Julio Jones Wasn't Worth It
By
Frenchie Shapiro
This article is for all those Atlanta Falcons fans that still believe that Julio Jones was worth giving up the 27th, 59th and 124th draft picks in 2011 plus the first and fourth draft picks for this year after that embarrassing debacle of a game they had against the NY Giants yesterday. Now that I have your attention, if you believe the above statement, then you didn't watch the same game me and my son Lefty watched.
This is not to say that Julio isn't an extremely talented young athlete that someday will do great things, but it's not what the Falcons needed at this time to become a championship caliber playoff team in the NFL. It's like going out and buying a Ferrari when you need a truck. The bottom line is you need an offensive line to protect your quarterback while your deep threat gets down the field.
After the Falcons' embarrassing loss to Green Bay last year, the mantra was we need a deep threat to keep up with high-powered teams like Green Bay and New Orleans. Though true, when you have a running back like Michael Turner, there are others ways to win against a high powered offense. It's with ball control and defense. Don't believe me? Ask the high-flying Buffalo Bills and Joe Kelly who lost to the Giants in Super Bowl 25. Better yet, has anyone watched San Francisco lately or maybe Baltimore? However the powers that be believed the Falcons needed a deep threat. They got it- paid dearly for it- and now they're going to watch the rest of playoffs, championships and the Super Bowl from the comfort of their homes.
Though skilled players are important, you still need grunts in the trenches to do the heavy lifting to grant said skilled players the opportunities to make said plays. Unfortunately the Falcons don't have the grunts to get them to the next level and because of the decision to pay so dearly for Julio Jones, getting quality grunts will be a long time in coming.
Of course the talking heads didn't help, especially when Julio had a big game like game sixteen against Tampa Bay. Julio had several catches and two touchdowns and the announcers couldn't help but comment, "Was Julio worth it?" Of course he just scored two touchdowns against one of the worse teams in the NFL who was on a ten game losing streak and fired their head coach the next day. Is there anyone else out there that realizes the Falcons only beat one team this year with a winning record? This is the time for a pregnant pause so this statement can sink in. More on the talking heads later.
Legitimately there has been some constructive criticism of some of the play calls Sunday and rightly so. Why try a quarterback sneak on 4th and inches, times two when you have a powerful, dynamic running back like Michael Turner who has the tenacity and build of a fire plug? Well let's tease several plays apart and see. Matt Ryan was stopped for no gain twice on 4th and inches. Michael was stopped for a loss on third and inches yesterday. Also let's not forget in the first meeting against New Orleans this season, Michael was also stopped for a loss on 4th and inches giving New Orleans the ball in field goal range. The bottom line is, ain't no one going nowhere when you're running into a wall of opposing jerseys. So Ryan is stopped for no gain because he's over center. Turner is stopped for a loss because he's starting 4-5 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
There are those out there that are beginning to realize what it will take for the Falcons to win in the playoffs. One, for instance, is the great NFL persona and former Atlanta Falcon, Deon Sanders, who said Sunday night that in order for the Falcons to be successful they have to build a support team around Michael Turner. Unfortunately this type of thinking is a year too late and several draft picks too short.
Now it's time to look at the defensive end of the ball, which fared somewhat better than the offense. The defense did hold the Giants in check for the first twenty two minutes of the game and gave the Falcons their only points when Eli got called for intentional grounding in the end zone resulting in a safety. But after that, the O-line woke up and Giants controlled both sides of the ball. The supposed worse rushing team in the league racked up 172 rushing yards in a combined effort with Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw. The Falcons secondary was so shell-shocked by the running attack they only stuck their hands out to try and tackle Hakeem Nicks on his 72 yard touchdown run like they were playing flag football. Who could blame them after trying to bring down Jacobs and Bradshaw for thirty minutes they were beat.
The reason why they were beat up so bad was due to the porous front seven, with only one legitimate star defensive lineman in John Abraham. Last time I looked, this is a team sport and one man can't carry the whole load and you don't win games when your D-backs have to make a majority of the tackles. Again a couple of quality defensive lineman early in the draft would have gone a long way. So long first and fourth picks! This year they're going to Cleveland because the Falcons had to have Julio Jones. Brian VanGorder (former defensive coordinator for the Falcons) sees the writing on wall as he's heading for greener pastures as the defensive coordinator for Auburn. Good luck Brian you'll have a hell of a lot more to work with in Auburn than you did here in Atlanta.
Now let's talk about the talking heads. My sentiment is there are good ones and there are bad ones. The bad ones are the ones who quote stats without looking at the reality of the situation or have a bias towards one team or another. For example the Falcons defense was ranked 12th overall. Great, fantastic! One problem, the Falcons played eleven of their sixteen games against teams with losing records. To me these guys are like the cheesy kiosk salespeople in the mall.
There are good ones though, men and women that understand that seventeen weeks is a long time and that the season is very fluid and dynamic. They also understand that stats and rankings are just numbers. Variables like health and difficulties on individual schedules have to be factored in. Two that come to mind are Rodney Harrison and Willie McGinest. Both have the ability to evaluate a team at the moment they play in the context of the whole season. Interestingly enough, both men played for the New England Patriots. I'm just saying.
In conclusion I'm reminded of a saying my grandfather Lucky Shapiro use to say, "When opportunity knocks, open the friggin door, don't throw the baby and bathwater out the friggin window." Next topic on my agenda is Rex and the Jets.
By
Frenchie Shapiro
This article is for all those Atlanta Falcons fans that still believe that Julio Jones was worth giving up the 27th, 59th and 124th draft picks in 2011 plus the first and fourth draft picks for this year after that embarrassing debacle of a game they had against the NY Giants yesterday. Now that I have your attention, if you believe the above statement, then you didn't watch the same game me and my son Lefty watched.
This is not to say that Julio isn't an extremely talented young athlete that someday will do great things, but it's not what the Falcons needed at this time to become a championship caliber playoff team in the NFL. It's like going out and buying a Ferrari when you need a truck. The bottom line is you need an offensive line to protect your quarterback while your deep threat gets down the field.
After the Falcons' embarrassing loss to Green Bay last year, the mantra was we need a deep threat to keep up with high-powered teams like Green Bay and New Orleans. Though true, when you have a running back like Michael Turner, there are others ways to win against a high powered offense. It's with ball control and defense. Don't believe me? Ask the high-flying Buffalo Bills and Joe Kelly who lost to the Giants in Super Bowl 25. Better yet, has anyone watched San Francisco lately or maybe Baltimore? However the powers that be believed the Falcons needed a deep threat. They got it- paid dearly for it- and now they're going to watch the rest of playoffs, championships and the Super Bowl from the comfort of their homes.
Though skilled players are important, you still need grunts in the trenches to do the heavy lifting to grant said skilled players the opportunities to make said plays. Unfortunately the Falcons don't have the grunts to get them to the next level and because of the decision to pay so dearly for Julio Jones, getting quality grunts will be a long time in coming.
Of course the talking heads didn't help, especially when Julio had a big game like game sixteen against Tampa Bay. Julio had several catches and two touchdowns and the announcers couldn't help but comment, "Was Julio worth it?" Of course he just scored two touchdowns against one of the worse teams in the NFL who was on a ten game losing streak and fired their head coach the next day. Is there anyone else out there that realizes the Falcons only beat one team this year with a winning record? This is the time for a pregnant pause so this statement can sink in. More on the talking heads later.
Legitimately there has been some constructive criticism of some of the play calls Sunday and rightly so. Why try a quarterback sneak on 4th and inches, times two when you have a powerful, dynamic running back like Michael Turner who has the tenacity and build of a fire plug? Well let's tease several plays apart and see. Matt Ryan was stopped for no gain twice on 4th and inches. Michael was stopped for a loss on third and inches yesterday. Also let's not forget in the first meeting against New Orleans this season, Michael was also stopped for a loss on 4th and inches giving New Orleans the ball in field goal range. The bottom line is, ain't no one going nowhere when you're running into a wall of opposing jerseys. So Ryan is stopped for no gain because he's over center. Turner is stopped for a loss because he's starting 4-5 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
There are those out there that are beginning to realize what it will take for the Falcons to win in the playoffs. One, for instance, is the great NFL persona and former Atlanta Falcon, Deon Sanders, who said Sunday night that in order for the Falcons to be successful they have to build a support team around Michael Turner. Unfortunately this type of thinking is a year too late and several draft picks too short.
Now it's time to look at the defensive end of the ball, which fared somewhat better than the offense. The defense did hold the Giants in check for the first twenty two minutes of the game and gave the Falcons their only points when Eli got called for intentional grounding in the end zone resulting in a safety. But after that, the O-line woke up and Giants controlled both sides of the ball. The supposed worse rushing team in the league racked up 172 rushing yards in a combined effort with Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw. The Falcons secondary was so shell-shocked by the running attack they only stuck their hands out to try and tackle Hakeem Nicks on his 72 yard touchdown run like they were playing flag football. Who could blame them after trying to bring down Jacobs and Bradshaw for thirty minutes they were beat.
The reason why they were beat up so bad was due to the porous front seven, with only one legitimate star defensive lineman in John Abraham. Last time I looked, this is a team sport and one man can't carry the whole load and you don't win games when your D-backs have to make a majority of the tackles. Again a couple of quality defensive lineman early in the draft would have gone a long way. So long first and fourth picks! This year they're going to Cleveland because the Falcons had to have Julio Jones. Brian VanGorder (former defensive coordinator for the Falcons) sees the writing on wall as he's heading for greener pastures as the defensive coordinator for Auburn. Good luck Brian you'll have a hell of a lot more to work with in Auburn than you did here in Atlanta.
Now let's talk about the talking heads. My sentiment is there are good ones and there are bad ones. The bad ones are the ones who quote stats without looking at the reality of the situation or have a bias towards one team or another. For example the Falcons defense was ranked 12th overall. Great, fantastic! One problem, the Falcons played eleven of their sixteen games against teams with losing records. To me these guys are like the cheesy kiosk salespeople in the mall.
There are good ones though, men and women that understand that seventeen weeks is a long time and that the season is very fluid and dynamic. They also understand that stats and rankings are just numbers. Variables like health and difficulties on individual schedules have to be factored in. Two that come to mind are Rodney Harrison and Willie McGinest. Both have the ability to evaluate a team at the moment they play in the context of the whole season. Interestingly enough, both men played for the New England Patriots. I'm just saying.
In conclusion I'm reminded of a saying my grandfather Lucky Shapiro use to say, "When opportunity knocks, open the friggin door, don't throw the baby and bathwater out the friggin window." Next topic on my agenda is Rex and the Jets.
SHARE
