle we’ve got to score points. We didn’t do a good enough job of that today,” said Ryan.

Atlanta got the ball back with 7:46 remaining and drove back down deep into Tampa Bay territory.  Ryan drove the Falcons down to the Buccaneer 11-yard line but was sacked for the fourth time of the game and the drive stalled at the 15.  Atlanta settled for a 33-yard Matt Bryan field goal with 4:06 remaining.

Atlanta never saw the ball again as Tampa Bay was able to run the clock out with quarterback Josh Freeman and LeGarrette Blount running the ball and the clock out to preserve the 16-13 victory.

“I felt like we fought our tails off to get back into the game. We didn’t play very well. We didn’t do a whole lot of good things in the first three quarters. At the end of the day we just dug ourselves too big of a hole. We weren’t able to execute the things that we needed to execute there at the end of the ball game to give us a chance. We’ve got to do a better job in all three phases of the game to win ball games. We can’t turn the ball over like we did and have the turnovers there in the redzone. Those are crucial and we’ve got to continue to work on protecting the quarterback, especially there in the first half. He got hit way too many times. Two of those turnovers were a direct result of our quarterback getting hit,” said Smith.

The Falcons stay on the road this week.  They travel to the west coast to play the Seattle Seahawks Sunday.  Kickoff is at 4pm and will be aired on Fox.

“It’s early in the year. In this league it’s all about how you respond. There’s going to be adverse situations in September, October, November and December. It’s all about how you respond to those situations. We’ve got to be mentally tough. We’ve got to get back into work this week, get focused, prepare and get a win next week,” said Ryan.

 - Dave Weinthal

The Denver Bronco’s flew into Nashville on Friday, to get acclimated to the Eastern time zone. No, really. I assumed it was to save some cash and get the early bird special at Denny’s, but apparently Coach Fox thought it would help his team. Well, his team did play well, but a decision by Fox in the fourth quarter cost his team a win. Maybe Fox should have flown to Nashville on Wednesday. The Titans prevailed on another beautiful day, 17-14.

First, the Titans lost their biggest playmaker in Kenny Britt. He is out for the year and that is a tough blow considering how well he was playing. With Britt out, Tennessee had to shuffle the deck to pull out the win.  Graham, Stevens and Hasselbeck. No, that’s not a law firm or a hot tub party at Mark Simpson’s. Those are the guys that stepped up after Britt went down. For Daniel Graham, it was sweet catching the winning TD. He played for the Broncos last year.

He apparently had no bitterness after the Broncos cut him six months ago. Neither did he deny the joy of his TD.

"To get the game-winning touchdown against my former team, I was so excited," he said. "Last year was the first year I went without scoring a touchdown at all, and just to get that against my former team, it was exciting."

The Titans took possession at their 5-yard line with less than eight minutes remaining, trailing the Broncos 14-10. Their seven-play, 95-yard drive ended with Graham catching the game-winner.

"I didn't expect to be that wide open," he said. "We sold the fake pretty good, and I came wide open in the back of the end zone." Good for the little guy.

Still, Tennessee would not have been in position to win if Denver coach Fox had not decided to go for it at the Titan 1 on fourth down. Fox first thought he’d kick a field goal, then changed his mind. He made one mistake, he forgot about the chosen one.

I was reading my bible, as I do every day, and I came across a passage.

“Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified.”

Now, I had had a terrifying moment earlier in the day. As I looked into my cheese and bacon omelet, I swear I saw the image of the chosen one, Tim Tebow. Walk on water. Image of Tebow in my breakfast. Coincidence ? I don’t think so.

Tebow was either practicing his water walking on the Cumberland River behind the stadium or was nailed to the bench, but I never saw him. He is a fascinating player. People love him, coaches dislike him. Call me Captain Obvious but on that crucial 4th and 1, it was the perfect Tebow play.

“We’ve had some things in for Tim Tebow,” John Elway said. “We haven’t gotten to them in the first few weeks.” For the record, the Broncos are 1-2.

I should mention that Marchetti’s tailgate extravaganza was a big hit. He managed to have four of the seven basic food groups, beer, chips, brats, and cheese doodles. Excellent! It was also reveled that a tailgate member was banned for one game. The crime.... bringing fruit. The mark of a true professional.

I suppose you can’t have a good pre- game experience without some controversy though. It has come to my attention that there may be some un-American, subversive or possible sleeper cell fans in the Titan parking lots. They may look like regular Joe’s or your next door neighbor, but like all people with a questionable sense of patriotism, eventually they slip up. “Why are you drinking PBR?”

And there it is...questioning an American beer.... questioning a company that won a Blue Ribbon in 1893....in Chicago, in America!! Do the PBR colors red, white and blue mean anything to you, cause those colors don’t run buddy.

So as these agitators and dissidents  drink their Czechoslovakian beers, brewed from hops of communist soil, I wonder if they know I’m onto them. Give me a PBR, with a touch of rust and a little dust on the top of the can. American rust and American dust! The only thing PBR could do better is to craft the can in the shape of the Statue of Liberty. I could then drink from the flame... of freedom!!!

Now it’s time for the Titans to hit the road. Next stop, Cleveland, where the Browns are a much improved team. I’m so glad the NFL is back.

 - Mike Dougher

The man who betrayed not only his team but the city of Atlanta as well rode back into town on his white horse only to get knocked out in the end as the Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons erased a ten-point deficit in the fourth quarter to prevail over the Michael Vick and his Eagles 35-31.

Thanks to Ryan’s cool Sunday night and wisdom in drafting him by the Falcons’

 Front office four years ago after Vick, the former franchise quarterback of the team was arrested and served time in the federal penitentiary for his part in a dog-fighting ring that embarrassed not only team owner Arthur Blank, but the team and the city of Atlanta, not to mention the NFL.

Everybody loves a happy ending and Vick supposedly rehabilitated has been the NFL’s darling since returning to action in 2009, this times sporting the wings of an Eagle instead of a Falcon.  Vick has been the toast of the NFL especially with his play last season and pundits are calling this year’s Eagles team the “Dream Team” with all their off-season acquisitions.

But lucky for the Falcons the Michael Vick of old showed up.  On three consecutive series spanning the second and third quarter Vick turned the ball over.  He was picked off once and gave up two fumbles as the Falcons erased a 3-point deficit to take a 14-10 lead into the locker at the half.

The three turnovers were converted into 14 points as Atlanta went up 21-10 with ten minutes remaining in the third quarter.  But the lead was short-lived as Vick rallied the Eagles before he got knocked out of the game with about three minutes remaining in the quarter.  The Eagles scored 21 unanswered points in a span of seven minutes and 58 seconds to take a 31-21 lead.

William Moore delivered a crushing blow to a scrambling Vick who spun around and was knocked down by one of his own lineman, promptly ending his day under center.

A woozy Vick was helped off the field and spit up blood on the sideline before being escorted to the locker room.  The former Falcon fan favorite was jeered by a loud round of boos from the fans that once cherished him.  In a typical Vick move, the Eagle QB pointed to the scoreboard as he was booed.  But this is Matty Ice’s house now, not Vick’s.

The Falcons switched to a no-huddle offense as the Falcons mounted another fourth quarter comeback.  For the night Ryan was 17-of-28 for 195 yards and a career best four touchdowns.  The Atlanta QB hit Roddy White, Ovie Mughelli, and Tony Gonzalez twice.

Gonzalez, the cagy veteran led Falcons receivers with seven catches for 83 yards.  His first touchdown was a spectacular one-handed grab in the back of the end zone and the second he carried literally half the Eagles defense on his back as he crossed the goal line.

Michael Turner rumbled for 114 yards with him getting a majority of that on a 61-yard jaunt down the right sideline on the game-winning drive.

Mike Kafka, who replaced Vick was 7-of-9 for 72 yards and looked pretty impressive in Vick’s place, laying credence to it’s the system and not the man who has made the Eagles offense click.  Kafka had a fourth and four pass dropped by an open Jeremy Maclin that ended the threat for the Eagles deep in Atlanta territory.  Maclin had 171 receiving yards on the game.

Security was easily tripled at the Georgia Dome Sunday as a sea of yellow security shirts were there to great whatever might come about.  Officials were worried about a clash between pro-Vick and anti-Vick demonstrators, but nothing ever materialized.  The man who rode into this town on his white horse ten years ago departed in a sea of boos and with a concussion to boot.

The Falcons take to the road again next week as they face their first divisional foe taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Kickoff is 1pm and will be aired on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

And now to the bonus round.

If a train leaves Nashville with a car load of bourbon at 4pm...what month is it?

July?

Correct.

Thomas Farr is Gods gift to....?

Hot Mormons?

Correct.

If Baltimore runs for 170 yards and beats down the Pittsburgh Steelers in week one, who will win between the Ravens and the Titans?

Tennessee?

Correct.

In the most unlikely of scenario’s, the Tennessee Titans dominated the Baltimore Ravens in their home opener, 26-13. Once again, an excellent example on why you should never bet on football.

It was a beautiful sunny day in Nashville, perfect for eating and drinking on a paved surface. The tailgate scene was in mid season form, with Bubba cranking out a smorgasbord of wonderful foods.            

Raven fans strutted up and down the tailgate scene, letting everyone know they were in town. I do think the 300 lb. guy wearing the purple feather boa was a bit much though. It just didn’t go with his earrings.

I talked to a guy all decked out in Baltimore gear, walking with his seven-year-old daughter. She was in a Ravens cheerleader outfit, attending her first game. Will child abuse ever end?

There was obvious concern among Tennessee fans. In week one, the Titans looked to be much the same as last years dysfunctional team. Meanwhile, the Raven fan base was making reservations for the Super Bowl after pounding the Steelers. Not so fast my friend.

Coach Munchak, on Saturday night, put together a video review of the past few Titan/Raven match ups. One thing was apparent. To win the game, both sides of the ball would have to take the fight to Baltimore. Like Butch Cassidy, get that first kick in.

The Titans set the tone from the opening kick off, and never really let up. Ravens QB Joe Flacco, seems to have happy feet much of the day and appeared tighter than Beyonce in a jumpsuit. In the end, Flacco was sacked three times, had two interceptions and never looked comfortable.

It was apparent that the Ravens were geared up to stop Chris Johnson.

“The focus was on Chris Johnson, and we got after him,” Ray Lewis said. “They went away from that. They saw that we were really getting after him and they started to throw the ball.”

Ray should have called one of us. We could have told him Johnson wouldn’t have much of a game.

The difference now is that the Titans have a quarterback who can throw a pass with accuracy. Hasselbeck was 30-42 for 358 yards. Just as amazing was the fact that Titans receivers caught everything in sight. It’s been many years since we’ve been able to say that.

As the game ended, it became obvious the Titans had actually dominated the Ravens from start to finish. Some Raven fans might call it “the hangover effect”, after pounding the Steelers in week one. Come on people, I’ve had plenty of hangovers and always bounce back to drink the next day. Suck it up.

In a very exciting development, I’ve been able to catch a ride to the games this year. In fact, there were several choices. Charlie Sheen had offered to drive but ever since he lost his job, he’s seemed a bit unstable.

I had an offer from a dancer, but there’s always that problem of where to put the stripper pole. She seemed to always have cash but you don’t know where it’s been.

In the end, I decided to catch a ride with Mark from Miller Beer of Chattanooga. Tough to beat a car full of “product.” When he stops to have the car serviced, it simply means getting fresh ice for the cooler. Yes, this is shaping up to be an enjoyable year.

Next up, Tim Tebow’s Bronco’s. It will be interesting to see if the Titans handle the success of today as well as they handled the adversity of last week.

 - Mike Dougher

Patience, stay calm, don’t panic, it could have been worse. These are not the  words you want to hear after your teams first game of the year.  The Tennessee Titans gave an underwhelming performance in losing to the Jacksonville Jaquars 16-14 on Sunday afternoon.

Mike Munchak, new Titans coach, said on Monday that his team needs to get back to work to fix some obvious problems. That must be one heck of a list he’s got. The Titans were totally dominated in the first half of the game and were only competitive because of a fluke pass play to Kenny Britt.

The Titans had hopes of a “new beginning”. After watching them Sunday, it’s last year all over again. The names have changed but the results are the same. Remember when you broke up with your girlfriend and weeks later you’re set up on a blind date, and its your old girlfriend? It’s a lot like that except without the throwing of glassware.

I’m not sure what I thought might happen. After all, Tennessee had a pretty good pre season. Then again, we had our best receiver who hadn’t caught a ball since last year. We had a running back who hadn’t run a yard since...last year. Then we had a coach, who hadn’t coached since...well, never. Add in a new quarterback and a fullback who just got off the bus...and we’ve got trouble right here in River City.

The beginning of the NFL season should be as much fun as Christmas, plus you can start drinking right after church and not get yelled at.  So, when the Titans were sacked on the first play from scrimmage, I knew we were in trouble. The Jags got fired up and the crowd seemed energized. Even the plastic tarps covering all the empty seats seemed to shine just a little more in the Florida sunshine.

The decision by Chris Johnson to hold out for 35 days came shining through on this day. As much as he’s a game changer, having practiced for only 5 days was going to crush the Titans and it did.

Tennessee would have been better off running the guys who have worked together for the last 5 weeks. I’ve never seen Johnson with a worse performance. Maybe its just his wallet slowing him down.

What bothers me most about Sundays game was what seemed to be a lack of intensity. If you saw the Green Bay/New Orleans game on Thursday, you saw intensity.

Maybe it was because they got punched in the mouth from the opening whistle. Maybe its because they haven’t played together as a unit very much. I just miss players like Bullock, George and McNair who will punch you right back. As a fan, knowing your team isn’t very good, you just want to see fight in them.

It doesn’t get any easier with the Baltimore Ravens coming into Nashville this week. The Ravens come off a big win against the Steelers and they have to be feeling good about themselves. The Titans offensive and defensive lines have to go back to the drawing board and figure out just how to shove the Ravens around. come to think of it, an ouija board might be what’s needed.

 - Mike Dougher

The Atlanta Falcons pretty much picked up from where they left off at the end of last year in their season opener against the Chicago Bears.

Last season ended with a solid thumping at the hands of the now Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers and Sunday they were similarly thumped 30-12.

“I am definitely disappointed in the way our football team played today. We didn’t play very well in any phase; special teams, offense or defense. I felt that we did some very uncharacteristic things as a team, starting off with the penalties. I think we had seven consecutive penalties in the ballgame, and we are one of the least penalized teams in the league [last year]. There were a number of areas we have to address. This is just our first ballgame. It is the start of the season. We obviously didn’t perform in the way we are capable of performing,” said Falcons’ head coach Mike Smith.

In last season’s playoff loss the Falcons held an early edge and were tied with the Packers in the second quarter when quarterback Matt Ryan threw an errant pass that was intercepted in the end zone, opening the floodgates for what was a whitewash the rest of the game.  Against Chicago it was a similar situation.  The game was tied 3-3 and Atlanta looked to be driving. Driving into Bears territory they looked poised to take the lead.  Ryan attempted to throw a quick out to Tony Gonzalez but Brian Urlacher stepped in the way and picked it off.  That opened the floodgates to the porous Falcons secondary that I’ve personally harped on forever.  Jay Cutler hit Matt Forte on a screen pass and after a few missed tackles he was off to the races as he scored 56 yards later to take a 10-3 lead, one which they never relinquished. 

Chicago’s front line kept Ryan on his toes and back all day putting pressure on him, sacking him five times, hurrying ten other passes forcing the interception and a fumble which was returned for a touchdown by Urlacher.

Cutler saw his fair share of pressure as well.  The Bears quarterback was also sacked five times, but time and again he found a seam or wide open receiver downfield making one big play after another.  John Abraham came up big with two of the sacks and Kroy Biermann as well, but if they didn’t sack Cutler he was hitting the open man in the secondary time and time again, much the way Aaron Rodgers did last season in the playoffs at the Georgia Dome. 

Julio Jones looked pretty impressive in his debut with three catches for 71 yards on of which went for 32.  If only he knew how to play cornerback.  Ironically Roddy White was used more as a possession receiver instead of a deep threat.  It looks like he is becoming the Michael Jenkins and Jones taking his role on the offense.

The big play promise for the Falcons offense never materialized as Ryan did not attempt to stretch the field.  Jones’ two long catches were it for Atlanta.  It was a far cry to what Falcons fans expected after trading away the bank to acquire Jones with the fourth overall pick instead of attempting to shore up the much-maligned secondary.

Atlanta’s defensive front four did the job in the first half as they held Chicago to a total of 22 yards rushing.  However, Cutler shred them for 222 yards and one score as the Bears went into the half leading 16-3.

Things looked to change in favor of the Falcons after the second half kickoff.  Turner broke free for a 53-yard run before being hauled down deep in Bears’ territory. Atlanta was unable to move the ball further and settled for a 48-yard Matt Bryant field goal to pull within ten.

That’s when the wheels started to fall off for the Falcons.  After the ensuing kickoff Forte broke free on a 27 yard scamper for the Bears.  That was followed by a 53-yard catch and run by Devin Hester down to the Atlanta one-yard line.  The Bears scored on the next play to extend their lead to 23-6.

Things didn’t get any better on Atlanta’s next possession.  Ryan was being sacked deep in Atlanta territory when he fumbled.  Urlacher picked up the loose ball and carried it 12 yards to give the Bears a 30-6 lead.

Ironically Atlanta’s only touchdown of the day came on defense.  The Falcons who kept pressure on Cutler all day as well as Biermann intercepted a tipped Cutler pass at the line of scrimmage and rumbled 50 yards for the score.  A two-point conversion attempt was unsuccessful as the Bears lead was now 30-12.

But that was all the movement the Falcons could do as Cutler blistered them for over 300 yards in the air and the Bears churned out 88 on the ground for over 400 yards of total offense.

Michael Turner did grind out 100 yards on the ground for the Falcons, but 53 of them came on one play.  Ryan completed his first seven passes but quickly became flustered and struggled the rest of the game as he was sacked give times, hurried ten, intercepted once and fumbled away the ball.  He did throw for 319 yards but failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time in 15 games dating back to last season opening weekl loss to the Steelers. Likewise Turner fumbled away the ball in Bears territory ending a promising drive.

“I’m just glad it happened now, rather than the playoffs or later in the season. I think this is going to be a learning lesson for our team to show us that we’re not where we want to be. We can still build and get where we want to,” said Abraham.

The Falcons make their home debut Sunday night as they host the Philadelphia Eagles.  Game time is 8:20 and will be broadcast on NBC.

 - Dave Weinthal

So the new NFL season is upon us in the Tennessee valley and I hope you like change. The Titans have more changes than a Lady Gaga concert. Gone is coach Fisher and most of his staff along with the perplexing Vince Young. Most of us had high hopes for Vince when he came out of Texas with that winning style. Unfortunately, Young and Fisher never seemed to be able to coexist and in the end, both were banished.

A new day is here for the Titans but it feels partly cloudy with a chance of rain. Jake Locker was drafted as the future quarterback and Matt Hasselbeck brought in as a mentor and starting QB. Which one of you had that down as a prediction last January? Both quarterback moves seem positive but who knows.

Ok, I admit it. I’m old and I hate change. New coaches in, old coaches I knew out. I have two new quarterbacks I’m supposed to root for but I hardly know who they are. Seventeen players of the 53 man roster are rookies or free agents. Chris Johnson is out, now he’s in. Kenny Britt? I have to check the police blotter everyday to see if he’s in his condo or in the slammer. Next your going to tell me they replaced Bambi on the cheerleading squad.

I’m old. I want to know where the remote is, if it’s going to rain and if I can get the early bird special at a discount. When I tell my buddy I got lucky, it means I found a good parking space. I don’t know this team.

Add in a lockout all summer and Chris Johnson holding out until a week before the first game, the whole aura of the team and season is a bit unsettling.

Ok, I feel better now. 

The AFC South is totally up for grabs this year. You have Peyton Manning still banged up and not starting for the first time since kindergarden. At least the Colts won’t have that, “should we go undefeated or rest our players” debate. The Houston Texans have been picked to finish first for the last few years but let you down more often than a prom date. Jacksonville might be better but I can’t tell. If they’re not on tv and no one shows up for their games, do they still count?

So, it’s wide open for the Titans. Jerry Gray replaced Chuck Cecil as defensive coordinator and I believe will be more aggressive, using man to man coverage as a way to blitz more. Of coarse, every new coordinator says they’ll be more aggressive. Since the Titans pretty much stunk it up on defense last year, there’s only one way to go. Rookie backer Akeem Ayers should make a big difference. Remember the days when, as a fan, you waited for the defense to take the field because they always made things happen? I just realized old people always say, “remember the days”.... hummm.

The Titans play their first game of the season this Sunday at 1pm in Jacksonville. The Jags have their own set of changes to deal with. They just missed the playoffs last year so I think we’ll find out quickly where the Titans stand. The NFL season kicks off Thursday with the Saints and the Packers so don’t miss that one. Time to go, I need my nap.

 - Mike Dougher

Well, John Parker Wilson played his way off an NFL roster in the final preseason game of 2011 as the Atlanta Falcons finish winless going 0-4 falling to the Baltimore Ravens 21-14 Thursday night.

Wilson, the third stringer for the last two seasons finished a pretty dreadful preseason that saw him get battered and bruised and throw two interceptions, one of which was returned 65 yards for a Ravens touchdown.

Atlanta reserves have been pretty anemic all preseason, as they were unable to hold a lead in the first two preseason games and gave up a lead in this one as well.  Both Wilson and Chris Redman threw pick-6’s this preseason as well adding to the reserves woes.  The Falcons suffer their first winless preseason since 2003, the year Michael Vick was injured against these same Ravens eventually sliding to 5-11 and costing Dan Reeves his job as head coach.

Despite the winless preseason there appears to be no concern according to head coach Mike Smith. “To say am I disappointed, yes I’m disappointed. To say am I concerned, no I’m not concerned. This football team is a very mature football team and we had a plan in place in terms of things that we had to get accomplished looking at, and I think we’ve been able to do that through the preseason,” he said.

Neither team mustered much offense in this preseason finale. It was a Kodak moment for many.  A lot who took the field Thursday may have stepped foot on a professional football field for the last time.  Many will head back to their day job, others to the practice squad, Arena football or even Canadian or UFL.  But NFL… no.

Atlanta will start the season now with only two quarterbacks on the roster with Matt Ryan and Redman his backup.  It’s probably best that way for Wilson who was knocked out of the first preseason game and all but got knocked out of this one.  His two turnovers - the interception mentioned earlier and a fumble inside the Raven’s five-yard line were converted into scores by Baltimore.

There will be an over abundance of running backs on the new roster. Antone Smith secured his spot on the roster gaining 114 yards on 11 carries including a 46-yard touchdown scamper. He also hauled in a 42-yard screen pass.  Fifth round draft pick Jacquizz Rodgers impressed this preseason and also secured a spot to back Michael Turner and Jason Snelling.

The receiving corps is set with Roddy White, Julio Jones, Tony Gonzalez, Reggie Kelly, Kenny Mier and Harry Douglas the most notable names.

Both punters got a workout Thursday as the two combined for 15 punts on the night.

The Falcons begin the defense of their NFC South crown Sunday as a well-rested group of starters head to Chicago for the game Sunday. “Tonight we obviously rested several of our number-one players as we get ready to go for the regular season. Our number one goal is to be as healthy as possible for that first game. That’s one of the things that we accomplished tonight,”  said Smith.

 - Dave Weinthal

One thing that is glaringly noticeable in Atlanta’s 34-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers is Thomas Dimitroff’s failure to address the true shortcoming of the Falcons this off-season: the secondary.

Ben Roethlisburger shredded the Falcons’ secondary hitting second year wideout Antonio Brown for scores of 77 and 44 yards in the first half.

When the Falcons got smoked last year by the Packers in the first round of the playoffs last January it was evident that the secondary needed help as Aaron Rodgers shredded the Atlanta secondary late in the first half and never looked back winning by three touchdowns.   During the course of the 2010 season the secondary would suffer lapses and get burned.  They gave up late scores in the first Packers game, the Ravens and a few others as they were the Cardiac Kids at times, relying on then third year starter Matt Ryan to lead them to a come from behind victory.

Atlanta only fell short three times in the regular season last year – to the Saints, the same Steelers and the Eagles.  They needed a goal line stance in their first meeting with Tampa Bay and fluke plays in coming from behind to beat the 49ers and Bucs at the end of the regular season.

Since Ryan and coach Mike Smith arrived on the scene four years ago now, the offense has been top notch.  The defense has had issues going as far back as the Dan Reeves’ era and really beyond, maybe since the days of Leeman Bennett.

My only guess is the Falcons want to get into a scoring match and see who can light the scoreboard up more.  That’s what happened to Dan Marino during the majority of his era at Miami (1986-94), and the Patriots a couple of seasons ago.  You can also throw in the Colts the season Manning beat Marino’s TD pass season record, but still not win a Super Bowl.  I guess it will be a staring match of who blinks first.

There are a lot of contributors to the Falcons’ success the past number of years who are now gone for better or worse.  With the draft gamble trading up for Julio Jones, that made Justin Peele, Brain Finneran and Michael Jenkins expendable.  Jenkins came back after missing almost half the season in ’10 to actually catch more passes that Roddy White the last couple of weeks as White found himself stifled in double coverage constantly.  Jenkins, a number two receiver and a possession one at that was let go to add more speed to compliment White a now three time Pro Bowler and leading receiver in the NFL last season.

Jerious Norwood was also let go.  I saw this coming.  When he was drafted he was the heir apparent to Warrick Dunn, a similar style or running back,, but much, much faster.  I remember seeing Norwood take pitch from Vick in his first preseason game cut around the right corner and dash 60 yards untouched for a score.  His shortcoming, however is that he’s never been healthy and entire season his whole career.

Michael Turner was picked up from San Diego when Smith took over and Atlanta switched to a power running game instead of a finesse game. Turner, however has been running like an old man all preseason.  He has gained less than 60 yards all preseason.  And at 29, things are beginning to look a little shaky.  Atlanta’s history with power running backs are all short lived.  Eddie Ray, William Andrews, Jamaal Anderson, TJ Duckett and now Turner, who has gained less and less each season except one.  He missed part of ’09 with knee and ankle issues.  Anderson tore ACLs in each knee, one in ’99 and the other in ’01.  Andrews had similar injury issues. Duckett was just odd man out playing under three coaches in three four years and was shuffled off to Detroit.

Saturday Atlanta’s offense pretty much moved the ball at will.  But instead of getting in the end zone, they had to settle for three field goals.  Ryan threw the ball 42 times in the first half but threw a costly interception early that gave the Steelers three points eventually.

Roddy White had a big night catching eight passes for 101 yards.  The Falcons went into the locker room at the half trailing 24-16.

The second half was uneventful except for a 95-yard interception return for touchdown of a Chris Redman pass.

Atlanta’s second team once again was overmatched as they were outscored 10-0 in the second half.

Atlanta will finish the preseason tonight (Thursday) as they host the Baltimore Ravens.  Make sure you have your scorecard handy.  There will be guys out there you have never seen and probably will never see again dressed out and playing.

The Falcons’ regular season opens the following Sunday, September 9 as they visit the Chicago Bears.  An interesting not to that game – maybe only to me as they commemorate the tenth anniversary of 9/11.  The first game played after the Trade Center bombing, the Falcons hosted the Bears.  Before that game started a live feed was broadcast of then President George W. Bush announcing he sent troops in to Afghanistan and Iraq in retaliation.  The sold-out crowd stood and cheered for five minutes straight.  Kind of interesting that these two teams are playing each other on the anniversary… at least I think so.

 - Dave Weinthal

Another preseason game and another lead the Atlanta Falcons could not hold folding Friday to the Jacksonville Jaguars 15-13.

Matt Ryan despite a number of dropped balls by his receivers led the no 0-2 Falcons to a 10-3 halftime lead.  Ryan had a relatively pedestrian first half completing 7 of 15 passes for 116 yards.  76 of those yards came on a slant route run by Harry Douglass who took the short pass and raced untouched into the end zone.  Douglass was aided by a key block from first round draft pick Julio Jones who ensured no one would lay a hand on him as he rumbled for the score.

Michael Turner was bottled up most of the half gaining only 14 yards on seven carries.  Rookie Jaquizz Rodgers looked pretty good in gaining 39 yards on seven carries.

Douglass, after missing most of last season with a knee injury is turning heads in the first two preseason games.  He is currently the number three receiver behind Roddy White and Jones, but has played like a number one, catching two touchdown passes for far this preseason, scoring Atlanta’s only touchdown Friday.

The Jacksonville quarterback competition was underwhelming at best Friday as well.  Incumbent David Garrad was 7-of-12 for 99 yards and an interception, while number 10 overall pick Blaine Gabbert was 11-of23 for 96 yards.

"Garrard does what he does and that's to manage football games. He lets the plays come to him. He plays within the system and is a very good field manager. Gabbert can make every single throw. His future is very bright. I think he's going to be a very good quarterback in this league,” said Falcons cornerback Dunte Robinson.

Chris Redman took over QB duties in third and led a patented Atlanta double-digit play drive, which was marred by two penalties as the Falcons were forced to settle for a Matt Bryant 34-yard field goal.  For the drive Redman was 6-of-9 for 60 yards.  The rest of the game the 9-year vet was 4-of-5 for another 16 yards.  He finished 10-of-14 for 76 yards.

The Jaguars started to peck away at the Atlanta 10-point lead at that point.  Gabbert led the Jags down on the next drive highlighted by a 28 yard completion to Dontrelle Inman to help set up a Josh Scobe 54-yard field goal.

On the ensuing kickoff Antone Smith fumbled and the Panthers recovered on the Atlanta 12-yard line.  Atlanta’s defense held, holding the Jags to a 28-yard field goal to shorten Atlanta’s lead to 13-9.

Luke McCown took over in the fourth quarter and looked like he was the most prepared of the three Jaguar QBs.  Midway through the fourth quarter McCown drove Jacksonville downfield going 6-of-7 on the drive for 75 yards, capping it off by hitting Armon Binns from 12 yards out.

McCown then showed why he was a third stringer as he missed a wide open receiver in the end zone on the two-point conversion and was intercepted.

Atlanta could not muster up much the rest of the game as they were unable to reach Jacksonville territory the rest of the game.  Jacksonville ran out the final minutes of the game and came away with a 15-13 win.

"We responded well early to adversity defensively on a couple of drives that started on the plus-side of the field and held them to three points. It was good to see and with the exception of one play that got out on us, we played pretty well in the first half," Jaguars’ head coach Jack Del Rio said.

Atlanta stays on the road for this weekend’s preseason match up.  They travel north to face the Pittsburgh Steelers.

 - Dave Weinthal

The Miami Dolphins defeated the Atlanta Falcons Friday night in preseason action 28-23.  Who cares?  Despite the loss, Atlanta team owner Arthur Blank should thank his lucky stars that former Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga outbid him for the services of Bill Parcells in 2007.

As you may recall after a disastrous ’07 campaign that saw franchise quarterback Michael Vick go to a federal penitentiary, first year coach Bobby Petrino leave after a humiliating loss on Monday Night Football to be introduced later that night as the head coach of Arkansas and total dissention amongst the ranks, Atlanta’s futility was only matched by the Miami Dolphins who saw their head coach leave in the off-season after declaring he wasn’t going anywhere to return to college, turning down Drew Brees as a free agent pickup at quarterback, passing on Brady Quinn to draft Ted Guinn, Jr., and finish the season 1-15 for the worst record in the league and franchise history. The last being ironic since the ’72 Dolphins are the league’s only perfect team (17-0).

Parcells, who won two Super Bowl titles with the Giants and led the Patriots to a Super Bowl (only to lose to Green Bay and Brett Favre), yet failed miserably in NY with the Jets and only did a half-ass job in Dallas before being shown the door, was courted heavily by both Blank and Huizenga to lead their teams back to the promise land.  The Dolphins won the bidding war and where are they now.

Atlanta has three straight winning seasons, the first time in their franchise history they’ve had two winning seasons in a row, and in 2010 they finished the season with the league’s best record, 13-3.

The Dolphins, like all of Parcells other teams came out of the gates strong and won the AFC East under first year coach Tony Sparano, a Parcells disciple from Dallas (Parcell’s previous stint) going 11-5.  The last two have been mediocre at best with matching 7-9 records, total disharmony on the team, no real quarterback talent and running back by committee and high school offensive schemes (the dreaded “Wildcat”).  Thank you Bill for leaving the Falcons alone.  And thank you Thomas Dimitroff for making the Falcons a respected franchise in the NFL.  It’s only taken 45 years or so.

That being said, Atlanta’s first team looked sharp in limited action as Ryan led the Falcons to two scores in the two series the first team took part in. 

Ryan finished the night 6-of-10 for 90 yards hitting Harry Douglass over the middle from 20 yards out.

“I thought we did a good job offensively. The first drive, I don’t think we executed the way we wanted to, but after we knocked off some of that rust and the defense gave us a short field. Those are situations that are going to come up during the year and I thought we did a great job capitalizing on the short field and going down and putting points on. On the third drive, I felt like we got into a little bit of a rhythm and we did a really nice job,” said Ryan.

Michael Turner looked good in limited exposure as well.  The now perennial Pro Boilw runner ran the ball four times for 21 yards and capped off the first drive with a two-yard plunge to give the Falcons the early lead.

Rookie wideout Julio Jones looked impressive in his debut catching two passes for 43 yards.

“I thought he did a good job tonight. I think he had two catches when I was in there. He was on top of the game-plan, with the condensed game plan that we had. He was on top of that. He went out there and ran really good routes. All–in-all, I thought he did a good job,” Ryan said of Jones.

Chad Henne, however didn’t look as sharp.  The second year starter, third year pro threw errantly often and was picked off twice.  He did get one scoring drive to his credit before giving way to Matt Moore.  Henne hit Brian Hartline down the left sideline for a 44-yard scoring strike to make the score 17-7 at that point.

Moore, a castoff from Carolina had a really nice night under center for the Dolphins.    He finished his night 11-of-18 for 123 yards and two touchdowns.  The first of those came with eight seconds left in the first half as he hit Roberto Wallace to make the score 17-14 at the half.

I think Matt did a good job coming into the ball game. We had some different personnel to work with. That’s kind of what I know about Matt. He stepped up a couple of times in the pocket, had a few nice throws, and had some really good plays,” said Sparano.

John Parker Wilson looked pretty good for Atlanta as he was 12-of-19 for 111 yards.  The third year pro was sacked three times, however, the last requiring him to be led off the field and into the locker room for evaluation.

Matt Bryant extended Atlanta’s lead to 20-14 midway through the third quarter before the Dolphins reserves came on strong.  Moore completed a 6-yard scoring strike to Clyde Moore as time ran out in the third quarter to give the upstart Dolphins a 21-20 lead.  Phillip Livas then made a spinning, spectacular 75-yard punt return to extend the lead to 28-20 with 10:25 to play. 

The Falcons managed another Bryant field goal with 3:37, making the score 28-23, which is where it ended.

The Falcons take to the road next week to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in Jacksonville.

 - Dave Weinthal

Super Bowl Sunday is upon us. That being said, which starting quarterback comes from better pedigree? Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers is about to make his first start in a Super Bowl. The Pro Bowl quarterback went to Cal a member of the Pac 10 Conference. His rival, Ben Roethlisberger, who already has two Super Bowl rings to his name went to Miami, Ohio, a member of the Mid-American Conference or the MAC as it is more commonly referred.

As far as pedigree for a Super Bowl quarterback no conference has sent as many quarterback to the big game as the Pac 10. 16 out of 44 Super Bowls to date have had a quarterback from the conference. But the results are very mixed. The Pac 10 is 8-8 in Super Bowl appearances with Rodgers’ play casting the deciding vote Sunday in Dallas.

To date, Roethlisberger is the only quarterback from the MAC and is undefeated at 2-0 going into the match up against the Packers.

One thing going against Rodgers Sunday is his alma mater, Cal has sent a quarterback to the big game three other times and all three times they have lost. First Joe Capp and the Vikings were defeated by Kansas City in the 1970 Super Bowl. Len Dawson was the winning quarterback and he played his college ball at Purdue of the Big Ten Conference. The following year Craig Morton of the Dallas Cowboys was the losing quarterback against Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts. Unitas went to Louisville, now a member of the Big East. Morton lost again years later as quarterback of the Denver Broncos when they lost to Roger Staubach and the Dallas Cowboys. Roger the Dodger was a Navy Midshipman, and the team is a major independent with no conference affiliate.

The conference with the second most number of appearances in the Super Bowl is the SEC with 12 appearances. Much like the Pac 10, the SEC is 50/50 in results with a 6-6 record. And for the record, the SEC won the first three Super Bowls. The first two by Bart Starr (Alabama) and the third by Joe Namath. Of the six wins, four have come from Alabama with single wins by Tennessee and Ole Miss. SEC teams not faring well in Super Bowl action include Florida (Rex Grossman/Chicago), LSU (David Woodley/Miami), and Georgia (Fran Tarkington/Minnesota).

The ACC hasn’t done too well in Super Bowl action with a 2-7 record that includes four straight losses for Miami (Jim Kelly/Buffalo) with only Florida State (Brad Johnson/Tampa Bay) and West Virginia (Jeff Hostetler/New York Giants).

The major independents have done pretty well garnering a 7-4 Super Bowl record with Notre Dame winning five of them (four thanks to Joe Montana/San Francisco) and two by Navy (Roger Staubach/Dallas Cowboys. Notre Dame actually has more Super Bowl winning quarterbacks than any other school with five wins (four by Montana and one by Joe Theismann).

The Big 10 is 7-5 in Super Bowl action, buoyed by three titles courtesy of Michigan’s Tom Brady (New England) and four by Purdue (Len Dawson/ Kansas City, Bob Griese/Miami, Drew Brees/New Orleans).

Purdue actual has more different quarterbacks in the Super Bowl with the three mentioned above. Notre Dame has also put three different quarterbacks in the Super Bowl (Daryl Lamonica/Oakland, Joe Montanta’San Francisco, and Joe Theismann/Washington). Brigham Young has sent two to the big game – both winners (Jim McMahon/Chicago and Steve Young/San Francisco).

Two historically black campuses have been proudly represented going 1-1 in Super Bowl action. Doug Williams won quarterbacking the Washington Redskins (Grambling State) and Steve McNair of the Tennessee Titans came up a yard short (Alcorn State).

There’s no telling what will happen Sunday, but there is a little history of the quarterbacks in the game and their school’s pedigree when it comes to competing and winning a Super Bowl.

- David N. Marks

Well, the Atlanta Falcons lived down to everyone’s expectations Saturday night as they were humiliated in the Georgia Dome by the Green Bay Packers 48-21, ending their quest for Super Bowl XLV.

“I think everyone was disappointed by the outcome and disappointed in the way we played,” said Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. “But you have to give a lot of credit to the way Green Bay played. They played really well and made a ton of great plays.”

No one gave this team a chance. No one. Even their own beat writer Paul Newberry who wrote a disparaging article about the team Saturday morning going into great detail that the Packers were a legendary team with a long track record and that the Falcons were… the Falcons, a bunch of pretenders.

Coming into Saturday’s game the Falcons won more games this season than anyone except New England in the NFL (who also lost in the first round), and had the number five offense and defense in the league. Despite all that, seven Pro Bowl selections (most in the NFL), the team all season has been treated like Rodney Dangerfield – no respect.

I’m mad. Not as a sports journalist, but as a fan. Well, as a sports journalist as well. If Mr. Newberry runs across this article for some reason (Googling his name), if I ever run into him I will squarely kick him in the nuts for his utter disrespect for the franchise he displayed in his article.

True, the Falcons have never won the Super Bowl, and didn’t have back-to-back winning seasons until the Mike Smith/Matt Ryan era, they have been a far more successful franchise than Detroit, Cleveland, Houston, and Arizona. The last time the Lions won anything or were even considered competitive for a championship run was before they had facemasks on their helmets. The Browns, at least the new Browns (circa 1999 franchise) has only had one winning season, and haven’t been competitive since Marty Schottenheimer was their coach over 20-plus years ago – the same franchise that fired Bill Belichick as their head coach. Arizona had a decent run the two previous seasons and got lucky in ’08 in a weak AFC West, but now are back to being a four or five win team for who knows how long now.

Despite inconsistencies, the Falcons have been in the playoffs four of the last nine years. That’s better than Miami, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Oakland, Kansas City, Denver, the NY Jets, Cincinnati, Houston, New Orleans and Minnesota.

That being said, it was sadly obvious watching the Falcons play Saturday that they read what everyone else was saying about them and lived down to those expectations.

Coming into the game they were the least penalized teams in the league. After the first quarter, they were already flagged more times than three or four games combined. The secondary that had kept guys like Terrell Owens, Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Bolden in check and throttled quarterbacks like Joe Flacco, Sam Bradford and Aaron Rodgers earlier in the season were getting smoked constantly. And Ryan aka “Matty Ice” who was only intercepted nine times all season was picked off on consecutive series, the latter a pick-six as the first half came to an end. All this spelled doom for a team poised for a run for glory.

The Dome was the loudest it had been since ’04, the last time a playoff game was hosted. Things began well as Zac Brown sang the National Anthem before an unfurled American flag that was the size of the entire football field.

“I thought we came out and started pretty fast,” said Ryan. “We moved the ball pretty effectively on the first drive, the defense gave us the turnover on Green Bay’s first drive. I thought we were in a pretty good rhythm.”

Atlanta took the opening kickoff and more the chains a little picking up two first downs before being forced to punt.

Green Bay took over deep in their territory and on third and 13 Rodgers found Greg Jennings over the middle for 30 yards. The ball was stripped out of his hands and recovered by Brent Grimes.

Atlanta took advantage of that turnover and drove down mixing Ryan passes and runs finishing the series off with a Michael Turner touchdown run from 12 yards out to give Atlanta an early 7-0 lead.

Green Bay then marched 81 yards on 13 plays to tie the score as Rodgers hit Jordy Nelson from six yards out to tie the score. That was the first of four scoring drives of over 80 yards for Rodgers and the Packers.

However all was still well for the Falcons at this point. On the ensuing kickoff Eric Weems returned it 102 yards for a touchdown. Weems, one of the seven Pro Bowl selections was one of the few bright spots on what quickly turned into a nightmare on Saturday for Atlanta and the 70,000-plus faithful.
Pinned deep again, Green Bay moved the ball 92 yards to tie the score. The 10-play drive featured long completions to Donald Driver and James Jones. John Kuhn finished off the drive with a one-yard plunge to even the score at 14.

Atlanta looked to be back on a roll as Ryan was able to move the Falcons deep into Green Bay territory. Atlanta had marched to the Packer 14 before Charles Woodson came on a safety blitz, sacking Ryan. Ryan saw a lot of turf Saturday as Green Bay sacked him a total of five times.

With it third-and-21 on the 26 Ryan threw deep into the corner of the end zone and was picked off by Tramon Williams, ending the Atlanta threat.

Green Bay took advantage of the turnover going 80 yards on seven plays three of which were 20 yard completions as they took the lead 21-14 on a 20-yard scoring strike from Rodgers to Jones.

Atlanta appeared to bounce right back before the half as Ryan quickly move the Falcons to the Packer 28. He was sacked on the next play for a seven yard loss with eight seconds remaining. Trying to get a little closer for a Matt Bryant field goal, Williams jumped the route and picked off Ryan again returning it 70 yards for a touchdown as time expired in the half to give Green Bay a 28-14 lead at the half.

“That wasn’t a good decision on my part,” said Ryan, talking about making the throw. “We were in field goal range at that point and I just should have thrown the ball away.”

Atlanta came out furious to begin the second half as John Abraham sacked Rodgers on the first play of the half. On third and 13 Rodgers converted hitting Jones once again this time for 15 yards. Once again the Packers marched 80 yards on ten plays with Rodgers finishing the drive off with a seven-yard run and a 35-14 lead. And that was pretty much it for the game.

The Packers ended up scoring 48 points for the night against the number five defense in the league. The win was the largest in the 89-year history of the storied Green Bay franchise and the worst playoff loss in Falcons’ history. It was also the largest loss during the Mike Smith/Matt Ryan era.

Rodgers set a Packer record with 366 yards passing, three touchdown passes, one rushing touchdown and the highest completion percentage in playoff history for a quarterback with at least 30 attempts (86.1%).
The vaunted Falcons running game was non-existent as Atlanta rushed for a total of 44 yards. Michael Turner had 39 yards on 10 carries. Most of Atlanta’s Pro Bowlers had little to show for their efforts. Besides Turner’s 39 yards, tight end Tony Gonzalez caught only one pass for seven yards and ended up rolling his ankle and was helped off the field. Roddy White had only 57 yards receiving. The only bright spot for the Falcons on this gloomy Saturday was Weems who averaged over 32 yards a return.

With the loss the Falcons season comes to a resounding end. They finish the year 13-4. A lot of good has come out of the year and a lot of work to get Atlanta over the next hump – winning a playoff game is in store for this off-season. There are still some issues with the defensive secondary to deal with and perhaps a deeper receiving corps. But all-in-all. 2010 was a fun ride.

“Anytime you’re in the playoffs you have an opportunity to go win it all, and when that doesn’t happen I think it’s frustrating,” said Ryan.

- Dave Weinthal

“I don't really have a comment about it. I'm under contract. I've said time and time again I'll finish my career at Tennessee.”

And so the speculation begins on the Jeff Fisher era in Tennessee.  The beleaguered leader of the Titans finds the team and himself in an unusual position at the end of the season – last place.

Sunday saw Tennessee’s season end like many of their games this season with a fumbled chance at victory biting them in the end as Adam Vinatieri and the Colts capitalized on a Kerry Collins fumble late with the score tied only to lose on a 43-yard field goal as time expired.

“ It's unfortunate it happened at the time it did. Guys fought hard and did everything they could to get back in and win the game. We were right there at the end. It's just something I didn't do well enough,” said Collins of the fumbled snap.

Sunday’s game was a back and forth affair with Tennessee matching all of Peyton Manning and the Colts’ moves.  The teams exchanged field goals in the first and second quarter before Manning hit Reggie Wayne from 15 yards out to make the score 13-6 at the half.

Collins evened up the score early in the third when he hit Kenny Britt from 21 yards out to tie the score.  The quarterback had one of his better days all season completing 28-of-39 for 300 yards and two touchdowns.

Manning returned fire on the next series regaining the lead on a 30-yard touchdown strike to Pierre Garcon to make the score 20-13.

And thus the Titans answered that with a nine play scoring drive highlighted by Collins’ 15-yard scoring strike down the middle to Chris Brown to even everything at 20.

For the rest of the game it was a battle of field position until late when Dominic Rhodes fumbled and Tennessee recovered returning it to the Colts’ 37-yard line with 1:34 to play.

“We had a chance to win the game and we knew that we just had to run the ball and get a first down or two.  We had to get the clock down and give Rob (Bironas) a chance to kick a field goal and we just didn’t capitalize,” said Brown who was held to 35 yards on the ground.

The Titans jubilation lasted nine seconds as Kerry Collins fumbled the snap two plays later.  Manning proceeded to complete passes of 20 and 11 yards and Joseph Addai ran for a small gain setting up Vinatieri’s winning kick.

““It definitely tears your heard to pieces and things like that. But what I always say is that one play or one man can’t lose a game. It takes 60 minutes of football and 11 people on each side,” said Britt.

After starting the season 5-2 and in first place Tennessee went into a tailspin they never recovered losing eight of nine.  And Fisher once again is caught in a staring match with owner Bud Adams on the direction of the team.  It has yet to be determined who will blink just yet.

Last season Fisher’s hand was forced by the team owner to reinsert Vince Young back into the lineup despite the coach having no confidence in the quarterback’s leadership skills.  They did finish 8-2 under Young and started well this season, but Young’s outburst on the sidelines earlier in the season over an injury and Fisher’s perceived faith in him caused quite a sight when he threw his pads into the stands after a game.  Fisher immediately put him on Injured Reserved for a thumb injury.

“Fish (Jeff Fisher) is a good coach.  My three years playing with him, I have enjoyed him as a coach.  He’s been coaching for sixteen years so obviously he’s been doing something right,” said Johnson.

Adams, who has brought attention to himself by ordering the team to draft Young in ’06, and siding with him over last season’s benching, forcing his return to the starting lineup, and most recently passing out Christmas cards featuring himself with Young and Johnson sans Fisher.

Despite that, Fisher plans to begin work on next season already even with suitors like San Francisco salivating at the opportunity of him being cut loose by Adams.  He says he plans to stay in Tennessee.

“I'm under contract. Yeah, I hope that I am.”

 - David N. Marks

Sunday the Georgia Dome saw two highly-touted college quarterbacks face off as the Atlanta Falcons’ Matt Ryan and the Carolina Panthers’ Jimmy Clausen faced off.  Both quarterbacks wore the number two on their jersey.  Ryan played just like the Pro Bowl quarterback he was named earlier in the week completing 22-of-32 for two touchdowns while Clausen played like… well… number two.   Atlanta won convincingly 31-10, clinching the number one seed throughout the playoffs.

“Being NFC South champs is exciting,” said Ryan.  “We still have a lot of work left, but we’re excited to be playing at home.”

Atlanta’s ferocious defense kept Clausen off balance on his toes and on his backside most of the day.  When the clock struck 00:00 he probably wished he had stayed for his senior year at Notre Dame.

“They are playing very confidently right now,” Falcons’ head coach Mike Smith said about his defense.  “Sometimes statistics can be deceiving.  The statistics we really concern ourselves with every week is that we’ve got one more point than our opponent. I think one of the things our defense has done is they are maturing together as a unit.”

The first year starter was sacked three times, hurried and thrown to the turf a number of times and ran for his life on the other plays when he wasn’t handing the ball off to a back.

Despite all that, he really didn’t play that poorly.  Despite criticism by football “experts” and teammate Steve Smith (who didn’t play much this season, or the last couple for that matter) Clausen completed 19-of-33 passes for 182 yards, one touchdown and an interception.  The interception was thrown from the goal line and picked off at midfield on third down and served better than a punt would have since there was no return.

The problems with Carolina are far deeper than the play at quarterback.  Defense was shoddy and special teams have issues as well as witnessed by Eric Weems’ 55-yard return of a punt for a touchdown early in the first quarter to give the Falcons a 14-0 lead.

Atlanta ran like a well-oiled machine most of the game.  Ryan was in good form and mistake free as the Falcons took the opening kickoff and marched 80 yards in ten plays capped by a 6-yard scoring strike to Tony Gonzalez.

“Coming out on that first series, taking the ball 80 yards, going down and scoring kind of set the tempo for what we wanted to do all day,” Ryan said. 

Ahead 14-0 the Falcons drove once again deep into Carolina territory but Michael Turner fumbled for the second game in a row inside the five-yard line to end that threat.

On their next series they drove down to the Panther four-yard line and failed to convert on fourth and three turning the ball over on downs.  And once again failed on fourth and one from the Carolina 26, turning the ball over on downs.

“We made some mistakes and had some opportunities on some fourth down situations.  Coach Smith put the ball in our hands, so we feel there’s a lot of things for us to improve on,” said Ryan.

Just prior to the half Ryan led another scoring drive and finished this one off with a 14-yard strike to Roddy White to make the score 21-0 at the half.

Carolina showed a little moxie in the second half as they took the second half kickoff and drove into Falcons territory before settling for a John Kasay 23-yard field goal.

Atlanta responded with a field goal of their own to make the score 24-3.

Capitalizing on a Clausen interception the Falcons drove 56 yards on nine plays capped off by a three-yard run by Turner to make the score 31-3.

After that the reserves came in.

“It’s good when you put yourself in a position to have the game in hand and have a guy like Chris Redman go out there and take a few snaps.  He puts in so much time throughout the year and does everything that I do preparing and works really hard and doesn’t always get the opportunity to go out there and run around and throw some passes,” said Ryan.  “I was happy to see him out there.”

Clausen led Carolina to their only score as time was running out going 8-of-9 and hitting Jeff King from two yards out with 23 seconds to play, making the final score 31-10.

With the win the Falcons clinch the number one seed in the NFC playoffs, the first time since the 1980 team.  Their 13-3 record is their second best in franchise history.  The 1998 Falcons went 14-2 on their way to a Super Bowl berth.  With the loss the Panthers clinch the number one overall pick in the NFL draft.

Roddy White beat his old franchise record for receiving yards with 1,389.  He also set a franchise record for most receptions with 112, one more than Terrance Mathis’ previous mark.

“Roddy had a really fantastic year.  He played from the start – early on,” said Ryan.  “He made catches in critical situations and scored a lot of touchdowns for us.  He’s one of the premiere guys in this league at that position.”

The victory also ties Ryan with Hall-of-Famer Dan Marino for most wins in his first three seasons with 33.  He also finished the game with a quarterback rating of over 100 for the seventh time this season.  He is undefeated in his career when he finishes with a quarterback rating of 100 or greater.

The Falcons have next week to rest up before their playoff game Saturday, January 15.  They will face either Green Bay Seattle or New Orleans.  Kickoff that night will be at 8pm and the game will air on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

Ah, Christmas. I don’t think it could have been much better. Good friends and family around the house, a fire in the fireplace. I even got some pretty nice gifts this year. A cold beverage, great food and to top it off we even had a white Christmas. What a weekend! Then I sat down to watch the Titans and wanted to hurt children and break their toys. The Titans were never in this game, losing to the Kansas City Chiefs, 34-14.

Here is what I know about the Chiefs. They have been terrible for years. At some point they had enough, cleaned house, and went after three coaches and a GM that actually knew what they were doing. Coach Todd Haley was offensive coordinator with Arizona ’07-’08. (Hello Kurt Warner). They then cut a large limb off the New England tree, bringing in Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennell and Scott Pioli and presto chango, they are going to the playoffs. The fact that Bill Belichick puts computer chips into his players apparently doesn’t affect them when they leave. Matt Cassel has been a wonderful addition for the Chiefs at quarterback.

Pioli brings in the likes of Eric Berry, Javier Arenas, Reshard Langford out of the draft, all from our neck of the woods, and they dominate almost from the time they got off the wagon train in KC. The owner of the Chiefs said it was time to change. So it appears the Tennessee Titans may be at one of those crossroads as well. The question is, will Bud Adams have the courage and knowledge to make sweeping changes. Changes I think that need to come.

Here’s the thing, the Titans were never a very good team from the beginning of the year. There is a fine line between winning and losing in this league. The smallest of things make average teams great and visa versa. Going into this year, the Titans had Chris Johnson but the offensive line had lost two men. No one notices offensive linemen but they make and break a team. With two men gone, the line became very average.

The Titans have never had many stars, they’ve gotten it done with teamwork and guts but at some point you need players and the Titans are lacking in that department. Is it time to clean house like the Chiefs did a couple years ago? All I know is it worked for the Chiefs, it worked for Denise Richards, and it worked for Brad Pitt. Hell, it always works for Brad Pitt.

Here is the strangest thing of all. The Titans will be sitting at home for the playoffs, but the house will be full of players from Dallas, Houston, San Diego and the Giants, Green Bay and New Orleans are not all going to make it. You look at the rosters of those teams and compare it to Tennessee. It’s not even close.

My conclusion is, how did Tennessee win any games, and how do they get better player personnel? I guess the only way is to steal more coaches from the Patriots and get some guys with those computer chips.

So while the likes of Kerry Collins and Michael Griffin will be watching the playoffs from the couch, so will Phillip Rivers, Tony Romo, Andre Johnson, Eli Manning and possibly Aaron Rodgers. Gosh, I get a warm feeling all over when I think I’ll be doing the same things as those guys. They’ll all be watching the playoffs, except Rivers, who will be in front of a mirror.

For those of you that missed it, Kerry Collins had a Nuke LaLoosh moment in Sunday’s game. Much like LaLoosh throwing and hitting the mascot in Bull Durham, Collins threw a sideline pass that hit William Hayes in the head. He had a concussion. I swear you can’t make this stuff up. It’s off to Peytonville for the last game before the pain train stops. The players will be playing for jobs and the way it looks, the coaches might be too.

- Mike Dougher

Two very uncharacteristic turnovers cost the Atlanta Falcons their eight game winning streak as they fell to the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints 17-14 at a packed Georgia Dome on Monday Night Football.

The game, which was much hyped lived up to billing as a see-saw battle between two of this year’s Pro Bowl quarterbacks (announced Tuesday) saw Matty Ice not given the chance to enhance his legend and nickname.

Trailing 17-14 with a little over three minutes remaining Atlanta regained possession deep in their own territory.  A ferocious Saint rush forced Matt Ryan out of the pocket as he headed up field gaining 20 yards, going out of bounds at the 39.

Ryan completed his next pass across the middle for a short gain of four yards.  His next two passes fell incomplete making it fourth-and-six.  With over two-and-a-half minutes remaining coach Mike Smith decided to kick instead of allowing Ryan and the offense a chance to convert.

The gamble did not play off.  New Orleans converted twice and ran out the clock to preserve the three-point victory.

For two of the best teams not only in the NFC but NFL there were a lot of costly turnovers.  Trailing 3-0 late in the first quarter center Todd McClure fumbled the shotgun snap to Ryan that Jonathan Vilma recovered on the Atlanta 38.  Five plays later Pierre Thomas walked into the end zone from two yards out to extend the lead to 10-0.

Atlanta answered right away as they marched 78 yards in nine plays to make the score 10-7.  One big play on the drive was Michael Turner’s 27-yard run off right tackle.  That lone run accounted for more than half of his yardage in the game as he managed only 48 yards for the game gaining less than three yards an attempt.

Ryan completed a few nice passes, one to Tony Gonzalez, one to Jason Snelling and the scoring pass to Roddy White over the middle from seven yards out.

Atlanta took the second half kickoff and it appeared things were back on track for the first place Falcons.  They had one of their patented 10 play drives.  Three completions to Michael Jenkins a personal foul penalty and an interference call gave the Falcons a first and goal on the New Orleans one.  Turner was stopped for no gain on his first attempt.  On his second he fumbled.  It was Turner’s first fumble all season.

The third quarter was a dead heat before Drew Brees decided to get in the giving spirit.  On the first play of the fourth quarter Atlanta’s rush forced Brees out of the pocket as he rolled left.  He tried to toss a shuffle pass to Devery Henderson but Chauncey Davis was there to pick it off and rumble 23 yards of the go-ahead score.

On their next possession Brees decided to perform an encore as John Abraham pulled the ball out of the air for his first career interception.  Brees made the tackle to avoid back-to-back pick sixes.  Atlanta was unable to do anything with the ball and punted deep into Saints territory giving them the ball on their 10.

13 plays and seven minutes later Brees found Jimmy Graham from six yards out to give them the lead 17-14.

“It was a hard fought game. The reason why it is tough to play in the [Georgia] Dome is because this is a really good football team. The momentum of the game went back and forth, but we were fortunate enough to overcome the turnovers and make enough points to win the game,” said Saints head coach Sean Payton.

And that’s where we started this story.  Saints win and somehow stay in contention for the division title going into the final week of the season.  However, all Atlanta has to do to clinch the division and the conference top seed is to defeat the 2-14 Carolina Panthers in the Dome next Sunday.

During Atlanta’s eight-game winning streak the defense has allowed on average 20 points while the offense has scored an average of 30.

Despite the loss the game was a hit for ESPN.  Monday Night Football enjoyed their highest ratings since moving from ABC to the worldwide leader in sports.  Those that watched saw Brees throw for over 300 yards again, throw his 20th and 21t interception (career highs) and saw a game featuring about a dozen guys named to the Pro Bowl including Ryan, Turner, White, Gonzalez, Ovie Mughelli, Abraham, and Eric Weems alone from the Falcons roster.

Ryan once again was mistake free and his one touchdown pass ties him in third place overall for most touchdown passes in the franchise with 26 as he is behind only Steve Bartkowski’s 30 and 31.

Atlanta finishes the regular season concludes Sunday at the Georgia Dome where they will host the Carolina Panthers.  Kickoff is 1PM and will be aired on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

Tennessee fans knew it was up to them to change things and stop the Titan six game losing streak. Kevin Marchetti actually moved his tailgate site closer to the stadium for a change of luck. Jake Doomer drove in from Washington. He’d taken enough heat watching the Titans in DC sports bars. Mike Kriel even thought about coming to a game. He didn’t make it, but he did think about it. All this karma must have paid off. The Titans walked all over the Houston Texans, 31-17.

The Texans are a strange team. They have several stars but rarely come through. They have the top defensive end, the top receiver, a league leading rusher and a top ten quarterback but, in the end, they never get it done. It must be tough rooting for them. Then again, it still beats being a Giant fan this morning.

I was a little concerned before the game. It appeared that Nurse Ratched from “One Flew Over The Cockoo’s Nest” was handing out medication in small cups to everyone as they entered the stadium. No doubt it’s been a disappointing year as a Titan fan. Still I love watching every game because you never know from week to week what’s going to happen.

Going into Sundays games, the NY Jets, 10-4, had been out scored 55-9 in their last two games. Counting yesterday, Baltimore, who’s record is 10-4, has not scored a touchdown in the second half of a game, since week 10. It’s a crazy year in the NFL. It’s a year where John Skelton, the Fordam Flash, and Ryan Fitzpatrick, Harvard boy, both started on Sunday. Fordam and Harvard quarterbacks playing on the same day? Next you’ll tell me Vince Young and Coach Fisher play Twister together in their spare time. The only thing I can find of consistency, is that Phillip Rivers is still a jerk.

My cub reporters, Jake and Logan Doomer, somehow snuck down to the second row, around the twenty yard line to get a closer look at the action. It was then they got a glimpse of Vince Young. Much like Santa passing through the night, Vince showed up on the sideline for awhile before hitting the exit middle of the fourth quarter. I believe he had a table reserved for Donn Hanson and himself at Browns Diner. It’s funny, I watched the Green Bay/ New England game late Sunday night and they kept showing Aaron Rogers on the sidelines with a head set on. Apparently, Rogers is ok to help his team even though he has a concussion but Young can’t make it to a game because his thumb hurts. I like Vince and hope he does well in the future but don’t ever confuse Vince, the quarterback, with Vince, the leader. He simply doesn’t know how to do both.

So now the Titans hit the road, heading to Kansas City. I hear it’s lovely this time of year. KC has to win so it will be tough sledding for Tennessee.

And now, a little Christmas diddy from about 35 years ago, “Merry Christmas In The NFL.” Nothing says Christmas like a song about Howard Cosell, the L.A. Rams, and a betamax. Please picture Mike Kriel standing on his desk at the office party, reciting the following.

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through my brain
There’s football and thought’s of the upcoming game
My team colors were hung by the television set
In hopes they’d make it to the Super Bowl yet
When out on the street there arose such a clatter
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter
And what, with my wondering eyes should be seen
But Howard Cosell in a black limousine
He warmed up, then sprinted and dodged as he came
Whistling and shouting and calling by name
Now Houston, now Dallas now Pittsburgh, now Green Bay
On Denver, on Cleveland, On Oakland and L.A.
His eyes how they twinkled, like a cherry
He brought Christmas cards from Franco and Terry
And best wishes from Fran and Dandy Donn, too
Along with a pair of their old football shoes
He opened his bag full of presents for me
Jerseys and kneepads, and kicking tees
And record books containing all of the facts
And highlight tapes for my betamax
He selected the tape of Super Bowl seven
And we recapped the game ‘Til well past eleven
When the last play was run he picked his bag off the floor
Ran a play up the middle and right out the door
He lit a cigar, smiled and then
Motioned his arm, first down and ten
And I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight
Merry Christmas to all
See you next Monday night.

- Mike Dougher

Following Sunday’s dismantling of the Seattle Seahawks, the road to the Super Bowl in Dallas most likely will have to go through Atlanta first.

In defeating Seattle 34-18 Atlanta won their eighth game in a row convincingly, won their fourth consecutive road game and need to win only one of their two remaining games to clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

“I think one of the most important facets of preparing as a football team is being able to focus on the task at hand. Over the last five weeks we’ve really talked about focusing, especially since four of the five games were on the road. I think being able to do that has really served us very well thus far,” said Falcons head coach Mike Smith.

Seattle started off impressively taking the opening kickoff and drove 80 yards in 13 plays capped by a one yard run by Marshawn Lynch to give the Seahawks their only lead at 7-0.

Atlanta returned the favor on their first possession. Eric Weems started things off returning the kickoff 46 yards to give the Falcons the ball at midfield. Mixing runs by Michael Turner and passes from Matt Ryan they drove down to tie the score. They had a key fourth down conversion to keep the drive alive before ending the 15 play drive with a three-yard touchdown strike to Jason Snelling.

Ryan was only getting warmed up. The Atlanta QB while throwing for only 174 yards, made most of them count as he threw three touchdown passes on the day to set a personal career best 25.

However even bigger than that was maybe the beginning of the end for Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck. The one-time Super Bowl quarterback, multiple Pro Bowler looks like his time to ride into the sunset has finally arrived. Unlike his former mentor Brett Favre, (he backed up Favre in Green Bay and came to Seattle with Mike Holmgren) he seems to understand that as he was benched in the third quarter and replaced with Charlie Whitehurst. Hasselbeck has been battered and bruised for three seasons now, not playing a full season since’07. Sunday he was 10-of17 for 71 yards and two interceptions and also lost a fumble in the end zone that Atlanta recovered for a score. Before you knew it Seattle went from being up 7-0 to being down 34-10.

“Defensively, I can’t say enough about the way our guys played there in the third quarter,” said Smith.

Whitehurst wasn’t much better going 8-of-16 for 83 yards. Coach Pete Carroll will have an interesting offseason as he will have to reconfigure the offense and get a new quarterback and reevaluate the running game.

Ryan engineered a 14-play drive just before the half hitting Michael Jenkins in stride from 24 yards out to take a 17-10 advantage into the locker room.

One Seattle’s first three possessions of the second half Hasselbeck was stripped of the ball in the end zone by Jamaal Anderson and recovered by Jonathan Babineaux and intercepted twice. This gave the Falcons a 24 point lead and ushered Hasselbeck to the bench to watch Seattle still not be much better.

“That was a big play by DE Jamaal Anderson and I was glad to see DT Jonathan Babineaux come up with the ball. Anytime a defensive tackle gets to score a touchdown it’s a big day not only for the guy that gets it but for the whole group. They get excited about seeing their guy score,” said Smith.

Whitehurst did lead one relatively impressive drive taking 11 plays to move the team 88 yards for a score. He ran the ball in from a yard out and converted a two-point conversion, but that was about it for a Seahawk team despite being two games below .500 is sill in first place in the NFC West.

“There were too many bonehead plays. It’s too easy for a team like that when we give them stuff. We made it too easy for them,” said Carroll.

Roddy White caught seven passes to go over the century mark for the third year in a row. He has 106 on the season. He also leads the league in receiving yards with 1,284.

Tony Gonzalez caught four balls to give him 62 on the season setting a record for tight ends by having 60 or more catches for 12 consecutive years. He’s second in the league for tight end receptions.

Michael Turner had 82 yards on 25 carries and leads the NFC in rushing with 1,256 yards. He’s in fourth place overall 89 yards behind league leader Arian Foster.

With the win Atlanta improves to 12-2. That ties them with the 1980 team for second most wins in the season. If the Falcons win out they will tie the 1998 team’s 14-2 record. That team went to the Super Bowl.

Atlanta has a two game lead on both New Orleans in the division and Eagles for overall best record. So all they have to do is win one of their last two games to clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The next game won’t be easy as the Saints visit the Dome Monday night. “I see this as two teams that are playing very good football right now and there’s a lot at stake in this ballgame. We are going to approach it like it’s the most important game because it’s the next game,” said Smith.

The game kicks off Monday at 8:30PM and will be on ESPN.

- Dave Weinthal

As I approached LP Field late Thursday afternoon, a golden haze rose up on the horizon. No sunset this time, it was better than that. Tim and Bubba had gone all out to put their tailgate party over the top. You can see a sunset any time. Rarely do you see a spread like this. The 40” TV showing the pregame on the NFL Network was a really nice touch too.

I love hi-def TV, the players jump off the screen. The only down side I’ve found so far is when they’re showing highlights of Phillip Rivers. I cut over to my old black and white. The less I see of that guy the better off I am.

What a great way to start off a night of football in Nashville…. then the game started and it all went down hill. The smell of tailgating was wonderful; however we didn’t get a whiff of victory.

The Titans played the Indy Colts on Thursday evening on the NFL network. My first question is, if no one gets the NFL Network, does the game really count? I hope not. This Colts team is very beatable but in our season of giving, both Britt and Amato gave Peyton touchdown opportunities in the first half and that was enough. The final score of 30-28 is not indicative of how the game went. I miss Eddie George and Keith Bullock more every day.

Every Sunday I usually get together with Miley Cyrus to talk about the Titans. This week the cast of Glee showed up too. Michael, Lewis, Marti, Chester and Tommy all came by to talk the pros and cons of wearing tights as well as the on going saga of Vince Young. The conversation started slowly but as we passed the bong around a few times, the thoughts started flowing.

“Why is Vince Young not on the sidelines during the game,” Miley wondered as she took another hit. “When I broke up with Justin Bieber I still made it to the show.”

 “If it were just his thumb, he’d probably be there, but his feelings are hurt too,” Michael said. 

“Hey, this is serious. If we ever want to tailgate with Marchetti any more, we need to figure this out. I heard Fisher didn’t want him at the complex,” Marti chimed in after eating a box of cookies.

“Chester, how many times have you been fired?… and quit hogging the Cheetos .” Miley asked.

“Well, six if you don’t count of the resignations.”

“And how many times did your bosses invite you to their meeting when trying to figure out what to do with you?”

“None but I think I was in a bad cell area.”

Tommy put down the cheese wiz and had an idea. “Hey, I heard that Florida just pardoned Jim Morrison. I know he’s dead but so is Vince’s career. Maybe Bud Adams will pardon Young and all will be good.”

“Wow, that’s a great idea, now who wants pudding,” Lewis asked.

“Here’s what I think”, Miley said. “When Aretha Franklin started out, she signed with CBS records. She sang torch songs and it was good but not where she thought she should be. She traded herself to Atlantic records, where she worked with Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd and her career took off. Maybe that’s what needs to happen to Vince.”

We finally ran out of food and headed to the Krystal. I don’t remember the rest.

However this shakes out, I don’t see a happy ending. If both Fisher and Young come back next year, there will always be two camps feuding. It will divide fans, players and staff and I don’t think anyone really wants to live with that.

I’ve enjoyed Vince as a player but by all indications, he does not put in the time to be a great quarterback. He is not the sharpest crayon in the box and need to work harder than most to prepare. After four years, what you see is what you get.

Fisher is very stubborn and has not looked good in this either. Pick up the phone Jeff.

We also know that there is not another quarterback on the roster that can win. The way it’s going, Tennessee will be up there in the draft. I’d go for Cam Newton. They won’t have to pay as much since he’s already been paid by Auburn.

I’ve had Aretha Franklin on my mind because she is fighting cancer. She is a national treasure. Say a little prayer for her.

 - Mike Dougher

Michael Turner ran and Kroy Biermann and John Abraham rushed as the Atlanta Falcons made it seven wins in a row in a decisive 31-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers.

The Atlanta frontline had mixed day as they rang up five sacks of Carolina QB Casey Clausen, yet allowed the Panthers to run for 213 yards – 174 in the second half.

Nothing seemed to go right for the 1-11 Panthers including kickoffs.  Jonathan Stewart fumbled after the opening kickoff which was recovered by Atlanta at the Carolina 26, setting the tone for the game.

“We said we wanted to start fast and finish. I thought we got the first part of it right. We didn’t get the second part, but it was a very good start for us to create the turnover,” said Falcons’ head coach Mike Smith.

Turner broke off a nice16 yard run before Matt Ryan hit Tony Gonzalez for a four yard touchdown strike to get on the board first.

“I thought it was very workmanlike with Michael in terms of him running the football,” said Smith.

After a three and out the Atlanta machine went back to work.  Ryan started the game 7-for-7, hitting Harry Douglass down the left sideline for 46 yards as that helped set up the first of three Turner touchdowns and a 14-0 lead.

Atlanta was up 17-0 at half before Carolina’s offense… well at least their running game showed some life.

“We didn’t play very well after we jumped up on them. That’s something we’ve got to make sure we take a good, hard look at and address because we started fast but we weren’t able to sustain it and do it consistently,” said Smith.

On their first possession of the second half, Stewart broke free for 46 yards deep into Atlanta territory.  Two plays later Mike Goodson bounced around and scored from 13 yards out. 

Carolina’s defense came on strong and held Atlanta to a three-and-out and started to march again.  Stewart broke free on another long run, this one of 42 yards to put the ball in Falcons’ territory.  Stewart finished the day with 133 yards on 18 carries with 88 of those yards coming on two carries.

That’s where the drive stalled, and for that matter the hopes of the Carolina faithful as on fourth and four Clausen was sacked by Chauncey Davis.

That swung momentum back in Atlanta’s favor as they scored five plays later as Ryan hit Roddy White on two long completions and Turner scored on a three yard run to make the score 24-7.

Carolina managed just one more drive that accounted for a field goal, but the rest was all Atlanta.  Mike Peterson intercepted a Clausen pass deep in Carolina territory setting up Turner’s third touchdown making the score 31-10.

Turner ran for 112 yards on 28 carries.  His three touchdowns give him nine in his last eight games and fourth game in a row he’s found the end zone.  Turner is also the first Falcons back in franchise history to have at least 10 touchdowns in three consecutive seasons.

Abraham’s two sacks of Clausen give him 11 on the season giving him double digit sacks three out of the last five years and hit the century mark in sacks, making him the 25th player in history to do so.

Clausen ran for his life most of the day as he was sacked five times, rushed numerous others and intercepted once as he completed 14-of-24 for 107 yards.  The Atlanta defense never gave the Notre Dame rookie a chance.

“You’ve got to affect the quarterback. It doesn’t always come in the stat sheet. Today it did. We were able to sack the quarterback five times. It’s very important to affect the quarterback, get him off his spot and not let him get comfortable. I thought we were able to do that for the most part today,” said Smith.

The Falcons remain on the road this week at they head out west to face the Seattle Seahawks Sunday.  The 6-7 Seahawks are still tied with the St. Louis Rams for first place in the NFC West.  Kickoff is scheduled for 4:15p, and will be aired on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

When you walk through the storm

Hold your head up high

And don't be afraid of the dark

At the end of the storm

There's a golden sky

And the sweet silver song of the lark

Walk on, through the wind

Walk on, through the rain

Though your dreams be tossed and blown

Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart…

Ah, what ever.

These words were sung by Coach Fisher after his team got crushed on Sunday, 17-6. I think most of us could sense this coming and it hit like a train. “Let’s see, this game is going to be really bad, so what could make it worse? Let’s throw in 30 degrees and some snow, Yeah, that’s the ticket.”

Things seemed strange right from the start when they named Cortland Finnegan captain. Nice timing. It’s like “hey bud, do you mind steering this little boat called the Titanic for a while?” Things have been going so well for Cortland lately. Oh, and by the way CF, being captain does not mean no tackling for the day. He was god awful.

The Titans have no quarterback, ergo, they have no offense. Collins couldn’t win last year when they started 0-6 and he hasn’t gotten any younger. The Titans have now gone nine quarters without a touchdown. Now that’s a dry spell. The only dry spell I can think of that was longer was Dave Wakstein back in college. He went years without scoring.

I am concerned about Dave and his son Jake or as we like to refer to them, “The Wacker Boys.” This man crush on Tom Brady is mildly erotic but deeply distressing. Tom has it all, married to Gisele Bundchen, a great quarterback and president of “Hair Club For Men.” Hum, on second thought, count me in Dave. I have one quarterback on social security and another scheduled for an appearance with Fisher on Judge Judy. Plus, I could use just a touch more hair.

It’s sad but somehow fitting that “Dandy” Don Meredith passed away the same week as the Titan collapse. “Turn Out The Lights, The Party’s Over.”

Don and Howard Cosell were superstars on Monday Night Football. That’s back when announcers were ok sipping on a little somethin’ in the booth. Seems like I recall Dandy Don saying hello to America one night with “We are in Denver tonight. It’s a mile high and so am I.” Now that’s great stuff in this politically correct day and age.

OK Titan fans; here is the glass half full look. The defense only gave up 17 points in the game and none in the second half. Kerry Collins jerseys are 50 percent off at K-Mart. Also, Tennessee still doesn’t have Albert Haynesworth. That’s about it.

I have been informed that Randy Moss is now my brother’s neighbor. A million things run through my mind as I say that. There is talk of a Tupperware party in the future but they’ll only accept straight cash, homey.

Next up is Thursday night football, more good news as no one gets the NFL network. I wish last Sunday’s game had been on there too. Peyton Manning comes in on a three game losing streak. I have a feeling the Titans will be delivering an early Christmas gift to Mr. Manning.

 - Mike Dougher

For the second week in a row Eric Weems sparked Atlanta to victory.  Trailing by ten with under 11 minutes to play Weems took  Connor Barth’s kickoff three yards deep in the end zone, broke a few tackles along the right sideline, including a nifty sideline tiptoe to stay inbounds and rolled 103 for a momentum shifter as the Falcons rallied to become the first team in the league with ten wins by outlasting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 28-24 at Raymond James Stadium.

Last week Weem’s kickoff return with under a minute to play helped set up a winning field goal gave the Falcons the spark they had been lacking all day.

Atlanta played a markedly different game than they traditionally have.  They came into the game the least penalized team and Matt Ryan had a four-game stretch without a turnover.  The Falcons found themselves penalized a lot and Ryan threw two bad interceptions which the Bucs converted into 14 points.  Also missing was their patented ten-plus play ball control drives that have become known for. 

However with the game on the line Matt Ryan was up to it again s he engineered a 10-play 67-yard drive that was aided by two costly Tampa Bay penalties.  Ryan finished off the comeback as he rolled left and found Michael Jenkins at the flag from nine yards out to give them the game-winning score. 

The Buc’s Josh Freeman tried to rally his troops but fell short when he was picked off by Brent Grimes, Tampa Bay’s only turnover of the day.

With the win the Falcons sweep the season series for the second year in a row.  This is the first time since the two teams were placed in the NFC South together beginning in 2002 that either team has swept the series two years in a row.

The Falcons like keeping things close to the bone.  Six of their ten victories this season have been decided by six or fewer points as has one of their two losses.

Ryan’s streak of four games without an interception ended brutally Sunday but he was able to live up to his Matt Ice nickname and lead the team 67 yards for the go-ahead and eventual game winner.  His two touchdown passes give him 21 for the season, one short of his career best 22 set in his rookie season in 2008.

Turner was held to under 100 yards finishing with 88.  However with those 88 yards he passed the 1,000 yard mark for the second time in three years.  He was ranked fifth in rushing going into the game.

Roddy White was kept in check for most of the game.  He finished with seven catches for 79 yards.  He did make a key catch for 25 yards on third and twenty during the eventual game winning drive.

With the win, Atlanta’s tenth of the season, head coach Mike Smith becomes the first head coach in franchise history to have multiple ten win seasons.  Currently he is averaging 10 wins a season (with four games remaining in the season), which is an average of two games better than Dan Reeves who is next on the list averaging eight wins a season.  He also has the highest winning percentage of any Falcons coach with a .667 winning percentage.  Only two other Falcon coaches finished their career with winning records (other than interim coaches).  Leeman Bennett finished 46-41 and Jim Mora finished 26-22.  Not even finished with his third season Smith is already the fourth winningest coach in franchise history behind only Reeves, Bennett and Norm Van Brocklin

The six game winning streak ties the franchise’s record for most wins at this point of the season.  The ’98 Falcons also had a 6-game winning streak in finishing 14-2 and making the team’s only appearance to date in the Super Bowl.

LeGarrett Blount ran for 103 against the Atlanta defense.  Blount is the first 100-yard rusher the Falcons have allowed since week two when the Cardinal’s Tim Hightower ran for 115 (80 of which were on one carry) and opening weekend when Rashard Mendenhall ran for 120, 50 of which came in overtime on a 50-yard touchdown run.

With the win the Falcons remain one game ahead of the New Orleans Saints.  Three of Atlanta’s last four games are against divisional foes – two against Carolina and one against the Saints.  The Falcons are benefactors in the fact their last two games of the season are at home: Monday, December 27 against New Orleans and January 2 against the Panthers.  The Falcons remain on the road for the next two weeks Sunday traveling up the coast to play Carolina and then jetting across the continent to face the Seattle Seahawks.

Sunday’s game will kickoff at 1PM and will be televised locally on Fox.  You can also listen to the game on your radio at 1310 AM WDOD.

 - Dave Weinthal

Ok, somebody owes me some money. I don't care if it comes from Jeff Fisher, Cortland Finnigan or Bud Adams but somebody owes me cash. I usually have the remote control on Sundays to watch the Titans and the rest of the NFL. This past Sunday the Tennessee game was so bad I just had to get up and take the dog for a walk. That's when it happened. Twenty minutes, one wife with a remote and a credit card apparently equals three handbags, a necklace, and some type of device that slices and dices in the image of Julia Child.

To say the Titans played football Sunday would be like saying Al Gore saved the whales. Nice thought but I don't think so. We all knew going in that with a rookie quarterback, Rusty Smith, the chances were not good of winning the game against the Texans. On the third play from scrimmage, Smith threw on a line to Justin Gage, twenty yards down field, who then dropped the ball. I knew at that point how the game was going to go. A rookie QB is going to screw up a bunch in his first game but when he does something right and his teammates can't make the play, well, not so good.

The Tennessee Titans lost to the Texans Sunday 20-0. That's really all I need to say. They did nothing right, played uninspired and mistake filled football from the first snap. Considering they had a crazy week filled with controversy over Young and sadness over a coach with cancer, I watched to see how they would react. Not so good. The Titans were not in this game from the moment they stepped out of the limo. In collage, I'd blame the coaches, in the pros, I blame the players. When I saw Griffin jump off sides on a fourth and 4, I knew then that their heads were not in the game.

In an effort to salvage the season, Titan management, along with Thomas Farr Productions, has decided to launch a new TV series. It’s titled, "Lost: Who's your Daddy?." In this episode, there is a tribal challenge between Coach Fisher and Vince Young. Both are forced to work hard and show up on time. Young loses when he suddenly flies to Houston to open up a steak house, and is forced to wear a dress. Young then asks for a show of manly strength, to reclaim his status as the tribes big  cheese. "I will now throw my shoulder pads to the 10th row. Fisher smiles, then throws Young off the island. "I win", Fisher says.

T. F. Productions feels so good about the show that they are thinking about branching out into other area's. They are bringing back the Gong Show, staring Cortland Finnigan as a talented but tormented defensive back. The nation will be forced to decide whether he is a great corner or a jerk who plays football.

Rusty Smith will host the first Apprentice Quarterback show, although most think it will be canceled after a couple weeks.

So here we are, a season that looked promising now spiraling out of control. My mother warned me at the beginning of the season. "The Titans were tough when you had names like Eddie, Steve and Keith. Do you really think you're going to the super bowl with the likes of Cortland, Alterraun and Sen'Derrick?" Apparently not.

All this and they’re still 1-1 in the division. I'd have more faith in Blutto from "Animal House," rallying the troops, than this current bunch of Titans. Next up, the Jacksonville Jaguars, a team the Titans embarrassed on Monday Night Football. That seems like years ago. How confident do you feel going into this one? Not so much.

 - Mike Dougher

While Courtland Finnegan and Andre Johnson were beating each other down in Houston the Atlanta Falcons were inconspicuously winning again, keeping not only their lead in the NFC South, but attaining the best record in the conference.  No team in the NFL has a better record.  The Jets and the Patriots have the same record, but the Falcons are doing it without news, flash, or a reality show.

Give the Matts – Ryan and Bryant about a minute to go and you can chalk up a victory for the Falcons.  Once again the Falcons rallied late, although they technically never trailed Sunday against the Packers to win 20-17 with nine seconds to spare.

Anyone in attendance or even watching on TV got to see a showcase of two of the best young quarterbacks in the league as they fought a tough chess match against two young and vastly improving defenses in the league.

Final tally: Matt Ice 2 – Aaron Rodgers – 0 as Ryan wins his second head-to-head meeting against the Packer star QB.

The two quarterbacks are very similar.  Besides both being first round draft picks, both have led sliding franchises back from the brink and most importantly both have filled in the shoes of a couple of famous – in one case infamous team leaders.  Rodgers of course not only picked up where Brett Favre left off, he has stepped up his game playing a more energetic, less erratic, less mistake-prone leader that latter day Favre was and continues to be three years later in Minnesota.

Ryan took a franchise about to hit the skids, if it hadn’t already after the Michael Vick Experiment and total franchise humiliation (let us not forget about the Bobby Petrino fiasco as well), and take the team from four wins to 11 in his rookie season and their first playoff birth since 2004’s improbable run.  You can now read about the Falcons in Sports Illustrated instead of TMZ.

But back to the Matts.  Between the two they have lead Atlanta to four last possession wins scoring with under two minutes remaining.  Two by Ryan’s arm and two by Bryant’s leg as the Falcons are back.  They’re not “dirty birds”, instead they’re confident, cool under pressure – the way a championship team should be.  And to beat it all, they still aren’t making headlines.  But who needs headlines when you’re winning games?  The ’72 Dolphins were known for their “No-Name” defense, and likewise these 2010 Atlanta Falcons may win a Super Bowl aptly nicknamed (by me) The “No-Name Team”. 

Granted, they all have names and many do know them, but like a good spy they blend in a surprise you once everything reaches a climax.

The game started like so many of Atlanta games since coach Mike Smith’s arrival.  Atlanta took the opening kickoff and drove down deep into Packer territory before settling on a Bryant field goal to make the score 3-0.

Green Bay reciprocated with a field goal of their own and then drove down to the Atlanta goal line.  Rodgers who not only passed for 344 yards he led the team in rushing with 51 yards, made in hindsight what may have been a game changing play.  Trying to sneak in from inside the one on third down the ball was stripped out of his hands and recovered by Mike Peterson for a touchback.

Immediately following that recovery Ryan led the Falcons on a 13-play 80 yard drive completing seven of eight passes including a big third down pass for 19 yards to fullback Ovie Mughelli and converting the fourth down on the next play hitting Tony Gonzalez over the middle.  Five plays later he found Gonzalez all alone in the middle of the end zone with eight seconds to go before the half to give Atlanta a 10-3 lead going into the break.

It should be noted here that Ryan was once again mistake-free for the fourth game in a row.  The third-year pro finished the game 24-of-28 for a modest but efficient 197 yards as he passed the ball around to nine different receivers.  Of Ryan’s four incompletions, three were in the first half and the lone one in the second was on the final drive to stop the clock before Bryant’s game-winning kick.

The second half started with a chess match amongst defenses as both offenses had trouble moving the ball.  Then Rodgers took control.  He hit two long passes to Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson to set up a first and goal at the one.  After taking the snap he shifted left and dove across the goal line to tie the score at 10-10.

One again the Falcons reciprocated.  Ryan marched Atlanta 80 yards, this time on 15 playing mixing up passes with big runs by Michael Turner.  Turner  broke free for one his patented long runs, a 26-yard jaunt to give Atlanta a first-and-goal.  Three plays later it was fourth and one and Turner took the handoff and easily went almost untouched into the end zone over left tackle to make the score17-10.  The drive took over eight minutes off the clock beginning halfway through the third, finishing in the fourth.

The next two possessions saw marginal movement by both offenses before giving the ball back to Green Bay with under six minutes to play.

Rodgers then engineered an 18-play drive that featured two clutch fourth down conversions by the quarterback.  Rodgers hit Nelson in the left corner of the end zone on fourth down over the outstretched arms of Thomas DeCoud to tie the score at 17.

The rest is history as you all now know.  Matty Ice further etched his name into Atlanta Falcon lore setting up the game winning field goal.

The actual hero for the game winning drive is kickoff return specialist Eric Weems.  Weems took the ensuing kickoff up the gut of the Packer defenders and found a small seam as he crossed the 35 yard line.  He was only brought down by a flagrant facemask giving Atlanta the ball in Packers territory.  Ryan completed three short passes to set up Bryant for the winning 47-yard field goal.  And the rest as they say is history.

With the win the Falcons keep a one game lead in the division over the Saints and have the best overall record in the NFC at 9-2.  Since Ryan’s arrival the Falcons are now 19-1 in the Dome.  Michael Turner once again rushed for over 100 yards (110), the third time in his last four games and is prepared to cross the 1,000-yard mark next week (974 currently), the second time in three years since joining Atlanta.  And while Roddy White was limited to five catches and 49 yards, two of those receptions came on that last possession including having enough presence once making the catch, to change direction and head towards the sideline to stop the clock.

The Falcons are on the road for the next three weeks with back-to-back games against division foes before returning to the Dome December 27 to face the Saints on Monday Night Football.  This Sunday they will visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with kickoff at 4:15pm.  The game will be aired on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

I drove up to Nashville for the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Washington Redskins. It’s hard to explain exactly what I saw on Sunday although I know what I didn't see, good football. The Redskins beat the Titans on the prettiest day of the year, 19-16 in overtime. Both these teams are average at best. However, the Redskins lost an amazing 11 men during the game to injuries, while the Titans only lost one little girl. Combine that with the fact that Washington was on the road and, well,  the Titans just didn't get it done.

I've always loved watching  "old school" football teams like the Giants, Green Bay, the Bears and yes even the Washington Redskins. They make me nostalgic for a simpler time. In honor of watching "old school" on Sunday, I threw on my best Members Only jacket, some Jordache jeans, and listened to Air Supply all the way to Nashville. I'm sure I looked good even though I've taken the mirrors out of my house to stop the aging process.

By now you all know that Vince Young was injured, and threw a fit after the game ended for not being "asked" to go back in. In the newest episode of "The Young and the Childish," Vince just may have written the last chapter.

There are two camps about this latest controversy. You have the Fisher haters and the VY haters. Let’s state the obvious. Fisher never wanted Vince Young as his quarterback and has simply dealt with it because his owner wants it that way. Vince has been to maturity what Snooky, from the Jersey Shore,  has been to enlightening the American conscious. It may come down to rock, paper, scissors, but someone will be leaving and my guess is the Titans will have a new quarterback next year.

There was an unreported story about Coach Fisher and Vince Young bumping into each other at a karaoke bar late Sunday night. Apparently, the two were staring at each other across a crowded room, when Vince strode to the microphone. Looking straight into Fisher’s eyes, he gave the slightest hint of a smile and sang his favorite Colbie Caillat song.

"Oh, this is not the way it should end

It's the way it should begin

It's the way it should begin...again

Yes, I know we've said a lot of things

That we probably didn't mean

But it’s not too late to take them back

So before you say I gotta go

I should probably let you know

That I never knew what I had

Never knew what I had

But I know it now

I wish I would've known how good we were

Is it too late to come back?

Or is it really over? If it's really over"

My cub reporter Thomas Farr, who was present for this musical exchange, says he almost spilled his Smernoff Ice when he witnessed Fisher grab the mic and launch into Wham’s "Wake me up before you go go"

I guess we know where Fisher stands.

I have the feeling I'm in some sort of bizarro world, a world where right is wrong, up is down, where the Titans crush Jacksonville, and the Jags now lead the division. It's a world where a politician quits her job, shoots a moose and who's greatest achievement is a daughter on Dancing With The Stars.

A world where black is white, and a world where Randy Moss is quiet and reserved, and the Titans are absurd.

How bizarre.

The focus on Vince Young diverted attention on the sad state of the defense. At one point Washington had run 33 plays to 5 for the Titans. I miss the days of Eddie George and Steve McNair eating up the clock. The defense felt like playing poorly wasn't enough, so in overtime they threw in a roughing the passer and personal foul for good measure to insure a loss. Fisher has righted the ship more than once over the years but this is going to take some real magic I'm afraid.

So, we now have to look forward to Rusty Smith as your quarterback for the foreseeable future. Rusty is from that hotbed of quarterbacks, Florida Atlantic. He's got a big arm and if you don't mind where it’s going, this guys for you.

Houston is up next for the Titans, another team on the decline. We'll see who is slipping faster.  Sightings at the pre game festivities included Logan "don't call me Tom Cruise" Doomer, a guy handing out money, (I can only assume its Cam Newton's father),and Holly and Eric White. I'm not saying Holly partied but she's not allowed near any open flames for 24 hours.

 - Mike Dougher

After spotting the St. Louis Rams an early 10-3 lead the Atlanta Falcons took control and scored 31 of the next 38 points to boast the best record in the NFC at 8-2 winning 34-17.

The Falcons used a balanced attack on offense and an intimidating defense and key special teams play to win their fourth game in a row.

The game was hard fought as two big plays decided the Falcons’ fate.  Safety William Moore picked off a Sam Bradford pass at the Atlanta one to stifle a late drive and on the first play after the two-minute warning Michael Turner broke free for his longest run of the game, a 39 yard rumbled won the middle almost untouched to clinch the win and give the Atlanta runner another 100-yard rushing game.

Matt Ryan once again played flawlessly as he completed 26-of-39 passes for 253 yards and two touchdown passes.  It was also another mistake-free game.  The number three pick out of Boston College did not throw an interception for his third game in a row.  He’s only thrown five on the year and is on pace to throw his fewest in a season (11).  He has already thrown 18 touchdown passes and is prepared to shatter his season high in touchdown passes (22). 

“What can you say about him?,” asked Falcons’ head coach Mike Smith.  “Our guy continues to mature, it is his third season as we all know and I think each and every game he continues to get better. We talk about it all the time, we are lifetime learners and each and every week we learn something not only about ourselves, but also about our teammates and our opponents. Matt has a very good understanding of our offense and he is becoming the leader of our football team.”

After exchanging punts to begin the game Bradford competed two long passes, a 24 yard pass to Laurent Robinson and a 25-yard scoring strike to Michael Hoomanawanui to make the score 7-0.

Atlanta drove down, settling for the first of four Matt Bryant field goals to make the score 7-3.  St. Louis retaliated to take a 10-3 before Atlanta started to fire on all cylinders.

Eric Weems returned the ensuing kickoff 55 yards into St. Louis territory.  For there it didn’t take Ryan long to march the Falcons down for the tying score.  Ryan hit Brian Finneran from 12 yards out to tie the score at 10.

Atlanta’s defense stiffened up after that as well even though John Abraham was sitting out the game forcing two punts which Atlanta converted to points to take a 16-10 lead into the locker room at the half.

Bradford, the number one overall pick showed why he was the top pick.  Danny Amendola returned a Michael Koenen punt 33 yards to give the Rams a short field.  Bradford hit Brandon Gibson from 13 yards out following a long run by Stephen Jackson to give the upstart Rams the lead again briefly at 17-16.

From that point forward the Falcons literally got the ball rolling.  Atlanta drove the ball 58 yards on eight plays mixing runs by Turner with passes from Ryan, taking the lead on a two-yard toss from Ryan to Justin Peele.

The Falcons then mounted a seven minute 15 play drive to set up Bryant’s fourth field goal to make the score 26-16 with under eight minutes to play. 

Bradford then led the Falcons downfield and looked to pull within a score when Moore intercepted his pass near the goal line, returning it 12 yards.  Bradford’s interception was his first turnover in 169 pass attempts, a rookie record.

The Rams’ defense then stiffened and forced another punt giving St. Louis the ball near midfield.  Atlanta’s secondary stiffened up as the Rams turned to ball over on downs with 2:21 to play. 

Three plays later it was all over for St. Louis as Turner broke free for his second longest run of the season and his longest touchdown run of the season to ice the game.

“I think we were moving the ball pretty good,” said Turner. “I got to see our third-down percentage and things like that. It seemed like we were getting a lot of first downs and moving it pretty good, ending up with a field goal or a touchdown. I don’t know how many punts we had today but we were just moving the ball effectively and that leads to more time of possession.”

Despite having the best record in the NFC the Falcons have flown under the radar, not attracting much attention.  The no-hype Falcons are tied to for their third best start in franchise history.  Despite being winning they have only been seen on prime time once this season, but have attracted some attention this week.  Their game in two weeks against Tampa Bay has been moved to a 4:15 start to be the feature game that week on Fox.

Atlanta returns home Sunday to face the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers.  Kickoff is 1pm at the game will be aired on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

It’s Yogi’s fault. The Tennessee Titans fell to the Miami Dolphins Sunday 29-17 on a beautiful day in South Beach......another group of people I hate. I’ve told my brother never to order things on line when drinking but no, he can’t resist. So when his new # 84 Titan jersey arrived at the house with "Loss" on the back, the die was cast, the worm turned and it was all over but the shouting. Now at least you know who to blame.

Storylines were a plenty in this game. You had Randy Moss going up against Chad Pennington, teammates at Marshall. Moss had one catch, Chad lasted two plays. You had Dan Carpenter of the Dolphins kicking off to Marc Mariani of the Titans, teammates at Montana. Quick, give me the odds. Then you had Randy Moss smoking past defensive backs, against Ricky Williams, who just smokes.

The game itself was tough to watch. Ugly is being kind. Four time outs in the first three minutes, fumbles (Titans), interceptions, penalties, injuries all added to a bad game. Unfortunately, it ended up a bit worse for the Titans.

Kerry Collins started for Vince Young but it was Collins who looked injured. He consistently overthrew his receivers, possible looking to audition for Aflac commercials with the ducks he threw. Eventually Young came in when Collins really did get injured, and did better, but not nearly enough. If the Titans are striving to me mediocre, they’re hitting their stride.

Of course it didn’t seem fair to me that Miami could use three quarterbacks and four passers while we could only use two. Is that against the law? I just don’t know. To add insult to injury, the Dolphins have Richard Incognito and, well, I just really like his name. I could have used that name a few times back in college.

This is not your ‘72 Dolphins and an undefeated season, the days of "American Pie" and Sammy Davis Jr singing "The Candy Man Can." This was not the Dan Marino Dolphins with "Wang Chung" and "Wham" being the soundtrack to your life. This Miami team had not won a game at home and Ke$ha is at the top of the charts. Coming off a bye week, the Titans looked disorganized, and out of sync. There is much work to be done if the Tennessee Titans expect to compete with the Colts.

The Titans next play against the Washington Redskins at home. It’s an exciting time because Holly and Eric White will attend their first Titan game. Holly has had Eric in training for their first tailgate experience. " I’ve had him up at the crack of 10 every morning," Holly said. "We’ve had a strict regiment, getting ready for either Tim and Bubba’s gourmet spread, or Kevin Marcheti’s brat and dog extravaganza. Eric has always been able to go either way."

"It’s been the same for two weeks now."

10am Budweiser

11am Bud and Jager

12pm Bud, Jager, Brat

1pm Bud, Jager, Bud, Brat, Jager, Bud

Then repeat.

"I’ve taken away his responsibility of watching our three year old while in training but everything else seems about normal."

So, the Titans will try to beat their fourth NFC East team this year. It will be the return of Albert Hayesworth to Nashville so the restaurants will be busy. You know Albert will be hitting late so commissioner Goodell will be handing out his weekly fines, ruling like the God he is. On a side note, Goodell also announced there will be no Christmas or toys for the children this year.

 - Mike Dougher

Matty Ice lived up to his nickname Thursday night as Matt Ryan engineered an 80-yard winning drive in 45 seconds as the Atlanta Falcons came from behind to defeat the Baltimore Ravens 26-21 before a charged crowd at the Georgia Dome.

“If you like football and you like an intense football game, that was one of them. That might have been the most intense game that I have ever been involved with at any level of football,” said Falcons’ head coach Mike Smith.

The third year pro pretty much took the whole game in his hands as he threw a career high 50 passes completing a career high 32 for 316 yards and three touchdowns.

Ryan’s primary target was Roddy White who was questionable coming into the game with a sore knee, but left few questions and many defenders on the ground as he caught 12 passes for 138 and two scores including the winning one on a 33 yard bootleg left and toss from Ryan.

“Yeah. Roddy’s playing as good as any receiver in the NFL right now,” said Smith.

A slow first half began with a scoreless first quarter as both third year quarterbacks (Ryan and Joe Flacco) could not find any rhythm or a running game for that matter.  The Falcons were held to only 60 yards on the ground and Michael Turner to 39.  Likewise the Ravens biggest runs came off two end-arounds by receiver Donte Stallworth.

The pace picked up in the second quarter when Ryan completed a pass along the right sideline to Jason Snelling who rumbled in from 28 yards out to make the score 7-0.  The was pretty much it until a muffed punt with under a minute to play helped Atlanta set up a Matt Bryant 28-yard field goal to make the score 10-0 at the half.

The second half was a different story as Brent Grimes intercepted Flacco to start the second half setting up another Bryant field goal.

That’s when Flacco got his act together.  The third year pro out of Delaware engineered a 10 play 65 yard scoring drive, mixing runs by Ray Rice and Stallworth with passes and topped off with a 5-yard scoring strike to Anquan Boldin to pull within 13-7.

The Falcons opened the fourth quarter scoring on an 11-play drive capped by Ryan hitting White from four yards out to extend the lead to 20-7.

From that point forward Flacco had the offense running smoothly.  He answered Atlanta’s touchdown with an 11-play scoring drive of his own.  He completed seven passes during the drive finishing it up with a six-yard scoring pass to Derrick Mason to pull within 6 at 20-14.

The Ravens defense held Atlanta giving their offense the ball back on their 28 with 2:53 left to play.

Flacco completed some big passes hitting Mason for 22 and Rice for another 24 setting up the go-ahead score as he hit Todd Heap across the middle from nine yards out to make the score 21-20 with 1:05 to go.

That’s when Ryan further cemented his nickname as “Matty Ice”.  Taking advantage of a lax secondary and two costly penalties as well as a great sideline fingertip catch by Michael Jenkins on third down to keep the drive alive, Ryan pulled off yet another come from behind win for the Falcons.

The Falcons appeared to be on the fringe of field goal range when Ryan took the snap and bootlegged left.  He then floated a pass to a wide open White who went untouched into the end zone causing the crowd to erupt including a visiting Deion Sanders who was initiated into the Falcons’ Ring of Honor at the half.

“Like we’ve done all year we had a level of resolve that just amazes me each and every time. We simply went out there and went to work and made the plays that we needed to make there at the end of the ballgame. We got the outcome that we wanted. I am proud of every man in that locker room because of what they did tonight. They came and played a very good Baltimore Raven football team and stayed there until the very end,” said Smith.

“It was a hard fought game in a great environment for the Thursday night in the NFL. It was exciting to play against a playoff-caliber football team. I like the way our guys fought and fought back from a second-half deficit. We’re obviously disappointed with the outcome,” said Ravens’ head coach John Harbaugh.

With the win the Falcons improve to a league best 7-2, their best start since 2004 when they last won the division and 1998 when they made their only appearance in the Super Bowl.  The Falcons have ten days to rest before taking the field again on November 21 when they visit the St. Louis Rams.  The Falcons return home November 28 when they host the Green Bay Packers.

 - Dave Weinthal

Yes, the Tennessee Titans have the week off but your faithful correspondent, Scoop Doomer, is still on the scene. So here you go, the special "daylight savings time/the circus comes to town" edition.

So late last week I was hanging out with newly acquired Titan Randy Moss along with Ke$ha and Charlie Sheen, having a few drinks. Randy is very excited to be in Nashville because he can finally start that musical career he’s always been wanting.

"What’d you have in mind Randy?"

"I was thinking something like, ‘Randy Moss...a Love Story.’ Maybe put it on Broadway. I know how excited Chris Johnson is to have me on the team. It could open up with me putting my stuff in Pacmans old locker and when I turn around, CJ sings a little Tristan Prettyman.

If you were a wink, I’d be a nod

If you were a seed, well, I’d be a pod

If you were the floor, I’d be the rug

And if you were a kiss, well I know I’d be a hug

If you were wood, I’d be the fire

If you were love, I’d be the desire

If you were a castle, I’d be your moat

And if you were an ocean, I’d learn to float

"Then maybe we’d smack each other on the butt and have a team hug."

"Where’s the part about drinking Jack Daniels," Ke$ha asked. "And the hookers,"Charlie chimed in.

"Hey, this is a love story, although with my track record it might be a short story."

"Then I was thinking it might pick me up right before I go to bed. I have one of those moments of self reflection that I’ve heard about. I’m sitting at the mirror like I like to do and maybe I sing a little Eric Burdon.

"But I’m just a soul who’s intentions are good,

Oh lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood"

"Then do you drink Jack Daniels?," Ke$ha asks.

"Are you in an old pair of Pacman jammies?" I asked.

"Finally, the part about the hookers," says Charlie.

"No" Randy says. "Eventually it centers around the love everyone in Nashville has for me. I can have my own cooking show and invite Tim and Bubba on because I know their tailgates are off the hook."

"Then maybe I team up with some great country music star like Kid Rock or Snoop Dog. I’ll need a new name though, and maybe some boots. Plus, I’ve always wanted to get up next to the chick who sings the Sunday night football song. This will get me in the door."

"How does this musical end," I asked.

"It ends with me on top of the Batman building in Nashville," Randy says.

"Hey, I partied there", Ke$ha said.

"Hush up."

"The camera pans in to my face as I sing, ‘The Greatest Love Of All."

I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadows

If I fail, if I succeed

At least I'll live as I believe

No matter what they take from me

They can't take away my dignity

Because the greatest love of all

Is happening to me

I found the greatest love of all

Inside of me

The greatest love of all

Is easy to achieve

Learning to love yourself

It is the greatest love of all

""Wow Randy, that’s deep. How does this play into more victories for the Titans," I asked.

"Who?"

"Right."

Ok, pop quiz. Who had a worse week? President Obama or the Dallas Cowboys?

Quote of the week from Miami’s Channing Crowder, commenting on the officials.

"They didn't see Chad Henne get hit twice when he slid. Yeah, a little Stevie Wonder and Anne Frank," Crowder said.

Umm . . . what Channing?

"Who was that? Is that the blind girl? Helen Keller . . . I don't know who the f--- Anne Frank is. I'm mad right now. I'm not as swift as I usually am."

The Titans take on Crowder and teammates on the road this weekend in Miami, as the second half of the season begins. This is going to be interesting. The circus has come to town.

 - Mike Dougher

As the old adage goes, football is a game of inches.  On fourth and one from the Atlanta two Josh Freeman barked out the play.  The crowd was loud and frenzied as the Tampa Buccaneers were two yards away from the lead and one from a first down with under three minutes to play as the Atlanta Falcons clung on tightly to a 27-21 lead.

The ball was hiked and everyone held their breath. Defensive end Jamaal Anderson delivered a crushing blow to the Tampa Bay offensive line as they buckled under the force of the 289 pound fourth year pro that briefly sprung an open hole for safety Thomas DeCoud the penetrate and hit LaGarrette Blount behind the line of scrimmage, holding him to no gain and change of possession for the first place Falcons to remain undefeated at home this season.

“We won the line of scrimmage,” said Falcons’ head coach Mike Smith.  “We had great penetration up front. Safety Thomas DeCoud came off the edge, it was a play that had been scouted, something that we had worked on and he made a very good play.”

The crowd once they took their collective sigh of relief blew the roof off the Georgia Dome in celebration.  With the win Atlanta is in sole possession of first place in the NFC South one game ahead of Tampa Bay and a half game ahead of New Orleans.

Coming off the bye week the Falcons looked rested and ready and came out playing like world-beaters. They scored on their first two possessions both capped by powerful runs by Michael Turner who looked in good form running for 107 yards on 24 carries.

But the Bucs, coached by one of the now cockiest coaches in the game made a comeback.  A couple of special team plays – two long kickoff returns, one for a touchdown and blown coverage on a quick out that was converted into a 58 yard touchdown, kept the scrappy Buccaneers took close for comfort.

Coming into the game Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris told reporters that his team was the best in the NFC.  Come again, coach?

“Winning in this league, specifically in the NFC South is never an easy proposition. Each and every game that I’ve been involved with comes down to four or five plays. I like way our team prepared this week,” said Smith.

Tampa Bay played better than expected really.  They remind you of that hemorrhoid that just won’t go away.  They clung to Atlanta’s behind the rest of the game pulling within 3 at 17-14 at the half.

Atlanta stretched the lead in the second half taking advantage of one of two Freeman interceptions on the day to push the lead to 27-14 on a five yard pass from Matt Ryan who finished the day 24-of-36 for 235 yards to reserve tight end Michael Palmer.

Following Matt Bryant’s 41-yard field goal that made the lead 13, the pesky Buccaneers struck on the ensuing kickoff.  Michael Spurlock returned the ensuing kick back 89 yards for a touchdown to make the score 27-21 with 30 seconds to go in the third quarter.

After the wild displays of offense and special teams the first three quarters a defensive battle took place in the fourth.  Both teams jockeyed for field position.  Tampa Bay was able to take advantage of a couple of questionable penalties to find themselves first and ten on the Atlanta 11-yard line with four minutes to play.

After being relatively successful through the air most of the day, Morris took the ball out of Freeman’s hands and tried to run the ball in.  Four plays later Tampa Bay fell one yard short of their goal and two yards short of the goal line as Atlanta’s defense rose to the occasion to give the team their sixth win of the season.

“This group of guys they are very business-like. They come to work every day and I don’t think that we really even looked past this game. As a coaching staff we have to because it’s a short week in our preparation. But we have not talked to our players at all about the next game. We knew that this was a division game, we wanted to get this game to get to 2-0 in our division. You’ve got to control your division to be a team that’s going to relevant or a team that’s going to be talked about at the end of the season,” said Smith.

With the win Atlanta claims sole possession of first place a half game ahead of New Orleans (6-3) and one game ahead of Tampa Bay (5-3).  The Falcons have a short week as they will host the Baltimore Ravens Thursday night at the Georgia Dome.  The game will be aired on the NFL Network.  Kickoff is 8PM.

 - Dave Weinthal

I couldn’t take it any more. I went to the store and started going through the cartons of milk. Enough already with the missing children. Has anyone seen the Titans defense lately? I haven’t seen them in weeks and I’m starting to get worried. In a game most Titan fans dreaded, the boys in Columbia blue lost to the Chargers of powder blue, 33-25 on a beautiful Sunday in San Diego. Does it ever rain or get cold in San Diego? I hate those people.

Besides losing to the Chargers on Sunday, the Titans lost both their starting quarterback and best receiver. Vince Young went down with an ankle injury and Kenny Britt pulled a hamstring. We probably won’t see Britt again till your grandmother sends that delightful fruit cake at Christmas.

The crowd for this game, dressed for Halloween, looked a lot like your basic Raiders game. It also appeared that several thousand came disguised as empty seats. Still, when you get to have NFL cheerleaders dress even more sexy, well, you have to like Oct 31.

Phillip Rivers came as a whinny, sniveling, complaining, pouting crybaby dressed as a quarterback. Everyday is Halloween for Rivers who never stops boo- hooing about every call that doesn’t go his way. Geez he must have been spoiled as a child. His mother should have been slapped at his birth. If I had to go to his games I’d tailgate next to an exhaust pipe. Just shut up. OK, I’m better now.

We had some complaining on the Titan side of the ball as well, by one Michael Griffin, who to this point has had a terrific year. In one of the game changing moments on Sunday, Griffin appeared to intercept Mr. Cry Me A River and returned it for a touchdown. Not so fast. The replay showed Michael grabbing the receivers jersey.

"My question for the ref is, ‘ How did you see that, as far back from the play as you were?’ Griffin said. "He threw the flag late. He didn’t even throw the flag until he heard Phillip Rivers complain."

Well Mr. Griffin, if "if" and "and’s" were pots and pans we’d all have a brand new kitchen. Yes, Rivers should be seen and not heard but you did grab his jersey so move on.

The Titans knew that the Charger special teams usually arrived at games on a short bus and they did not disappoint. Norv Turners boys had a punt blocked and fumbled an extra point. Seems like only yesterday the Titans were driving that bus. What a difference a year makes. Now we actually look forward to see what’s going to happen on a kickoff or punt return.

Much has been made of Norv Turners half time speech to the Charger players. Color me naive, but I didn’t know millionaire NFL players received the old "win one for the Gipper" speech. Wonder what a San Diego California half time speech sounds like? "Ok dudes, we’re playing like some gnarly sushi. We have to roll like the big waves off Malibu. What would Ronald Regan do? So lets go play hard and then go surfing and eat some tofu." Then Norv would lead the team out onto the field like Bluto in Animal House. "OK, who’s with me?

It has not been confirmed that Phillip Rivers stopped Turner and said, "We both know its everyone else’s fault, you still like me best right coach?"

So the Titans have a bye week coming up before heading to play the Miami Dolphins. The team is really banged up so the time off will do them good although I’m not sure they have enough time for Young or Britt to come back.

Please excuse the greasy fingerprints on this column, I’ve been eating some wonderful Philly Cheese steak sandwiches that my loving and honorable family in Philadelphia overnighted to Chattanooga. That was a stand up thing to do although they didn’t have to. On the other hand, there is still the matter of a NY pizza bet with a certain Giant fan that live on Taylor Ave in Greenlawn New York. I may have to go and collect during the bye week.

5-3 at the halfway point beats 2-6 of a year ago. We’ve only played one conference game so the real challenge is still ahead.

 - Mike Dougher

As I approached Nashville, Tennessee on Sunday, a smoky golden haze appeared on the horizon. No, it wasn't the Blue Ridge mountains or a NASCAR event, it was Kevin Marchetti cooking up brats and dogs in anticipation of the Eagles-Titans game later that day.  It was kind of like God saying to me, "have a nice day, eat some food." Well, I did and I did, with the Titans beating Philadelphia on a beautiful windy day, 37-19.

I should start out by saying that my family in Philly felt that their beloved Eagles were worth betting food on. Can't blame them there. The Eagles are a solid team. That being said, I'm looking forward to a dozen Philly cheese steak sandwiches being airlifted to Tennessee. Nothing says I love you like a sandwich.

The day started in a strange way. I learned that I should turn towards the light, repel the darkness and don't worship false idols from a preacher who felt compelled to yell at 10am. If I wanted yelling I could have stayed home. Next I found out that the homeless have their own newspaper. I bought one and am interested in what they have to say. Finally, peewee football coaches still have their kids out their begging for money. All this and I wasn't halfway over the walking bridge yet.

As the game got ready to start, Little Big Town sang the National Anthem and there was a stealth fly-by although I couldn't see them. Ed "I'm too sexy for my shirt" Hochuli was the head ref so you knew you were in for a treat. He gets more face time than Paris Hilton.

I also noticed that Eldra Buckley was on the Philly roster, Eldra of UT Chattanooga fame. Finally, as I looked over the rosters and where everyone comes from, I came across the Eagle punter, Sav Rocca. Under the heading "school", it listed "none." I'm assuming he went to Alabama.

I had noticed as I came near the stadium that there seemed to be an added police presence. The cops insisted that there was no added threat, if you didn't include a bunch of Eagle fans. I was impressed that the Titans honored the Philadelphia team with a promotion for all fans that included green zip-tie handcuffs, fun for the whole family.

The game itself came down to this. The Eagles outplayed the Titans for almost three quarters. Kevin Kolb, Philly quarterback, for the most part was solid although he did throw a few ducks in the air. Philadelphia was the better team for 40 minutes but you never felt they were dominating. The sense was that the Titans were out of sync with backup Kerry Collins at quarterback and maybe a little sloppy after coming off a Monday night game. Coach Fisher said they changed blocking schemes at half time and it made a big difference. No sacks after halftime gave Collins time to throw. The rumor in the press box was  about washing the Grecian Formula off the balls Collins threw.

The Eagles offensive line let them down in the end. Titans tackle Jason Jones went untouched to cause a fumble at the three yard line in the third quarter and from there Philadelphia went south like a Ryan Howard at bat. Kerry Collins, who looked a lot like Phil Collins much of the game, figured out the Eagle secondary or lack there of, and threw to Kenny "get out of jail free card" Britt. Britt caught everything in sight and helped to stream roll Philly in the fourth quarter.

There was one sad moment in section 203 at the end of the third quarter just as the Titans were coming back. Chris Gowen had made a mad dash to grab one last beer before the third period ended. He dove towards the stand as the clock counted down, saved by an offsides call on Philly. He returned to his seat, secure in the fact that he was now ready for the stretch run. As Britt went up for one of his seven catches, Chris also rose in joy, only to kick over his beer. Small price to pay for victory, but a price to pay none the less. He vowed to train harder for the next game and not let his row down again.

Bottom, bottom line, the Eagles are a really good team with questionable coaching and leadership. They should never have lost to the Titans. On most teams, your offensive leader is your quarterback. Philly has changed their leader four times this year and they're not done yet. Kolb is a good quarterback, who will be better but right or wrong, has Michael Vick on the team and won't get the chance to make mistakes and improve.       The Eagles think its best to go with the hot hand instead of looking toward the future. The man on the bench always looks better than the man on the field. Here's a tip for the Eagles. Develop a solid offensive line and suddenly your quarterback will get remarkably better. By the way, Philly kicker David Akers was lights out kicking into the wind Sunday.

The Titans head next to San Diego before reaching the bye week. The Titans never beat San Diego and even though they have lost five games, I think this will be a very tough game to win. I may be only comforted by the fact that I will be eating an overnighted cheese steak sandwich from my loving family.

 - Mike Dougher

Entering the Georgia Dome Sunday the Cincinnati Bengals had as many reality show stars on their roster as they did wins (2).  They left the same way, but Atlanta Falcons’ Roddy White showed both Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens who the real star was in the NFL.

White put on one heck of a show for the 70 thousand-plus home fans that watched a topsy-turvy unbalanced, yet exciting game that the Falcons were able to hold onto and win 39-32 in what turned out to be a tale of two halves. 

White had one of the best receiving days of his career hauling in 11 Matt Ryan passes for 201 yards and two touchdowns as the Birds stared quick and finished strong after blowing a 21 point halftime lead in less than 15 minutes – 13:27 to be exact.

“You saw Roddy made some spectacular catches there, the one handed (catch) on the sideline early in the game. Wonderful play on the two-point conversation. Roddy probably to this point has been our best player on our football team through our first seven games. I don’t think there is any doubt about that. He came into this season in the best shape he’s ever been. He’s working hard and you are seeing the results of that hard work during the offseason out there on the field,” said Falcons head coach Mike Smith.

The Falcons started the game the Mike Smith way scoring on their opening possession mixing runs and passes including a nice 46 yard catch and run by White culminating with a three-yard scoring toss to Brian Finneran.

“I thought it was a really good win for our football team today. We talked about starting fast all week and I thought both sides of the football, we came out and we started fast,” said Ryan.

The Bengals tried to answer but were stopped on three tries from inside the Atlanta five-yard line and settled for a Mike Nugent field goal to make the score 7-3.

After that it was all Atlanta as the Falcons reeled off the next 17 points to take a 24-3 lead into the locker at the half.

The Bengals’ Carson Palmer was rushed most of the first half as Atlanta kept his two reality show star wide receivers in check the first half.  Ochocinco, who finished strong with ten catches for 108 yards was held to two in the first half.

The Bengals came out swinging in the second half as the scored 22 unanswered points to take a 25-24 lead before a shocked Georgia Dome crowd.  Palmer finally got into the swing of things leading three scoring drives.  The eight year pro completed 36-of-50 passes for 412 yards and three touchdowns.

One of the three third quarter touchdowns for the Bengals came after a completed pass to White was stripped and run back 59 yards for a score by Adam “Don’t Call Me Pacman Anymore” Jones.  Jones made it into the end zone untouched and without the need for a police escort.

At this moment the Falcons resembled a Jim Mora Jr. or Dan Reeves team, blowing the big lead and losing, but this is a Mike Smith coached team. They quickly corrected the ship.

“I know it’s a cliché, but you’ve got to play the game for 60 minutes and when you do that you’re going to get an opportunity to get the outcome that you want,” said Smith.

Ryan, having one of the best days of his career as well engineered a scoring drive in a little over two minutes finishing with an acrobatic catch by White from 11 yards out.  Ryan was a strong 26-of-33 for 299 yards and three scores.  He began the game completing his first seven attempts.

But the star of the show was White with one-handed grabs, juggling catches in the back of the end zone  and a jump ball catch of a two-point conversion in a display that warranted his contract extension this past off-season.

“It was important for us today for him to play well and he made some of the plays that turned the outcome in our favor. I’ve always said that he’s one of the best players in the League and one of the best at his position. He certainly proved that today,” said Ryan.

Michael Turner was effective as well gaining 121 yards and scoring once as Atlanta had over 400 yards of total offense.  The only negative is the defense gave up almost 500 to the now last place Bengals.

The two reality show stars ended up with decent outings as they both caught touchdown passes in the second half. Owens finished with nine for 88 yards to compliment Ochocinco’s effort.

“That’s a very talented group. Both of those wide outs that were out there today are guys that have had great careers. We knew that it was going to be a challenge for us. We knew that they were going to make their plays. Our biggest thing was that we wanted to try to keep the ball with those two guys in front of us and not let them throw it over our head. I think we had mixed results in that regard today,” said Smith.

With the win and New Orleans loss Atlanta takes over sole possession of first place in the NFC South.  They will get a much needed bye next week before returning home November 7 to host the surprising Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“It is important for us to go into the bye week with a win. We have a lot of things that we need to improve on and we get an opportunity to do that with a couple of practices this week. We’ll look at what we’ve done through the first seven games of the season, some of the things that we need to improve on and adjust,” said Ryan.

 - Dave Weinthal

You know how once a year you open up the paper and somewhere in America they’ve held "the ugliest dog in the world contest"? Well, this dog of a Monday night game in Jacksonville was just that...ugly. The good news is the Titans came out smelling like a day at the doggie spa and beat the Jags convincingly, 30-3.

Jacksonville has had a history of not packing their stadium and many of their games have been blacked out by the NFL. Not so Monday night. The words "sold out" are used about as much as "looks like snow" in the Jacksonville area. The mayor came out and declared it "teal day" and signs stating "fear the teal" were seen. Really?

My mother has said more than once, there are several colors that drag up a menacing thought, black and gold for instance. Teal makes me think of my junior prom.

I actually felt bad for the Jag fans that came out to this game. They showed up even though their team, and specifically their coaches didn’t.

The Titans came out on their first possession, drove the field with ease and scored right out of the gate. Little did they know that would be all the points they’d need. With the crowd out of the game, the Jags showed no heart and seemed at times to go through the motions.

All week long, Jacksonville players had been quoted as saying they were going to show the country what they were made of. Now that I think about it, I guess they did. The Monday night broadcast hammered home how poorly Jacksonville played. Steve Young said he could barely watch them when commenting after the game.

It did occur to me, after each game the Titans have played this year, I’ve heard this type of disparaging talk before. Oakland came into the game with Tennessee being touted as a potential playoff team. They left three hours later as "terrible".

The New York Giants game was supposed to be a walk for the G Men but upon losing, blame was laid at their door for being undisciplined.

The Titan victory over Dallas was not about what Tennessee did, but what the Cowboys didn’t do. If you noticed the highlights of that game, they only showed the Titans on offense once. It was all about Dallas coaching and miscues.

So now we watch as the Titans dismantled what was supposed to be a solid Jacksonville team who had just roughed up Peyton and the Colts. All the talk on Tuesday morning is how bad the Jag defense played and how they have no quarterback.

I’m coming to the realization that the style of play that Jeff Fisher employs tends to bring out the worst in other teams. Tennessee’s offense is conservative and wears on an opponent. The defense seems to give up yards but comes up with big plays to stop drives. At some point, credit needs to go to the team and the coaches so boys, this Buds for you.

The other major topic of conversation this morning is that of Vince Young getting injured. The collective breath of Tennessee was held as he laid on the ground after a fumble. It appears that he will be ok and should return for the Eagles game on Sunday.

The move to keep Kerry Collins on the team this year paid for itself on Monday as he directed the Titans to 23 points after replacing Young. One thought though, I think if he’d shave that gray beard his game might improve. Looking like father time is not the way to go. Trust me, I know.

Other random thoughts...Jacksonville had a defensive lineman with the nickname, Pot Roast. You gotta like that.

Which was more fun to watch on Sunday, Albert Haynesworth in the Redskin owners box with a hottie, not playing again, or Phillip Rivers pouting after yet another loss. Rivers really has that pout down.

The Philly Eagles come to town this Sunday but will be without Jackson and Michael Vick. That should slow down their offense a little. The Titans do very well against the NFC East so hopefully that will continue. I’ll be checking in with my cub reporter, Katie Coleman Baldwin in Philly to get her reaction to the game. Katie is slightly misguided in her choice of teams but she’s young, cute and drinks beer so she’s ok in my book.

 - Mike Dougher

I hate Philadelphia.  The only thing I like about that city is the Italian Market.  Sports-wise I wish someone would push that big red button and do away with them.  I hate their icons.  Rocky was cool until the fifth or twentieth sequel, Iverson, Barkley, Randall Cunningham, McNabb, Pete Rose when he played there, the current Phillies team and the Eagles for giving Michael Vick another chance at fame and fortune. In fact, the only time I did like a Philly team was when Dr. J played for the Sixers.  And that was a team that never lived up to its potential.  I remember when my pal Russ Schoene was drafted by them and was cut towards the end of the season – the one year they won it all.  I thought Russ got screwed on that deal.  He was my favorite UTC basketball player in the day, although he never gave me a straight answer why he pulled up and tried a jump shot instead of going in for the slam dunk in the second round of the NCAA tournament against Minnesota.  That dunk would have won the game and is another one of those almosts and coulda, woulda, shouldas that have plagued my favorite sports teams over the years. 

Sunday was no exception as Andy Reid and company continue to own the Atlanta Falcons winning rather easily 31-17 Sunday.  Atlanta’s one win over Reid was the Monday night season opener in ’05.  That was a great game.  A lot of emotion.  Who could forget the pre-game brawl that broke out during warm-ups.  You can’t script that stuff.

Atlanta spotted the Eagles 21 points before they decided to make some semblance of a game out of it.  The oft-bragged about defense I have bragged on all season looked like it took plays out of the Bobby Petrino playbook as Kevin Kolb looked invincible completing 23-of-29 passes for 326 yards and three scores.  Kolb starting for the ailing Vick (yay) will make Reid think twice before handing the reigns back to the former dog killer.  After all, people seem to forget Kolb was the original starter who only lost the job due to a concussion in week one.  Let the controversy begin.

You almost got the feeling from the opening kickoff and on that this was Philly’s game and the Falcons were overwhelmed despite having the best record in the NFC going into the game.  The Eagles played like their fans – chest pumping and intimidating.  And that’s what kind of got to me about the Falcons Sunday.

Under Mike Smith Atlanta most of the time is cool and reserved and in seemingly deep though, never rattled.  But when you fall behind like they did, I expected to see more fire.  I miss the fire Smith showed last season when he was fined for an altercation with former player DeAngelo Hall last season.

“Obviously today was a tough afternoon for our football team in all three phases: offense, defense, and special teams. We gave up way too many explosive plays. You’re not going to put yourself in the chance to win ball games when you give up the explosive plays that we gave up,” said Smith

Atlanta didn’t play with any urgency or get up and go, almost resigned to losing the game midway through the second quarter.  The game did change after one play.  Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson and Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson collided in the middle of the field in a fierce collection that left both motionless for a few moments and ended their day.  The violent hit was not avoidable and cost the Falcons a 15-yard penalty.  Already trailing 14-0 escaped more damage when the defense finally stopped the Eagle onslaught as kicked David Akers missed the first of three field goals on the day.  Coming into the game Akers was accurate on over 90 percent of his field goal attempts this season.

Midway through the second quarter the Falcons found themselves down by 21 before the defense decided to toughen up.  Eagles looked to be headed for a 28-0 lead when a Kolb pass was batted into the air and William Moore picked off his team leading third interception returning the ball to midfield.  Kolb make the tackle, a horse collar, which tacked on 15 yards onto the end of the play.  Atlanta took advantage of this scoring on a one-yard pass from Matt Ryan to Tony Gonzalez.

The Eagles shut down Gonzalez on the afternoon, one of Ryan’s favorite targets.  He was held to three catches, but Gonzalez made them worth his while, scoring on two of them.

“They outplayed us and hats off to them. Offensively they played really well, defensively they played really well, and they made some plays on special teams also,” said Ryan

The one bright spot for the Falcons offense was the return of Michael Jenkins who missed the first five weeks of the season with a shoulder injury.  Jenkins made his presence know early catching five passes for 99 yards in his season debut.  His first completion was a 42-yard strike from Ryan.

“I think Michael made a couple plays out there and it’s going to be good in the long run that we’re going to have Michael available for us for the rest of the season,” said Smith.

The running game was once again shutdown for Atlanta.  Michael Turner was held to 45 yards on 15 carries as the running game was held to under 100 yards again for the third time this season.

Atlanta got within 11 at 21-10 early in the third quarter but that was as close as they would get as they fall into a first place time once again with New Orleans who hammered Tampa Bay.

"It was a frustrating loss. Obviously we didn't play as well as we would've liked to, but with that said the biggest thing we have to do is regroup, get ready for next week, and come out and try to play better next Sunday,” said Ryan.

Atlanta returns home Sunday where they will host the Cincinnati Bengals.  Kickoff is 1PM and will be aired on CBS.

 - Dave Weinthal

Vince Young climbed off the bus in Dallas early Sunday afternoon with his teammates in the parking lot of the eighth wonder of the world, Jerry's World. Everything is big in Texas and Jerry Jones house for his Cowboys is no exception. As they walked into the stadium, and looked at the massive building, Vince kept reminding himself of what coach Fisher had told him all week long.

"These are the Dallas Cowboys, they are coached by Wade Phillips, they've won one playoff game in fifteen years, and this isn't your daddies Cowboys."

Vince smiled as he looked over the field, knowing that for all the talent the Cowboys have collected over the years, it didn't matter. In this day and age, the "Big D" stands for Dysfunctional. Kind of picture a team full of Lindsey Lohans, with an unlimited Amex card shopping at Carl's Drugs and Liquor Store. In true Cowboy fashion, Dallas stumbled to another loss and the Titans were more than happy to take advantage. Titans 34 Dallas 27.

There are Cowboys fans everywhere. Colin, manager at Bluewater Grille, is a fan because he grew up in Texas and thinks the colors go well with his sweaters. Chris Cobb is being investigated for forcing his child to wear Dallas gear. Chris obviously came from a broken home and should not be held responsible for his disturbing past. Come on Chris, if you don't understand your past, your child is doomed to repeat it. So sad.

Then you have someone like Greg Amell. He doesn't know much about football, it's just that he likes the idea of rooting for "boys." Too much information Greg.

It would be easy to talk about what a solid game the Titans played, and they did. Young was efficient at quarterback and came out throwing. Chris Johnson showed signs of breaking out and the Titans have finally found a return game. The defense harassed Tony Romo much of the night. Tony was shocked since he'd been bragging all week how no one touches him.

For me, watching an entire Dallas Cowboy game was interesting and painful at the same time. It's much like watching a car crash in slow motion. You see it coming and as big and strong as that car might be, it's going to crash and burn.

The first series for the Dallas defense summed up much of the game. Michael Jenkins, cornerback for the Boys, grabbed and pulled on every Titans jersey within reach. Three pass interference calls in the blink of an eye. Jenkins looked like he'd never played before. Hell, he's not covering Randy Moss here.

In the rose colored glasses that cover the state of Texas came this comment. "It certainly snowballed. The early penalties set the tone. At times before, I thought he was excellent. In fairness to him, the long pass to Britt -- in the second half where he touched him down -- to me, that was busted coverage from the safeties."

Yeah, and the cheerleaders shorts blinded him from making a play. This guy grabbed the receiver and held him on each play for 30 yards. Yeah, guess it snowballed.

The Cowboys were "shocked" by the Titan pass rush. Really. Guess they don't get the papers out in Big D. If the coaches had checked, they'd have noticed that the Titans lead the league in sacks. Nope, we don't know all their names either but they seem to get the job done.

In the photo op of the year for the boys in blue, they score a game-tying touchdown, only to have one of their offensive linemen get penalized for a celebratory somersault in the end zone. Really? A lineman doing acrobatics. The penalty came in handy for Coach Phillips though. He basically said it shouldn't have been a penalty and it cost his team the game. I'm sure no Cowboy laying a hand on the kickoff return that followed had anything to do with there demise.

At the end of the day, I'd take a no-name, average Tennessee team any day over this bizarre team that mirrors their owner. They can date movie stars, have the biggest stadium, and be the leader in selling jerseys but I gotta tell you, this is one dysfunctional team with a capital D.

One the road again this week to Jacksonville and our first divisional game. This one counts big in the standings so hopefully the Titans can keep it going. Monday night will be rocking in "America's City."

 - Mike Dougher

Defensive end Kroy Biermann had maybe the highlight of the year in literally single-handedly sealing the Atlanta Falcons victory Sunday over the Cleveland Browns.

Clinging to a three-point lead late in the game Jake Dehomme was driving the Browns to what they hoped would be at least a game-tying score when Biermann stole the show.

The lumbering third year pro broke through Cleveland’s offensive line and literally slapped Dehomme’s pass out of the air.  The alert Biermann dove, catching the ball like Lynn Swann un the Brown’s 41-yard line.  Alert to know he had not been touched he got to his feet and ran towards the end zone, carrying one defender on his back to ice the game for Atlanta making the score 20-10.

“I know that Kroy is from Montana and has probably rode a few wild broncos and bulls, and been thrown off and landed on his feet. I’m sure that had something to do with it. But it was just a super athletic play to roll in there and score the touchdown. That’s big. The only bad thing about that is that on defense, you have to go right back out there after the extra point,” said Falcons’ head coach Mike Smith.

Prior to Biermann’s athletics the first place Falcons found themselves in a dogfight with the Browns.  Cleveland’s Seneca Wallace engineered a drive on their second series rather impressively hit Peyton Hillis out the backfield from 19 yards out.

Atlanta pulled within one at 7-6 on Matt Bryant’s second field goal attempt, but Bryant’s third, a chip shot from inside the 20 was blocked.

While the offense struggled inside the red zone most of the game the defense stepped up their game.  After an initial three-and-out to start the game the Falcons defense forced a Hillis fumble to help set up the first scoring opportunity for the team.

John Abraham’s second sack of Wallace with 44 seconds to go in the half changed the dynamic of the game.  Wallace’s left leg was pinned underneath Abraham as he was dragged down, injuring and forcing him out of the game.

Prior to the injury Wallace was running an efficient game completing 11-of-15 passes for 139 yards and a score.    As he limped off theg field Delhomme limped onto the field.  Atlanta took advantage of the ailing quarterback to change the tone of the game in the second half.

Abraham ran wild as he finished the game with two sacks, three tackles for a loss and a number of hurried throws.  The immobile Delhomme finished completing 13-of-23 for 97 yards and two interceptions.  Jamaal Anderson also recorded his first sack of the season as the defense shut down the Browns in the second half causing three turnovers.

“I thought John Abraham had a great job rushing the passer. It’s not always about sacks, even though we had three sacks in this ballgame. We want the quarterback to know that we’re around. I think they did a good job,” said Smith.

After a shaky start, unable to find an open receiver, Matt Ryna finally found his groove in the second quarter.  He and Roddy White hooked up midway through the third quarter as Ryan hit his wideout perfectly in stride in the end zone for a 45-yard touchdown and the lead.  The touchdown was Ryan and White’s eighth 40 yard-plus reception as a tandem and sixth for a touchdown.

“The long touchdown pass; I don’t know if you can have a better pass and route combination between Matt [Ryan] and Roddy on that long play. Matt laid it out there and Roddy was able to go get it. That was a big play for us; we needed to get the ball in the end zone,” said Smith.

Michael Turner also ran well as he crossed the 100-yard mark for the second time this season as he ran for 140 yards on 19 carries including breaking one run off for 55 yards, his longest on the season.

But it was the play of the defense that has been the topic of talk and highlight footage spotlighted by Biermann’s first career interception and second career touchdown.

With the win and the Saints’ loss the Falcons take over sole possession of first place in the division.  They will stay on the road this week as they head to Lincoln Financial Field to take on the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday.  Kickoff is 1PM and will be televised on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

A cold front came whipping through Nashville early Sunday morning and with it, announced that summer was over. The Titans day ended just as abruptly a few hours later. In a game that was quite winnable, Tennessee let one slip away, losing 26-20.

My usual solo trip to Nashville was altered, bringing my neighbors Neil and Kevin up to their first Titan game. Even though they were virgins to LP Field, they were professionals when it came to wheeling and dealing with ticket brokers and scalpers. Where I tend to run from the hassles of arguing over buying a ticket, both these guys seemed to revel in the secret world of moving tickets. Little did I know there was enjoyment to be had by turning down a scalper and making them cry. These guys were shooting for the moon with club level, Crown Royal and cocktail waitress type tickets. They only slightly settled for club level, a warm PBR and a red headed girl who had been thrown out of the girl scouts.

This game was just about as odd as the last two with Pittsburgh and New York. The Titan offense looked great in the first half but had to scramble to pull even at halftime 10-10. The second half consisted of the Broncos on offense and the Titans on defense. Tennessee didn’t gain 50 yards in the third and forth periods. With the defense playing tough against the NFL’s number two passing offense, they eventually gave up the winning points.

"It just becomes a little tense when you have to play perfect defense the entire game,'' Hope said.”I don't know how many snaps we played on defense, but say you play 70 snaps — you have to play a perfect 70 snaps. You never know what missed tackle, what slant you missed … what play is going to beat you, and that's tough to do, to be perfect.''

Hope wasn’t perfect on at least one pass, a Hail Mary that resulted on a 47-yard pass interference call. From there Denver punched in the winning points.

Still, the Titans had a minute and a half to come back. How did they handle the situation? As Bob Dylan once sang, “The answer my friend, is blown in the wind, the answer is blown in the wind.”

Denver’s kick off to the Titans hit that 30 mile an hour wind coming off the Cumberland River, hung up to the point where the receiver couldn’t run fast enough to catch it. Fumble, game over. Marc Marioni, who had earlier run back a long kick off, looked like a rookie when faced with the adversity of a short kick.

Ok, here’s the fun part, after a game against a team you won’t see again for a few years. The Denver quarterback, Kyle Orton, called out the Titan players as a group, and Finnigan and Coach Fisher in particular for playing dirty. Granted, Ol’ Kyle was hit more times than a piñata but for God’s sake, its football.

Orton said of the Titans: "You always hear about how tough they are and all that stuff. I don't think they're tough. I think they're cheap." The Titans had 10 penalties for 111 yards compared to the Broncos' six penalties for 74 yards. McDaniel’s, the Broncos' coach, indicated the Titans' style of play is a function of how Jeff Fisher coaches them.

Spoken like someone who won’t be facing this team again. It’s rare when one coach calls out another.

McDaniel’s pointed out that the Titans lead the league in personal fouls with 6. He didn’t mention that the Broncos have 5. Next he’s going to be bitching that Mother Theresa is cheating the Medicare system.

I’ll bet there is more to come on this front. Then again, this is coming from two guys named Josh and Kyle. Wonder what gang they were in?

Other notes, Charlie Pride sang the national anthem. Yogi Dougher pointed out that he’s the man who paved the way for other great black country artists like, ahhh, Darius Rucker, ahhh Cowboy Troy,ahhh, I’m sure there are more.

Has anyone noticed that in the two defeats, Kenny Brit could have made catches in the end zone at the end of each game to win or tie. The key word’s are “could have.” Great players make great catches. Then there is everyone else.

Dallas is up next and they have had two weeks to prepare for the Titans. It’s always tough to play teams coming off the bye week. Then again, Dallas was probably on vacation in Mexico. The Titans do very well again NFC East opponents so I guess we shall see.

On a personal note, tailgating for the next home game has been canceled for everyone. Tim will be out of town and if he ain’t cookin’, ain’t nobody cookin’.

 - Mike Dougher

As the clock struck 1:20 it appeared that Atlanta’s fate was doomed.  On third and two Matt Ryan threw a telegraphed throw to Tony Gonzalez over the middle.  49ers’ safety Nate Clements stepped in front of Gonzalez picking off the pass at midfield and headed down the left sideline. All he needed to do to seal the victory was to take a knee.  Instead he tried to score.  Roddy White came up from behind and knocked the ball out of Clements’ grasp.  Lineman Harvey Dahl recovered the fumble on Atlanta’s seven-yard line.  The Falcons were given a fresh set of downs with 80 seconds to go.

“I knew that he was going to try to score. When I saw him running to the sidelines, I knew that he was going to try to score. I just told myself, ‘Just get there, just get there,’ and I got there and got the ball out,” said White.

Ryan then coolly engineered a drive completing key passes to White, Gonzalez and Harry Douglas who had a big game driving down to the San Francisco 25-yard line with seven seconds remaining.  Matt Bryant then connected on a 43-yard field goal with two seconds remaining to give Atlanta the come from behind victory 16-14.

“I knew we were going to score. I thought we were going to score prior to that, but we had a little hump in that one. But once we got it back, I knew that we had two timeouts and 1:06 left. I said we needed about 65 yards and you know, we just found a way to get it,” said White.

“You’ve got to make plays when they are presented to you. I thought that Matt, again this is just another step in his maturation process as a quarterback and it’s another step in the process of our team learning what it takes to go out and be successful week in and week out,” said Falcons’ head coach Mike Smith.

The game stared out quite different from how it began.  The winless 49ers came out on fire.  After forcing Atlanta to punt on their first possession, 49ers Alex Smith led is team down in fine fashion mixing passes and runs for a touchdown capped by a 12-yard catch a run by tight end Vernon Davis.

On the next series the Falcons were trapped deep in their end zone and were forced to punt.  Michael Koenen’s punt was blocked and recovered in the back of the end zone by Taylor Mays for the touchdown and a surprising 14-0 lead.

From that point forward the Falcons tightened up and got back in the game. San Francisco’s pass rush kept Ryan on his toes and his back a lot Sunday.  Ryan was sacked on the first play of this series before settling down.  For the game the 49ers sacked Ryan three times. 

Ryan shook off the sack and led the Falcons downfield in 12 plays, seven of them passing to get on the scoreboard.  Ryan hit Douglas at the right pylon for the score to make it 14-7.

Once again for the second time in five games the Falcons saw their running game capped as they failed to reach the century mark again.  Instead they wrested their hope on the shoulders of Ryan who completed 26-of-43 passes for 273 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.

Smith has similar numbers completing 21-of-32 for 188 with a touchdown and two interceptions as well.  However, both of his interceptions led to Atlanta points.  The first came just before the half when Curtis Lofton intercepted the ball on Atlanta’s 34.  Ryan marched Atlanta down to San Francisco’s 18 before settling for a field goal to pull within 14-10 at the half.

The third quarter started much like the second with Smith getting picked off by William Moore. Michael Turner then broke off his biggest run of the game, 27 yards down to the 49ers’ 27.  The drive stalled deep in San Francisco when on third and goal from the eight Ryan was sacked back at the 13, setting up a 31-yard Bryant field goal to make the score 14-13, which is where it stayed until the fateful interception and Atlanta’s march to victory.

“It was nice to come out on top. We made the plays when we needed to. It was a good football team playing very hard out there so we are happy to walk away with a win,” said Ryan.

Atlanta’s defense came up big again as they only gave up one touchdown Sunday.  In four games the defense has given up six touchdowns, three of which came at the hands of New Orleans.  The Steelers lone touchdown came in overtime, the Cardinals only scored once and the 49ers offense only scored one.

“We made lots of mistakes, we’ve got lots of things that we’ve got to correct but we’re three and one through the first quarter of the season. We will look at the film and move on to Cleveland very, very quickly,” said Smith.

With the win Atlanta stays atop the NFC South with a 3-1 record.  The Falcons will take the show on the road again next week as they travel to Cleveland to take on the Browns.  Kickoff is at 1PM and will be televised on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

The Tennessee Titans took on the NY Giants Sunday at the new Jimmy Hoffa Memorial stadium. It was a perfect day for football in New Jersey with the smell of swamp gas and petroleum filling the air. Taking a page from the Titans performance against the Steelers a week ago, the Giants fumbled and bumbled their way in a losing effort. Tennessee takes this one 29-10.

This game had a great deal of drama and importance. Yes, both teams were in need of a victory and all that, but there was something even bigger at stake. New York pizza. A certain part time  prognosticator and general man about town, lets call him Rich Leo, of Greenlawn fame, placed a bet with the Doomer Men of Tennessee. That was his first mistake. At risk, the best pizza in the world. Sorry Leo but the Titans had our backs all the way. I figure counting the pizza pie, a plane ticket and a cheerleader to hold and deliver it, that bet comes in right around $1000. Nice.

A week after the Titans gave away the ball like it was Christmas at the orphanage, the NY Giants returned the favor. I know charity begins at home so, being from NY, I fully accepted the G Men donating two missed field goals, two turnovers inside the 5 yard line, a safety and 6 personal fouls. I haven't had that many personal fouls since that night at the Sigma Chi basement with the black light and a bottle of tequila.

Most of the talk will be about Giant mistakes and penalties, but there were two major decisions made, one by each coach, that changed the entire course of the game. With the ball on the 36, Giants coach Tom Coughlin elected to go for a 53-yard field goal. Pop quiz, name the Giant kicker. I didn't know either. Coughlin decided to risk field position in exchange for 3 points. It apparently had slipped his mind the the Titans are somewhat offensively challenged. The result was a missed field goal and great field position for Tennessee.

The Titans took advantage of this position, drove and got points.

The second major decision was made by Coach Fisher. He too was faced with a possible 55-yard field goal. Fisher decided to pin the Giants back and a great play by Griffin stuck them on there own 1 yard line. A penalty in the end zone... safety. Kicking back to Tennessee, the Titans get the ball, drive down for a short touchdown. Coaching tally at that point, Giants -3, Titans +9. Those two decisions by these two coaches caused a 12 point swing. It doesn't show up in the box score but Giant coach Coughlin wasn't any sharper than his team.

On the plus side for the Titans, Vince Young had a solid game and no turnovers. Chris Johnson gained 125 yards against a tough defense. CJ won't see those big gains until the offensive line starts picking up the pace.

One bright spot continues to be on special teams. It was in New York just last year when the Titans dropped punts and lost the game. The Titans spent a lot of effort on improving their kicking and coverage  units this year and it's paid off. It was strange to see an opponent have such a bad day. Arno Lutz always says his Giants are special. I guess he meant in that "short bus" kind of way.

I had to listen to the New York broadcast on Sirius as I drove out of town. Again I will ask, why can't the Titans be on Sirius. I'm serious!

So I listened to Carl Banks and company call the game. It was like watching someone all happy at the top of a slide but as they headed down it got ugly. Its a good thing there weren't any razor blades in the press box. When a great pro like Banks watches the G Men self destruct with six personal fouls, someone's getting hurt.

The Titans return home to face the Denver Broncos. Here's your first chance to see "the chosen one" Tim Tebow wearing orange. In a season where Kansas City is 3-0 and Mike Vick is a hero to all children of Philly, Tennessee needs to take care of business. These are the games you’re supposed to win, especially when your neighbor comes from Denver.

 - Mike Dougher

“This is a huge confidence builder for us. And I am glad we were able to execute when we had a chance,” said Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.  And execute they did as the visiting Falcons won a hard fought error-fre game on offense to win in overtime Sunday 27-24.

Sunday’s victory for Atlanta may be one of those career-defining moments for Ryan and the Falcons where they make their next step to being considered elite in the league.

Ryan played a cool, reserved game as he did not throw an interception, kept his cool in the midst of a horrid pass rush at times and wasn’t afraid to tuck the ball in and run with the ball.  The third year starter on one fourth and one play after getting bottled up behind the line of scrimmage bore down and fought his way free and gained the first down.

Ryan was a cool 19-of-30 for 228 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Falcons into a first place tie in this still young season with the defending Super Bowl champions.  “In the operation of our offense, I thought that he did a very good job. What we were trying to get done in terms of how we were going to sequence our play calling and handle the crowd noise, I thought he did a very, very good job because it’s a very loud atmosphere, as you guys know,” said Falcons coach Mike Smith.

The key to the Falcons victory was keeping the ball out of Brees’ hands and they did just that in the second quarter when they took 10:39 off the clock in their only possession of the quarter driving 72 yards, converting two fourth downs and finishing the drive off with a Michael Turner one yard plunge to even the score at 14. “I thought that that was not necessarily a turning point, but it was a statement when you talk about controlling the tempo of the football game. That’s at the core of what they (the Saints) want to do,” said Smith.

Brees had a mixed day under center for the Saints.  Numbers-wise he did great completing 30-of-38 for 365 yards and three touchdowns, but he also threw his first two interceptions of the season as an opportunistic Atlanta defense stifled Brees and the Saints and came up with big plays on offense when needed.  The Falcon defensive front shut down any semblance of a running game the Saints had as they were held to a total of 43 yards.

For the second game in a row the Falcons go their running game rolling as both Turner and Jason Snelling carried the ball with authority.  Turner ran for 114 yards and a score on 30 carries while Snelling coming off NFL offensive honors ran for 62 yards on 14 carries. “I think Michael has been running the ball really effectively this season. I think a lot of it has to do, sometimes, with who you’re playing. I think he’s really committed himself in terms of what we’re trying to do,” said Smith.

Tight end Tony Gonzalez had his best game of the season to lead the Falcons receivers.  Fox reporter Pam Oliver had a feature on Gonzalez still being a productive receiver despite his best days being behind him that aired prior to kickoff.  He must have watched because he was on fire hauling in ten Ryan passes for 110 yards and one touchdown.

“He was a lot more involved, targeted on third down. He is a good player. He came up with, especially in the first half, some big receptions early in the game,” Saints’ coach Sean Payton said about the play of Gonzalez.

Roddy White came alive in the second half as he caught five passes and scored at that point a go-ahead touchdown strike from 22 yards out.

In overtime the Saints were poised for victory having driven the ball to the Atlanta 11-yard line.  Saints’ kicker Garrett Hartley then missed a chip shot field goal attempt that gave Atlanta the ball back.  From that point on the Falcons rode the back and legs of Turner downfield methodically to set up the game winning field goal.

“To be real honest with you, I thought (Garrett Hartley) was going to make it. To me looking out there, it was a chip shot and I thought the game was over. But hey, when he missed it; we had to go back out there and put together a drive. Our offense went back out there and did what makes us good. I mean, Michael Turner – what a player. You saw in overtime he just made plays and drove us down the field to get us in position to win the game and we did,” said Gonzalez.

“Every time we play these guys it goes down to the wire. They are a great team and this is a great rivalry,” said Turner.

Matt Bryant nailed a 46-yard field goal to end the drama and give Atlanta the hard fought win and propel them higher in the power rankings of the conference.

“I mean, you get a shot like that to do your job. And that’s what we do for a living in the NFL. I can’t comment about what happened to him or to them. But when we had the same chance, I’m glad we were able to make it and get out of here with a victory,” said Bryant.

“This is a huge confidence builder for us. And I am glad we were able to execute when we had a chance,” said Bryant.

The Falcons return home Sunday to host the 0-3 San Francisco 49ers.  Kickoff is at 1PM and will be aired on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

When I think of the Pittsburgh Steelers, like everyone else, my thoughts always turn to Irene Cara and the movie "Flashdance."  What a feeling, bein's believin'

I can't have it all, now I'm dancin' for my life

Take your passion, and make it happen

Pictures come alive, you can dance right through your life

I still get a tear in my eye when I think of that young hottie who works the steel mills by day and takes her clothes off at night. I had more than one tear in my eye after watching the Steeler defense dominate the Tennessee Titans Sunday afternoon. Final score, Steelers 19, Titans 11 in a game that wasn't that close.

Since the game was a bit on the boring side, I decided to read up on the steel city. Did you know that Pittsburgh is one of the few American cities to be spelled with an h at the end of a burg suffix?  The Pittsburgh spelling was officially restored after a public campaign by the citizens of the city in 1921. Wow, a campaign to add an "h." I guess with that being before TV and the internet they didn't have much else to do.

There were some famous people from Pittsburgh. Andrew Carnegie has both a hall and a deli in New York. George Westinghouse sold appliances and Henry Heinz made condiments. Dr. Nancy Berk, part time comedian, full time bowler has put her stamp on the city of bridges. Finally there is Jonas Salk, who came up with a way to rid us of polio and I believe also started "Hair Club For Men" with Troy Polamalu.

There were several protests outside the stadium. No, Ben Roethlisberger is old news. The folliclly challenged men of Nashville demanded to know how Troy Polamalu can have so much hair while they have so little. "I'd kill for his split ends," said Tim, the king of tailgating. Yogi Dougher was overheard saying,  "I know I'm damn good looking. Can you imagine what it would be like to be me and have hair? Wow."

The game itself was frustrating for all Titan fans, coaches and players. Pittsburgh out coached and outsmarted the home team. Going into the game, the Steelers knew they wouldn't be able to score many points so they put in a reverse on the opening kick off. Titan coaches knew something was up before they went on the field but the Steelers still pulled off the run back anyway. "We talked about it before the ball was kicked," Titans special teams coach Alan Lowry said. Apparently not everyone was listening. Gold star for Pittsburgh coaches.

On defense, the Steelers just out smarted the Titans and were led by their coordinator Dick LeBeau, who is a football genius. We all know the Vince Young is not the sharpest crayon in the box and he struggled to understand what he saw. More than once he was suckered into making bad plays and bad decisions. Combined with the fact that this is an offensive line still learning to play together, it was a disaster in the making. LeBeau's defensive calls resulted in seven Titan turnovers on offense. No team can overcome that many mistakes.

Coach Fisher reached a point where he pulled Vince Young in favor of Collins. He was trying something different and going with a more experienced guy. Collins played as well as he could under tough circumstances and actually gave the team a chance to win.

I'm known as being a "glass half full" type of guy, in fact I like a full glass, but let me point out a few things about the Titans that got lost in the avalanche of praise for the Steelers defense. Pittsburgh had a total of 7 first downs the entire day. The Steelers were held to 21 yards passing. That's not one pass, that's the entire day. Add to the total of 106 rushing on 33 attempts, the entire offensive output for Pittsburgh was 127 yards. Yes, Chris Johnson was held to 37 yards on 16 carries. On number 17 he ran for 85 yards but was called back due to a penalty.

My point is that all is not lost. Tennessee lost to smart coaches and a team that took advantage of every mistake. That's what good teams do and that's what Pittsburgh is. Tennessee should study that game film closely and learn how to make more with less.

I should also mention that there were several thousand Steeler fans at the game with their wash clothes being waved in the air. I really enjoyed talking to these fans who drove in from everywhere to see their team. These fans are knowledgeable, love their team and for the most part, respectful of the game and other teams fans. Colt fans should take a page from Steeler nation.

Its was ironic and a bit funny that security for LP Field wears black and gold uniforms and took a great deal of heat from the fans.

There were big doings in the parking lot. The Marchetti clan was spotted with Chris, his other brother Chris and his dad Chris all in attendance. As usual, the hit of the day was the spread Tim and Bubba continue to lay out. You could have fed a third world country with the amount of good eats under the tent. Next time your tailgating, you should walk past and just applaud these two. Don't touch anything, just applaud or maybe throw in a woop, woop or two.

For the Titans, it's time to hit the road to New York and play the Giants. The Giants really struggled against Peyton and the boys Sunday night and will be gunning for Tennessee. OK, repeat after me...play hard, play smart and don't turn the ball over. Repeat, repeat, repeat.....

 - Mike Dougher

Maybe riding the pine isn’t so bad after all former Cardinal number one draft pick Matt Leinart probably thought while glancing at the scoreboard as his new team the Houston Texans went to 2-0 on the season.  His old team, the now post Kurt Warner Arizona Cardinals look like the pre-Kurt Warner era Cardinals as the Atlanta Falcons thoroughly spanked them in the Georgia Dome 41-7.  The Falcons felt so bad for Arizona they took a knee with a little over two minutes left in the game with the ball on the Cardinal 5-yard line and a first and goal.

Take away an 80-yard touchdown run by Tim Hightower and the Falcons played near flawless football.  The team took advantage of Cardinal penalties and turnovers a-plenty to easily win their home opener evening their record at 1-1.

Jason Snelling, filling in for injured Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood did his best Marshall Faulk impersonation as he accounted for 186 yards, scoring three touchdowns.  The third string running back ran for 129 yards and two touchdowns and caught five passes for 57 yards and a touchdown.

“I mean what can you say about this guy. He had over 180, I think 180 yards, total yards…182 yards and three touchdowns. Just says a lot about the depth of this team that our personnel staff has put together over three years. He’s just a darned good football player. Not only running the football, but catching the football. I thought our offensive line opened up some nice holes, not only for Jason, but for when RB Michael (Turner) was in there,” said Falcons head coach Mike Smith.

Matt Ryan equaled his career best throwing three touchdown passes.   Ryan finished the game completing 21-of-32 for 225 yards.  But the star of the game was the running game.  After being held to under 100 yards last week against Pittsburgh the Falcons ran for 221 yards.  Despite leaving the game early with a groin injury Turner looked like his old self before going down.  He ran for 75 yards on nine carries, and 8.3 average per carry.  He even broke one run for 21 yards.

“Matt had three touchdown passes and had a 117.3 quarterback rating. I thought that he operated more effectively. I thought that his accuracy was a little bit better in this ballgame and I thought that when we asked him to do things in the no-huddle sequencing that he did a good job there,” said Smith.

Equally impressive was the Falcon defense that kept Derek Anderson under pressure all day.  Anderson was picked off twice and sacked twice.  The Falcons picked off max Hall at the end of the game for a third interception.

The Cardinals did not do themselves any favors either Sunday.  Penalties negated points and kept Atlanta drives alive as the team seemed to devolve into anarchy. 

Atlanta scored on their opening drive on a seven-yard touchdown pass from Ryan to Roddy White.  LaRod Stephens-Howling returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for an apparent game-tying touchdown.  It was called back because of holding.  The Cardinals had numerous personal fouls that kept Atlanta drives alive throughout the day as Atlanta out-gained Arizona 444-267.

“I think we definitely improved from week one to week two. Now, the most important thing is that we continue to improve. Obviously, we scored some points today and we’re happy with the outcome. But I know when we go back and look at the tape, there’s going to be a lot of areas for us to improve. Just leaving the field now, [we] understand that there were some plays to be made out there. I think the biggest thing is to remain confident. I think we’ve been confident all year and [it is important] to remain confident and to continue to improve,” said Ryan.

The Falcons’ dominate defense did not allow the Cardinals to convert any third down conversions. “0-8 on third down efficiency. This is again, been a subject of discussion in this room at other times. It’s also something that in the offseason, as you guys know and through the preseason it has been the number one emphasis of our defensive staff is for us to be efficient on third down and win third down and limit your exposures to offensive plays. When you limit exposures to offensive plays it helps your chances and enhances your chances of being successful. We’ve done a nice job in these first two ballgames,” said Smith.

The Falcons return to the road next week as they head to the Superdome to take on the defending Super Bowl champs and divisional foe New Orleans Saints. The game kicks off at 1PM and will be aired on Fox.

“We didn’t have next week in mind playing today. I think the biggest thing was to focus on getting a win and we were able to accomplish that. We’re going to enjoy in tonight, because wins are very difficult to come across in this League. But tomorrow, it’s back to work trying to improve on some of the things so that we go down to New Orleans, we can play well again,” said Ryan.

 - Dave Weinthal

Like the swallows of Capistrano, Brett Farve playing his 45th season or hot freshman girls hitting a college campus, so to, does Scoop Doomer return for another fun filled and slightly skewed view of the Tennessee Titans 2010. Opening the ‘10 campaign against the Oakland Raiders was certainly what the doctor ordered after a brutal beginning last year. The Titans entered ‘09 feeling like they were the cream of the crop but played like cream of wheat. This year the Titans came out somewhat humbled, focused and the memory of ‘09 in the back of their heads. The result of game one, a 38-13 victory and a collective sigh of relief.

The first Sunday of the new season started off on a high note. A huge American flag was unfurled to honor the memory of 9/11 and Trace Adkins sang the National Anthem. What’s more American than a guy who makes a living singing about trucks, country girls, trucks, mud, trucks and the good old USA?

The crowd, who had been asked to wear their Titan colors, came in full voice and was as loud as any game I’ve attended.

I was a bit concerned walking to the stadium where I saw peewee football teams who usually beg for money to keep their coaches in beer, replaced by preachers telling us how bad we were. I was relieved when I realized they were only talking about the Raiders. Quick, pop quiz, who was quoted as saying "I have no defense"? Bernie Madoff or Oakland coach Tom the Cable guy?

You are correct.

It was hard to tell if the Titans were that good or the Raiders that bad. Oakland had ten penalties, four fumbles and one interception. When Raider return man Yamon Figura, (insert your own joke here), fumbled the opening kickoff, you knew things were looking up. Certainly Tennessee looked ready to play with both offensive and defensive lines controlling the action. The Titan defensive front four harassed new quarterback Jason Campbell repeatedly. They were in the backfield so much they should have demanded catering and a waitress.

It appears that the Titans picked up on some body language right before Campbell would take the snap, helping the defense to get off quickly. "Yeah, he was leaning a little bit. All week in practice we were just keying on the ball and working on getting off. I think it probably threw off their offensive snaps" Jason Jones said.

On the Titan offensive side of the ball, it was business as usual. Plenty of Chris Johnson along with 17 passes from Vince Young. It was obvious that the Raiders were focused on stopping CJ and they did much of the day. Was I surprised? No. I’m surprised that LP Field allows Donn Hanson to be in charge of beer and handle small animals. I’m surprised that Paul McCartney is actually playing drums on "Back In The USSR". Surprised that the Raiders tried to stop CJ? No. Sooner or later CJ is going to getcha. It took only one crack in the defense for Oakland to receive a 76 yard Johnsonoscopy, and it was painful. Just what the doctor ordered as CJ racked up his 12th 100 yard rushing game in a row.

Now it’s Steeler week and all that comes with that. This will be a real test for the Titans, Chris Johnson and Vince Young. Defense will be the name of this game. I think the Tennessee defensive line is stronger than the Steeler offensive line and they’ll have to take advantage of that. They will be geared to stop CJ like every other team, and the Steeler defensive coordinator is the best in the business so it will take a major effort to bust him lose. A little pay back from last year would be a nice thing to see out of this game too. Celebrate sightings for the Steeler game will include Jim Bambry of Choo Choo fame, who once dated Terry Bradshaw back in college and now are "just friends."

 - Mike Dougher

No Ben Roethlisberger? No problem.  Everyone seems to forget that the Pittsburgh Steelers legacy was built on defense not offense. It was defense that won a tough war between the Steelers and Atlanta Falcons.

Both teams got involved in a staring contest that ended tied 9-9 in regulation.  Unfortunately the Falcons’ defense blinked in overtime falling 15-9 when Rashard Mendenhall broke through the line and scored on a 50-yard run to end the game.

“All day on the run, we were creating seams. In the run game, you just have to be patient. We knew that something was going to open up. And it did in that overtime,” said Mendenhall.

“The defense played really well. They gave us opportunities the entire day with good field position a number of times. I was impressed with how hard they played, they tackled well. So they gave us a chance, they kept them out of the end zone throughout regulation. So I thought the defense played really well,” said Matt Ryan

For an unprecedented third straight time these two teams went to overtime.  The Steelers record in these overtime battles is now 2-0-1.

“This was an amazing victory. It was the first time that I beat Atlanta. Being from there. I really wanted it bad. How dramatic, Mr. Automatic, Jeff Reed comes in and I knew that the game was over. He ends up missing it, we go to overtime and they win the toss. Our defense played great all day keeping them out of the end zone,” said Hines Ward who led Steelers receivers with six catches for 108 yards.

Those expecting an offensive show were deeply disappointed as both defenses played almost flawlessly.  The Falcons kept pressure on Dennis Dixon sacking his three times and until the 50-yard run kept Pittsburgh below 100 yards rushing.

That being said, the Atlanta Falcon offense looked anemic at best.  Michael Turner was held to 43 yards on 19 carries (2.2 yards per rush average) and the game was put on the shoulders of Ryan.  As alluded to last week there now has to be some concern regarding the offense.  During the preseason the first team scored only one touchdown and that wasn’t until the third quarter of game three.

Sunday the Steelers’ oft-so-hyped defense held Atlanta out of the red zone (inside the 20) every drive but one.  On that drive Atlanta settled for a chip shot field goal to tie the score at 9-9.

Ryan looked good most of the day running a no-huddle offense at times to keep Pittsburgh guessing.  He completed 27-of-44 passes.  Roddy White was the main benefactor as he hauled in 13 throws for 111 yards to lead all receivers.

The Steelers were able to win by neutralizing the run game and making Tony Gonzalez a non-factor.  The Pro Bowl tight end was held to only two catches and both of them didn’t come until the second half.  Gonzalez did finally make that first catch in the third quarter to become the first tight end in NFL history to catch 1,000 passes and only the seventh person to ever hit the century mark.

“I thought it was a great milestone for Tony today for him to get his 1000th catch, and to be the guy to deliver it was pretty special. That speaks to his consistency throughout his career. To my knowledge he is the first Tight End to ever do that, so it’s incredibly impressive and couldn’t happen to a better person,” said Ryan.

The only real mistake Ryan made that fortunately didn’t cost them came near the end of the game was when Troy Polamalu picked off his throw deep in Atlanta territory. 

The Falcons did play a very disciplined game as they were only penalized three times.  Unfortunately for them two of those were in overtime.  One was on the kickoff return at the beginning of overtime and the last one a holding call on Sam Baker that nullified a big third down conversion and eventually led to Atlanta punting from their goal line.

“I thought it was a well-fought game, especially for 60 minutes.  I thought both teams battled toe-to-toe; unfortunately we didn’t do a very good job in any phase of the game in the overtime. We got a lot of things that we’ve got to correct and get better at as a football team,” said Falcons’ head coach Mike Smith.

The Falcons open their home schedule Sunday as they welcome the Arizona Cardinals to the Georgia Dome.  Kickoff is 1PM and the game will be aired on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

Those of us who remember the ‘80s – those of us who actually lived them, not born during them may remember in 1980 and 1981 a commercial featuring Atlanta Braves’ manager Bobby Cox sitting with announcer Skip Carey in the bleachers of Atlanta Fulton County Stadium rocking forward and saying, “This Could Be the Year”.  It wasn’t.  Cox was fired after the season before coming back a decade later to become part of baseball history.  While I know this is a football article, but the same sentiment that Cox exuded in 1980 is taking place this year in Atlanta once again.  Instead of from head coach Mike Smith, it’s from sports writers, pundits and others.

As the 2010 season kicks off Thursday there are many who believe the Falcons are poised to grab the brass ring and head to Dallas for Super Bowl XLV.  The two biggest obstacles in the NFC for Atlanta is Green Bay and maybe Dallas and of course lest we forget, defending Super Bowl champions New Orleans Saints.

Under the leadership of Smith the Falcons have done a number of things people thought were never going to happen or be a long time in changing.  For the first time in the franchise’s history they had back-to-back winning seasons and have put the Michael Vick debacle way in the past.

Part of the success of the Falcons the past two seasons can also be attributed to owner Arthur Blank maturing as an owner.  Everyone who owns something as big as an NFL team will suffers from an enlarged ego at some point.  Despite building Home Depot into an industry leader in home improvement, a pro football team is an entirely different beast.  He made numerous mistakes his first few years including pampering previously mentioned Vick who ended up betraying him and his mishandling of Vick, coach Dan Reeves and so on, all coming to a head with the Bobby Petrino fiasco.

Blank sat down, regrouped and did what he knew best from his Home Depot day and got people who actually knew pro football in to run his organization.  Thus three seasons removed for Doggate to now Super Bowl hype and by many considered one of the better run organizations in professional football.

That being said the Falcons ended the 2010 preseason 2-2 with a mundane performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Granted, it was hard to tell the first team from the fans in attendance as both sides let their starters sit this one out in street clothes.  The Jaguars won 13-9.

I know it’s only preseason but there has been something that has been bothering me all preseason and for a majority of last season – lack of finishing drives.

For the game, Atlanta only mustered three field goals.  Look further and you will see they were all three chip shots with the longest from 31 yards out.  When Atlanta was losing some of their games last season and kept a couple of their preseason games closer than they needed to be, they would drive the ball deep into their opponent’s territory and have to settle for field goals.  I know all games can’t start like Matt Ryan’s debut with a 62-yard touchdown pass, but settling for field goals is frustrating.  The first team did not score its first touchdown until the second quarter of preseason this season.  We might consider showing a little concern.  Hopefully this is just preseason jitters and not cause for real concern.

Final cuts were made over the weekend and I was unhappy with one of those as well.  Troy Bergeron for the third consecutive year failed to make the roster, nor did he make the practice squad as the two previous seasons.  I will go out on a limb here and say I think Bergeron was the best receiver on the roster coming into preseason and nothing during the four games proved me otherwise.  Bergeron first caught my eye when he joined the Georgia Force in 2005.  His acrobatic catches are reminiscent of Lynn Swann and speed of Bob Hayes (old school references I know).  I have a picture of Bergeron in which he is diving towards me in midair arms outreached catching the ball while over head two defenders are crashing helmet to helmet.  It is one of my all time favorite pictures I have ever shot and a testament to his athleticism, speed and ability to catch passes in traffic.  Roddy White wishes he could be half as sure handed as Bergeron.  I digress.  Hopefully by some strange circumstance Jeff Fisher reads this and looks into Bergeron to sure up his receiver corps in Nashville.  After all, Bergeron did attend MTSU.

The Falcons catch kind of a break this Sunday.  They open on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers who will be without the services of Ben Roethlisberger for the first for games of the season.  Dennis Dixon a very promising signal caller with mobility and a strong arm will start, but he suffers from poor judgment at times with some of his passes.  Hopefully the new and improved secondary will take advantage of that. 

““We haven’t started doing any game planning yet. We will start that tomorrow evening after we evaluate this tape and make our personal moves, but we have a lot of things we need to correct. The preseason is for evaluating players, but it’s also for working on new things systematically that you want to integrate in your offense, defense and special teams for the upcoming season. We have a lot of things that we need to get better at in all three phases,” says Smith.

 - Dave Weinthal

So, finally, September is finally here after a summer that was a cross between the Sahara desert and Megan Fox.  Hot, damn hot. Now, along with those cooler winds come the sounds of football. Yes!  The Tennessee Titans are ready to hit the field on Sunday, September 12 against the Oakland Raiders.

     As you recall, last year’s season start was a disaster, losing their first six games. With almost all the games on the road, when I finally got to a home game the season already seemed over. The tailgate food didn’t seem to have the same zip, parking was a hassle and everyone had switched to Zima.

    Eventually the Titans found their game and made the season entertaining. We all enjoyed the resurrection of Vince Young’s career and he will certainly be one of the focal points as we begin ’10. Is this the year he turns into a real quarterback, or does he do a Lindsey Lohan? Chris Johnson had his usual pre season, running for a total of 37 yards. I can’t imagine Johnson doing what he did last year, running for over 2000 yards. The offensive line is not the same and they’re the guys that make him go. I think 1500 yards is a solid goal. The good news is he wasn’t on the cover of Madden so there will be no hex in play.

     What do we have to get used to? No Keith Bullock on the defensive side of the ball. Hell, he’s been with the Titans longer than I’ve been bald. Well, it’s close. No Kyle Vanden Bosch, the man with the motor. I’ve still never seen a player go 100 percent on every single play. I’ll miss focusing on his play. I know everyone is replaceable but those two made the Titan engine run and I just don’t know who is going to step up.

Looking forward, the one guy to watch this year will be All Terrain Verner, who will start opposite Finnigan . He seems very comfortable on the field with the pros and knows how to tackle. We can always use a guy like him. Derrick Morgan, Mr. Number 1 draft pick has just a few more plays under his belt in the NFL than I do. “They” say he’ll be great but we’ve heard that before. I hate rookies getting hurt before they get going.

The Titans saw fit to bring in an Italian white guy from Montana (go figure) to run back punts. They were burned so many times last year in this department they left no stone unturned. Mariani is his name if you want to put him on the back of that jersey you got for Christmas.

Finally, Tennessee is keeping LeGarrette Blount. LeGarrette is French for “I’ll punch that sucker out”. He’s one big dude and will replace LenWhale White. Seriously, how hard can that be. Coach Fisher is giving this guy a huge opportunity so we’ll see how it plays out.

So, how does this season shake out? It’s just so hard to say. Last year everyone thought they were a Super bowl team, then started 0-6. Tennessee has new faces on defense and that makes me nervous. Eli’s brother is still in the division so it seems the Titans are always looking up.

This I do know, there will be football in Nashville, with beautiful weather, excitement in the air, BBQ on the wind, friendship around every tailgate and we’ll get to see the best players in the world go at it. Ah September.

 - Mike Dougher

Defense dominated for the Atlanta Falcons as signs of a stronger defense were evident Friday in defeating the Miami Dolphins 16-6.

“I think we definitely made some strides tonight,” said Falcons’ linebacker Sean Weatherspoon.  “The sense of urgency was really there tonight.  On third down you had guys communicating with each other.”

The defense has been a work in progress for coach Mike Smith who built a dominant defense in Jacksonville before taking the reigns in Atlanta in 2008.

“I thought we did some real good things in all three phases of the game,” said Smith.  “With that being said, there is a lot of things we have to get better at.  But I felt like our defense played well tonight.”

The defense has been a work in progress for Smith as he weeded out over-priced underachievers and a few who were a year or two past their prime.  Saturday with the first team playing well into the third quarter there were many encouraging signs.Fslcon'

The Dolphins known for their running tandem of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams as well as innovators of the Wildcat formation spent most of the time grounded.  Brow and Williams had a combined 14 yards on the ground.

Matt Ryan and the first team offense scored their first touchdown of the preseason when the Falcon signal caller hooked up with Roddy White on an 18-yard scoring strike with just under seven minutes to go into the first quarter to give Atlanta the lead 7-3, a lead they would not surrender.

“As a team we still got a long way to go offensively, defensively, and special teams.  We’ve been playing pretty good solid football, but we still have got a long way to go,” said Falcons’ running back Jerious Norwood.

Atlanta’s defense came up big once again as a late drive in the first half by Chad Henne was cut short when he was intercepted in the end zone with 11 second to go to preserve a 10-4 lead.

Ryan had his most productive game of the preseason so far completing 13-of-26 passes for 103 yards and a touchdown and interception.  He was able to move around in the pocket well avoiding being sacked by the Dolphins defense which itself is going through some changes with the off-season losses of Joey Porter and Jason Taylor.

“I thought there were some things that we did pretty well for the most part.  I think we had seven possessions in the first half and came away with ten points, so that’s a little bit frustrating,” said Ryan.  “We were close and I think it’s something that we need to iron out in practice.”

Despite lack of a running game the Dolphins were able to move the ball through the air.  Henne and Brandon Marshall hooked up a couple of times of a few long passes as the Falcons secondary still has a little to prove.  212 of Miami’s 241 offensive yards came through the air with Henne passing for 123, Chad Pennington for 62 and Pat White 27.  Despite that fact the Falcons held the Dolphins to two Dan Carpenter field goals.

“Yeah, (I mean) obviously weren’t efficient.  We dropped balls, I missed some passes, had some sacks.  Just overall was just sloppy,” said Henne.  “I thought the defense did a good job of getting us the ball in the first half and we just didn’t execute  the way we wanted to.”

Michael Turner saw his biggest workout of the preseason carrying the ball 16 times for 47 yards. Norwood saw his first action of the preseason as well carrying the ball five times for 22 yards.

“He looks better than ever, it makes it easier for all of us,” said Falcon tight end Tony Gonzalez about Turner.  “You have to respect him, but if you let him run wild you’re going to get killed.”

Chris Redman looked sharp playing the majority of the second half under center for Atlanta.  The Louisville signal caller completed 5-of-8 passes for 56 yards, throwing a touchdown to Brian Finneran from five yards out.

Special teams also did well as Eric Weems returned one kickoff 36 yards and a punt 20.

“We got a great group of guys and everything is kind of jelling out there, doing our whole system,” said Finneran.  “We feel pretty good.  Eliminate some of the mistakes and we’ll be alright.”

The Falcons conclude the preseason Thursday night at Jacksonville.

 - Dave Weinthal

“He felt excited about playing. He was prepared, focused, made plays with his legs and made plays with his arm and real good on the line of scrimmage as well,” said Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher following Vince Young’s impressive out Monday night against the Arizona Cardinals.

Young once again topped foe Matt Leinart as the Titans effectively defeated the Cardinals 24-10 at LP Field in their exhibition home opener.

After a couple of shaky series Young found his groove on the Titans’ third possession.  He completed two big pass plays of 28 and 30 yards that helped set up Chris Johnson’s 8-yard touchdown run to give Tennessee a 7-0 they would never relinquish. 

“I felt like I had my eyes in the right places. Like I said earlier this week, I feel like our receivers are coming along real great. And they’re doing a great job,” said Young.  Young finished the night 9-of-13 for 105 yards and ran for another first down in a little over a quarter of work.

For the third time in his career Young faced off against his old college foe, Matt Leinart and for the third consecutive time won.  Leinart struggled during his time under center completing four of six passes for only 26 yards and mounting no serious offensive threat to the Titans’ revamped defense that lost two marquee starters in the off-season and three in the last two.

“Well I’m not happy with it obviously.  I think that we had opportunities from all of our quarterbacks to make plays tonight and we didn’t get that done.  That is something we have to continue to work on.  I am not panicked about it.  I think it is a process that you have to go through but I think what is encouraging is that we had opportunities to make plays and we just didn’t execute them,” said Arizona’s Ken Whisenhunt about the play of his quarterbacks, most notably, Leinart.

“We played fast. We played aggressive. We executed our assignments and everybody tackled well. When you have a team doing those things and hitting on all cylinders, we got a lot of good pressure up front. The defensive line played really well against the pass and the run. It made our job easy in the back end,” said Titans’ strong safety Chris Hope.

Derek Anderson gave the Cardinals a little boost as he challenges Leinart to be Kurt Warner’s successor.  Anderson finished 11-of-19 for 105 yards and helped setup Arizona’s lone score of the first half, a 19-yard field goal early in the second quarter.

The Titans were benefactors of a running game that seemed to be firing on all cylinders as they ran for 142 yards overall.  Samkon Gado ran for two scores in the third quarter to extend Tennessee’s lead to 24-3.

Arizona on the other hand never got much going on the ground as the Tennessee defense stifled the ground game holding them to 65 total yards.

“Three three-and-outs, I thought, was quite an accomplishment.  Although the third one we had long down and distance situation but I thought they rallied.  They tackled well.  We had a number of tackles for losses and looked like we got a lot of pressure on the passer,” Fisher said about the play of his first team defense.

Tennessee travels to Carolina Saturday to take on the Panthers in week three of the exhibition season before returning home for the exhibition finale September 2.

 - David N. Marks

Hey, it’s only preseason, right?  The Atlanta Falcons were schooled in exhibition action Thursday at the Georgia Dome as perennial playoff titans, the New England Patriots defeated the hometown heroes 28-10.

Those in attendance got to see both first units play a majority of the first half before giving way to the ongoing roster battles to make the final cut.

It doesn’t seem to matter to the Patriots if it’s a preseason, regular season or a playoff game, they seem to always be focused and exhibit a win at all costs mentality.  This could explain why head coach Bill Belichick is one of the most disliked coaches by sports fans in general with his standoffish aloof manner and no-nonsense approach. Of course that would explain why the Patriots have made playoffs ten of the last 11 years.

Atlanta came in and started the game a lot like most they have under the tutelage of their head coach Mike Smith.  They took the opening kickoff and drove down to an early score, a 46-yard field goal.  When the Falcons score first, they usually win, especially if scoring a touchdown.  The Falcons held onto the lead for most of the first quarter and then it was all New England.

Tom Brady was well…Tom Terrific as he sliced and diced up the Falcon defense.  He was in a word, Brady-esque as he engineered two scoring drives before handing the keys of the machine off to Brian Hoyer.

“I think that they had a pretty good time of possession tonight, but that’s kind of their M.O.. They do a really good job with that. Their defense is good. [Patriots Head Coach] Bill Belichick always has those guys ready to go with a good scheme. I think we did some things pretty well and we have a lot of positives to draw from. Now it’s about getting back to work, continuing to improve and make sure that we’re peaking at the right time,” said Falcons’ QB Matt Ryan.

Brady finished his half completing 10 of 12 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown .  That touchdown was thanks in part to a roughing the kicker call which place the ball on the Falcon’s 11-yard line.  Once the score hit 14-3 all the air seemed to be let out of the Falcons’ sails.

His counterpart Ryan looked relatively efficient in two and a half quarters of work.  The third year pro finished 8-of-13 for 76 yards.  Ryan once again moved the team efficiently but they seemed to lack that killer instinct as they were unable to find the end zone.  It should be noted here that the first team has yet to score a touchdown in preseason.

“We started fast, moved the ball down and got on the plus side of the 50 and then we stalled out in these first two games. It’s definitely something that we are going to have to improve on. It’s something that we’re going to have to address. Again, I think in all three phases we were not very efficient,” said Smith.

John Parker Wilson played pretty much the rest of the game a wasn’t quite as impressive this time.

He did lead the Falcons downfield on their last series of the half taking the Falcons from their 20 to the Patriot 37 where he was intercepted on fourth down.

Parker ran for his life most of the game going 14-of-25 for 98 yards.  While he completed a decent percentage of his passes they were of the dink and dunk variety, nothing of any real distance until the end of the game.

The one bright spot of the game for the Falcons was the play of Troy Bergeron.  Bergeron is making his third attempt to make the 53-man roster.  The MTSU standout made a name for himself in the Arena Football League with highlight reel catches, turbo speed and acrobatics for the Georgia Force.  His play caught the eye of Falcons’ brass and has made it to the final cut the last two seasons.

Much was made of the draft of Kerry Meier in this season’s draft but the much-touted wide receiver injured his knee Thursday and was put on Injured Reserve and out for the season.  This will hopefully make the Falcons look closer at Bergeron, who is one of the fastest guys on the team.  Bergeron, thanks to his play in the arena league also knows how to work in restricted spaces and catch passes in traffic.  He prove that Thursday hauling in two Wilson passes, the second one for 19 yards to provide Atlanta with their only touchdown on the game.

Maybe a lot shouldn’t be taken out of these preseason games, but there is a little concern with Atlanta’s first team inability to get the ball into the end zone.  The defense shows signs of improvement over last year, even though they did not force a turnover like the week before.  Of course maybe New England takes everything too serious as they played the game as if it really counted.

“Alright guys, tonight we obviously didn’t play anywhere near the level we need to play if we’re going to be the football team that we want to be. It is the preseason, but we still didn’t play at the level in any phase of the game where we want to be,” said Smith.

Atlanta’s final two preseason games are on the road.  Atlanta travels this week to South Beach to play the Miami Dolphins Friday night.

 - Dave Weinthal

Football has finally arrived.  No finer words have been spoken is some time.  With temperatures nearing 100 degrees outside a great respite was found inside the cool confines of the Georgia  Dome Friday at the NFL preseason fully kicked off as the 2010 edition of the Atlanta Falcons faced off against the Kansas City Chiefs.

During the off-season the Falcons did what they needed to do most and that was get healthy.  Major chunks of last season were missed by offensive weapons Michael Turner and Matt Ryan.  Both were back in action Friday.  The only casualty in training camp was number two receiver Michael Jenkins, who is about for about four weeks with a shoulder injury.  Despite that, there are plenty of receivers out there looking for a spot on the roster.

You had to look close and not blink as Atlanta starters only played the first three series before letting the rest fight it out for one of the 53 roster spots available.  The first team offense moved the ball efficiently in the first series as the line opened up big holes for Turner to roam.  Turner averaged over seven yards a carry in his brief stint in the backfield.

“This win was a nice start to the season, but we still have work to do and improvements to make. We did pretty good out there. We just have to look at tape and continue to get better,” said Turner.

“Michael Turner did a great job tonight. Our offensive line really did a great job. We came out and only threw one pass on the first drive and moved the ball right down the field. It speaks to how physical they play up front, what a good job they’ve done, and also how well Mike’s running. He worked really hard this offseason to get himself in really unbelievable shape to come out and have a great year. I think that tonight’s a good start,” said Ryan.

Ryan found favorite targets Tony Gonzalez and Roddy White as well before the dirve stalled at the Chief’s 13-yard line.  Matt Bryant kicked a 30-yard field goal to give Atlanta a 3-0 lead they held until the last play of the half when Kansas City tied it as time expired.

Atlanta’s second drive was pretty much the same except Bryant missed a 53-yard attempt. 

From that point forward as with most preseason games you needed a scorecard to keep up with the unfamiliar names wearing familiar uniforms.  Simply put, Atlanta’s reserves beat down Kansas City’s. At that point until the rest of the game the crowd at the Dome looked a lot like the bootleg Falcon’s jersey I bought outside of the stadium last year after a few washings – full of holes as the near capacity crowd seemed to lose a little interest in watching the reserves.

Dimitri Nance made the most of his time in the backfield for Atlanta as the rookie running back out of Arizona State ran for two scores in the second half that saw the Falcons go on a 17-0 run to put the game out of reach for the Chiefs.

“I thought that Dimitri, when he got his opportunity to run the ball, he runs the ball with power. He’s a very compact back. I thought that he did a nice job, I really think all of them did. RB Jason Snelling I think had some positive runs, as well as RB Antone Smith. All of those guys I thought really did a good job running the football and that was really our first exposure at a 3-4 front. When you’re playing that 3-4 front you’ve got different blocking schemes and rules,” said Falcons’ head coach Mike Smith.

Matt Cassell looked relatively efficient in his preseason debut for the Chiefs.  The 15 million dollar man played most of the first half.  The new Kansas City offense now under the tutelage of former Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weiss were efficient with plenty of opportunities to score but failed to except at the end of each half.

Atlanta’s defense did a number of the Chiefs causing three turnovers – two interceptions and a fumble recovery.  The two interceptions set up both Falcon touchdowns.

Both third string quarterbacks – both wearing number 4 ironically looked well under pressure.  The Falcon’s John Parker Wilson looked very comfortable behind center as he seems to have lost the deer in the headlights look he had last preseason.  He completed 8-of-16 passes for 80 yards.

Tyler Palko ran for his life most of the second half completing 8-of-13 for 66 yards and an interception.  He scored the Chief’s lone touchdown with 18 seconds remaining in the game on a quarterback sneak from a yard out.

Antone Smith, first year running back out of Florida State showed signs of promise as he led the Falcons in rushing with 36 yards.

The ball was spread equally amongst ten different receivers with six of the ten getting two catches and the other four with one apiece.

Despite the lopsided score Weiss ran an efficient offense for the Chiefs that outgained Atlanta 273-244.  The big difference was three turnovers.

The Falcons were able to accomplish three big goals Friday.  First, they won the game and rather impressively at times.  Two, all the reserves and guys fighting for a roster spot got to see a lot of playing time, and third and most important, no one was injured.

“I felt like we did some really good things on offense, defense, and special teams and it’s really good to get the win. I liked our effort, I liked our intensity. I liked the way that the guys played but we made way too many mistakes and those are the things that will have to get corrected. I thought that in all three phases there were some positive things and we want to keep it all in perspective, this is the first preseason game,” said Smith.

The Falcons host the New England Patriots Thursday at the Georgia Dome with the game being broadcast nationally by Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

Since college football recruiting just ended for this year, it seems logical to analyze the Super Bowl based on the star system.

The Colts pretty much lost the game when Peyton Manning (five stars) threw an interception to the Saints’ Tracey Porter (two stars), who returned the pick for a touchdown.

This put the Saints in an uncatchable position, even though the announcers kept trying to convince me Peyton could pull off the miracle.

This was a case of a pretty good football game scattered among so many commercials I spent most of the first half watching “Silverado” on AMC.

Word is CBS got somewhere around $2.5 million for each 30 second spot.  All I know is that CBS made a ton of money, because every time play stopped for any reason, first down, time out, a good tackle, a good catch, the network stuffed two or three, or sometimes four commercials into the mix.

Thank God AMC was running “Dances with Wolves” opposite the “30 second Spot Bowl” during the second half.

I hate commercials during football games.   I understand the necessity of having them and all that, but I still hate them.

But that’s why Comcast put the “last” channel button on my mighty fine remote, right?   So I don’t have to watch commercials during the Super Bowl, right?

Here’s how it went.

Peyton throws a pass to Garcon; Kevin Costner rides his horse back and forth in front of the Confederate lines and his general calls for his personal doctor.

The Saints run two plays and I notice a Stinchcomb (Jon---former Dawg) playing for the Saints.

Then Kevin Costner arrives at some fort in the West, where the commanding officer is crazy as a bedbug, and Costner begins his trek to Fort Sedgwick as the CO blows his brains out in the background.

(It is half time at the Super Bowl, now, and after watching about seven seconds of a horrible performance by the ancient members of The Who; I go back to watching Costner making friends with the Indians who live in his neighborhood.   (The Who was never one of my favorite bands, although I did see the movie Tommy and all that. I don’t know how much the Super bowl paid the band to perform, but it was too much, cause it was obvious no matter how hard the old guys tried, they have lost their rock.)

Back and forth, back and forth, till finally the Saints get ahead and the game is down to its last three minutes, and CBS has (apparently) pretty much run out of folks willing to pony up $2.5 million, so we get to see the last couple of minutes of the game with only minimal interruptions. I get to see Peyton get picked for six by Tracey Porter of the Saints, which pretty much ices the game. 

This is followed by Costner and the Indians finding a field of skinned out buffalo, carcasses left to rot by hunters.

Kind of cool the Saints won the game, I guess, and the owner of the Saints, Tom Benson, who had recently threatened to move the franchise to San Antonio, held the silver football aloft and proclaimed the victory for the whole state of Louisiana which had come back from Katrina.

Oh…and somehow I did manage to see the much-publicized Tim Tebow commercial, I have no idea what the base message of the thing was, but one thing is remarkably clear,

Tebow should have been playing linebacker all along.

 - Scorpio Jones III

This past weekend’s NFL conference championship games each lived up to the hype in different ways. The Saints-Vikings nightcap went into overtime, with the homestanding Nawlinians earning their first-ever Super Bowl trip. Indianapolis simply dispatched the New York Jets, as Colts quarterback and former Tennessee Vol Peyton Manning cemented his status as one of the best to ever play his position. Quarterbacks typically get more praise than they deserve when their teams win… and more blame than they deserve when their teams lose. But all four quarterbacks in last weekend’s NFC and AFC title tilts played huge roles in the four games’ outcomes…

…Start with Manning. Maybe getting screwed out of a Heisman trophy put a big chip on Archie Manning’s tallest son’s shoulder. The four-time league MVP makes incredibly fast defensive reads and is capable of routinely delivering passes to places where only his receivers can catch them. Against the Jets, Peyton was ineffective (and sacked) on each of his first two drives. But no one makes adjustments like Manning. He focused on third receiver Pierre Garcon and shredded the vaunted New York defense for 377 yards and three touchdowns, completing 26-of-39 passes. His two-minute drill at the end of the second quarter pretty much sucked the life out of the Jets. Manning is well aware of his place in league history and wants one more Super Bowl trophy to help boost his all-time ranking…

…Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez played far better than anyone had a right to expect. But he’s been doing that all year. The rookie signal-caller drilled touchdown passes to Braylon Edwards and Dustin Keller while being hammered by the Colts’ pass rush. I don’t like the Jets. I don’t like NY coach Rex Ryan. But I like the way Sanchez plays the game and performs under pressure…

…For all of Manning’s highlights, the most-viewed pass play from last weekend’s Super Bowl semifinals was Brett Favre’s horrendous interception that scuttled the Vikings’ Super Bowl chances. Granted, Favre wouldn’t have had to even consider throwing the ball if Minnesota hadn’t been whistled for having one extra man on the field. Most analysts are considering Favre’s (possibly career-ending… again) interception to be a perfect microcosm of his career. The term, “gunslinger,” is being tossed around a lot. I get a bit bored with Favre’s retirements and unretirements, but there’s no doubt he’s the big reason the Vikes made it to the title game in the first place. I hope he gets remembered for his passes before that horrendous interception…

…You could say that Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints are the beneficiary of Favre’s poor decision-making. And you’d probably be right. But Brees has shown incredible poise in helping the former Aints recover from three straight late season losses. The former Charger is a great fit in the rebuilding city of New Orleans. The 2004 Comeback Player of the Year and 2008 Offensive Player of the Year may not be in Manning’s league… but it doesn’t look like anyone else is, either…

…I was hoping for a Colts-Saints Super Bowl and I’m glad it shook out that way. We’ve got another week to wait before Super Sunday, but I’ll make my pick early. The Colts by about 10 points. I think New Orleans can score on Indy. But I know Manning can score on the Saints. Sports historians will argue the relative merits of Joe Montana, John Elway, Dan Marino, and Tom Brady… but I’ve never seen anyone play quarterback better than Peyton Manning does. Never ever…

 -- Mark Bedford

Jason Snelling’s 147 yards helped cap a major milestone for the Atlanta Falcons as they downed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20-10 in their season finale.

“It means a lot. It feels good to get that win and get that history, to be part of that team. There was a lot of momentum winning three games in a row at the end of the season. I’m looking forward to the future. We are just going to try to build off it in the offseason and make sure to set our goals high and get back to the playoffs,” said Snelling.

Snelling, third on the team’s depth chart behind Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood had a career game as he, along with Matt Ryan and the vastly improved Falcons defense helped get the proverbial monkey off their backs as Atlanta secured for the first time back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in the team’s 44 year franchise history.

“We broke the curse and it’s awesome to be the first to do that,” said Falcons’ linebacker Curtis Lofton.

Snelling, subbing for an injured Turner and taking a majority of the reps over a fragile Norwood gained 125 of those yards in the second half as the offense grounded it out and took control to secure their third victory in a row.

Big props go to the Falcons defense who were much-maligned earlier in the season, and actually up until three weeks ago when they finally seemed to gel.  During the team’s three-game win streak the defense has given up a total of 20 points (6.66 per game) and went a span of nine quarters without giving up a touchdown.

Brent Grimes is starting to show signs as a potential shutdown corner as he had another interception Sunday, four in the last three games and six for the season.

“Brent [Grimes] has now gone three games in a row with an interception playing at right corner. It was nice to see Christopher Owens have his second consecutive game with an interception and that interception really matched an interception that the Buccaneers got. I think it really got the momentum back on our side,” said Falcons’ coach Mike Smith about the play of his young cornerbacks.

Another milestone was just missed Sunday as Tony Gonzalez only hauled in three passes.  Ryan’s favorite target finished the season one short of 1,000 career receptions.  His first catch of 2010 will make him the first tight end with 1,000 receptions in NFL history.

“We came up a little short. We had a penalty on the first play of the game where Tony (Gonzalez) had a catch too. You would have loved to see him get it today, but I’m hoping he gets it the first game of next year and we put that to rest. He (Gonzalez) deserves it, he is a great player and has been a huge part of our team this year. I can’t tell you how many games he contributed to the win,” said Ryan.

The game started a little sketchy for the Falcons as Eric Weems was stripped of the ball on the opening kickoff.  The defense held and Tampa Bay had to settle for a Connor Barth  37-yard field goal.

Atlanta evened the score on a 36-yard Matt Bryant field goal early in the second quarter.

Just before the half Atlanta mounted a drive in which Ryan went 5-of-5, hittin Justin Peelle in the end zone as time expired in the half to make the score 10-3.

The third quarter saw a back-and-forth battle with Ryan getting intercepted and Bryant having a 40-yard field goal attempt blocked.

Tampa Bay’s Josh Freeman then connected with Antonio Bryant early in the fourth quarter from eight yards out to tie the score at 10.

Ryan then proceeded to throw his second interception in three offensive series but Atlanta returned the favor on the very next play as Christopher Owens intercepted Freeman’s pass bringing the ball into Tampa Bay territory.

Snelling took over a majority of the workload as he ran the ball four times, breaking one for 22 yards helping set up a Ryan touchdown pass to Roddy White.

On third down Ryan hit White along the sideline and he did a great balancing act rounding the corner around the defender to tip toe into the end zone from 12 yards out.

 “Matt (Ryan) gave me a good ball out there. The cornerback took a chance and then he tried to undercut it. Matt put it right in the right spot, and I just tried to stay in bounds. Once he missed it I was like put on the breaks, put on the breaks and try to stay in bounds, “ said White about the touchdown reception.

Atlanta iced the game with a minute left as Bryant nailed his second 36-yarder to make the margin of victory 20-10.

“You know, it was a big win. We got that game and put the history on the table (consecutive winning seasons) you know, it was a big game. The offensive line, the fullback, just did a heck of a job today blocking downfield, opening up holes for me, and I was able to get my first 100 yard game. But I’ve got to give credit to those guys up front. They were down in the trenches and did a great job of helping me out and I had to do the rest,” said Snelling.

With the win Sunday Atlanta finishes the season 9-7 with their first back-to-back winning campaigns in their history.  Even with coaches and players past such as Reeves, Van Brolin, Bartkowski, Vick, Anderson, Henning, Andrews and Riggs, it’s guys by the names of Smith, Ryan, Turner, White and maybe most importantly Blank that finally ended the dubious streak. 

“Well, I think for our football team it’s something that we were aware of, we knew about it and we didn’t really talk about it. But I’m very, very happy for the city of Atlanta and Mr. Blank and for all the players that have played for us in previous seasons. For us to go out and get back-to-back winning seasons is something that we as a football team want to have happen. We want to be a relevant football team year in and year out. That’s what we talked about. When you’re relevant you got to have a winning record and you’ll have an opportunity to be in the discussions for the playoffs. We weren’t in the playoffs but we had a season that gives us nine wins and that’s something that we are very proud of,” said Smith.

Atlanta heads off into the offseason with the goal of healing up a few of their marquee players as well as shoring up a defense that started to show promise the last month of the season.  That and maybe determine if Bryant is the team’s long-term answer as place kicker.

 - Dave Weinthal

The final game of the NFL regular season finally arrived for the Tennessee Titans. It has been a long strange trip we've been on this year. This was the first team to start 0-6 and finish 8-8. That falls under the category of "whatever." What was to be a very competitive season, turned out to be like most of us...day to day, 50/50, confused and hung over.

The Titans defeated the Seattle Seahawks, 17-13 in a meaningless game. The Seahawks have a beautiful stadium but a lousy football team. With an offensive game plan as subtle as a sledgehammer, the Titans announced to everyone that they were there to win the game and get Chris Johnson his goal of 2000 yards for the season. They accomplished both goals although it was more difficult than it should have been.

With several Titan defensive players out, they gave up too many yards and kept Seattle in the game. Keith Bullock, who is out for the season was especially missed at linebacker. It's almost as big a blow as when Diana Ross left the Supremes. It’s just not the same.

Johnson broke Earl Campbell's single season rushing record of 1934 yards, set in 1980. I just wrote that and it's still hard to comprehend. For those of us old enough to see Earl Campbell, that's quite amazing. Chris also set the NFL record for total yards from scrimmage, breaking Marshall Falk's record in 1999 of 2429 yards, Johnson finished with 2509 yards.

Of course, Chris Johnson's numbers would have been even bigger if it hadn't been for official Ed Hachuli. Johnson took off down the middle of the field for a 62 yard run into the record books. The announcers yelled, " Johnson has broken the 2000 yard barrier." Unfortunately this was a premature proclamation. Hachuli, who strives to be more famous than Madonna, called holding on Ahmad Hall. Hall was mad enough to stomp bunnies.

Chris eventually got the record and spoke in modest terms after the game. He wants to be the next mega-star of sports.

"Yes, very much. That's what every guy wants to be who plays any sport: They want to be the next Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant or whoever you want to name," said Johnson.

I love a guy who can rule a sport but I also love a guy who can put things into perspective. I hate playing Peyton Manning but I love his perspective on the game. Chris, run the ball and all things will come to you.

Speaking of Peyton Manning, the Colts, Saints, Cincinnati, Arizona and Philadelphia all decided to not play their last game because they are "resting". What a bunch of crap. This is the 50th anniversary of "the greatest NFL game ever played." Raise your hand if you think Johnny Unitas rested for three weeks before playing in the championship game. He'd walk up and punch Carson Palmer in the mouth, make fun of his name and spit on his game. Well, that is if he were alive, but you get what I mean. "NFL, we have a problem."

I've never seen worse games at the end of the season than I did on Sunday. I fully expected to see John Kelle run the option and Cos Feldman to throw his atomic kosher ball all over the field, speeding up of course. Then, to top it off, three of the four playoff games are repeats of last week. I hope all the sorry ass teams that "rested" their players get their butt kicked.

   Oh God, does this mean I have to root for Phillip Rivers and San Diego? No thank goodness, they brought in Billy Volek. That's it, I hate everyone except the Jets. They showed up and kicked Ocho No catcho back to Ohio.

Ok, I've taken my medication and am back to normal. The Titan season was a roller coaster of thrills and disappointment. Vince Young is now the face of the future. I know this not by Coach Fisher declaring it, but by looking into my breakfast. As I spread the cream cheese over my bagel this morning, I swear I saw the face of Vince Young. So let it be written, so let it be done. Till next year....

 - Mike Dougher

“Roddy has made some awesome plays for the team this season and today was no different. Our first score was designed for Roddy to make a play down the field,” said Falcons’ quarterback Matt Ryan.

Ryan’s first pass attempt Sunday was much like his first pro pass attempt last season – touchdown.  Ryan connected with Roddy White on a 42-yard reception in the end zone in what ignited a 31-3 win for the Atlanta Falcons over the Buffalo Bills.

“It was four quarters of playing today. A couple of drives we got stopped, but we were consistent today, and that was the big thing. Consistency we had on the offensive side of the ball lead to a lot of points. I’m really proud of how we worked today,” said Falcons’ running back Jason Snelling.

A fun time was had by all, especially if you were wearing red at the Georgia Dome as Atlanta finished out their home schedule with the win.  The Falcons’ defense once again stepped up as they held the Bills out of the end zone sacking Bills’ quarterback Brian Brohm twice and intercepting him twice, stripping the ball once and returning it for a touchdown in an all-around dominate performance much like their season home opener against Miami.

Matt Ryan looked to be getting his old form back as he threw for three touchdowns and no interceptions.  The sophomore signal caller was 18-of-35 for 250 yards to lead the Falcons’ offense.

White had big numbers catching eight passes for 139 yards.  With his performance White became the first Atlanta receiver to have three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.

“I proud of it but I want to continue to help this team win, continue to build my career and continue to perform at a high level. I want to go out there, do my job, and do what is expected of me. If the 1,000 yard seasons keep coming, then they keep coming,” said White.

Despite all the fireworks on offense, not to be lost in the shuffle was the play of the defense. The much maligned defense and sketchy secondary has given up a total of ten points the past two weeks while intercepting five passes and forcing one fumble.  For the first time in forever John Abraham’s presence was felt as he had one of Atlanta’s two sacks of first-time starter Brian Brohm.

“Our performance today was near perfect. The only way it would have been more perfect, is if we would have kept them from making a field goal. If you look at the points, you could say we had a perfect game. Overall, if we can come out with a win, I’ll take those three points,” said Falcons’ linebacker Mike Peterson.

Brohm, who was picked off of Green Bay’s practice squad last month made his NFL debut for the Bill’s.  The gunslinger out of Louisville played formidable despite the fact he was seeing his first career action.  Brohm was 17-of-29 for 146 yards but threw two interceptions Fred Jackson was stripped of the ball, which was picked up by Lawrence Sidbury and carried into the end zone for a score as well.

“For a guy that came in three to four weeks ago, and was thrust into a starting position, I thought he handled himself okay. He was put in a tough position. He tried to answer the challenge. I think he’s got a future with more reps and more work. He has some promise there,” said Bills’ interim coach Perry Fewell.

When given a little time Brohm threw strong passes but the Falcon’s secondary looked to be a half step ahead of the Bills’ receivers.  The raucous crowd who broke into an extended wave that lasted for a good five minutes also threw off Brohm.  The crowd at this point was more reminiscent of a college crowd doing the wave.  It threw Buffalo’s equilibrium off enough to cause a delay of game penalty.

Another milestone met Sunday was Terrell Owens, who had four catches on the day.  His second catch made him only the sixth receiver in NFL history to achieve 1,000 receptions in his career.

“To me it’s not a big deal. I just go out and play the game and all the records that I have set are just part of what I have been doing throughout my career. I don’t play this game to set a record. It is what it is. I’m just blessed to play this game. I have been playing at a productive level and things happen. Again, I’m honored to be on the list, but I don’t care about that. I would rather have had the win today than anything,” said Owens about his accomplishment.

Atlanta’s Tony Gonzalez fell short of the same goal as he had two catches for 17 yards before leaving with a right thigh bruise midway through the game.  Gonzalez now only needs four catches to reach 1,000 receptions and when he does he’ll be the first tight end in the league to do so.

After the explosive beginning highlighted by the 42-yard touchdown pass from Ryan to White things became pretty much mundane for the rest of the first half.  Atlanta only mustered one other drive that half which ended with a Matt Prater field goal.

The half did end on a spectacular note, however.  After an Atlanta drive stalled after a couple of penalties, Prater lined up for a 51-yard field goal attempt with five seconds remaining in the half.

Prater’s kick was blocked and a rugby scrum ensued. Flashbacks of the Cal/Stanford game crossed everyone’s mind as the ball was lateraled back and forth.  The only thing missing was the band being on the field as the Bills fell a yard short of scoring as time ran out.

The second half was all Atlanta as Atlanta took the second half kickoff and drove the length of the field.  The seven-and-a-half minute drive was highlighted by Ryan’s’ 12-yard scoring strike over the middle to Marty Booker making the score 17-0.

Less than a minute later Fred Jackson fumbled and the ball was picked up by Sidbury and returned 11 yards for a score to extend the lead to 24.

 “I really don’t know what to say, it’s my first touchdown. Chauncey knocked the ball out; it was kind of resting between his shoulder pads and me. I just grabbed it, turned around, slipped, and kept running,” said Sidbury.

With the score 24-3 Ryan hit White in the right corner of the end zone for a 31-3 lead with 4:22 to play allowing Chris Redman to play the remainder of the game as Atlanta improved its record to 8-7.  Ryan improved his Georgia Dome record to 13-1.

The Falcons conclude their 2009 season Sunday as they travel south to take on Tampa Bay (3-12).  Kickoff is scheduled for 1pm and will be aired on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

“Twas the night of Christmas and all through the field called LP,

Not a thing went right for the men from Tennessee.

The fans clung to the railing with hope,

That the Titans would make the Chargers all look like dopes.

The defense was nestles all snug at the line,

But were unable to spot Phillip Rivers who threw the ball fine.

With visions of a miracle turnaround in their head,

Ended in a loss and their playoff hopes dead.

Coach Fisher grimaced with hurt in such pain,

As all hope of postseason rolled down the drain.

“We got beat by a very good football team today. And I was, needless to say, disappointed in how we played, particularly the first half. I don’t think we punted in the first half, we either turned it over to them or couldn’t get the ball back, or couldn’t get off the field,” said Fisher.

The Tennessee Titans’ run at NFL history fell short Friday as they were handily defeated by the San Diego Chargers with Phillip Rivers remaining perfect in career December starts. San Diego soundly defeated the Titans 42-17 ending hope of setting an NFL record. Tennessee was bidding to become the first team to qualify for the playoffs after starting the season 0-6.  The way they played on Christmas looked a lot like the 0-6 Titans instead of the 7-1 Titans of the past two months.

 “It is disappointing, especially when you start off and put yourself in the hole like we did, then you see a little bit of light, fight back, and then have it stripped. It’s our fault, totally. We expected to come out and win, and we didn’t. Everybody put their heart and soul into it, even though the score doesn’t show it. At the same time, I know their guys didn’t quit, and made plays when they needed them and we lost,” said Titans’ defensive tackle Tony Brown.

LaDanian Tomlinson scored twice and Darren Sproles once by air and twice on land helped the Chargers clinch a first round bye and the second seed in the playoffs.

Vince Young had his worst game since returning to the starting lineup.  He completed only eight of 21 passes for 89 yards and two interceptions.  He had a quarterback rating of only 11.9 on the day.

“We were moving the ball really well. My mistakes just hurt us on offense. And that didn’t give our defense a chance to get to the sideline to get a breather. Overall, I really feel like we were moving the ball pretty good,” said Young.

Chris Johnson continued to run wild as he inched ever closer to the 2,000-yard mark.  Johnson was the one shining spot on an otherwise dismal night.  Johnson ran for 100 yards for the tenth straight game as he tallied 142 on 21 carries and one touchdown.

“That record would mean a lot to me. That was one of my goals that I set before this year started and a lot of people didn’t even think I would get close or whatever. To get that record would mean a lot to me. So basically this team will get back to work and we got one more game left so hopefully we can get 500,” he said about reaching 2,000 yards.

The Titans drew first blood on a 46-yard field goal by Rob Bironas, but it was all San Diego after that as the Chargers scored 21 unanswered points.

After Tomlinson scored the go-ahead touchdown late in the first quarter it was all Phillip Rivers after that as he hit Antonio Gates from 36 yards out and Sproles from three yards out to make the score 21-3. 

The Titans scored in the waning seconds of the half on a three-yard run by Young to close the gap to 21-10 at intermission.

San Diego then went on another 21 point run as Tomlinson and Sproles scored making the score 42-10.  Sproles second touchdown of the half came five seconds into the fourth quarter.

Johnson scored a meaningless touchdown with eight minutes remaining to end the scoring on this Christmas night.

“It was nice to come here on the road and get a win. It was a meaningful game for both teams and we came out and played well in all three phases. We really got it going. It was nice to get the two seed and keep the streak going in December, position ourselves as good as we can while going into the postseason,” said Rivers.

The Titans finish the season next week against Seattle as they’ll try to finish this very odd season 8-8.

“We just couldn’t get into a rhythm tonight. Too many turnovers on my behalf, definitely. That’s pretty much it. Every time we did get in a rhythm, I turned the ball over. That’s something I can’t do. At the same time, we were having a really good game, from an offensive standpoint. We were driving the ball pretty good, it was just the turnovers on my behalf hurt us a little bit,” said Young.

“It is disappointing, especially when you start off and put yourself in the hole like we did, then you see a little bit of light, fight back, and then have it stripped. It’s our fault, totally. We expected to come out and win, and we didn’t. Everybody put their heart and soul into it, even though the score doesn’t show it. At the same time, I know their guys didn’t quit, and made plays when they needed them and we lost,” said Brown.

 - David N. Marks

After Sunday’s hard fought last minute victory over the New York Jets, Atlanta Falcons’ coach Mike Smith should be considered once again for coaching honors with what he has done this season.

Upon defeating the Jets 10-7 the Falcons have evened their record at 7-7 with easily winnable games against their final two opponents – Buffalo and Tampa Bay.  Two wins stand in the way of the Atlanta ending an embarrassing streak – the fact the team has never had back-to-back winning seasons during their 44-year existence.

Despite what happens next week at home against Buffalo and in the finale against Tampa Bay Smith should be considered for coach of the year honors again.

Coming off a surprising 11-5 rookie season as a coach and a playoff berth Smith was the toast of the NFL last season.  Despite already losing two more games than last season already Smith may have done his best coaching job to ate, however.

Both Smith and last year’s offensive rookie of the year, Matt Ryan may have been due a sophomore slump, but no one predicted what happened during the course of this season.

After a 4-1 start the roof fell n on Smith and the Falcons.  Last year’s second leading rusher Michael Turner has missed all or part of the last five games due to a high ankle sprain against Tampa Bay.  Turner, who gained 1,799 yards last season was off to a slow start when he had a series of games where he rushed for over 100 yards.  After missing the last two games he was re-injured on his lone carry Sunday and is likely out for the season.

Add to that the loss of franchise quarterback Matt Ryan for almost three games with turf toe.  He was injured in the first quarter against Tampa Bay four weeks ago.  Ryan was definitely in somewhat of a sophomore slump with five games with multiple interceptions, but his last couple of starts were mistake-free.

Half of the offensive line that protects Ryan and blocks for Turner missed multiple games.  Three weeks ago against the Eagles five offensive starters missed the game.

Smith, known for his defensive acumen overhauled the defense in the off-season by adding youth and parting with crowd favorites Keith Brooking (Cowboys) and Michael Boley (Giants).  The secondary which was questionable last season suffered injuries this year as well and was compounded by all the offensive injuries.

To add insult to injury, your place kicker (Jason Elam) who coming into the season was the most accurate kicker in league history cost at least two games for the Falcons this season as he made a career low percentage of field goal attempts.

That being said, at around 11:30 Saturday night the news came to the Falcons that their long shot chance to make the playoffs were over as the Dallas Cowboys upset previously unbeaten New Orleans 24-17.

"Anytime we step on the field, we are supposed to play hard. It’s what we get paid to do and what we love to do. Also, coach (Mike) Smith said that ‘Everyone thinks you are going to lie down because you have nothing to play for but as a man show some pride. You owe it to the fans and the organization to play (hard).’ And that’s what we did today. It was a heavyweight fight. They gave us all we can handle, and we gave it back to them. Luckily, we came out on top,” said Tony Gonzalez.

So the Falcons had nothing to really play fore did they, on Sunday?  Well, maybe if someone else was coaching the Falcons that might be true.  Atlanta came up with their best defensive effort of the season as they held the league’s top rushing team to under 100 yards and intercepted Mark Sanchez three times to eek out a 10-7 lead.

The game started with great promise for the Falcons as they intercepted Sanchez’s first pass to set up a field goal and take an early 3-0 lead.

“We talked all week about it being a physical football game and I thought it was that. We played a very good football team, a physical football team, but we came out on top there in the end. We fought and had to scratch to do it, but we got the job done. I felt like our defense played a very good game today to create the three interceptions and two sacks. It was a hard fought football game against two really good football teams,” said Smith

Both teams exchanged punts before Sanchez found Braylon Edwards over the middle for a 65-yard scoring strike with 2:28 to go in the quarter.

And that’s where the score remained until the final minutes of the game.

Jay Feely missed three field goals on the day to add insult to injury.  One on a bad snap, one was blocked and another on a mishandled snap.  Feely, a former Falcon, must have felt sympathy for his former team as his misses kept Atlanta in the game.

Atlanta’s offense sputtered the entire game as Turner left after one carry and Jerious Norwood and Jason Snelling had little success running the ball.  Ryan starting for the first time since being injured against Tampa Bay looked to be throwing apprehensively all day as he completed less than 50 percent of his passes.

Roddy White, the team’s All-Pro receiver was shut down by Darrelle Revis as he was held to four catches for 33 yards.

"He did a pretty good job. He’s always around you. He’s like a gnat. He never gets away from you and he never does bad things like sitting on routes or guessing,” White said about the play of Revis.

Gonzalez was also held in check most of the day but came up big with 1:38 to go in the game. 

On fourth and goal at the six Ryan found Gonzalez open in the end zone to give Atlanta their margin of victory 10-7.

"It was another great performance by our offensive line,” said Ryan.

The Falcons’ much maligned defense kept a ton of pressure on Sanchez all day as he was sacked twice, hurried many times and intercepted three times.

Ryan despite completing less than 50 percent of his passes did not turn the ball over.

"He was definitely rusty because he has not participated and you would think that his level of play wouldn’t be up to it, but I thought Matt (Ryan) did a very good job coming in. He had very limited snaps during the week, on Thursday and Friday, but I thought he did a good job against an outstanding, and I repeat, outstanding defense,” said Smith.

The Falcons return home Sunday for their home finale as they host the Buffalo Bills at 1PM.  The game will be aired on CBS.

 - Dave Weinthal

“It just shows the hard work we’ve put in to get back on track and put ourselves in a position to hopefully make the playoffs,” said Titans’ wide receiver Justin Gage who had his first touchdown receptions since the season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Gage’s two touchdown receptions gave Tennessee an early lead as they held on and won in overtime against the Miami Dolphins to even their record at 7-7 on what is an improbable playoff run after starting the season 0-6.

“It really feels like it’s been a long time. I don’t know about this season, but after those first six games, it seems like this has been a two-year season. I know it’s been awhile, but it feels good to get in the end zone,” he said.

The Titans looked to have the game well in hand taking a 24-6 lead early in the third quarter but the Dolphins made another comeback, like they have all season.

“We relaxed a little bit and by the time we looked up, they were right down on our tail again. So, basically, we just had to come back with the same amount of effort we gave in the first half and keep our foot on the gas,” said Titans’ Chris Johnson.

Johnson, the leagues leading rusher had a little bit tougher time running against the Dolphins.  The speedster kept his streak alive of 100-yard games, just barely as he had 104 on 29 carries for a season low average of only 3.6 yards a carry – almost three yards a carry below his season average per carry.

“Everybody wants to stop me, stop our running game. But, this is opening up stuff for Vince (Young), giving him a chance to throw down the field and for our receivers to make big plays,” he said.

The Dolphins had plenty of opportunities in the game as they picked off Vince Young’s first pass and drove deep in the red zone, coming away with only a field goal.  Three times the Dolphins had a first-and-goal and had to settle for a field goal before Chad Henne and the Dolphin offense caught fire.

The Dolphins finally pushed into the end zone midway through the fourth quarter when Ricky Williams punched it in from the one.  Williams for the second game in a row had trouble handling the ball.  A fumble in the first half ended a drive that looked to be headed for the end zone.  Williams finished with 80 yards on 19 carries.  He also caught three passes out of the backfield.

With 4:36 remaining the Dolphins took over on their 10.  Henne, having one of his beter games yardage-wise led the Dolphins downfield highlighted by a 57-yard reception to Brian Hartline.  With 1:34 remaining he hit Anthony Fasano from two yards out.  Henne had 349 yards passing for the game but threw three interceptions.  Williams completed the comeback running the ball in for the two-point conversion to tie the score 24-24.

Momentum was clearly on Miami’s side as they won the coin toss in overtime and took over.  On third down Henne was intercepted for the third time on the Dolphins’ 30 by Michael Griffin.

“The last one(interception), I was trying to get it over the defensive lineman. There are excuses, but I am not going to make them. I will just say that I missed the pass and next time I will connect on it,” said Henne

Rob Bironas split the uprights from 46 yards with 11:48 left to give the Titans their seventh win in eight games.  The Titans are now 7-7 and are in the hunt for the sixth and final playoff spot but still need a lot of help as there are six teams with a 7-7 record.

“We don’t really want to think about it, but after the game, you sit back at home and you try to…Coach Fish (Fisher), he’s a big predictor. Every time he does it, it shocks everybody. We don’t want to feed in it too much, we want to get ready for this big game on Friday. It’s going to be a short week for us. A lot of guys are banged up so we have to get in training room and do what we have to do to get everybody ready to go as well as getting extra film work to get ready for San Diego,” said Young.

Vince Young once again had a solid game as he threw with authority out of the pocket and looked very mature under center as he threw for 236 yards and three touchdowns.

“You can’t put the ball on the ground. You can’t have penalties in the red zone. You can’t do stuff like that. They capitalized on their red zone opportunities and we didn’t,” said Hartline.

The Titans are home Christmas day as they host the San Diego Chargers.  The game will be on the NFL Network.

 - David N. Marks

As Maxwell Smart used to say, “Missed it by that much.”  The league’s top passer was out-thrown by a backup but the Falcons were stopped a yard short as they lost for the second week in a row at the Georgia Dome 26-23 to the still undefeated New Orleans Saints.

After last week’s disappointing showing against the Eagles no one knew what to expect as the injured Falcons hosted the NFC’s only perfect team.

Those in attendance were witness to a barnburner from beginning to end as both offenses were on fire – or both defenses were off as both teams combined for over 750 yards in a game where there were only two punts – one for each team.

“Chris Redman and those guys were tremendous. They had a great game plan today. A football game between the Falcons and Saints always comes down to a few points. All the NFC South games are close and it’s all about giving each other the props we all deserve. These guys are tough. I don’t want to play them again, ” said Saint’s defensive end Charles Grant.

Chris Redman looked All-Pro with the offensive line intact compared to last week as he threw for over 300 yards starting for a second week in a row for an injured Matt Ryan.

“We all had confidence in each other. It was a good game and it was evident that everybody gave it their all. We’re proud for everybody for hanging in there and we have to give New Orleans credit,” said Redman.

Redman Atlanta into the red zone three out of four times in the first half only coming away with three field goals to show as the Saints took a 16-9 lead into the locker.

Brees, a leading contender for league MVP had two first half scoring strikes – one to Marques Colston and one to Reggie Bush who dove for the pylon sneaking the ball over before being knocked out of bounds to score.

The Saints looked to break the game open early in the third as they took the second half kickoff and drove the length of the field.  Brees hit Bush again on a screen pass which the USC speedster broke a tackle and motored up field almost untouched from 21 yards out to make the score 23-9.

“That was big having him back. We brought him back slowly last week but today he came up big with two touchdown catches. I feel like our staple of backs fills a role for us offensively,” Brees said about having Bush back in the lineup after missing the two previous games.

“We’re never going to quit. Our ability to never quit is indicative to the style of coaching that coach (Mike) Smith brings to this team. We’re playing football. Quitting is unacceptable for this team. If we quit, it wouldn’t be fair to our teammates, it wouldn’t be fair to the fans, and it wouldn’t be fair to me, and it definitely wouldn’t be fair to the organization. It is important that we go out there and finish every game. I like that about this team. Now, we just have to get in to the habit of going out there and winning a game. We’re really close. I think it’s coming,” said Falcons’ tight end Tony Gonzalez.

Redman, who was 23-of-34 for 303 yards showed the mixed crowd he had as much big play capability as his much-hyped counterpart as the hit Michael Jenkins in stride for a 50-yard scoring strike to close the gap to 23-16.

Atlanta’s defense rose to the occasion as they finally stopped the Saints defense forcing a punt.  Redman once again directed the offense hitting Roddy White and Gonzalez on key downs .  Jason Snelling, starting in place of still-injured Michael Turner went up the middle from four yards out to tie the score at 23 with just under 13 minutes to play.

Brees then engineered a 63-yard drive that stalled on the Falcons’ 20 thanks in part to an intentional grounding call in the end zone.  New Orleans had to settle for the field goal and a three-point lead.

“I think people are trying to knock us off. Bringing their best game and bring their best effort. They are trying unorthodox things. But we expect it and get wiser to the challenge and win the games,” said Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey.

Atlanta had two chances to tie or win but failed on both.  After a end around lost them 12 yards on first down, Redman was kicked off over the middle by Jonathan Vilma.

“Regardless of what happens earlier in the game, we know we have an opportunity to close games out. We were able to stop them with four minutes left and then again with two minutes left,” said Vilma.

Atlanta’s defense stiffened forcing another field goal attempt.  The Saints faked the field goal as Mark Brunnell’s pass fell incomplete along the left sideline. 

Atlanta took over on their 15 with 2:07 remaining.  They marched into Saints territory where they fell just short.  On fourth-and-two from the Saint 47 Redman dumped the ball off to Snelling who was stopped a yard short by Vilma with the game-saving tackle.

“It looked like Jason Snelling was in a good position to get the first down. But again, the Saints made a great play to stop him from getting any yards after contact. The first down was there for the taking, but we came up short on our execution,” said Redman.

The loss pretty much stifles Atlanta’s hopes for the playoffs and puts them in serious jeopardy of continuing their 44-year streak of never having back-to-back winning seasons.  The Falcons fall to 6-7 with three games remaining.  This is the first time a Mike Smith coached team has been below .500.

“We always think we have a chance and we all understand there is a lot to play for. We are going to continue to prepare and play hard throughout these last three games. I think these guys are a special group. We will not stop fighting,” said Redman.

Atlanta travels north next week to New York to take on the Jets with chances good they’ll see the return of Ryan and Turner.

The Saints remain undefeated at 13-0 setting a franchise record for most wins in a season.  They along with the Colts are the league’s only undefeated teams.  There has never been two undefeated teams in the league this late in the season.

The Falcons will kickoff next Sunday at 1pm and the game will be aired on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

Under the steel gray clouds of a Sunday in December, The Tennessee Titans took on the St. Louis Rams in Nashville. By the end of the game, the Titans were the ones looking at a Blue Sky. In one of the few breathers of a game this year, Tennessee cruised to an easy victory, 47-7.

I was pretty excited when I came across six free tickets in the club level, attached to a suite. The only thing missing was free liquor and strippers and if people knew you had these tickets, both might have become available. All I had to do was find a few friends to enjoy this gift. Now it was cold and rainy in Chattanooga so I knew it would be a little tougher to get people out but...geez.

"Hello Marcus, got you free tickets." "Hi Mike, ahhh, what day is this?" Ok, so it was only noon when I called.

"Eric, I've got tickets for your whole family to the game." "Gee Mike, $1500 worth of tickets is nice but I have to drive my mom around town today plus, I promised Holly I wouldn't drink till 3pm."

This was going to be harder than I thought.

OK, I'll call my good buddy Chris Cobb in Nashville. He lives five miles from the stadium. He rolls like the king of Nashville anyway so this is right up his alley. I could see him strutting into the stadium, the eye of an eagle and a cape on his back. He'd told me Friday he'd worked hard all week and was laying down the law at home, Sunday was "Chris time".

"Chris, not only do I have club level tickets, but free liquor and a stripper pole is in your future."

"Gosh, I'd love to go Mike, but if I don't get these Christmas lights on the tree, my wife will shove me on the top of the tree instead of an angel." Ouch.

So on it went. Hopsing said his probation officer wouldn't let him cross the river. Thomas had a glove sale at Belks. Brian from Outback Concerts is now married and well, nuff said.  Jeff had a Star Wars event on Sunday evening and didn't want to expend all the energy it takes to go to a football game.      What has happened to the men of America? I've Wasted Words on all of them.

Rambin Man, Chris Johnson, had a much tougher time running against the Rams than anyone would have thought. We've come to expect so much that 120 yards is now an off day.

The big news was Vince Young leaving the game. Seven weeks ago I never would have thought I'd say those words. Vince tweaked his hamstring and left the game. Question, why does every professional athlete have hamstring problems? It's hopeful that Vince will be back for the Miami game this week. Kerry Collins... remember him..., played three quarters and was 11 of 19 for 154 yards and did a fine job.

The game went a little Southbound when Ram guard Richie Incognito disguised himself as an NFL player. Named to the "all name" NFL team, Incognito had so many personal fouls, his coach pulled him from the game. I went to a Halloween party once as Richie Incognito but no one knew I was there.

It got me thinking, who are my favorite names?

I've always liked Harry "the cleanser" Colon. I'm glad we have him. Then there's old reliable Ben "rub a little on ya" Gay.  CJ "who me" Ah Yu is a classic. Every time I say his name I reach for a Kleenex.

The Eagles King Dunlap is who I relate to the most. Gosh it feels good to have something in common with an NFL player. Its like I'm almost there.

There's Guy Whimper and Coy Wire. How can you call yourself a linebacker with the name Coy? Finally, my favorite for the last however long, He Hate Me. Anyone who changes his name to He Hate Me, is ok in my book.

The Titans have Miami up next and it will be a difficult task. This should be one of the best games of the Titan season. The Dolphins run a unique offense, very creative, and will be tough to stop. Want to know how good the Titans are? Watch this game and find out.

Tennessee has decided to play this game even though I will be on my way to New York Sunday. There was discussion about black armbands but I've asked them to keep it on the down low. Tailgaters and fans will have to deal with the fact that my focus will be on a search for the perfect slice of pizza over the next 10 days. We all celebrate Christmas in our own way. Mine just happens to come in large and extra large, with a sprinkle of cheese.

 - Mike Dougher

Gee, seemed like old times at the Georgia Dome Sunday.  Michael Vick ran for a score and passed for one.  This time, however he was playing for the opposition as the Philadelphia Eagles thumped a very short-handed Atlanta Falcons 34-7 in front of a group of fanatical fans.

“Ironically, Coach Andy Reid told me earlier in the week that I was going to score two touchdowns and two came at a great time. Who cares about what happened in the past. I was able to be productive when the team needed me,” said Vick after helping embarrass his old team on the field he used to call home.

Vick made a triumphant return to the place he called home and ruled over for six years before doing hard time for financing a dog fighting operation on the eve of the 2007 training camp.

“I think everybody rallied around Mike [Vick] and he was one of the captains. I know Arthur Blank welcomed him back. My hat is off to him for that. That’s a tribute to him and his organization. Our fans were incredible. I can’t believe they show up like they do and in the numbers that they do. The fans in general, calling Michael’s name out, I give my hat off to them for giving him a second chance,” said Reid.

Underwhelming was the scene outside of the Georgia Dome.  Word spread of numerous protests being organized to protest Vick’s return to the city that he embarrassed with his extracurricular activities.  The only scenes outside of the Dome were a bunch of partying Philly fans and a couple of Florida fans looking around in a daze still from the SEC championship game the day before.  There were also a few still drunk Bama fans stumbling around and joined the rowdy Philly fans for a toast.

Atlanta, who is missing five offensive starters pretty much played that way all day.  Missing Matt Ryan and Michael Turner and half the offensive line, the B-team did not have much going for it all day and were continually playing behind the eight-ball.  Chris Redman was highly ineffective in relief of Ryan.  Redman had close to half his passes tipped or knocked down at the line of scrimmage and threw two interceptions, one a pick and score as game began to get out of hand midway through the third quarter.

Both Jerious Norwood and Jason Snelling were ineffective running the ball.  With only half a line the holes were few and far between for any real yardage.  For every six yard gain there were one, two and minus three yard runs.

“We were beat on all levels and it is an embarrassment to the organization and our team. We never imagined that this would happen,” said Falcons’ defensive end Jamaal Anderson.

That, add two Redman interceptions and a fumbled kickoff return and you have disaster in the Dome… for everyone but Michael Vick and his loyal followers.

 “It was great. It sent chills down my spine and it made me know that people here still appreciate what I have done and what I will be able to do moving forward. It was awesome though to be able to come out and make some plays and get into the flow of the football game. I will never forget this game. I will never forget coming back to the city of Atlanta,” said an excited Vick about returning to his old stomping grounds.

Vick came in early to run the wildcat formation on the Eagles’ opening drive.  When we trotted out onto the field for the first time since his arrest he was met by a loud chorus of boos.  By game’s end he had the Atlanta fans eating out of his hands once again.  Vick was 2-for-2 passing with a touchdown completing a 43 yard pass to set up his first running touchdown in three years and in the fourth he completed a five yard toss to Brent Celek to throw his first touchdown pass since December of 2006.

The game for the Falcons was a total wash as they could not escape the circus atmosphere that Vick followers brought.  Forget the bad choices, forget killing innocent dogs, forget gambling, forget the drug charges.  All the very vocal Vick followers wanted was their “boy” back in the house.  It was almost as this game had been scripted as Atlanta did not put up much of a fight. 

Trailing 13-0 Atlanta failed to get it into the end zone with four tries from the one.  The game ironically ended pretty much the same as last week’s win over Tampa Bay as the Falcons scored in the final seconds of the game as Redman hit Roddy White from three yards out.  It was literally the last play of the game.  By scoring the Falcons avoided their first home shutout since moving to the Georgia Dome and their first shutout at home since 1988.

The only bright spots in the loss for Atlanta was White’s nine catches for 104 yards and Tony Gonzalez’s eight catches.  Gonzalez set a new franchise record for most catches for a tight end as he now has 69.  He surpassed Alge Crumpler’s 66 set in 2005.


“This was not a very good performance today. Obviously we were beaten soundly in all phases of the footballgame. We have to put that behind us as quickly as possible as a team and that is what we intend on doing,” said Falcons’ coach Mike Smith.

The Falcons are now 6-6 and barely clinging to a shot at the wild card as both the Packers and Giants won big to give them a two game cushion going into the last month of the season. 

It doesn’t get any easier for the Falcons as they remain home this Sunday and welcome in the undefeated Saints.

“You have to let it go, move on, and come back to work tomorrow. We got to rebuild, we got to get going again. We’ve got the Saints coming in and that’s a good football team in the division. I think we’re still alive in the wild card. We just have to keep fighting,” said Falcons’ tight end Justin Peelle.

The Falcons host the Saints Sunday at 1pm.  The game will be televised on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

The Colts entered Sunday's contest against Tennessee undefeated. The Colts left the game undefeated. While Peyton and the boys went through the motions for an easy victory, the Titans stumbled, bumbled and fumbled any chance they had at the boys in blue. In a season as perfect as Peytons hair, Indianapolis 27, Titans 17.

Occasionally you'll hear of athletes nicknamed "hands of stone". If it's a heavyweight fighter that's a good thing. If it's a receiver that you just gave millions of dollars to, that's a bad thing. Staying consistent, Nate Washington again dropped a perfect pass for a touchdown. I'm afraid I now understand why Pittsburgh fans chipped in for gas money on his way out of town. Teams that make the fewest mistakes in the NFL generally win.

You can sum up the Titans play on Sunday with one sequence of events. Its also fun to view it from both sides. Tennessee has the ball first and goal at the one, and didn't score.

Colts: "Bow up! Bow up! Bow up!" 'Get your shoulders up! Get your chest up! And let's go!'  weak-side linebacker Clint Session said.

For the second time in three weeks, the Colts puffed up and stuffed a foe with an improbable goal-line stand after facing first-and-goal at the 1. What made Sunday's stand most impressive was that it came against the NFL's No. 1 rushing team and league rushing leader, Chris Johnson."

Wow, that sound pretty impressive.

Titans: Play one, fumble. Play two, no gain, holding and 10 yard penalty, so now we're at the 11. Repeat second play, two yard pass. Third play a scramble where Vince Young falls down. Forth play, a fade pass thrown out of bounds. Not exactly what I'd call a steel curtain defense. I would call it a comedy of errors on Fisher and the Titans. It’s all in your point of view.

As solid a game as the Colts played, it was over shadowed late last night by the breaking news that Peyton Manning had an affair with Tiger Woods. Ashley Manning is said to be very upset although she denied having anything to do with the imprint of "NFL football" on the side of Peyton's head. By this afternoon, several others had come out and admitted a relationship with Mr. Manning.

"It was something that started when we bumped into each other in Thomas' Donuts at Laguna Beach years ago. I spilled my coffee on his croissant and we've been sharing Danish ever since," Thomas Farr said. Yogi Dougher when asked about Farr's admission said, "He's always been such a ho."

It was uncovered that John Kelle had a brief encounter with Manning as well. "It started harmlessly enough back in college. He had his UT jersey on, damn he looked fine. I tackled him in a slow motion football game and, well, one thing lead to another."

Donn Hanson is in a difficult position and may have a conflict of interest. He works for the Titans but admitted on his face book page that he and Peyton meet at a day spa in Soddy Daisy the same time every year. "We met on the set of Saturday Night Live. He hit me in the head with a pass and its been love ever since. I don't care what anyone says, Peyton is boy band hot!"

It is unclear how these revelations will affect the Colts drive for an undefeated season. What is clear is the fact that the Titans improbable drive for the playoffs is now toast.

Chris Johnson is still running hard enough to reach 2000 yards this year. He also announced that he is starting his campaign to win MVP. Campaign? Can someone in the Titan organization remind Chris that they don't give out a Heisman award in the NFL? The more he opens his mouth, the worse he sounds. Be quiet and run.

On a bright note, it looks like Kenny Brit is the real deal. He still makes some mistakes, but is the leading rookie receiver in total yards.

Up next, the woeful St. Louis Rams. Hope it's a pretty day cause this game is gonna be ugly.

 - Mike Dougher

"There's something happenin’ here,

What it is ain't exactly clear..."

I had been looking forward to seeing the Arizona Cardinals play the Titans on Sunday. The Cards, coming off last years Super Bowl and being undefeated on the road this season, would put the new and improved Titans to the test.

"Hey children, what's that sound

Everybody look what's goin' down"

In a game that will rank just under the Music City Miracle, Tennessee pulls out a victory to win their fifth in a row. Titans 20, Arizona 17.

I headed to Nashville with my timeline intact. Five minutes into my drive, I realized it was Thanksgiving weekend. Ten miles out of town, with the traffic stopped dead, I dove for Hwy 41, taking me around the interstate and through some beautiful country. I passed a store featuring bait, beer and ammo, all for one low price. I was just past the all "you can eat catfish house",  when I saw several signs stating, "Got Rats? Our customers don't," that I started to get nervous. I'm not just another pretty face and felt the need to dive back to the interstate.

The game on Sunday began and ended with Vince Young.  His poise, skill, toughness and yes, luck, on that last drive will be discussed on every sports talk radio station for days. His mis-managing the clock before half forgotten,  "The Drive of 99"  will go down in Titan lore.

Back in college, Vince was known for winning these dramatic games, the last being the ‘06 Rose Bowl, against Matt Leinhart, USC quarterback, who just happened to be the starting QB on Sunday for the Cards.

A couple plays into that game-winning drive, Cardinals receiver Steve Breaston came over to Leinart and told his quarterback he had a case of deja vu, all over again. Breaston had seen Young lead a late-game drive against his Michigan team in a similar fashion.

"And he did that to myself in the national title game," Leinart said. "I thought Vince played great. He made plays in that last series, so hat's off to him. I thought our defense played phenomenally. He just made some plays."

Matt, I believe mixed up "phenomenally" with "phantom." The Arizona defense gave up 99 yards and allowed three fourth down conversions on that last drive. By the way, Chris Johnson never touched the ball on that drive.

All this brings us to a major Love Boat situation.

"Love, exciting and new

Come Aboard. We're expecting you.

Love, life's sweetest reward.

Let it flow, it floats back to you.

Love won't hurt anymore

It's an open smile on a friendly shore.

Yes Looooooove! It's Looooooove!"

In case you missed it, Vince Young turned onto Capt. Stubing after the game.

"Like I said last week, I love everybody," Young said, laughing. "I love my haters. I love fans who love me. I mean, I don't really focus on that. Everybody has their own opinion."

"I love Chris Cobb even though he has a Tony Romo crush. Kimberly has a Kearse jersey in the back of the closet, but I love her too."

My brother used to say things like that while drinking at the Greenlawn Inn. In fact, I think Yogi's last words were, "I love everyone," as they were showing him the door a few years ago. Better to be a lover than a hater.

Lost in the Vince Young story was another amazing game by Chris Johnson. Running for 154 seems like and off day, but his run of 85 yards put his name again in the record books. Johnson also broke the record for most yards in the month of November. I would normally ignore a record like this except that the record was held by Barry Sanders. Nuff said.

Other notes....

Titan coach Dave McGinnis, ex Arizona coach, was given the game ball.

Lendale White was not on the field, punishment for being late to practice Saturday, hummm. Over kill? You be the judge.

There is debate over who would play Julie from the Love Boat on the Titans squad.

All of you "club level" types should visit Samantha to buy your beer. An investigative report has revealed that her boyfriend lays around on the couch while she slaves away selling beer. She does a great job and needs your tips. Look for her, she'll be the one smiling and with an upstate New York accent.

The Titans will be playing the Colts next week, featuring some guy from UT. He apparently has been doing TV commercials for years so the Colts figured they'd bring him in since folks knew who he was. The Colts haven't lost since last year...to the Titans. Should be fun!!

This just in, somebody save me a seat on the Saints bandwagon. They rocked New England.

 - Mike Dougher

No one would have been surprised Sunday at the Georgia Dome if Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers trotted out onto the field as the Atlanta Falcons rallied to defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the closing seconds of the game 20-17.

The Atlanta Falcons these days resemble more a M*A*S*H unit than a professional football team.  Injury-riddled coming into the game, Matt Ryan, offensive linemen Harvey Dahl and Sam Baker left the game due to injuries and Michael Turner who returned after missing a week with a high ankle sprain re-injured the same ankle.

Fortunately for Atlanta Chris Redman did his best B.J. Honeycutt impersonation rallying the Falcons as he threw for two scores – the second coming with 23 seconds to play to Roddy White to cap comeback.

“There were so many things that were going against us: fumbling the ball, turning it over, losing all those guys. It’s really a credit to the way we work, and the way guys never gave up. You saw it in the huddle, guys were confident. Don’t get me wrong, I think Tampa came out and played really well. But in the end, we were able to make plays when we had to,” said Tony Gonzalez.

Ryan injured his right foot nine plays into the game on a sack by Stylez White.  Redman, who took over in 2007 when Michael Vick was suspended by the league stepped in and led the offense going 23-of-41 for 243 yards two scores and more importantly no turnovers.

"I am always in the game whether I am in or not. As the back-up, you have to be prepared to play at any second to be in the game. I understand that I am one play away from getting my number called to step in. This approach enabled me to focus in and help the team as much as possible. This organization has believed in me from the beginning and I will forever be thankful. I am fortunate to be a part of this victory – it was a concerted effort,” said Redman.

After a scoreless first quarter Atlanta struck first blood on a 45-yard field goal by the embattled Jason Elam.  Later in the quarter Tampa Bay tried to rattle the veteran Louisville signal caller with a blitz.  Redman stepped up and tossed a shuffle pass to Jerious Norwood, playing his first game in five weeks who rambled 22 yards down the middle of the field for a touchdown.

With the score 10-0, Josh Freeman led Tampa Bay downfield very quickly – in two plays to be exact as they covered 80 yards in those two plays.  The second play was a 42 yard pass down the left sideline to Antonio Bryant to make the score 10-7.

Freeman, the rookie from Kansas State looked sharp in only his third start.  He was 20-of-29 for 250 yards and two touchdowns and no turnovers to lead the Bucs who play much better than their 1-10 record.

The Bucs tied the score with just seconds left in the half to make the score 10-10.

Atlanta’s Achilles’ heel once again reared its ugly head in the second half.  Michael Koenen had a punt blocked on the 10-yard-line by Corey Lynch setting up a first-and-goal for the visiting Buccaneers.  Two plays later Freeman hit Carnell Williams along the right sideline to give the Tampa Bay a surprising 17-10 lead.

“I’m happy for the guys. They fought so hard. Looking at my performance, I’ve have to find a way to be more consistent. That’s what this game is all about. In this league, you have to be as consistent as possible. I can’t remember the last time I walked off the field feeling good about my performance, so, it’s very frustrating,” said Elam.

Atlanta made it 17-13 on a 37-yard Elam field goal, but the kicker almost sealed his fate with six and a half minutes to play when he missed a 42-yard field goal to bring Atlanta within 1.

Tampa looked like they were on their way to pad their lead as they drove to the Falcons’ 34.  Connor Barth returned Elam’s favor as he missed from 51 yards with a little over two minutes to play.

Redman brought the team under center with no timeout remaining as he led the Falcons to the winning score hitting Gonzalez four times and converting two forth downs, the final a five-yard pass to White with 23 seconds to go.

 “We did our job. Someone needed to make a play on that last drive, and nobody did.  But it was a great throw and catch on the touchdown. We shouldn’t have let it happen,” said the Bucs’ Ronde Barber.

“I put all the confidence in our offense. We knew QB Chris Redman would make enough plays out there to put our offense in enough positions to succeed. It was not pretty all the time, but we won the game – that’s all that matters. We have to give the Tampa Bay defense a lot of credit for mixing the coverages and blitzes, but at the end we made enough plays,” said Falcons’ coach Mike Smith.

With the win the Falcons improve to 6-5 trailing the Eagles and Packers by one game for the wild card.  Atlanta will be able to do something about that next week when they welcome the Eagles to the Georgia Dome Sunday.  Sunday will also mark Michael Vick’s first return to the Georgia Dome since he went to jail two years ago.

“We’ve got a six game season that started tonight, and we’ll prepare, and work hard for next week’s game. If we stick together as a team, I know we’ll be fine,” said Norwood.

 - Dave Weinthal

This just in, all workers in the state of Tennessee arrived late for work Tuesday, after watching Monday Night Football. The game didn't end late, but everyone's adrenaline was flowing too hard to fall asleep. With this being the 40th anniversary of football on Monday night, it was a Kanye West situation. Tennessee stepped in and stole the spotlight that was shining on Houston. In a classic knockdown fistfight of a game, the Titans came away with a 20-17 victory over the Texans.

I knew these teams didn't like each other but I had no idea to what extent. I haven't seen that much mouthing since Barrie Beth and Kimberly fought over the last leg shaver on Black Friday at Belks. Late hits, cheap shots, driving people into the ground was the order of the day.

I'm amazed Vince Young could walk after a Houston player went Devo with a leg whip to the shin. Another Texan and Kevin Mawae went at it like FityCent and Marv Albert. I can't wait to see the amount of fines dealt out after this game. Like Cortland Finnigan said, "bring your checkbook, it's going to get rough out there."

Once again, this game was all about Chris Johnson and Vince Young. CJ ran hard all night and you kept waiting for him to break one. He broke more than one and is simply remarkable. He's got more shake and bake than Thanksgiving at the Whitakers. What seems to be happening is, with Vince able to run, he free's up CJ and visa versa. Johnson ran for 151 yards on 29 carries, while Vince ran for another 73. By my math, that's a lot.

We might need to start believing what Chris Johnson says, even if he has a hard time saying it. Before the season, Johnson thought he could win the NFL's rushing title with a good shot at a 2,000-yard season. That's looking pretty good right now with five straight 100+ yard games. Then  Johnson believed the Titans could rebound from 0-6, run the table the rest of the way to get to 10 wins.

Well, he has over 1,200 yards after 10 games. And with the way the Titans have played in winning four straight, hummm.

So I didn't feel like flying to Houston for this one so I watched the ESPN coverage. Can anyone explain to me why Matt Millen is on as a commentator? He holds the record for the worst talent evaluator in the history of history. He took a terrible Detroit team and actually made them worse. I'm supposed to listen to this "expert"? God he's bad.

I did learn some things though. Apparently Chris Johnson "runs like he's in a blender." I'm having a hard time visualizing that.

"On that whip route, he choked his motor before making the catch." I can see doing that in the privacy of your home, but in front of 60,000 people? I feel dirty. This is the top notch commentating people have come to expect.

"Where have you gone Howard Cosell... A nation turns its lonely eyes to you..."

I also waited through several replay reviews and it got me thinking. Between all the reviews, time outs and coaches challenges, how much time have I wasted over the years waiting on each outcome? Putting down my beer for a minute, I did some quick math and figure if I didn't watch any of those games, I'd be about five years younger or at least gained my PhD. But no, here I sit watching to see if the ground caused another fumble. I need to get a life.

On a good note, I did see the most interesting man in the world during a commercial break...

So, here's what we know. Rob Bironas can still kick and win games for the Titans. We learned that there are a lot of Titan/Vince Young fans in Houston. We learned that no matter how many yards Chris Johnson gains, he is still missing those speech classes.

Up next, the Arizona Cardinals, who are playing well. Kurt Warner will be throwing the ball all over the field but I'm still more afraid of his wife.

Happy Thanksgiving.

 - Mike Dougher

Teams have figured out how to beat the Atlanta Falcons this season.  Throw the ball.  An overwhelmed and at times overly dominated Falcons secondary was what was needed to cure an ailing New York Giants team as they held on to defeat their rivals from the south 34-31 in overtime.

“We gave up a lot of passing yards. That’s very obvious. Way too many passing yards and again, it’s team defense, it’s not just the secondary. It’s a combination of the secondary, linebackers, and defensive [line],” said Falcons’ head coach Mike Smith.

Eli Manning passed for a season best 384 yards and three scores, shaking off an early interception to lead the Giants to their first victory in over a month.  Atlanta on the other hand  lost for the fourth time in five games as they fall to 5-5 on the season.

"Definitely another tough loss for us. As a defensive line, we need to do a better job getting on the quarterback. We had some pressure but we can’t put our DBs in that kind of situation and when you play a quarterback like Eli and a great receiving corps, you really need to do a better job getting him on the ground,” said Falcons’ defensive end John Abraham.

Manning kept finding wide open receivers for big gains early and avoided a heavy Falcon rush which threw off his timing at times to build a ten point lead going into the half.

“They got some pressure early.  We had some opportunities to hit some big plays and just couldn’t quite hold it long enough to get it.  The interception, I just kind of got hit as I threw it and the ball fluttered.  They did a good job of getting some pressure early, but we settled down, started picking things up, getting the ball out quickly and hit some big plays on them,” said Manning.

The lead midway through the fourth quarter was 14 before Matt Ryan rallied the troops leading them to two scores in the final minutes, the last finding Ryan’s favorite target Tony Gonzalez in the back of the end zone with less than 30 second to play to push the game into overtime.

“I thought Matt did a very good job. [He] bounced back from a first half where we didn’t have the numbers and statistics that we’d like. He threw the ball well. He operated in and out of the no-huddle offense, which is something that we had planned to do and wanted to do. I thought there were very well-executed drives there in the second half. It was a hard-fought game,” said Smith.

Matt Ryan had a bounce back game after having multiple interception games in five of the last six games as he did not throw and interception Sunday.  The second year starter looked like his old self (whatever that might be for a 24-year-old) as he completed 26-of-46 for 268 yards and two scores – and most importantly no interceptions.

“We were able to get it going. We started converting on third downs in the second half which kept drives alive.  We were able to put points on the board and if we can keep that up, we will wind up winning football games,” said Falcons’ receiver Michael Jenkins who caught six passes for 76 yards.

For most of the first half the Falcons secondary looked confused as they gave up huge chunks of yardage through the air in the first half. Manning threw for over 200 yards in the first half.  By comparison the Atlanta offense only collected 91 yards in the first half, but came alive in the second.

Atlanta’s rush defense played well Sunday.  They only allowed the Giants 88 total yards on the ground.  They even knocked Brandon Jacobs out of the game in the third quarter with a leg injury.

The Falcons running game did not do much better as they ran for 91 yards.  Jason Snelling did run well for the Falcons filling in for the injured Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood.  Snelling scored twice and had 76 yards on 25 carries.  His longest run from scrimmage was 10 yards.

“Jason did an excellent job today coming in and filling in for Mike, as he’s done all year.  When you play with him week in and week out and you see what he comes in and he does in different situations, we expected Snell to come in and play well and he didn’t disappoint.  He came in and he played hard, played physical, carried the load for the day and did a great job in pass protection as well.  Hats off to him; tremendous effort from him,” said Snelling.

Despite the injury bug which has hit both the Falcons’ running game and defensive line, the Falcons defense rose to the occasion and Ryan took the team on his shoulders with a little over three minutes left in the game as he drove the team 76 yards in 12 plays to send the game into overtime.

Unfortunately for the Falcons they never saw the ball again.  New York won the toss and proceeded to dive deep into Falcons territory.  Lawrence Tynes kicked the game winning field goal from 36 yards with 11:06 to go to move the Giants to 6-4.

Ironically enough this was the first win by the home team in this rivalry in 30 years.  Of the 12 previous games the two have played the visitor won. 

The Falcons return to the comfortable confines of home next week as they host Tampa Bay on Sunday.  The Falcons have been on the road four of the last five games ironically coinciding with their current losing streak.  Kickoff will be at 1PM and the game aired on Fox.

“What I told our team is that we’ve been through a long road in terms of the last six weeks. Four out of the six games we’ve played have been against teams that have been coming off the byes. I also told them that we are looking forward to having a three-game home stand. We have three games at home in the Georgia Dome. I know that our guys are a little bit road weary at this point in time, so I told them we’ve got three games at home and it starts with Tampa Bay,” said Smith.

 - Dave Weinthal

There could not have been a prettier day as I drove to Nashville for the Tennessee Titans game against Buffalo on Sunday. When your team is winning and playing hard, the sun shines brighter, the autumn leafs more colorful and everyone is a little friendlier. The day would end on a good note, with the Titans winning their third game in a row, 41-17.     

 “Like a virgin, touched for the very first time”.

No it wasn’t Madonna singing as I headed to Nashville, it was Chrissy and Lisa, divas of Rhythm and Brews. I was concerned about transporting these NFL virgins across county lines but then again this is Tennessee.

“What was your impression upon arriving at LP Field Chrissy?” I asked.

“I’m in favor of any event where you can drink beer before noon with 50,000 other people on a Sunday. Usually I just drink alone.”

I’m glad we were able to get her out of the house.

Now the only thing I can think of that’s better than travelling with one bartender, is travelling with two. Lisa packed her bottle opener, a tip jar and a quart of Bloody Mary Mix and headed to her first Titan game. Now that’s a professional.

We arrived at Tim and Bubba’s tailgate, where their hospitality ruled the parking lot. Soon after, Dan LaGraff and his posse of Buffalo Bill buddies made the scene in all their red and blue gear. We had a great time and didn’t poke fun at them. My mama always said “be kind to the handicapped.”

For the Titans, their stars again ruled the day. Chris Johnson, ran for 132 and caught the ball for another 100. He was involved in roughly one third of all offensive plays for Tennessee. As a fan, that’s what we like to see. CJ continues to lead the league in rushing and if you’re not sure, just ask him.

One play summed up the new look Titans. Vince Young rolls to his right and as the defensive player moves up, Vince pitches to Chris Johnson, who then goes for a big gain. That is what Vince brings to this offense.

“Defenses, they have to choose," Johnson said. "Do you want to stop 10 (Young)? Or do you want to stop (28)? That's what me and Vince say every day. Whichever one you choose to stop, the other one is going to have a good day."

Against Buffalo, they both had a good day. For the third week in a row, the Titans have scored 30 or more points. Now they aren’t playing New England or the Colts, but the change is encouraging.

On the other side of the field stood none other than Terrell Owens. I had really looked forward to watching “one of the great receivers of the last decade.” What a disappointment.  Yes, he made a couple nice moves and caught a few passes but his body language shouted loud and clear. “I’m bored and don’t want to be here.”

T.O. wouldn’t last one practice with the Titans. Jeff Fisher would not allow a player with his lip out so far he could trip over it, to ever play. I watched as Owens caught a long pass but decided to step out of bounds at the three instead of going for the touchdown.

I watched as a ball went through his hands, intercepted, but instead of running after the Titan, Owens just stood still.

Finally, I watched as T.O. threw a tantrum on the sideline, yelling at his coach. Really Buffalo, you want this? I think the Buffalo organization is better than Mr. Owens. He’s capable of bringing a tear to a glass eye.

Now, the opposite of Terrell Owens is the class act of Mr. David Cheatham, affectionately known as “The beer man.” I know most of you don’t know Mr. Cheatham, so let me tell you. David passed away on November 9th. Anyone that ever went to see baseball, hockey or football in Nashville, came in contact with Mr. Cheatham. From 1978 to 2009, David took care of us and looked after us. When I was living in Nashville, “the beer man” would actually let me carry a tab over from baseball season to hockey season.  A group of us, taking in a Nashville Sounds game one night, had a hard time getting anyone to wait on us. David had the night off and was sitting behind us with his wife, taking in some baseball. All of a sudden, we looked up and there was David, with a case of beer. “I can’t stand for my customers to have bad service.”

I hadn’t seen David in a few years but had heard through Donn Hanson that he still loved being at the ballpark, taking care of his customers. As we pass through life, there are people that make an impression on you. A teacher, a coach, a friendly waitress at your favorite restaurant. David Cheatham sold beer to fans, lots of people do. But when you met David, he stayed with you. I’ll miss Mr. Cheatham, he was a class act. Terrell Owens doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same column, but “the beer man” would smile and say it was ok.

Up next for the Titans is a trip to Houston for Monday Night Football. The Texans are playing well but so are the Titans. This will be an interesting game and we’ll see just how far Vince Young has come. I’m hoping that at the end of the game, Bud Adams will stand up, hold one finger in the air and proclaim the Titans are number one.

 - Mike Dougher

Missed kicks and two picks spelled doom for the Atlanta Falcons Sunday as they fell to their division rival Carolina Panthers 28-19.

Matt Ryan’s sophomore slum continues as he threw two picks, both converted into touchdowns for the Panthers (4-5).  Last year’s offensive rookie of the year has thrown multiple interceptions in four of his last five games as the Falcons (5-4) have dropped three out of their last four games and are now only one game ahead of Carolina in second place in the NFC South.

“We obviously didn’t play our best game today.  When you turn the ball over twice like we did, you increase the situation and it’s really hard to get the positive outcome that you want,” said Falcons’ head coach Mike Smith.

Not all blame for the loss goes to Ryan or kicker Jason Elam who had an extra point blocked and missed a chip shot field goal for the lead late in the game.  The Falcons defense simply did not tackle.

Jake Delhomme looked like a Pro Bowler instead of the guy who threw five interceptions in the season opener as he threw for two scores".  Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams ran through Atlanta’s defense like Sherman through Atlanta during the Civil War.  Between the two backs they gained 174 yards with Stewart scoring twice, the second from 45 yards out and less than two minutes to place to ice the game for the surging Panthers.

“Winning the game is always good and you always want to be involved,” said Steve Smith.  Smith caught four passes for 34 yards and two scores, his first multi score game of the season.  The second put the Panthers ahead 21-10 at the half.

The second half was a completely different story as the Falcons raised their game after losing leading rusher Michael Turner early in the second quarter with a high ankle sprain.  Turner before going out had 111 yards on nine carries to lead all rushers.  Jason Snelling filled in admirably the rest of the game for the Falcons as the Falcons are literally out of running backs.  Jerious Norwood is still out and Aaron Stecker was cut earlier in the week to make room for another receiver when both Roddy White and Michael Jenkins were ill earlier in the week.

"Michael ran the ball extremely well.  He had 100+ yards in the first half.  I thought Jason Snelling came in and did a nice job of running the ball as well.  We don’t have the explosiveness we had with Michael, but I thought Jason, for his first time back in a couple of weeks ran the ball hard,” said Smith.

The Falcons defense play a much tougher game in the second half as they shut out the Panthers in the third quarter.

Trailing 21-13 the Falcons blocked a John Casey 51-yard field goal attempt and took over on their 41.  Ryan led the Falcons on a 12-play drive with Ryan mixing passes and runs by Snelling culminating with a one yard plunge off left tackle by Snelling to make the score 21-19.

The Falcons attempted a two-point conversion to tie the score but it failed.  Atlanta got the ball back rapidly as they held the Panthers to a rare three-and-out.

Ryan then led the Falcons deep into Carolina territory.  Ryan hit Tony Gonzalez on two throws over the middle and then hit White for a 34-yard gain that put the ball on the Carolina 25.

All was in place for Atlanta to take the lead as Elam lined up for a 34-yard field goal.  Elam, who is tied for the NFL record for longest field goal, hooked the kick.

“We had our chances and we didn’t take advantage of them,” said Ryan. 

Atlanta got the ball right back however, holding Carolina to another three and out.

Justin Peele took the Jason Baker punt and found room down the right sideline and was knocked out at midfield by the punter.

On the next play Ryan was intercepted as he overthrew Gonzalez over the middle and the ball was picked off by Richard Marshall and returned to midfield.

"With it being first down, that was not a good decision.  We tried to make a play but it wasn’t the time for that, especially with the field position we had.  It just comes down to making better decisions.  Learning from those situations and making sure that in the future I’m a better player in the future,” said Ryan.

Three plays later Stewart shot off tackle down the left sideline virtually untouched for the score and a 28-19 final.

"We dropped a division game against a good opponent.  There’s always a battle when you play the Panthers.  We’ve got a long way to go and a lot of football to be played.  We feel like our best is in front of us and we’re going to go out there and work during the week and make sure we do play our best in our next seven games,” said Ryan.

The Falcons travel farther north next week at they travel to New York to play the Giants. Kickoff is 1PM and will be aired on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

The Washington Redskins were just what an ailing Atlanta Falcons team needed Sunday after dropping two straight for the first time during the Mike Smith era.  The Falcons scored early and often and with an aggressive defense soundly defeated the Redskins 31-17 at the Georgia Dome in front of a crowd looking for a fight.

And speaking of fight they got one – literally before halftime.  Surprise, surprise, former Falcon top draft pick and two-time Pro Bowler DeAngelo Hall came back to Georgia flapping his gums and getting in the middle of a melee. 

Hall was vocal all week about being unhappy the way the Falcons treated him and trading him after the 2007 season to the Oakland Raiders.  Late in the first half Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan scrambled for a first down along the Falcons’ sideline when he was hit after running out of bounds by LaRon Landry.  Flags flew.  Then tempers flew.  A shoving match ensued.  And in the middle of it was Hall.  “I saw the commotion, and I had a feeling that he (DeAngelo Hall) might have had something to do with it,” said Roddy White.

A number or Redskins players joined the shoving match as both sides exchanged words. “I ran over there to help my guy, and next thing I know, one of their strength and conditioning coaches started grabbing at me, putting his hands on me. Then other guys put their hands on me. The whole time I’m trying to get them off me. After that, Coach (Mike) Smith came over to me, talking s--- to me, saying they were going to kick my ass,” said Hall.  “I stay in Atlanta during the offseason, so if Mike Smith wants to see me, he can definitely find me. That’s some bulls--- right there. But he can save that for another day.”

Hall later said he was going to call the commissioner’s office about the incident. . “Those sidelines are very, very hectic during a game. Our quarterback was hit late and there was a squeamish over there. All I was trying to do was restore order to the sideline and did not want to get into a situation where any of our guys were injured. That was my view of it. Again, it happened so very, very quickly,” said Falcons coach Mike Smith.

 “There were a bunch of guys on that sideline. Some of them were wearing black helmets and some of them were wearing maroon helmets. I can’t tell you anything more about it. It was very, very hectic on that sideline. There were a lot of things going on and my main goal was for the safety of our football team and restoring order,” he added.

Besides the skirmish there was a football game played at the Georgia Dome.  Atlanta took the opening kickoff and marched downfield.  They scored at the 9:18 mark when Ryan rolled left and hit Tony Gonzalez in the end zone from two yards out.

Atlanta’s defense was ferocious in the first half as they sacked Redskin quarterback Jason Campbell five times and knocked him out of the game twice. 

“It was an extremely tough first half. Those guys were doing a great job of bringing the heat. Offensively, we just weren’t answering the bell. Those guys were more physical than we were in the first half. In the second half we had to come in, regroup and understand that it doesn’t matter if backups play in the game or not. We are all NFL players and we have to fight, that’s what we get paid to do. In the second half we played with a much higher tempo and we were more physical,” said Campbell.

Tye Hill, signed by coach Smith prior to the beginning of the season to sure up a shaky secondary picked off Campbell and returned the interception 62 yards to make the score 14-0.

The brutal Falcon defense not only rattled Campbell but knocked Clinton Portis out of the game midway through the second quarter with an apparent concussion.

“There was some great pressure by the defensive line, the defensive backs and the linebackers. I think we did a great job of containing him and keeping him in the pocket. We let him get out of the pocket a few times, and he got a few yards on us, but all in all, we did a good job in the first half,” said Falcons defensive end John Abraham

Michael Turner returned to form for the second week in a row.  He ran for 166 yards on 18 carries with two touchdowns.  His touchdown runs were of 30 and 58 yards.  The second touchdown he literally slid off Hall’s attempted shoulder tackle and ran almost untouched the rest of the way for the touchdown.  Turner’s second score clinched the game midway through the fourth quarter as he ran down the left sideline literally almost untouched once turning the corner.

Turner, who was second in the league in rushing last season with 1,699 yards.  This season he was only averaging less than 80 yards a game.  In the past two games he has run for 317 yards of the 720 yards he has gained this season.

"I was trying to get some explosiveness and spark the team a little bit. We just go out there and make big plays. It was just happening out there. I really can’t explain it,” said Turner.

“When you’ve got a guy that can get the running game going, you bring that extra safety down to stop the run. Then it opens up some things in the passing game. That’s something in this league that you have to do: be able to run the football, and run in effectively; to make teams respect it,” said Falcons center Todd McClure.

Atlanta went into the locker room with a 24-3 lead.  When they came out of the locker they were met by a totally different Redskin team.  Washington took the second half kickoff and marched 80 yards on 13 plays.  Ladell Betts finished the drive on a one-yard plunge.  Betts, filling in for Portis had 70 yards on 15 carries.

Campbell, behind an offensive line that protected him unlike the first half drove the Redskins back down for another score completing a pass to a diving Todd Yoder in the back of the end zone to make the score 24-17.  Campbell was 15-of-22 for 156 yards on the day, also running for 40 yards.

“A lot of things were said from coaches and players. A lot of it was about fighting and not giving up and giving each other a chance to make plays. At halftime, whatever it was, we played like a totally different offense,” said Campbell.

Atlanta mounted a drive that ended with Turner’s 58-yard score to make the final margin of victory 14 points.

“We knew coming in that Michael Turner is a heck of a running back. We didn’t tackle him successfully. He was able to bounce off tackles and make plays,” said Hall.

Ryan played a pretty low-key game Sunday.  He was 17-of-25 for a career low 135 yards one touchdown and one interception.  The interception was his eighth in the past four games.  He threw only 11 all of last season.

Despite the low numbers and one interception Ryan helped direct the Falcons defense utilizing the run game, even running the ball himself to move the chains twice.  His completions helped keep drives going as he hit Gonzalez four times and White three times for their lowest yardage output this season.  But the game was well managed by the second year signal caller as the Falcons improve to 5-3 at the midway point of the season.

“The important thing is that we’re in the mix,” Ryan said about the team’s 5-3 record.   “Now it is going to come down to how we play in November and December. These last two months are crucially important to our football team and we’re excited to take the challenge head on. Our goal is to make sure we win as many games as possible down the stretch.”

The Falcons are on the road again next week.  They face divisional rival Carolina.  Kickoff is 1Pm and will be televised on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

San Francisco, the city by the bay. They were going to call it "the city of brotherly love,"or "the queen city",  but both were taken. Tony Bennett sang about it, Carl Malden shot people in it, and the Greatful Dead smoked around it. Ah, San Francisco. Well, the Tennessee Titans took on the team by the bay and, shock of shocks, can away with victory number two. Titans 34-27.

The day began with Coach Fisher and Coach Singletary laughing, smiling and embracing. God, what this city can do to a man. Singletary, one of the beasts of the ‘86 Chicago defense, showing love and flower power? "Don't fall for it Fisher," I yelled to the TV.

Just then, The Undisputed Truth, burst into my living room......

Smiling faces sometimes pretend to be your friend

Smiling faces show no traces of the evil that lurks within

Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes

They don't tell the truth uh

Tell lies and I got proof

The truth is in the eyes

Cause the eyes don't lie, amen (Singletary can stare through buildings)

Remember a smile is just

A frown turned upside down

My friend let me tell you

Beware, beware of the handshake

That hides the snake

I'm telling you beware

Beware of the pat on the back

It just might hold you back

Jealousy (jealousy) (We've got Chris Johnson)

Misery (misery) (They've got Alex Smith)

Envy: (Titans writers are prettier)

I tell you, you can't see behind smiling faces

Smiling faces sometimes they don't tell the truth

Smiling faces, smiling faces

Tell lies and I got proof

Your enemy won't do you no harm

Cause you'll know where he's coming from  (Doesn't exactly rhyme but you get the idea)

Don't let the handshake and the smile fool ya

Take my advice I'm only try' to school ya

Fisher, I'm tryin' to school ya. Don't fall for that pat on the back stuff. Thanks to the Undisputed Truth, although next time you bust into my house singing, bring a six pack. Nice suits though.

     Anyway, Vince Young, starting for the second time this year and had a nice game with no interceptions or fumbles. You have to admit, he's fun to watch.

Now I don't know if Vince is clairvoyant or Claire Huxtable, but he did say he thought the Titans would have a great game against the 49ers. They looked solid across the board.

Rod Hood, from the mean streets of Columbus Georgia, again stepped up with tough defense and another interception. There is talk that Nick Harper may be ready to come back next week, putting Hood on the sideline. If this is true, someone needs to go Serina Williams on Harper.

The Titan defense showed up big time, forcing turnovers, a concept that was lost on them the first six games. With a stronger defensive backfield, everyone is now making plays. Even with the limp wrist style that San Francisco teaches, Alex Smith was picked off three times and sacked four.

With all this going for the Titans, everyone is still worshiping at the alter of Chris Johnson. He burned the 49ers for 135 yards, and had a long run called back. What impressed me most were two plays. On the first, Johnson went straight up the middle for a one yard score. This run used to be reserved for Lenwhale White.

Then, on a fourth and one, Johnson took a pitch outside to score again. A risky call, but in the end, won the game. Faster than Logan Dougher at a GPS social, his speed can't be matched.  As long as the Titans keep designing plays to get him open, he'll keep racking up the yards.

There is great concern about the next game for the Titans. No, they aren't worried about the Buffalo Bills or the return of Terrell Owens. Heck, the Bills have given us miracles and memories. No, the concern revolves around the return of Dan LaGraff and his posse from the north. Word on the street is they've purchased tickets and are planning on making the scene on Sunday.

According to Titan inside man Donn Hanson, the Titans have upped the amount of beer they usually carry, as the reputation of these Buffalo fans precede them. There will also be lawyers on call and extra space has been cleared in the city jail. My only hope is if they get a taste of Tim and Bubba's BBQ, they may leave the dark side and root for Tennessee.

 - Mike Dougher

Football is a game of inches.  If the Atlanta Falcons had a few extra inches the outcome Monday night against the New Orleans Saints would have been different.  The still undefeated Saints held on to defeat their divisional foe 35-27 before a rocking Superdome crowd.

Unable to take advantage of four turnovers and a defensive effort not indicative of the final score the Falcons fall three games behind the Saints in the division as they reach the halfway point.

“It’s a tough loss playing a good NFC South rival in the Saints. We expected it to be physical and it was. I thought our defense gave us plenty of opportunities to take advantage and score and we just didn’t get it done,” said Matt Ryan

As stated, football was a game of inches.  On three plays a matter of inches determined the outcome of the game.

With the game tied at 14 Atlanta drove deep into Saints’ territory.  Stopped at the New Orleans’ 17 Jason Elam lined up for what amounted to a chip shot 34-yard field goal.  Elam, one of the most accurate kickers in league history hit the right crossbar opening the door for the Saints and swinging the momentum.

The Saints scored 14 unanswered points after that to take a 28-14 lead into the locker room.

Cutting the lead to 28-21 Atlanta looked as if they were going to tie everything up.  With a third-and-goal at the 7 Ryan hit Roddy White for the tying score in the back of the end zone on a diving catch.  New Orleans challenged the ruling and it was overturned and Atlanta had to settle for a field goal making the score 28-24.

Later in the fourth quarter Atlanta had a chance once again as they were in the red zone when Ryan’s pass was picked off on near New Orleans’ goal line by Tracy Porter to end yet another threat.  A few more inches in a number of different directions on those three plays would have drastically changed the outcome.

The Monday night loss also provided Atlanta with three dubious firsts.  Prior to Monday night’s game Atlanta was 9-0 when Turner rushed for 100 yards.  Turner, having a down season for him looked like his old self running for 151 yards with runs of 37 and 13 yards for a score on the opening drive.

“We wanted to get Michael and our running game going. I thought that Michael ran extremely hard. It’s an emphasis point that we’ve been working on,” said Falcons coach Mike Smith

Also for the first time in the Mike Smith era the Falcons lost back-to-back games for the first time.

And lastly but not least Matt Ryan threw for three interceptions, the most in his career.  Ryan has now thrown multiple interceptions for three consecutive games and is on pace to throw 21 this year.  He threw only 11 all of last season.

“I thought Matt’s play through the game was good. We have to take care of the football. That was a very good defense. My hat is off to Gregg (Williams) and his staff and Sean (Payton) and his staff to come out with the win,” said Smith.

The game was a see-saw battle for most of the first half.  Atlanta took the opening kickoff and drove impressively for a score mostly on the back of Turner.

The Saints and Pierre Thomas answered the bell scoring on their first possession with Thomas scoring from 22 yards out to tie the score.  After a Falcons punt the Saints had the ball deep in their territory.  Drew Brees was stripped of the ball and it was returned two yards for a score by Kroy Biermann to give Atlanta the lead again.

The Saints once again marched effortlessly down the field with Marcus Colston making an acrobatic catch in the end zone to time the score at 14.

Then the missed field goal…

After the miss the Saints drove down and scored the go-ahead touchdown on a one-yard run by Reggie Bush with just over a minute remaining in the half.

Atlanta tried to rally before the half but Ryan was picked off by Jabari Greer who returned the interception 47 yards for another score widening the lead to two touchdowns.

After the break the Atlanta Falcons looked like a new team.  After holding the Saints to a three-and out to start the second half, Ryan found White along the right sideline for a 68 yard touchdown.

With the score 28-24 Ryan’s second interception led to the Saints’ game-clinching score.  New Orleans marched 81 yards with Thomas scoring his second touchdown on a one yard pass from Brees.

Atlanta refused to die.  Trailing by 11 they drove to the New Orleans 23-yard line and kicked a 40-yard field goal to make the score 35-27 with 28 seconds to play.

Atlanta recovered the onside kick and drove to midfield.  Ryan was then intercepted inside the five yard line with three seconds to play to end the game.

"I thought we were in the game right until the end but we just fell short,” said Ryan.

With the loss the Falcons drop to 4-3.  Ryan had one of his worst outings as a pro completing less than 50 percent of his passes and three interceptions. Brees on the other hand was intercepted once, fumbled once but threw for 308 yards and two scores.

“I know everyone is saying we are too far back now in the division to catch them – but you know what, every week is a tough week. And when we get to week 17, we’ll see where we are at the end of the season,” said Ryan.

The Falcons return home Sunday where they will host the Washington Redskins.  Kickoff is 1pm and will be aired on Fox.

 - Dave Weinthal

The sun'll come out

Tomorrow

Bet your bottom dollar

That tomorrow

There'll be sun!

Just thinkin' about

Tomorrow

Clears away the cobwebs,

And the sorrow

'Til there's none!

When I'm stuck with a day

That's gray,

And lonely,

I just stick out my chin

And g