The VIPs of the Falcons’ large-caliber, high-potential offense all drew upon different models in their formative years. All had their own ideas about who and what made special offenses, well, special.
- For quarterback Matt Ryan, there was a style that just sounded cool — "I didn't know any better but everyone was talking West Coast Offense, West Coast Offense." And there was one quarterback in particular who caught young Ryan's eye, one who employed that style far from any coast — "I loved watching Brett Favre play. He was rolling in the mid-'90s."
- Newcomer running back Steven Jackson, No. 39 in your Falcons program, wore No. 34 through college days at Oregon State in tribute to his favorite back, the Chicago Bears' Walter Payton.
There were others, too, who appealed to a young man coming of age in Las Vegas.
“I appreciated guys like Ricky Watters, Bo Jackson, Marcus Allen, guys who did a little bit of everything. They had some size to them, but were very explosive out of the backfield as well,” said Jackson, a back who today answers to that same description.
- The old man of the crew — according to the calendar if not the eyeball — had little use for football when he was just a boy. Tony Gonzalez said he flitted in and out of the game at the Pop Warner level, and even when he committed to the sport in high school, "I liked playing it, but I didn't like watching it." Not until moving north to the University of California did he pick up on the Steve Young-to-Jerry Rice version of the nearby 49ers. And for some reason he paid particular attention to the tight end, Brent Jones was his name.
- And as one might expect with a performer on the flank, Roddy White had an eye for the receivers who were helping to remodel the modern game. Give him Jerry Rice, Cris Carter or Randy Moss, and he would study any of those as a med student would Gray's Anatomy. Julio Jones picked up on Rice and his famous work ethic later in his life, upon growing out of his running-back phase after the 10th grade.
Here they are today, in various stages of all grown up, combined on one potentially very potent team. And now they are the ones in position to influence the next generation of skill players. Now they are the ones who might set standards and prime imaginations, especially in metro Atlanta.
Top priority is to put together a 2013 season in which the victories stack as high as the anticipation. Folks seem to think this dynamic collection of offensive talent is capable of much — and getting to the Super Bowl is atop every list.
But also, there is some individual legacy building to do here. As for that chore, they may well be able to go farther in combination than they ever could on their own.
For these pieces have the potential to complement each other oh, so well, operating in sublime harmony, as the voices of a choir.
“Every day I’m appreciative of the guys I have around me,” Ryan said, giving credit to his cast.
“It’s pretty fun as a quarterback when you don’t know what a defense is going to do to try to take one of your guys away. But you know somebody is going to get singled and we have confidence in any one of those guys, whoever it is, to be able to dominate at that single matchup. It’s a lot of fun. I tell (general manager) Thomas (Dimitroff) all the time he’s done a great job.”
Parts in place for prolific results
Four franchises — New England (three times), New Orleans (twice), Green Bay and Indianapolis — have scored 500 points in a season over the past decade. Such prolific scoring always results in some copious winning during the regular season, an average of 13 victories in those cases. But no guarantee beyond that. One of those teams, the Saints in 2009, won the Super Bowl.
Given all the shiny parts, might these Falcons take the scoreboard on a similar joy ride?
“So much may come down to the offensive line. That could end up being the Achilles group,” said Peter King, the Sports Illustrated/NBC NFL savant, who nevertheless did not shoot down the idea of reaching the 500-point plateau this season. “Matt Ryan may have to get the ball out awful quickly a lot this year. But knowing the coaches, knowing (offensive coordinator) Dirk Koetter, they’ll figure out some way for him to get the ball out as quickly as he needs to.”
True, each classic offense needs some sides of beef, but it’s the filet that commands our appetites. And don’t the Falcons seem to have that particular cut in abundance?
On their own, these skill players are building impressive careers. Filling out resumes one touchdown at a time. Creating figurative molds of their likenesses — some just beginning, one nearly done — just in case the Pro Football Hall of Fame may need them one day.
Why not aim high? A man’s reach should always exceed his grasp (although when trying to catch the ball, a little grasping is necessary).
Consider these players’ accomplishments to date.
Gonzalez, 37, more receptions for more yards and more touchdowns than any tight end in history. Even before what he promises is his last season — really, honestly, cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-get-love-handles, he vows — Gonzalez is Hall-certified.
Ryan, 28, two-time Pro Bowler with a 56-22 regular-season record (only 1-4 in the postseason). Threw for a career-best 4,719 yards last season while leading the NFL in completion percentage (68.6).
White, 32, holds the Falcons’ franchise record for career receptions and receiving yards. A four-time Pro Bowl performer, he has six consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.
Jones, 24, so young and ridiculously gifted. Has 2,157 yards and 18 touchdowns in two seasons, and that was just his warm-up. Dimitroff did not give up nearly enough to move up in the 2011 draft to get him (the GM still has both his kidneys doesn’t he?).
Better let out that new stadium a little bit to make room for all the new Ring of Honor players headed one day for its facade.
Plus there’s Jackson, 30, the only active back with at least 10,000 career yards rushing and 3,000 yards receiving. His eight consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons. Three Pro Bowls.
For what it is worth, in the NFL.com poll to arrive at the top 100 players for 2013, the Falcons were one of only three teams to place four offensive skill players on the list. The other two were San Francisco and Baltimore (who is without one already, tight end Dennis Pitta, hip fracture).
Such subjective measures don’t really interest the coach in charge of choreographing all this talent, still Koetter goes this far: “We’d put our skill guys up against anybody.”
“We are flat loaded, so we got to go out there and play at a high level every week,” White said.
Jackson brings key dimension
Jackson was the one player among the Falcons offensive elite who didn’t make the Top 100 list. Yet he is the one who might make the biggest difference in all their lives if he is as well preserved as his physique suggests. His combination of power, speed and receiving ability adds at least a couple facets to the diamond. On the legs of Michael Turner last year, the Falcons ranked 29th in the NFL in rushing yardage. Surely Jackson, younger than Turner by a year, has enough left to move that number north.
Looking from the outside in, SI’s King gushes about Jackson’s potential impact: “I’m not a big fan of 30-year-old running backs, but I make an exception for Steven Jackson.
“Anyone who watched him play at San Francisco last year (he rushed for 101 yards, caught a couple passes for 26 yards) would say, ‘I want that guy on my team. I don’t care what his birth certificate says.’
“He combines being able to break a play to the outside with being able to get the tough yards in the middle. And he blocks superbly. He’s like one of those old-time warhorse backs in terms of doing the little things well, not just the things that get running backs paid a jillion dollars,” King said.
The view from the inside is no less enthusiastic.
“(Jackson’s) a great player. And anytime you add a great player to your team you get better,” Ryan said. “He catches the ball really, really well out of the backfield. He’s a monster, a big guy. He’s comfortable running the ball out of a one-back set which is good for the personnel that we have. I think he’s going to be a great fit to what we do.”
Jackson’s own immediate plans: “I expect to bring the intensity and level of play that I played with for nine years. That’s what I plan to bring that to his offense.”
With this group, were this season but one long seven-on-seven drill, the Falcons would be tough to beat.
This should be an offense so explosive that it’s illegal in Georgia. You should have to cross the border to buy it in Tennessee.
But neither the expectations nor the hyperbole are worth a single point come September. They look good and sound good, but Randy Jackson doesn’t get to just pick who moves on in this show.
“We’ve had really talented guys around here, so you have that mindset: We can do something special,” Ryan said. “But just because of the guys you have there is no guarantee you’re going to go out there and do that.”
“It doesn’t matter what you have anyway, I don’t care what it says on paper,” Gonzalez said, mindful that the Falcons open against a highly motivated rival. “The New Orleans Saints, you think they care what we have?”
They’ll get no help in this campaign to mount a truly special offense. It is their combined talents vs. each defense lined up to smash legacies before they ever get the chance to be bronzed.
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