Just back from the Dome

By: T. Love

I didn’t actually stay for the whole thing but seriously, who can? Nonetheless, tonight was the Atlanta Falcons preseason home opener and I can just say the feel was different. On a side note, It is absolutely absurd that the NFL charges you full price for these games. And Michael Vick is a criminal?

Anyways, I’ll take tonight with a grain of salt since it was the preseason, but the atmosphere was a little flat.

No. 7 jerseys were in full force and F Sportscenter or whomever else tries to give off the impression that there was a huge protest outside the Dome. There were maybe 20 people and they were roped off on the corner. Vick jerseys outnumbered them 10-1.

It was also a little different since the rich guy that sits next to me obviously divorced his drunk wife and now has a new Barbie toy. I’m going to miss the middle-aged unappreciated wife hitting on me, but life goes on.

Now to the game. If you haven’t checked out my things to watch here it is.

Dunn back in the starting role
Not impressed. Six carries for eight yards with a long of seven. Dunn made his money the last three seasons in the zone blocking system. Now with Bobby Petrino’s “Power Spread” offense, it is going to be hard to pick up numbers. He and Jerious Norwood are both one cut and go runs and do not possess the power to push the pile.

Dunn and Norwood both need to get better running between the tackles. Look for rookie Jason Snelling and fullback Ovie Mughelli to get more opportunities to run the ball.

The Falcons rushed for a total of 74 yards. The team is setting itself up for failure if we are going to rely on the arm of Joey Harrington.

Demorrio Williams
Great open field tackle on a receiver. A little rusty in his first action but looked to be flying around the field and ready to make a play. Rookie Stephen Nicholas had two tackles. This is going to be a great battle throughout the season.

Joey Harrington
Not bad at all. 13-of-21 for 164 yards and two touchdowns. It should have been three but that bum Roddy White dropped one in the endzone. I agree with my buddy Robert on Roddy. He should serve Michael Vick’s sentence. Harrington did give up a couple of sacks, but he took care of the football.

Joey is not going to win games for the Falcons this season. This team needs tough D and the running game needs to pick it up.

Halftime adjustments
Not many halftime adjustments were made, but what the Falcons were doing worked. Maybe the team should have opened up running the ball to establish some tempo to the game. My only complaint.

Overall not a bad game by the Falcons. The offense was efficient and did not give the football away. Four sacks is way too many, especially if the team is going to rely heavily on the pass.

The defense did a good job in allowing less than 300 total yards. The 201 pass yards is a bit scary and Jimmy Williams still never seems to be in the right position. This is going to hurt the team tremendously as it will not be able to go man coverage with a liability at safety.

One more preseason game to go. Roster is trimming down to 53.

Football is awesome!