NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.
A couple of years ago we wrote them off. It was the Falcons and they just stunk up the place. Then in the off season they picked up running back Michael Turner from the Chargers and drafted quarterback Matt Ryan. So, they picked up a rookie and a backup? What could that mean? It is still Atlanta.

Admit it, we were fooled, the Matt and Michael show made a huge difference and will continue into this year. That is where the Fantasy Football comes in. There are several high rated Falcons.

Turner is the No. 2-ranked running back on CBSSports.com and ESPN.com — behind Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson. NFL.com puts Turner No. 3, behind Peterson and Chicago’s Matt Forte.

Newly-acquired tight end Tony Gonzalez comes in anywhere from No. 1 to No. 4, while wideout Roddy White is ranked No. 8 by all three sites.

Meanwhile, quarterback Matt Ryan projects as the eighth- or ninth-best fantasy quarterback after winning Offensive Rookie of the Year. Kicker Jason Elam ranks between No. 4 and No. 6.

Matt Ryan has moved up the Fantasy Football ladder

Richard describes Turner as a fantasy cornerstone, especially because he always gets the goal-line carries, but says Turner won’t get near the 376 carries he got last year.
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So suck it up and pick some Falcons and you can be the Fantasy Football leader!

Photo source Newscom

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Matt Stafford is looking forward to playing for the hapless 0 - 16 Lions. Now how can this be? This can be because Matt just signed the richest rookie salary ever with 41.7 guaranteed. That is a whole lot of moola to throw the brown elongated spheroid.

Now is he worth it, is another discussion.

Matt gets over 70 million and still wants to keep the ball.

Matt’s agent says the money should not be such a big deal.

They know, he says, that quarterbacks command a market premium, that in choosing one the team has essentially committed to the player for at least four years to ensure his development and that the guarantee is ultimately absorbed by the salaries paid.

Lions coach Jim Schwartz says getting a quarterback was paramount for a 0-16 club. “We need to be long term at that position,” he says.

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Now without getting into the part of whether the Lions should have picked Matt Stafford or not, because they had to pick a quarterback at some point, why not now. Let us instead take a deeper look at his salary and compare it to Matt Ryan. Lo and behold, and how often do you get to use that phrase, Matt’s contract only averages out to 1 million more than Matt’s contract. Oh, that is Stafford with the bigger contract.

Don’t remember making such a big deal over Ryan’s contract. Maybe because it was not bogged down with so much guaranteed money.

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It does not seem plausible to add Michael Vick to your football team. It seems like a personal relations nightmare. None the less, both the Vikes and Niners are thinking that Vick would be a good addition.

You remember that Vick was sent to prison for running a dog fighting gambling ring on his property and that just about destroyed the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons made a tremendous comeback this year with rookie Matt Ryan from Boston College playing quarterback. The Falcons owner, Mr. Blank, has stated the Michael would not become a Falcon again. Still Vick is under contract and teams cannot communicate with him at this time. To be sure, though, the Falcons will be getting rid of him at some time.

There might be questions about Vick’s sharpness and conditioning because he hasn’t played since 2006, but he’s a proven winner who led the Falcons to an NFC Championship game and has been to three Pro Bowls. The dynamic athlete has the NFL single-season record for yards rushing by a quarterback with 1,039 in 2006, and is third all-time. He also has passed for 11,505 yards in six seasons, with 71 touchdowns and 52 interceptions.

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The 49er’s coach, Mike Singletary, hinted that Vick would play in the NFL and why not on his team. That had to be a confidence booster for Shaun Hill.

Vikings coach Brad Childress played it a little closer to the vest by refusing to comment on anything Michael Vick oriented, but did admit that Tarvaris Jackson needed some competition. In NFL lingo that means he is not yet good enough.

Photo source Newscom

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Matt Ryan dances for joy

So what are the big stories?

No Plax and still the Giants are first. Solid offensive and defensive lines.

The Titans, rock solid, with LenDale White and Chris Johnson and an awesome defense, they had to hold back on my Lions to keep from doubling their season stats. They are number 2.

Number 3 is the Steelers. If you get a chance to watch their defense, you must do it. They are downright mean and physical! Roethlisberger has a knack for not getting sacked, too.

But the biggest surprise has to be the turnaround in Atlanta. Young Matt Ryan is playing some great quarterback for a rookie and who would have thought that Michael Turner would be this good of a running back?

It’s December, and only three teams in the NFC own more victories than the Falcons. That’s why no matter what happens the rest of the way, Atlanta’s season will be remembered as one of the franchise’s sweetest ever. You could make the case that the Falcons this year have the Coach of the Year (Mike Smith), the NFL Executive of the Year (general manager Thomas Dimitroff), the Offensive Rookie of the Year — or even the MVP in quarterback Matt Ryan — and the free-agent signee of the year (running back Michael Turner).

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Oh, and my Lions are dead last!

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Michael Turner of the Atlanta Falcons. And where are the Stinkin Lions in this picture?

The Detroit Lions stink.

Maybe this should end right there, but that would tell you nothing, because they always seem to stink. They should be renamed the Detroit Stinkin Lions.

How can they lose to the Atlanta Falcons? Oh, that part is easy; any NFL team can lose to another on their home field. But how do you get blown out by a team with a rookie coach, rookie quarterback, rookie linemen, heck probably a rookie water boy (The falcons water boy out executed the Lions water boy by several sips of water.)

And we hear again and again and again that Marinelli is the guru of defensive linemen. He helped turn Warren Sapp and Simeon Rice into stars. Well, maybe Sapp and Rice turned Marinelli into a star. Because yesterday, Matt Ryan looked awfully comfortable in the pocket the few times he tried to pass. And when the Falcons ran, the inexperienced line mauled the Lions defenders. The clock was already ticking on Marinelli, and yesterday’s game moved the hands forward a little bit.

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Can we call for Matt Millen’s head already? Will Jon Kitna still be our quarterback 10 years from now?

Were there any good parts for the Lions?

Calvin Johnson looked great at receiver.
Kevin Smith looked pretty good for a rookie running back.
Roy Williams had a nice touchdown grab.

What about Atlanta? Are they for real? Well, Matt Ryan had a nice debut at QB, but still only had to throw the ball 13 times. That may never happen again. Michael Turner looked pretty good at running back. Ok, he looked awesome, but it was the Stinkin Lions.

Ryan’s first NFL pass was a 62-yard touchdown. Running back Michael Turner — LaDainian Tomlinson’s understudy in San Diego the past four years — followed with 66- and five-yard touchdowns to give the Falcons a 21-0 lead in the first quarter.

Turner finished with a career-high 220 rushing yards. His career high for a season is 502.

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Matt Ryan gives a thumbs up for his 72 million reasons to be a NFL quarterback

Image details: 2008 NFL Draft served by picapp.com

What a joke. Matt Ryan thinks Roger Goodell has a good point about rookie salaries being too high.

Matt Ryan isn’t apologizing for benefiting from a system that allows top NFL draft picks to receive massive contracts. Even so, he appreciates where Roger Goodell was coming from last week when the commissioner questioned paying millions in guaranteed salary to rookies who have yet to play a down in the league.

“You can also understand the other side of it, the concern of veterans who have been in the league 10, 12 years and proven themselves but not seen the money,” Ryan said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I can understand both sides.”

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Of course he can say that, Matt Ryan just inked a 72 million dollar contract with 34.75 million guaranteed.

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The new face of the Atlanta Falcons, Matt Ryan

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One day Matt Ryan is playing my Michigan State Spartans in a bowl game and the next day Matt is inking a contract with the Atlanta Falcons.

The name “Michael Vick” was conspicuously absent.

Atlanta is owned by Arthur Blank, an owner that desperately wants to move on, as they say. It is time to forget the Michael Vick era. What better way than to draft a new quarterback, to give the team a new face, and to get him signed and in uniform quick.

Matt Ryan, the No. 3 pick in last month’s draft, signed a $72 million, six-year contract Tuesday. The announcement of the new deal came with smiles, confident talk of the future and no mention of Michael Vick, the first pick in 2001 who signed a $130 million extension, the richest in the league at the time, in December 2005.

Team owner Arthur Blank and the Falcons were especially eager to sign Ryan, avoid a holdout and help the franchise move away from the Vick era with new general manager Thomas Dimitroff, new coach Mike Smith and now a new quarterback.

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It is always dicey taking a quarterback with one of the top picks. Ask my Detroit Lions and Joey Harrington. It does not always work out.

Darren McFadden

To make it even more risky, Atlanta passed on Darren McFadden, more of a sure thing at running back and most likely soon to be one of the league’s stars. You can bet there will be some criticism of the Falcons if Matt Ryan comes out of the gate slowly while Darren McFadden gets off to the races. Matt may face some struggles with the lack of offensive weapons on the Falcons and an anemic offensive line, so expect some criticism.

Matt Ryan guarantee

The Falcons are putting all Read more

NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.
It was such a strange and long Saturday.

2008 NFL Draft day

Only 3 hours for round 1. Last year the NFL draft was over in 6 hours. No receivers taken in the first round. How odd. The fast guys must slow the draft down.

Jake Long

Jake Long officially became a Miami Dolphin. The first draft pick in 2008 for the NFL by Bill Parcells. Big Tuna could not get rid of the pick, so he overpaid a very good young tackle to the tune of 58 million bucks for 6 years. 30 mill guaranteed. 6 years of no playoffs for the Dolphins, but at least they have a tackle.

Jake Long - an even bigger Tuna

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Pacman - Ride ‘em Cowboy

Pacman is a Cowboy. It is official. Will Pacman even make the field is another question. The trade itself was very complicated.

The deal was agreed to in principle Wednesday. Then came all a convoluted series of talks between both teams, Pacman, the league and the union, a back-and-forth, forth-and-back series that team vice president Stephen Jones called the most complicated in his nearly 20 years in the league.

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Brett Favre is gone

Brett Favre was placed on the Packer reserved retired list and no longer counts as part of their roster. It is so hard to imagine playing the Packers and not seeing Brett Favre slinging the ball around.

Detroit Lions had to pull something

Too gun shy Read more

NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.
Stealing a look at the USA Today Mock NFL Draft that involves 6 USA Today writers and 2 writers from NFLDraftScout.com, we can count which player is picked the most for each team and thus figure out the draft. Well, sort of anyway.

Today there is also going to be a comparison of Matt Ryan and Brian Brohm, the top two quarterbacks in the NFL draft.

My comments are in italics.

Here we go.

1. Miami Dolphins - Jake Long T, UM. 8 votes.
Stayed at UM to get a National Championship, but was denied when Hart and Henne suffered various injuries.

2. St. Louis Rams - Chris Long DE, Virginia. 7 votes.
Rams need defense bad.

3. Atlanta Falcons - Glenn Dorsey DT, LSU. 7 votes.
Falcons need everything bad.

4. Oakland Raiders - Vernon Gholston, LB/DE, Ohio State. 5 votes.
Nobody really wants to be a Raider anymore. It is sad.

5. Kansas City Chiefs - Ryan Clady T, Boise State. 3 votes.
Johnson needs a tackle for his 500 run attempts per game.

6. New York Jets - Darren McFadden RB, Arkansas. 5 votes.
Guess Thomas Jones and Leon Washington are just not getting it done. Jones had over 1,000 yards, but only 1 rushing TD.

7. New England Patriots - Leodis McKelvin CB, Troy. 3 votes.
Like the Pats needed a 7th pick anyway.

8. Baltimore Ravens - Matt Ryan QB, Boston College. 6 votes.
Not that McNair has retired, this is a perfect scenario for the young Matt Ryan to compete for the starting job.

Matt Ryan vs. Brian Brohm

Is Matt Ryan better than Brian Brohm because of all the extra brains up in his helmet?

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First we need to look at some stats. Read more

NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.
More power to Jake Long. Power, as in 58 million bucks.

That is right. 58 million smackaroonies for an offensive lineman. That is a lot of dough. That is way too much dough. Jake Long will most likely be a great left tackle, but that is too much money to spend to find that out.

Jake Long can now afford those Gucci football shoes

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The draft needs to be fixed. It is a joke to pay a football player that has not even arrived in his first camp and make him the highest paid player at his position. It is an even bigger joke to make Jake Long the highest paid lineman and make him play for Miami, a team that does not expect to win a whole lot of games.

You realize that you just punished Miami. Now a fistful of dollars are tied up in an inexperienced rookie lineman.

Hey, give credit to Miami. They knew the fix they were in and put on their best face.

Long’s total contract package is for $57.75 million, said a person familiar with the negotiations who didn’t want to be identified because the Dolphins declined to reveal terms. Last year’s top pick, JaMarcus Russell, signed for $61 million with the Oakland Raiders but missed all of training camp before reaching a deal.

Long becomes the highest-paid lineman in the NFL and a 6-foot-7, 315-pound cornerstone in a rebuilding project for the new Dolphins regime led by Bill Parcells. Last season Miami went 1-15, and the offensive line has been a chronic problem in recent years.

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As a big football fan, maybe this would have been easier to digest if it was a unique skill player like JaMarcus Russell and Calvin Johnson were last year. It would have been easier to take if Matt Ryan or Darren McFadden had been a little higher rated, but this is a left tackle.

So take heart out there all of you left tackles that Read more