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Sunday, April 29, 2007
Sensible approach to meeting needs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
There are a couple of glaring things you see when analyzing the Falcons’ portion of the NFL draft, and one of those things actually is good.
Consider this: If potential matches reality, the Falcons just got four starters for the upcoming season.
That’s the good.
That’s also the bad.
Four rookies projected as starters by the end of training camp? The word “desperate” comes to mind. Even so, we’ll start with the good. Except for a tailback twice the size of Warrick Dunn, the Falcons got everything they needed in the draft. They also got quality along with quantity.
They got the definitive No. 1 pick for them in Jamaal Anderson, the quick and big defensive end from Arkansas to replace Patrick Kerney. They got Justin “Big Bank” Blalock from Texas to help end their silly tribute to the Smurfs along the offensive line. They got Anderson’s old Arkansas teammate, Chris Houston, to use his considerable speed and noted cover skills at right cornerback. They also got South Florida’s Stephen Nicholas, rated among the top eight outside linebackers by NFLDraftScout.com. He is slated to replace Demorrio Williams, out for six months after a weightlifting injury.
In other words, the Falcons got top picks in the draft that made sense for the first time since 2001. Michael Vick (you know, before he lost his mind off the field). Alge Crumpler. Roberto Garza. Matt Stewart. Kynan Forney.
“What we do in the draft has to be logical, but it could be illogical, and then you would have people saying, ‘OK. Then why did they do that?’ ” said Falcons owner Arthur Blank on Sunday, who doesn’t need to worry about such questions for the first time in his five years with the franchise. That’s because Rich McKay got it mostly right after spending his third consecutive draft without noted personnel guru Tim Ruskell, who took the Seattle Seahawks to the Super Bowl after leaving Atlanta.
Prior to the Falcons, McKay was in Tampa with Ruskell and Jerry Angelo, the builder of the Chicago Bears team that just went to the Super Bowl. All Blank knows is that McKay needed to produce now, and McKay did so with 11 solid picks. “The fact that students of the game can understand why we made certain picks is not unimportant,” Blank said. “You want people to say, ‘That makes sense. Well, that also makes sense.’ “
This time, for one of the few times in the Falcons’ 41-year history, it all made sense with their drafting. Which brings us to the bad. We discovered through the lofty expectations of Falcons officials regarding their picks what we already knew: The Falcons had a mighty talent deficit over the past two seasons, and their record of 15-17 during that stretch wasn’t a fluke. In fact, since they reached the NFC championship game after the 2004 season, they’ve ranked among the most heavily flawed yet overly hyped teams in the league.
No wonder the Falcons’ new coaching regime needed less than five months to determine that many of the players it inherited had to go.
So, just like that, along with those four draftees projected as starters, you had other additions for the Falcons. There was free agent Ovie Mughelli, signed to a contract worth more than any ever given to a fullback. Veteran Joe Horn was acquired to improve a ghastly group of wide receivers and a leadership void in the locker room on the other side of Lawyer Milloy. Elsewhere, cornerback holdover Jimmy Williams is projected as the new free safety. Plus, with Grady Jackson suing the franchise for defamation of character or something, you can expect the Falcons to have a new nose tackle sooner than later.
They already have a new coach in the meticulous Bobby Petrino, and he was heavily involved in helping the Falcons move from their previous mess of a roster to something better.
How much better? Said Anderson, sounding like this group really does understand the deal, “We’re here to win, and we’re ready to win the Super Bowl.”
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