Rug Burns and Bug Bites

Somewhere in the plastic grass under the Georgia Dome, is a small bug.

Don't worry, he ain't poisonous, but he does bite. And while the little nipper hasn't ever caused any real epidemic, he has made a mess of a number of football seasons for what is arguably the most jinxed franchise in the NFL.

Welcome to Atlanta, and yet one more year in which the Black Birds of professional football are on the threshold between being great...and slinking away without that first back-to-back winning season.

How did this little insect get to be such a big pain?

Go ahead, laugh. It's worthy of one, too, because when you look at it from the outside, you can rattle off a whole list of lame excuses.

Quarterbacks that failed (or ended up in jail), running backs that stumbled, defensive lines that didn’t hold the line and from there, just a never-ending mess of coaches that couldn't coach their way out of an empty paper beer cup from the nose bleed section.

Boooo!

Yeah, we know that sound too.

Going into 2009, the Falcons have an offense that some have called "scary." And for all that really matters, they look awesome on a chalkboard. Matt Ryan, Michael Jenkins, Michael Turner, Roddy White, Jerious Norwood and now, Tony Gonzalez.

Just take a deep breath, because with that kind of name talent on only one side of the ball, it could be one half of a Pro Bowl roster.

No booing here and hopefully, no bug bites, but even if there are, the depth should keep it all afloat. The Falcons have their Super Bowl secured on at least one side of the ball.

The defense, on the other hand, is not quite so assured.

After the close of last season, the bird's D was... well, at least arguably not as bad as the numbers made it look. A few holes plugged here and there, some young talent to add a bit of depth for the veteran players, and, dang! It could have really clicked!

But something happened.

How does a team go as far in turning things around, as did the Falcons in 2008, and then see wholesale defections like they witnessed from the defense?

The names include such notables as Lawyer Milloy, Grady Jackson, Michael Boley, and then the shocker: Keith Brooking!

Brooking was drafted out of Georgia Tech and was there for the Falcons 1998/99 run on the Super Bowl. He was a confirmed lifer, a local favorite, a Pro Bowler... and the very image of the hometown kid who made good and came home.

And then to run off to the same team that ruined the Falcons playoff run in 1980?

It’s almost unforgivable. In fact, many of my fellow, old-time Falcons fans took it as a personal insult.

But be all of that as it may, this IS a business and for the Falcons in 2009, the job is to win at least eight games—preferably more—to mash that old bug into the carpet for good.

Oh... what was that? First rounder Peria Jerry has a bum leg...or was it a knee? Maybe an ankle?

Damn that bug. Somebody get me a can of Raid!