From Berlin with love this week.
Should be a lot of fun.
CUT THE GUY(S) SOME SLACK
After the flights to Germany, I woke up in time to watch Raheem Morris’ Wednesday news conference on YouTube. Columnist Ken Sugiura was at the Branch.
The folks in the comment section were just downright disrespectful.
Now, Morris deserves some heat for the 3-5 start. I’ve been critical of these modern football practice methods where they don’t play and don’t hit. Now, it’s pretty clear Michael Penix Jr. and offensive coordinator Zac Robinson could have done some exhibition season bonding.
But some of the comments act like Morris inherited the 1978 Steelers and ran them off the road.
This was a project team with some high draft picks. I know Morris can coach. We used to get to watch the entire practices and not just stretching. I saw him get that 0-5 Dan Quinn squad in 2020 ready for Minnesota.
Whatever’s wrong with the Falcons, he knows how to fix it. He didn’t forget all of the lessons he learned of Herm Edwards, Tony Dungy, Mike Shanahan and Sean McVay.
As far as Robinson, they had to know he was going to have some rough patches as a first-time signal caller. If you like him, get him some help and let him grow.
All I could offer Robinson was, “get in the wishbone.” But I’ve come up with something else: I’d script the first 15 plays like Mike Holmgren and keep it moving. Practice those 15 fire-starting plays all week.
Either the Falcons are going to let Morris and Robinson see it through or tear it down to the studs.
Who wants to start over with a massive rebuild?
I think there’s been enough good things to hunker down and keep building, executing better and drafting better.
My two cents.
Enjoying the newsletter? Tell a friend and have them sign up here.
MURKY INTERNATIONAL WATERS
Since 2014, the Falcons have played three games in Europe.
1️⃣ Former coach Mike Smith had a bad showing against the Lions in 2014 and was terminated at the end of the season. The assistant coaches knew they were gone.
With three games to go, former tight ends coach Chris Scelfo, my golfing buddy at the legendary Coach Smith golf outings, asked me to look after Levine Toilolo because he was a “good kid.” I didn’t put it together until later.
2️⃣ In 2021, rookie tight end Kyle Pitts put on a show in a win over the Jets.
3️⃣ In 2023, wide receiver Mack Hollins went off on quarterback Desmond Ridder in a loss to Jacksonville. Ridder was trying to high-five Hollins, who then started yelling at Ridder.
BERLIN IS GOING TO BE LIT
The German games in the NFL’s International Series are different.
The German fans are a little bit more rowdy and know their American football rules.
So, this is going to be pretty fun.
I know my guy Mike Bell from 92.9 The Game is coming over and attorney Jeff Hood told me he has his tickets. He wanted to know about the TSA lines. They were manageable.
Counting on Bell to help me find the Hofbrau Haus.
Here’s what the Falcons have planned for the fans making the trip:
🍻 Saturday at Fotografiska Berlin: “Join us for a walk-through experience celebrating 60 years of the Atlanta Falcons, shop exclusive Falcons in Berlin merchandise and meet Falcons legends, mascots and cheerleaders!”
The meet and greet schedule is as follows:
- 10 to 11 a.m. — Freddie Falcon
- 11 a.m. to noon — Fritz Falcon
- Noon to 1 p.m. — Atlanta Falcons cheerleaders
- 2 to 3 p.m. — Todd McClure and Jessie Tuggle
- 3 to 4 p.m. — Atlanta Falcons cheerleaders
- 4 to 5 p.m. — Freddie Falcon
- 5 to 6 p.m. — Fritz Falcon
🍻 Fan rally at Belushi Alexanderplatz: Join the fun at 10 a.m. Sunday.
🍻 Dirty Bird fan walk to the stadium: Takes the U2 U-Bahn line from Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz to Olympia-Stadion. The walk into the stadium will continue from outside the U2 Olympia-Stadion station at approximately 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
WHERE TO WATCH (AND LISTEN)
This will be the Falcons and Colts’ 19th meeting. The Colts lead the series, 15-3. The Falcons won the last meeting 29-10 on Dec. 24, 2023.
Kickoff arrives at 9:30 a.m. EST.
📺 On TV: NFL Network
- Play-by-play: Adam Amin
- Analyst: Kurt Warner (Big fan of the offense and coordinator Zac Robinson)
- Sideline: Kristina Pink and Stacey Dales
📻 On local radio: 92.9 The Game
- Play-by-play: Justin Kutcher
- Analyst: Dave Archer
📡 On national radio: Westwood One
- Play-by-play: Oliver Wilson
- Analyst: Charles Arbuckle
MAIL BAG TIME
📬 Reader Maurice Holland: “OC and DC. No other discussion has to be made, the problem(s), as we all can see, are on the shoulders of these two individuals. They’re ruining our team spirit and will to win.”
My response: I’m going to wait to reserve judgment until the season is over. (See above)
ROBISKIE AND TOMLIN SCENARIO
Our good friend John Harris has updated his book, “Tomlin: The Soul of a Football Coach,” and it has a thick plot twist that involves former Falcons assistant coach Terry Robiskie.
Robiskie quotes from the book:
- “Russ (Grimm) calls me. He said, ‘I just got a call from the Steelers. The Rooney family called me. I met with the GM (Kevin Colbert). I met with everybody. They’re going to make me the head coach. We’re having a news conference on Sunday (Jan. 21, 2007). They told me to bring my family.’ I told him, ‘congratulations.’ Russ said, ‘I want you to be the assistant head coach and possibly the offensive coordinator.’ I said, ‘I’m coming.’
- “On Friday, they called Russ and told him they were having a news conference announcing he was the head coach. On Saturday, old man (Dan) Rooney walks from his house to the (Steelers offices) and met with everybody. He told them, ‘I didn’t sleep good last night at all.’ He says, ‘I’m the guy that helped create the Rooney Rule. And I’m the guy that’s supposed to be deeply involved in helping the Fritz Pollard (Alliance). I just feel in my heart we need to give a Black guy a chance. I had a long conversation with Tony Dungy last night, and Tony really believes Mike Tomlin is going to be a damn good coach in this league one day. Guys, you can do what you want, but I’m going to recommend we hire Mike Tomlin.’
- “That was Saturday before they were having the news conference on Sunday. So that Saturday night they called Russ and said, ‘We’ve changed our mind. We’re going in another direction.’ Russ called me Sunday and said, ‘Terry, I just found out they hired Mike Tomlin.’ And he said, ‘I’m going to tell you, Terry. This is bull. I think everybody deserves a chance. But I really think it’s (messed) up that Mike is getting the job over me simply because of the Rooney Rule and that Mr. Rooney got his name on it.’
- “Of course, I hated it because I was going to be the assistant head coach and possibly offensive coordinator.
- “Mike got the job, and the rest is history.”
Wow. Robiskie was an interim twice and never got a shot to run his own team. He was recognized by the Pro Football Hall of Fame through its Award of Excellence inaugural class in 2022.
📝 Noted from Harris: “It’s important that people understand Terry Robiskie’s connection to all this. He and Russ Grimm were good friends on the Washington staff.
“Terry convinced head coach Norv Turner to promote Grimm to offensive line coach.
“When Turner got fired owner Dan Snyder made Terry interim head coach with a promise of becoming fulltime head coach. Instead, Snyder hired Marty Schottenheimer. Terry left to become WR coach in Cleveland.
“When Snyder passed over Robiskie, Grimm left Washington to become OL coach/assistant HC in Pittsburgh under Bill Cowher.
“When Cowher resigned, Grimm interviewed along with Tomlin, Ken Whisenhunt and Ron Rivera for the HC vacancy.”
Harris was a guest on “The Bow Tie Chronicles” in 2024.
CLOSE CALLS IN THE NFL
We are just about exactly at the halfway point of the NFL season and here are some numbers from the league office.
“The games have never been more competitive,” said Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy. “At this point, we’ve got 35 games with the game-winning score in the final two minutes, which ties for the most in NFL history. That’s 26% of all games won — one out of every four — has had the winning score in the last two minutes of the game.”
📈 Good viewing: “The viewers have responded to the close games. As of Week 8, we are averaging 17.7 million fans, which is the highest average through Week 8 since 2015. Importantly, up 7% year-over-year.”
📈 Dynamic kickoff: Miller said “79% of kicks returned thus far. That’s as of (Tuesday morning), which is the most we’ve seen in 17 years, up from about 31% this time last year, which is really exciting. And the dual goals of bringing kickoffs back into the game, we’ve seen that and trying to create a play where the injury rate is much more like a play from scrimmage, run or pass play. We’re seeing the numbers head in that direction as well.”
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of the Dirty Bird Dispatch. Questions? Suggestions? Contact us at dledbetter@ajc.com. Follow @DorlandoAJC on X, too.
See you next week.
About the Author
Honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his "long and distinguished reporting in the field of pro football," D. Orlando Ledbetter, Esq. has covered the NFL 28 seasons. A graduate of Howard University, he's a winner of Georgia Sportswriter of the Year and three Associated Press Sports Editor awards.
