The Falcons are making a clean break from the disaster the team became with Michael Vick as the quarterback. Vick, of course, was annointed as The One by the Caste media, even more so than the rest of the array of black failures at the quarterback position, and Vick's inability to master the basics of throwing and reading defenses, topped off by his criminality and despicable inhumanity toward dogs, made for a quick demise for No, Not The One, Again.
The Falcons drafted QB Matt Ryan from Boston College with the third overall pick and Ryan promptly paid dividends with a 62 yard TD pass on his first ever NFL regular season pass. The going is bound to be a lot rougher for a rookie quarterback starting on a bad team, but Ryan promises to give Atlanta what it's lacked for so long -- an offense that features the forward pass.
Chris Redman is Ryan's backup. He played pretty well for a terrible team last year after being out of the NFL for four years.
Four whites start on the o-line, two more than last year and as many white starters as Atlanta had altogether last season.
Rookie LT Sam Baker out of USC was the Falcons' second first round pick in 2008, one greeted with hoots of derision by the "experts" who still glorify 350 pound immobile sumo types as the preferred model to do battle with the 400 pound immobile defensive tackles so beloved by many teams in the league. By all accounts Baker is doing quite well as a rookie starter. Ten-year veteran Todd McClure from LSU is the starting center, Harvey Dahl from Nevada-Reno is the right guard, and Tyson Clabo is the right tackle.
Backup linemen are Todd Weiner and Alex Stepanovich.
Ben Hartsock, who was used almost exclusively as a backup blocking tight end with Indianapolis and Tennessee, is the starter at TE. Former Charger and Dolphin Justin Peelle is the second tight end.
They don't come any tougher than WR Brian Finneran, who somehow came back from not one but two blown out knees to make the roster after missing both the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Finneran had some very productive seasons with the Falcons, even when Vick was the quarterback, though he was always derided as a supposed "slow overachiever" that embarrassed the team and its fans by actually being a starter for a couple of seasons. Yet Finneran apparently managed to compensate by using his "non-stop motor" to achieve a very respectable career average of 14.2 yards per reception.
On defense, the lone white starter is linebacker Keith Brooking who had 127 tackles last year in his tenth season. The former first round draft pick has moved from the middle to the weak side for '08.
Backing up Brooking is newcomer Coy Wire, who played six seasons with the Bills, mostly as a safety. Wire played tailback, leading the team in rushing one year, as well as safety and linebacker during his days at Stanford.
Former Ohio State standout Simon Fraser is a backup at end after three seasons with the Browns.
NUMBER OF WHITE STARTERS: 7
APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF WHITE PLAYERS ON 53 MAN ROSTER: 18
GRADE: D-
The Falcons drafted QB Matt Ryan from Boston College with the third overall pick and Ryan promptly paid dividends with a 62 yard TD pass on his first ever NFL regular season pass. The going is bound to be a lot rougher for a rookie quarterback starting on a bad team, but Ryan promises to give Atlanta what it's lacked for so long -- an offense that features the forward pass.
Chris Redman is Ryan's backup. He played pretty well for a terrible team last year after being out of the NFL for four years.
Four whites start on the o-line, two more than last year and as many white starters as Atlanta had altogether last season.
Rookie LT Sam Baker out of USC was the Falcons' second first round pick in 2008, one greeted with hoots of derision by the "experts" who still glorify 350 pound immobile sumo types as the preferred model to do battle with the 400 pound immobile defensive tackles so beloved by many teams in the league. By all accounts Baker is doing quite well as a rookie starter. Ten-year veteran Todd McClure from LSU is the starting center, Harvey Dahl from Nevada-Reno is the right guard, and Tyson Clabo is the right tackle.
Backup linemen are Todd Weiner and Alex Stepanovich.
Ben Hartsock, who was used almost exclusively as a backup blocking tight end with Indianapolis and Tennessee, is the starter at TE. Former Charger and Dolphin Justin Peelle is the second tight end.
They don't come any tougher than WR Brian Finneran, who somehow came back from not one but two blown out knees to make the roster after missing both the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Finneran had some very productive seasons with the Falcons, even when Vick was the quarterback, though he was always derided as a supposed "slow overachiever" that embarrassed the team and its fans by actually being a starter for a couple of seasons. Yet Finneran apparently managed to compensate by using his "non-stop motor" to achieve a very respectable career average of 14.2 yards per reception.
On defense, the lone white starter is linebacker Keith Brooking who had 127 tackles last year in his tenth season. The former first round draft pick has moved from the middle to the weak side for '08.
Backing up Brooking is newcomer Coy Wire, who played six seasons with the Bills, mostly as a safety. Wire played tailback, leading the team in rushing one year, as well as safety and linebacker during his days at Stanford.
Former Ohio State standout Simon Fraser is a backup at end after three seasons with the Browns.
NUMBER OF WHITE STARTERS: 7
APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF WHITE PLAYERS ON 53 MAN ROSTER: 18
GRADE: D-
