Wednesday, Oct. 8 – Jason to Daniel
Three wins. I did not see a preseason publication that predicted the Falcons win total at any number higher than four. I'm not saying that these young birds are going to win the Super Bowl, but going into Week Six of the NFL season with a 3-2 record is pretty incredible.
Apparently the odds-makers in Vegas agree with me because, including this week's game at home against the Bears, the Falcons have been underdogs against-the-spread in five of their first six games.
Through five games, Atlanta's Michael Turner is leading the NFL in rushing yards, John Abraham is the NFL leader in sacks, Roddy White is third in the league in receiving yards, and rookie quarterback, Matt Ryan, looks more like Peyton Manning in his fifth year than a first-year quarterback.
With these individual achievements has come some recognition that the Falcons haven't had in a while, national critics are starting to take notice—check out the ESPN Power Rankings where the Falcons have gone from No. 32 in week one to No. 20 in the current Week Six scale, and Pat Yasinskas (ESPN.com's resident NFC South expert) has gone from saying, "The Falcons are throwing rookie QB Matt Ryan into the fire. He'll need a lot of help from the defense," (in Week One) to, "Matt Ryan won at Lambeau Field. That means he can win anywhere" (in Week Six).
Come on Pat! Get on the Falcons' bandwagon that Matty Ice is driving for us!
Oh, and R & R doesn't stand for Rest & Relaxation in Atlanta any more. It represents the next great quarterback/wide receiver tandem in the NFL...Ryan to Roddy, get you some R & R!
Wednesday, Oct. 8 – Daniel to Jason
R&R—I love it! I think we just found the Ryan to White nickname. I may have to use that one.
I just heard that the Dome is sold-out for Sunday's game against the Bears. That's really nice news and in this post-Vick era (and in light of last season's debacle) something that I don't think was expected so quickly.
This game is starting to feel like one of real importance. If last week's win, on the road, against the Packers established Atlanta as relevant, a win over the Bears, making the Falcons 4-2, would catapult the birds up everybody's "Power Rankings" and get more folks talking about them.
It is still early, but if you peek ahead, this is what's coming up: A bye in Week Seven (which will be needed after what is expected to be a tough game with Chicago), a tough, yet winnable game (especially if the health of Westbrook remains in question) in Philly, at Oakland, home versus the Saints, home versus the Broncos (a tough game if the secondary remains in the shape it's in—speaking of the secondary, where is Foxworth?), home versus the Panthers, and at San Diego.
It's still a tough schedule, but I think it could be manageable. After the game at the Chargers, three-quarters of the season will be over. Beat the Bears at home Sunday, and split those next six games and the Falcons are sitting at 7-5, which is beyond respectable.
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