By John Manasso
Foxsportssouth.com
July 28, 2010
The Atlanta Falcons officially start training camp on Friday but
Thursday players report for physicals and several of them will be
available to the media. Yours truly will be there.
Here are five questions on my mind entering camp:
1. Will Turner Again Be a Burner?
It came as somewhat of a surprise in June when running back Michael Turner told Sports Illustrated's Jim Trotter of his weight that "I was heavy, too heavy. It was hard for me to overcome." Whoops.
Don't think that any member of the Falcons coaching or strength and
conditioning staff is going to let Turner forget that one.
Even if Turner was heavy, he was still headed for a big season until he
suffered a high-ankle sprain on Nov. 15 at Carolina -- an injury from which he never
fully recovered. That was a contact injury and unless Turner suffers a
similar one this season, his production ought to get back to a level
near 2008 and that ought to be enough to make the Falcons' offense go.
But Turner did carry the ball 376 times -- a troubling number -- during
the regular season in 2008 and fumbled four times in 178 carries in 2009
compared to three times the year before, more than twice the rate. The
Falcons need Turner at his best to be an elite team.
2. Will Matt Ryan Rebound?
As I wrote in May, Ryan's production fell in most statistical categories
last season. So many factors affected Ryan's production. The major
ones, in my view, were a much more difficult schedule (the
third-hardest entering the season based on teams' '08 records),
defensive coordinators having more tape on him, the absence of Douglas
and the fact that Turner, the NFL's second-leading rusher in '08,
played barely more than half of the season.
Oh, Ryan also had to
fight through a turf toe injury that kept him out for almost two entire
games and that still affected him in the final few games after he
returned, in terms of pain.
Countering all of the factors that
went against Ryan was the fact that the team acquired tight end Tony
Gonzalez, who made some of the biggest pass receptions of the season.
Still, chemistry doesn't happen over night and the Falcons offense
often seemed inexplicably out of sync at times last season. With
another year under his belt, Ryan should rebound from what could be
diagnosed as a mild sophomore slump.
3. How much of an impact will the "Surgically Repaired Crew" make?
Last
year the Falcons lost three key players to season-ending knee injuries.
The first was No. 3 wide receiver Harry Douglas, who suffered his
injury during training camp. The loss of Douglas ended up having a big
affect on the Falcons' offense last season, especially with No. 2
receiver Michael Jenkins taking a step back production-wise in 2009 from 2008.
After
Roddy White, that left the Falcons' receiving corps mostly tall and
plodding and old (Brian Finneran, 33, was moved up to No. 2 at times
with Jenkins out of the lineup and Marty Booker, 33, was signed to help
replace Douglas.) The only exception to the old-big-and-slow-type was
Eric Weems but he only had six catches for 50 yards -- not enough to
make an impact. Theoretically, one would assume, that loss of a speed
threat to stretch the field allowed defenses to gang up on White, Gonzalez, and to play eight-man fronts against the Falcons'
running game.
The second player who went down for the season was
'09 first-round pick Peria Jerry, the defensive tackle. The interior
defensive line was arguably the Falcons' second-weakest position after
cornerback last season. Jerry went out in Week 2, forcing a committee of
Thomas Johnson (out of the NFL in 2007 and '08), rookie Vance Walker
and Trey Lewis (often inactive) to attempt to fill in. It didn't quite
go the way the Falcons had hoped and how Jerry fares will be arguably
the most significant storyline of camp.
Finally, veteran
cornerback Brian Williams, who brought some stability to that position
after the Falcons signed him just before the start of the season, was
lost for the year in the Falcons' fifth game against Chicago. The
floodgates appeared to open in the defensive backfield after he left.
Williams is 31 -- relatively old for a player at the position where
speed is most critical but could be counted on to play opposite big
free-agent signing Dunta Robinson at corner and will probably move to
nickel in those packages.
In
some sports, players can come back from catastrophic knee injuries
quickly (about four months in hockey) and without huge signs of slowing
down. Football is possibly the most arduous sport to get back to 100
percent after suffering a serious knee injury because of the lateral
movement and the way natural turf can give way. In recent days, all
three were finally cleared for practice. The Falcons need those players
to be at their best to make some noise in the NFC playoff race.
4. Will Moore be More?
The Falcons had high expectations for 2009 second-round pick William Moore,
a safety out of Missouri. However, Moore, a big, athletic hitter at 6
foot, 218 pounds, only registered on the stat sheet in one game and on
special teams at that.
The Falcons shut him down after Week 8,
as Moore's leg injuries continued to mount. In Moore's stead, 2008
third-round pick Thomas DeCoud made a big impact at free safety,
earning the starting spot.
If Moore can stay healthy and split
time with veteran Erik Coleman, the defense will be younger, bigger and
more physical and that could help to make the Falcons more effective
not only against the run but in disguising coverages. One of the
long-range plans of general manager Thomas Dimitroff and coach Mike
Smith is to have interchangeable safeties and to play them in such a
way that a quarterback does not necessarily know what he's looking at
when he breaks the huddle. That was not at all the case last season.
5. Whither Weatherspoon?
UPDATE: LB Sean Weatherspoon has reached a five-year deal with the Falcons.
As the Journal-Constitution's Darryl Ledbetter reports today,
only two first-round picks have signed contracts so far. What will be
the status entering Friday of linebacker Weatherspoon, the team's 2010
first-round pick?
Linebacker wasn't a great position for the
Falcons in 2009 but it didn't appear to be a glaring weakness the way
the cornerback and the lack of a pass rush were too often last season.
Weatherspoon is fast and if he can help in pass coverage he ought to be
able to pick up slack where Mike Peterson, 34, and Coy Wire, 31, cannot
-- especially against a divisional rival like New Orleans that sends
myriad receivers out in myriad patterns on any given play. That said, Wire and Peterson are savvy veterans and Weatherspoon has a long
way to go before he understands his own defense and opposing offenses
the way those two do.
In any event, holdouts are never good -- neither for a player's development nor for the team's chemistry.
