GP
05-15-2007, 10:48 PM
Tried to email this to the ESPN.com NFL writers, but it wasn't going through.
Anyways, thought I'd at least post it here.
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Why are the Atlanta Falcons the center of so much hype and so much buzz? Here's some connected questions that I have: Vick has delivered how many playoff victories? Warrick Dunn is still their go-to running back? Is this the year that Abraham delivers the goods by cementing a defense that dipped two years ago and was supposed to have rebounded this past season? Bobby Petrino is a better option than Mora Jr., who turned the team around to begin with? Is it possible that Mora Jr. pushed for Matt Schaub and got fired for daring to question the Vick Project? The Falcons traded a much sought after Matt Schaub to stick by the public relations mess known as Ron Mexico, Airplane III, and Dog Gate? And the whole Ashley Lelie thing? Help me out with that one, please.
I could go on, but I think it would be overkill at this point.
As a fan of another NFL team (not in the NFC South)...I have to wonder why the Falcons are given so much attention each offseason.
They are perhaps the most over-hyped NFL team in the league. I suppose that the Falcons have decided that an athletic and freakishly talented QB (who has never really achieved much in terms of the postseason) has been a bread-and-butter marketing "cash cow" for them to the point that they couldn't figure how to make money and retain fans with Matt Schaub at the controls. Clearly, Schaub's abilities were good enough to earn the Falcons a wealth of high-end draft picks from the Texans...but his skills were not good enough to make ownership recognize that championships are won by recently boring, less-than-athletic QBs, i.e. Aikman, Brady, Brady, Brady, Dilfer, Big Ben, Brad Johnson, and Manning. No, the Falcons seem to have information none of us have as it is related to who's best to pilot the mighty Falcons.
It's akin to watching the Mavericks win 90% of their regular season games, only to crumble in the postseason and make it all such a waste of everybody's time and money. Sure, it's nice to watch Vick make a stunning juke as he punches the ball into the end zone. In fact, he's made some pretty crazy pass completions that are definitely highlight reel material. But in the NFL, as you can ask Peyton Manning, it really doesn't matter unless you back it up in January when the teams you face are the elite squads who want to drub you on their way to the championship.
And that's why all of the Bobby Petrino stories, the Jamaal Anderson hype, the coverage of Dog Gate, etc., has just about worn me to a nub. When the ESPN website's NFL section has the Bobby Petrino story on one side and Jamaal Anderson story next to it, occupying my line of sight as the NFL section page opens up on my screen, it causes me to pen this novel you are reading.
A simple question I had at the beginning of this message has essentially spilled over into a whole host of more intriguing questions that I have.
And I haven't even mentioned how ticked off I am that I drafted Jerious Norwood as a sleeper pick last year...thinking that the Falcons could never be so blind as to not see that Norwood is the future and not The Tin Man (Dunn). But alas, it all makes sense now: If they hitched their wagon to Vick this offseason, and if they hitched their wagon to Dunn last season, then they are not really in the business of making quality NFL decisions as it pertains to strategically planning and executing a full season's worth of games with the explicit purpose of advancing into something as trivial as a Super Bowl.
For all the jabs that the Texans have taken for dumping David Carr in favor of a no-name backup QB, at least you see a front office attempting to place football moves to the front burner while also sliding a marketing plan to the rear burner--David Carr was the Golden Boy, workout warrior, poster boy, class act model citizen and champion of all that's ethical and moral...but ownership finally was convinced by head coach Gary Kubiak and general manager Rick Smith that David Carr was indeed a great role model for fans and a great representation of the Texans organization, but he was not going to advance the Texans to the next step. He was a face, not a winner.
No Reggie Bush, Vince Young, or Brady Quinn for Houston fans. At first glance, NFL fans think Houston has really blown it the past two years. Well, I argue that the marketing plan of hometown hero Vince Young, the electrifying Reggie Bush who has never been tackled, and the "can't miss" future Hall of Famer Brady Quinn, were all passed up for one simple reason: All those marketing plans cannot make Houston better. Ever. The Texans are building on defense because you have to stop the Colts offense if you plan on winning the AFC South. And the Texans are quietly building on offense with Matt Schaub who is poised to make Atlanta twice-the-fool for trading away their backup QB (Favre was the first).
I would suggest that the Texans stop being the sports media's punching bag. I would suggest that ATL get a closer look in the future as the real class clown of the NFL.
Anyways, thought I'd at least post it here.
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Why are the Atlanta Falcons the center of so much hype and so much buzz? Here's some connected questions that I have: Vick has delivered how many playoff victories? Warrick Dunn is still their go-to running back? Is this the year that Abraham delivers the goods by cementing a defense that dipped two years ago and was supposed to have rebounded this past season? Bobby Petrino is a better option than Mora Jr., who turned the team around to begin with? Is it possible that Mora Jr. pushed for Matt Schaub and got fired for daring to question the Vick Project? The Falcons traded a much sought after Matt Schaub to stick by the public relations mess known as Ron Mexico, Airplane III, and Dog Gate? And the whole Ashley Lelie thing? Help me out with that one, please.
I could go on, but I think it would be overkill at this point.
As a fan of another NFL team (not in the NFC South)...I have to wonder why the Falcons are given so much attention each offseason.
They are perhaps the most over-hyped NFL team in the league. I suppose that the Falcons have decided that an athletic and freakishly talented QB (who has never really achieved much in terms of the postseason) has been a bread-and-butter marketing "cash cow" for them to the point that they couldn't figure how to make money and retain fans with Matt Schaub at the controls. Clearly, Schaub's abilities were good enough to earn the Falcons a wealth of high-end draft picks from the Texans...but his skills were not good enough to make ownership recognize that championships are won by recently boring, less-than-athletic QBs, i.e. Aikman, Brady, Brady, Brady, Dilfer, Big Ben, Brad Johnson, and Manning. No, the Falcons seem to have information none of us have as it is related to who's best to pilot the mighty Falcons.
It's akin to watching the Mavericks win 90% of their regular season games, only to crumble in the postseason and make it all such a waste of everybody's time and money. Sure, it's nice to watch Vick make a stunning juke as he punches the ball into the end zone. In fact, he's made some pretty crazy pass completions that are definitely highlight reel material. But in the NFL, as you can ask Peyton Manning, it really doesn't matter unless you back it up in January when the teams you face are the elite squads who want to drub you on their way to the championship.
And that's why all of the Bobby Petrino stories, the Jamaal Anderson hype, the coverage of Dog Gate, etc., has just about worn me to a nub. When the ESPN website's NFL section has the Bobby Petrino story on one side and Jamaal Anderson story next to it, occupying my line of sight as the NFL section page opens up on my screen, it causes me to pen this novel you are reading.
A simple question I had at the beginning of this message has essentially spilled over into a whole host of more intriguing questions that I have.
And I haven't even mentioned how ticked off I am that I drafted Jerious Norwood as a sleeper pick last year...thinking that the Falcons could never be so blind as to not see that Norwood is the future and not The Tin Man (Dunn). But alas, it all makes sense now: If they hitched their wagon to Vick this offseason, and if they hitched their wagon to Dunn last season, then they are not really in the business of making quality NFL decisions as it pertains to strategically planning and executing a full season's worth of games with the explicit purpose of advancing into something as trivial as a Super Bowl.
For all the jabs that the Texans have taken for dumping David Carr in favor of a no-name backup QB, at least you see a front office attempting to place football moves to the front burner while also sliding a marketing plan to the rear burner--David Carr was the Golden Boy, workout warrior, poster boy, class act model citizen and champion of all that's ethical and moral...but ownership finally was convinced by head coach Gary Kubiak and general manager Rick Smith that David Carr was indeed a great role model for fans and a great representation of the Texans organization, but he was not going to advance the Texans to the next step. He was a face, not a winner.
No Reggie Bush, Vince Young, or Brady Quinn for Houston fans. At first glance, NFL fans think Houston has really blown it the past two years. Well, I argue that the marketing plan of hometown hero Vince Young, the electrifying Reggie Bush who has never been tackled, and the "can't miss" future Hall of Famer Brady Quinn, were all passed up for one simple reason: All those marketing plans cannot make Houston better. Ever. The Texans are building on defense because you have to stop the Colts offense if you plan on winning the AFC South. And the Texans are quietly building on offense with Matt Schaub who is poised to make Atlanta twice-the-fool for trading away their backup QB (Favre was the first).
I would suggest that the Texans stop being the sports media's punching bag. I would suggest that ATL get a closer look in the future as the real class clown of the NFL.