Week 7 Primer... The Atlanta Falcons

[Hostile]

The Atlanta Falcons began as an expansion team in 1966. The team was awarded to Rankin Smith, Jr. and he owned the team until 2002 when he sold the team to Home Depot founder, Arthur Blank.

The Falcons have been known as a hard luck franchise in a lot of ways. In 43 years of existence they have only 3 Division Championships. Those came in 1980, 1998 and 2004. Their greatest season was 1998 when they represented the NFC in Super Bowl XXXIII against the Denver Broncos. It pitted Dan Reeves against his former team and was the last of Dan Reeves 9 trips to the Super Bowl as a player or coach.

The Falcons all time record is 271-384-6. They are 6-9 in the post season. Thus their all time record is 277-393-6. This comes to a .413 winning %.

The Cowboys lead the all time series between the two teams 13-8. They are 7-3 at Dallas and 6-5 in Atlanta. The Cowboys are also 2-0 against the Falcons in the post season. 1 win in each home town.

In the 1975 NFL Draft the Falcons took Steve Bartkowski with the #1 overall pick. The Cowboys picked 2nd and took Randy White. In Bert Sugar's infamous Cowboys hating book "I Hate the Dallas Cowboys: And Who Elected Them America's Team Anyway," (No joke, that's the name of the book.) Steve took some shots at the Cowboys and professed his hatred.

Steve described his hatred of the Cowboys in 3 ways. He was angry that the Cowboys did not trade up to take him.



Apparently Steve was unaware of the Cowboys having a QB named Roger Staubach and being happy with 1974 Draft pick Danny White, and a Mad Bomber named Clint Longley who pulled a miracle win over the Commanders the year before.

He further was upset that the Cowboys drafted Randy White because Randy tormented him and made his life hell. Perhaps he did not realize this was the job of Defensive players? Scary when you consider Steve was the Falcons GM for several years.

The last thing he hated about the Cowboys was that the Cheerleaders were so beautiful.



NTTAWWT

His contributions in that compilation of hatred for the Cowboys made up one of the most ridiculous contributions to an otherwise stupid book.

If Steve colorful and clueless protests amuse you then you would have loved former Head Coach Jerry Glanville. He dressed only in black and so the Falcons changed their uniforms from red to all black. Quite a tribute to a mediocre Head Coach. Glanville was 27-37 as the Falcons Head Coach. He is most famous for leaving tickets to every game for Elvis Presley. He didn't believe Elvis was really dead.

One of the Falcons more memorable blunders will undoubtedly be remembered as trading up to take Mike Vick. It isn't that Vick wasn't a good starter for them. It isn't even about his infamous arrest for dog fighting. It's who the Chargers took with the Falcons pick...LaDanian Tomlinson.

They have since made up for it by taking Matt Ryan, who is quickly becoming one of the great young lion QBs on the rise in the NFL. Many thought taking Ryan was a reach. That he was over rated. In retrospect, (which is always easier) he has been an outstanding pick.

The Falcons come into this game 4-1 on the season. Dallas is coming off a bye week. The Cowboys are 15-5 after a bye week.

 

[NeonDeion21]

Last time we played ATL it was one heck of a game. That was the game when I thought we were going somewhere in the playoffs. Guess not :/

 

[Nav22]

Great read, thanks Hos. I've read most of that book... was stupid indeed. From what I recall, there were several complaints regarding the physical appearance of Jerry and Jimmy...

NTTAWWT

 

[Hostile]

Great read, thanks Hos. I've read most of that book... was stupid indeed. From what I recall, there were several complaints regarding the physical appearance of Jerry and Jimmy...

NTTAWWT

I ws shocked how many guys hated the Cowboys because they weren't drafted by Dallas after their scouts showed interest. But hating the Cowboys because the cheerleaders were so pretty?

Moron.

 

[Phoenix]

I thought this was interesting from BSPN's "Intel" report on the game:



Both the Cowboys and Falcons have had plenty of big offensive plays this year, but at times both have struggled to put together long, sustained drives. The winner of the game will likely be the one who can run the ball effectively on 1st down and in short yardage situations. Michael Turner is only averaging 3.7 ypc in simulations. If he has 4.0+ ypc the Falcons chances improve from 33 to 44 percent. If Turner can run for at least 2 explosive plays of 20+ yards and has 5+ ypc the Falcons are 52 percent favorites. On the flip side, if Tony Romo plays well with at least 250 yards and no turnovers the Cowboys control the game with a 79 percent chance of winning.

AccuScore has powered more than 10,000 simulations for every NFL game for ESPN.com, each simulated one play at a time and minimum of 10,000 times

 

[CaptainMorgan]

I thought this was interesting from BSPN's "Intel" report on the game:



Both the Cowboys and Falcons have had plenty of big offensive plays this year, but at times both have struggled to put together long, sustained drives. The winner of the game will likely be the one who can run the ball effectively on 1st down and in short yardage situations. Michael Turner is only averaging 3.7 ypc in simulations. If he has 4.0+ ypc the Falcons chances improve from 33 to 44 percent. If Turner can run for at least 2 explosive plays of 20+ yards and has 5+ ypc the Falcons are 52 percent favorites. On the flip side, if Tony Romo plays well with at least 250 yards and no turnovers the Cowboys control the game with a 79 percent chance of winning.

AccuScore has powered more than 10,000 simulations for every NFL game for ESPN.com, each simulated one play at a time and minimum of 10,000 times

Romo will get his 250 and then some. The turnovers, who knows.

 

[Disturbed]

I thought this was interesting from BSPN's "Intel" report on the game:



Both the Cowboys and Falcons have had plenty of big offensive plays this year, but at times both have struggled to put together long, sustained drives. The winner of the game will likely be the one who can run the ball effectively on 1st down and in short yardage situations. Michael Turner is only averaging 3.7 ypc in simulations. If he has 4.0+ ypc the Falcons chances improve from 33 to 44 percent. If Turner can run for at least 2 explosive plays of 20+ yards and has 5+ ypc the Falcons are 52 percent favorites. On the flip side, if Tony Romo plays well with at least 250 yards and no turnovers the Cowboys control the game with a 79 percent chance of winning.

AccuScore has powered more than 10,000 simulations for every NFL game for ESPN.com, each simulated one play at a time and minimum of 10,000 times

Interesting. Does the article state Accuscore's success rate overall or more importantly for us -- how have they done on Cowboys games???

 

[Phoenix]

Interesting. Does the article state Accuscore's success rate overall or more importantly for us -- how have they done on Cowboys games???

Not on BSPN's site, per se. But there is a link to them if you want to check it out...

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/intel?gameId=291025006

 

[sonnyboy]

I ws shocked how many guys hated the Cowboys because they weren't drafted by Dallas after their scouts showed interest. But hating the Cowboys because the cheerleaders were so pretty?

Moron.

I don't read that comment as Stupid. More like gay. Obviously a little female jealousy going on there. He hated all the attention the cheerleaders got. He wanted all the guys to look at him.

 

[sonnyboy]

I thought this was interesting from BSPN's "Intel" report on the game:



Both the Cowboys and Falcons have had plenty of big offensive plays this year, but at times both have struggled to put together long, sustained drives. The winner of the game will likely be the one who can run the ball effectively on 1st down and in short yardage situations. Michael Turner is only averaging 3.7 ypc in simulations. If he has 4.0+ ypc the Falcons chances improve from 33 to 44 percent. If Turner can run for at least 2 explosive plays of 20+ yards and has 5+ ypc the Falcons are 52 percent favorites. On the flip side, if Tony Romo plays well with at least 250 yards and no turnovers the Cowboys control the game with a 79 percent chance of winning.

AccuScore has powered more than 10,000 simulations for every NFL game for ESPN.com, each simulated one play at a time and minimum of 10,000 times

Do you know what I was able to descipher from this? That the Cowboys won the majority of the simulations. However that was far too painful for ESPN to put in print.

 

[Disturbed]

Not on BSPN's site, per se. But there is a link to them if you want to check it out...

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/intel?gameId=291025006

Thanks for the link.

I went to Accuscore website and they claim 60% success rate for the NFL (not sure is this is straight up or against the spread). It is a paid service, so there was no details beyond the initial claim. One would expect a blind monkey to get 50% straight up.

 

[daschoo]

In Bert Sugar's infamous Cowboys hating book "I Hate the Dallas Cowboys: And Who Elected Them America's Team Anyway,"

come on thats hilarious

 

[Falcon88]

The Atlanta Falcons began as an expansion team in 1966. The team was awarded to Rankin Smith, Jr. and he owned the team until 2002 when he sold the team to Home Depot founder, Arthur Blank.

The Falcons have been known as a hard luck franchise in a lot of ways. In 43 years of existence they have only 3 Division Championships. Those came in 1980, 1998 and 2004. Their greatest season was 1998 when they represented the NFC in Super Bowl XXXIII against the Denver Broncos. It pitted Dan Reeves against his former team and was the last of Dan Reeves 9 trips to the Super Bowl as a player or coach.

The Falcons all time record is 271-384-6. They are 6-9 in the post season. Thus their all time record is 277-393-6. This comes to a .413 winning %.

The Cowboys lead the all time series between the two teams 13-8. They are 7-3 at Dallas and 6-5 in Atlanta. The Cowboys are also 2-0 against the Falcons in the post season. 1 win in each home town.

In the 1975 NFL Draft the Falcons took Steve Bartkowski with the #1 overall pick. The Cowboys picked 2nd and took Randy White. In Bert Sugar's infamous Cowboys hating book "I Hate the Dallas Cowboys: And Who Elected Them America's Team Anyway," (No joke, that's the name of the book.) Steve took some shots at the Cowboys and professed his hatred.

Steve described his hatred of the Cowboys in 3 ways. He was angry that the Cowboys did not trade up to take him.



Apparently Steve was unaware of the Cowboys having a QB named Roger Staubach and being happy with 1974 Draft pick Danny White, and a Mad Bomber named Clint Longley who pulled a miracle win over the Commanders the year before.

He further was upset that the Cowboys drafted Randy White because Randy tormented him and made his life hell. Perhaps he did not realize this was the job of Defensive players? Scary when you consider Steve was the Falcons GM for several years.

The last thing he hated about the Cowboys was that the Cheerleaders were so beautiful.



NTTAWWT

His contributions in that compilation of hatred for the Cowboys made up one of the most ridiculous contributions to an otherwise stupid book.

If Steve colorful and clueless protests amuse you then you would have loved former Head Coach Jerry Glanville. He dressed only in black and so the Falcons changed their uniforms from red to all black. Quite a tribute to a mediocre Head Coach. Glanville was 27-37 as the Falcons Head Coach. He is most famous for leaving tickets to every game for Elvis Presley. He didn't believe Elvis was really dead.

One of the Falcons more memorable blunders will undoubtedly be remembered as trading up to take Mike Vick. It isn't that Vick wasn't a good starter for them. It isn't even about his infamous arrest for dog fighting. It's who the Chargers took with the Falcons pick...LaDanian Tomlinson.

They have since made up for it by taking Matt Ryan, who is quickly becoming one of the great young lion QBs on the rise in the NFL. Many thought taking Ryan was a reach. That he was over rated. In retrospect, (which is always easier) he has been an outstanding pick.

The Falcons come into this game 4-1 on the season. Dallas is coming off a bye week. The Cowboys are 15-5 after a bye week.

From a fan who has watched the Falcons play through pretty much all it's history, the last two paragraphs don't even come close to summing up where this team is now. Throw out everthing you know about this team before Arthur Blank brought in Thomas D. and in turn Smitty. They are 15-7 including the Playoff lose last season and have only lost one game at home under the new regime.

We have a great front office an outstanding coaching staff and good mix of talent on the field. But...we are in the middle of a process. We understand this and are content to reley on the brain trust that is our Staff. I post this to state for once in our history we are a real "Team" and as a lifer it feels really good.

Win or lose, it will be a good game. Here's to injury free football!