tOfficial Falcons Season Thread (0-0) @ Minnesota 1:00 PM FOX

In

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I'm getting pretty concerned about Julio not having a contract. Some rumblings he may not play if not done by Sunday.

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Link?

actually, just happened upon a tweet from yesterday afternoon by Vaughn McClure (ESPN falcons guy):

"Julio back with the group for warmups. Will see how things progress this week but don’t see him playing Sunday without new deal. Just my opinion. Next two days key"

VM tweet

I only count 14 games in your list?

@ Minnesota W
Philadelphia (Sunday Night) W
@ Indianapolis L
Tennessee L
@ Houston W
@ Arizona W
LA W
Seattle W
BYE
@ New Orleans L
@ Carolina L
Tampa Bay W
New Orleans (Thanksgiving) W
Carolina W
@ San Francisco L
Jacksonville W
@ Tampa Bay W

11-5. I'm bullish on this team. Offense should be very good as usual and I expect a big defensive improvement. Schedule sets up for a possible run down the stretch to get hot at the right time.

Another prediction: This will be the final season in Atlanta for Sanu, Beasley, Freeman, and Campbell. Sanu and Campbell will be too expensive to keep and Freeman's injury history will catch up. Beasley will either price himself out of Atlanta or (more likely) will be bad enough for the Falcons to not want to extend him.

Takk has a big season. Davidson proves to be an invaluable run stopper. Jarrett, Clayborn, Bailey, and Crawford provide the pass rush that Beasley is supposed to.

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If our offensive line can do the job, I legit see us blowing pass the 2016 offense.

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That's debatable. That was one of the best offenses in league history. Freeman was still healthy and in his peak and Coleman was a perfect complement. Mack was also in his prime and was the primary reason for the jump from 2015 to 2016. I also believe Shanahan is a better play caller than Koetter. After the bye week, that offense was a fricking machine that steamrolled everything in its path.

I expect this offense to land somewhere between the 2016 version and the 2012 version. 30 ppg should be the benchmark for this group (2016 offense averaged 33.8). I don't think we'll have quite the same running game that we had in 2016, and that's the difference to me.

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@ Indianapolis L

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you have us losing this game with Luck no longer playing?

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That's debatable. That was one of the best offenses in league history. Freeman was still healthy and in his peak and Coleman was a perfect complement. Mack was also in his prime and was the primary reason for the jump from 2015 to 2016. I also believe Shanahan is a better play caller than Koetter. After the bye week, that offense was a fricking machine that steamrolled everything in its path.

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I see where you are coming from. But, it should be noted the Falcons offense the first year he was there (and really the first 2-3 games in '16) was pretty horrific.

Koetter had the Bucs as a top-10 offense with worse talent across the board. I think the familiarity with Ryan will help avoid a "gelling" period. I think his scheme is just as good as Shannahan. However, you're correct in noting that Shanny is a better play caller. That dude mashed the right buttons all the time.

As far as RB goes; I don't think people are giving Ito Smith enough credit. The man is a great compliment to Freeman. Coleman gets wayyyy to much credit in regards to his performance as a Falcon. He was a great 2nd string guy, but he was inconsistent across games as "the man" filling in for Devonta Freeman.

As for Mack and the offensive line, well, it is the crux of our season. If they can get a running game established, our team will be a monster. We were what we hated and laughed at for so long as a team last year-- the 7-9 Saints dynasty. We put up points and yards, but were too pass happy and didn't do a great job of churning clock-crunching drives. Our already broken defense was gassed, and we continued to lose shoot-out after shootout.

Here's hoping everything clicks. A Super Bowl parade down Peachtree would be insane.

I chuckled.