FalcBlog

The defensive line grades are up. I tried not to over-emphasize one great player, and tried to give credit to teams a bit more that had multiple impact players along their lines. Depth and the strength of the rotation matters as well. I tried my best not to make too big a bias towards stopping the run or rushing the passer. I think I found a pretty good balance, but if there is any skewing, it's probably towards pass rush. Total points awarded for defensive lines was 48 points.

RNK TEAM        PTS  GRADE
 1  Vikings      40   A-
 2  Patriots     33   B+
 3  Bears        32   B
 4  Ravens       30   B
 5  Saints       30   B
 6  Colts        29   B
 7  Giants       29   B
 8  Steelers     29   B
 9  Chargers     28   B-
10  Packers      28   B-
11  Bills        27   B-
12  Eagles       27   B-
13  Seahawks     27   B-
14  Buccaneers   26   B-
15  Texans       26   B-
16  Titans       26   B-
17  Browns       24   C+
18  Cowboys      24   C+
19  Jaguars      24   C+
20  Panthers     24   C+
21  Rams         23   C+
22  49ers        22   C+
23  Bengals      22   C+
24  Jets         22   C+
25  Broncos      21   C
26  Cardinals    21   C
27  Redskins     21   C
28  Falcons      20   C
29  Lions        20   C
30  Chiefs       19   C
31  Raiders      17   C-
32  Dolphins     15   C-

Why are the Falcons 28th? Simply put, because outside Abraham, no one has emerged as an impact player. The Falcons have pretty good depth, but they need one of their three other starters to emerge as a playmaker. Personally, I think you'll see significant improvement from Anderson and Babineaux this year, but I'm not sure it's going to be enough where the Falcons defensive line is considered good in relative times.

Posted by Aaron at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

A large degree of Falcon fans were very skeptical of Sam Baker's ability to be an effective left tackle on the NFL level when the team traded up to get him in the first round. And you can count me as one of them.

Look, I think Baker is a solid player. He was very productive at USC, and I think in general he's a very good blocker and offensive linemen. But that doesn't mean he can stick at left tackle, which takes a unique player to be effective there.

It seems likely that Sam Baker will get the chance to start for this team this year at left tackle. It seems the coaching staff is doing everything in their power right now to make that possibility a certainty. So I wonder, if/when Baker takes over the starting job, how long a leash should he be given?

I'm not outright predicting that Baker will fail, I'm just asking if he does, when do you pull the plug? How much time is too much (or too little) time before you move on and go in a different direction?

From my perspective it's one year for Baker. Look I'm not saying completely give up on him after one season. But unless Baker flashes real potential as a starter during his rookie season, I think the Falcons need to start planning on making a move. No, Baker doesn't need to be the next incarnation of Tony Boselli or even Joe Thomas right away, but if he's going to struggle and give up a bunch of sacks week after week, then I say pull the plug on him at left tackle, and try him at a new position.

Personally, I'm more confident of Baker's ability to play inside than outside, due to his short arms. Yeah, I know that can be a bit overblown. There are plenty of successful short-armed left tackles in the league. But it's not the measure of his arms per se, it's the fact that he plays short-armed. Other guys with short arms, it's not so obvious when you watch them play, and they make up for it with superior technique and footwork. Which, in Baker's case I think he can (and hopefully will) be able to do. His best asset is his technique and footwork and hopefully that continues to be the case.

But I think Baker could be a very effective guard, or perhaps even a Pro Bowl center. He's not particularly strong so he doesn't really have the strength to match up with big defensive tackles inside, but at center, his lack of strength and inability to push the pile won't be an issue.

All I'm saying is that if Baker struggles at left tackle this year, much in the same way that Justin Blalock did at left guard last year, then I think in 2009 he needs to be moved inside. I don't want to see this team's and Baker's time wasted just so that the powers that be in Atlanta can justify their selection of Baker if from the start it's apparent that it's not working. It's not often that the Oakland Raiders are seen as a team worth emulating, but in this case we should learn from their experience with Robert Gallery.

Hey and look on the bright side, even if Baker struggles mightily this season, perhaps he'll wind up being the guy that ends Todd McClure's "reign of terror" at center. ;)

Posted by Aaron at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Okay, now it's time to rank the offensive lines around the league. This position gets a full 48 points in value. I must say though that these rankings are less about production, and more about talent level. And it also does skewer towards pass protection more so than run blocking. There are some teams at the bottom that run the ball very well, but are basically at the bottom because they can't pass block.

RNK TEAM       PTS  GRADE
 1  Chargers    38   A-
 2  Patriots    37   A-
 3  Eagles      32   B
 4  Cowboys     32   B
 5  Buccaneers  32   B
 6  Colts       31   B
 7  Packers     30   B
 8  Redskins    30   B
 9  Titans      29   B-
10  Seahawks    27   B-
11  Vikings     27   B-
12  Giants      25   C+
13  Browns      25   C+
14  BEngals     25   C+
15  Jets        24   C+
16  Saints      23   C+
17  Broncos     23   C+
18  Jaguars     22   C+
19  Bills       22   C+
20  Rams        22   C+
21  Cardinals   20   C
22  Panthers    20   C
23  Bears       19   C
24  Texans      19   C
25  Ravens      19   C
26  Steelers    18   C
27  Dolphins    16   C-
28  Lions       16   C-
29  Falcons     16   C-
30  Chiefs      15   C-
31  49ers       14   C-
32  Raiders     14   C-

Why are the Falcons 29th? Some of you are probably thinking they should be 32nd, but I don't think the Falcons offensive line is as bad as it often gets accused of being. It's bad, but not terrible. I think injuries really hurt us last year. But the main reason we aren't at the very bottom is I believe our depth is superior to most of the other teams near the bottom of the list. Frankly, as far as our depth goes, we should probably be in the top half of teams. Unfortunately, our starters (i.e. the guys that matter) just aren't that good.

Posted by Aaron at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I probably should have just lumped this in with receivers, but I wanted to sort of factor in the run blocking aspect of this position. And instead of strictly grading teams on how good a group of receivers they havee, I tried to factor in guys that can push the pile as well. Although I must say, it is still biased towards receivers, since I counted more in favor of a guy who is a top-tier pass catcher than a guy that is one of the better run blockers for this position group. Maximum points is 24.

RNK TEAM       PTS GRADE
 1  Chargers    19   A-
 2  Cowboys     17   B+
 3  Giants      16   B
 4  Titans      15   B
 5  Browns      15   B
 6  Steelers    15   B
 7  Chiefs      15   B
 8  Colts       15   B
 9  Rams        14   B-
10  Texans      14   B-
11  Ravens      14   B-
12  Redskins    14   B-
13  Jaguars     13   B-
14  Bears       13   B-
15  Jets        13   B-
16  Broncos     13   B-
17  Buccaneers  13   B-
18  Saints      12   C+
19  Bengals     12   C+
20  Vikings     11   C+
21  Patriots    11   C+
22  Eagles      11   C+
23  49ers       11   C+
24  Cardinals    9   C
25  Dolphins     8   C
26  Lions        8   C
27  Seahawks     7   C-
28  Packers      7   C-
29  Bills        7   C-
30  Raiders      7   C-
31  Falcons      6   D+
32  Panthers     4   D

Why are the Falcons so low? While Hartsock, Milner, and whoever should fill in ably as far as the Falcons are concerned in the ground game, they still leave a lot to be desired as receivers. And at some point in the year, you are going to have use for a tight end that can open up the middle of the field in the passing game. And that's something the Falcons clearly lack, unless either of those players can come out of their shell and blossom.

Posted by Aaron at 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Here are my rankings of the wide receivers. I just factored in each team's projected top four wideouts, since those are typically the only guys that get extensive playing time in a given year. Maximum points for this position is 36.

RNK TEAM      PTS  GRADE
 1  Colts      30    A-
 2  Patriots   28    B+
 3  Cardinals  27    B+
 4  Cowboys    24    B
 5  Packers    24    B
 6  Lions      24    B
 7  Browns     23    B
 8  Chargers   23    B
 9  Steelers   21    B-
10  Texans     21    B-
11  Bengals    20    B-
12  Giants     20    B-
13  Seahawks   20    B-
14  Buccaneers 19    C+
15  Panthers   19    C+
16  Saints     19    C+
17  Broncos    19    C+
18  Jaguars    18    C+
19  Vikings    18    C+
20  Jets       17    C+
21  Eagles     17    C+
22  Falcons    17    C+
23  Rams       16    C
24  Ravens     16    C
25  49ers      15    C
26  Raiders    14    C
27  Bills      14    C
28  Redskins   13    C-
29  Bears      12    C-
30  Dolphins   11    C-
31  Titans     11    C-
32  Chiefs      8    D+

Why are the Falcons so low? Despite my feelings that wide receiver is one of our stronger positions, that is mostly relative to the rest of the team. Roddy White is solid as they come, but it remains to be seen if Robinson, Jenkins, and/or Douglas can step up and fill the mantle as a true blue No. 2 NFL receiver. And while I think each have that potential, I need to see it before I start indicating it in rankings.

Posted by Aaron at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Okay, now that the rankings for the quarterbacks have sunk in, it's time to move on to the running backs. Depth is a bit more important at this position than it is at the quarterback position, since we're seemingly now in an era of football where most teams can't go through a season without being 2-deep at this position. This also factors in a team's fullback as well. The maximum points for this position is 48.

RNK TEAM       PTS  GRADE
 1  Jaguars     39    A-
 2  Vikings     36    B+
 3  Steelers    32    B
 4  Chargers    31    B
 5  49ers       31    B
 6  Ravens      30    B
 7  Redskins    30    B
 8  Eagles      27    B-
 9  Cowboys     27    B-
10  Giants      27    B-
11  Bengals     27    B-
12  Colts       26    B-
13  Rams        24    C+
14  Chiefs      24    C+
15  Jets        24    C+
16  Titans      24    C+
17  Buccaneers  24    C+
18  Falcons     24    C+
19  Bills       23    C+
20  Raiders     23    C+
21  Saints      23    C+
22  Panthers    22    C+
23  Dolphins    21    C
24  Browns      21    C
25  Patriots    20    C
26  Packers     20    C
27  Bears       19    C
28  Cardinals   18    C
29  Seahawks    18    C
30  Texans      16    C-
31  Broncos     14    C-
32  Lions       12    D+

Why are the Falcons so average? You might be wondering. Simply because Michael Turner is a far less proven feature back than most of the other teams ranked ahead of the Falcons have, and Jerious Norwood while an excellent complementary runner is not a guy that can handle a bulk of carries. A while both players have enormous potential to catapult this position into one of the better units in the league, it simply remains to be seen if this coaching staff will be able to take advantage of that potential.

Posted by Aaron at 2:04 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Okay, you often see the so-called experts on the big football sites have their rankings of the entire league by position. Well, since it's June and there's nothing better to do, I'll try my hand at this as well.

At the end it should be a good measure of which teams are the best. Although I should say that this will really only be a ranking of talent, and not really a prediction of how well each of these teams will perform this year. There's always a team that despite having only average talent, manages to outperform that for a variety of reasons. ANd there is always at least one team that is very talented that vastly underachieves those performances.

Each position will be weighted a certain amount of points, at the end the maximum being 500 (although I already know no team will reach that figure). For example, being strong at quarterback will earn you more points than being strong at tight end, based off my zany belief that have a great QB is going to win you more games than having a great TE. At the end, based on these rankings we should be able to say that this team has the most talent or whatever.

And while I welcome your critiques and comments, just remember this is a experiment to curb boredom over the next few weeks, so don't take it too seriously.

Okay, enough talk, let's get down to the quarterbacks. The maximum points earned is 60 points for this position. I put a letter grade also to make it easier to understand how much the point values correspond to.

RNK TEAM       PTS  GRADE
 1 Colts       54    A
 2 Patriots    52    A-
 3 Cowboys     45    B+
 4 Steelers    44    B+
 5 Saints      41    B
 6 Jaguars     40    B
 7 Bengals     38    B
 8 Giants      37    B-
 9 Eagles      36    B-
10 Chargers    35    B-
11 Buccaneers  34    B-
12 Texans      33    B-
13 Broncos     32    C+
14 Panthers    31    C+
15 Seahawks    31    C+
16 Titans      29    C+
17 Browns      28    C+
18 Rams        28    C+
19 Lions       26    C
20 Redskins    26    C
21 Vikings     25    C
22 Cardinals   24    C
23 Bills       22    C-
24 Packers     21    C-
25 Jets        21    C-
26 Bears       18    C-
27 49ers       16    D+
28 Chiefs      15    D+
29 Ravens      14    D+
30 Dolphins    13    D+
31 Raiders     11    D
32 Falcons     10    D

Why are the Falcons last? Frankly, I think it's a toss-up between Chris Redman, JaMarcus Russell, Josh McCown, and Brodie Croyle will be the league's worst starter this season. And of course I'll agree Redman has upside, don't count me as one of those people that believe he'll reach it. Not to factor in that unlike the Raiders, Dolphins, and Chiefs, their backup situation is a bit better than ours. WE have Ryan, but he's not going to do much this year, at least not in my opinion. Those three other teams at least have No. 2s with some experience.

Posted by Aaron at 5:07 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post