When it was all over Sunday and the Falcons had finished whipping the Detroit Lions, I felt good for the team, especially Arthur Blank. Last season had been a nightmare for the Falcons’ boss and his franchise. But the cloud has finally lifted and the pieces Blank has put in place appear to be in good working order.
His new general manager, Thomas Dimitroff, watched his free-agent signings and draft picks help carry the team against the Lions.
His new head coach, Mike Smith, and his staff devised a gameplan that led to 21 first-quarter points and then held up against a pretty good passing offense.
His new quarterback, Matt Ryan, not only threw a touchdown on his first official NFL pass, but made very few mistakes in a game in which the Lions came flying back in the second quarter.
And finally, his big free-agent signing, the former San Diego backup Michael Turner, looked every bit as good as any back that took the field in the first week of the NFL season.
While it was just one victory and they will face a tough Tampa Bay team on the road this Sunday, I think everyone can see a team that definitely has the blocks in place to build for the future. Because I do a three-hour radio show on 790 The Zone during the Falcons games, I didn’t get to see Blank afterwards. But knowing him and reading some of the reports, I heard he was one giddy man – and he deserves it. A self-made billionaire who has put endless energy and money into this franchise (and Arthur, great job on the new-look Dome), Blank had to sleep well Sunday night, perhaps for the first time in almost a year. He certainly has this franchise, an organization filled with good people and no DeAngelo Halls, going in the right direction.
Yes, for all of us that love football in Atlanta, the nightmare is finally over.
IS TECH FOR REAL?
The Jackets won a huge game Saturday by beating Boston College and, amazingly, under new head coach Paul Johnson, have a real chance of going into the Oct. 18 game at Clemson at 6-0. The next two games, against Virginia Tech and Mississippi State, suddenly look winnable and meetings at home against Duke and Gardner-Webb shouldn’t present much drama. It may be asking too much, but Virginia Tech looked terrible over the weekend against East Carolina and MSU has been slow coming out of the gate. I am hearing that Johnson has totally changed the mindset over at Tech and is a tireless worker (his staff as well) when putting together a gameplan. It certainly looks as though Johnson was the right pick to replace Chan Gailey.
AND FINALLY
The Zone will add former Georgia great David Pollack to their afternoon show, putting the former first-round NFL pick in the studio with Mike Bell and Chuck Oliver. Now, this should be interesting, though Pollack sounded good in the few auditions he did. The key for him is not to sit there and just answer questions but actually be one of the hosts, setting topics and certainly giving an athlete’s perspective on what is going on. The move on Pollack is in response to 680 The Fan’s afternoon duo of John Kincade and Buck Belue, another Bulldogs legend. Kincade and Belue have made a name for themselves during the afternoon drive, while the Zone is still trying to find the right mix for the time. I will say that, while 790 is a close partner of ours at Score, I was very disappointed to see them let Brandon “Hometeam” Leak go. While all radio stations are getting whacked when it comes to their advertising revenue and many are cutting as a result, the release of Leak was a mistake. The kid, while not yet a star, was a workhorse and constantly did his homework. He also carried the station when it came to the Hawks and did so as well through some other tough times. I hope someone else in town picks up Leak immediately. He deserves a break.
AND FINALLY ONE MORE TIME
I just have to point out that I was 3-0 on my local predictions this weekend, going with the Bulldogs, Yellow Jackets and Falcons. I needed that and, by the way, Chris Dimino, one of the morning guys over at 790, spent last week talking about how Detroit was going to come in here and kill the Falcons. While Dimino joins Chuck Oliver as the most knowledgeable hosts over at the station, I guess he forgot that Detroit is Detroit. I did a little checking and the last time they had a winning record was in 2000 when Bobby Ross was their head coach. And by the way, check out our box on page 22 about the AJC’s Terence Moore saying D.J. Shockley should get his chance at playing time. As usual, nice timing Terry. Perhaps you should have taken that buyout the paper offered you and headed to Detroit where you would fit in great with The Grand Rapids Press and writer Brian Van Ochten, who after Sunday’s game wrote about the Lions, “It’s a franchise that, regardless of the changes it makes, keeps building up the hopes of its lifelong fans and smashing them to smithereens.” Ochten must be an AJC subscriber.
On another note, friend Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press was in town Sunday and wrote this about his Lions: “Did that really happen? Was it really that awful? Shut it down before it worsens. It’s a joke. It’s a tragedy. It’s as depressing as the Kwame thing, but not as interesting. There are few truisms in the NFL, but one of them is this: When the Atlanta Falcons put a whupping on you, it’s time to close shop. Oh, wait. You can’t. That was just the season opener. Somebody knock me out. Wake me up when this is over, if this—meaning the 2008 Lions season—is going to be as bad as it was in Atlanta on Sunday afternoon.”
I love Albom and we go way back, but even the best of them sometimes forget it’s just the first game in a season of 16.
Rosenberg can be heard every Sunday during the Falcons game on 790 The Zone, as Score hosts a three-hour NFL Scoreboard show. This week the show will go from 4-7 p.m. and will include NFL scores every 10 minutes as well as discussion on high school and college football. Rosenberg can be reached at ijrosenberg@scoreatl.com and 404-256-1572.
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