atljbo, Welcome to our place, do hope you'll stick around awhile! As to Miami versus Hotlanta I think it will be a good test for both clubs and may the best man win. I have to hand it to you though I'm another one who thought Matty Ice would melt. Gotta hand it to the young man, he proved me wrong and I wish him all the best; save when he plays Miami of course!!
Welcome to the site ATL, glad to have fellow football fans from other sites. I think the game is just too close to call, but it will be a great game. I expect more of a defensive battle than a barn burner. Hope you stick around after the game, hopefully so we can gloat
Jamaal Anderson is never going to be an elite (or even very good player) in this league. I know the guy personally from our time at the U of A and just from his attitude I can tell you that he does not have a 'football personality.' Also in all his games at Arkansas I found him to be soft more often than not and the benefactor of more talented members of the defensive line. There is not a single defensive player drafted from Arkansas during the Houston Nutt years that has been worth a darn in the NFL (Ahmad Carrol, David Barrett, Tony Bua, Caleb Miller, etc . . .) and the current younger guys (Anderson, Chris Houston, Marcus Harrison) just do not envoke confidence from me, someone who has seen them play A LOT. If you are going to draft a player from Arkansas, stick with an Offensive Lineman, Running Back, or a Quarterback and a Receiver every 30 years or so (Joe Fergusson and Steve Altwater). As for the matchup between Atlanta and Miami, I really think its too early to tell . . . although if you put a gun to my head I would likely take Miami by 1-3 points. One thing to remember is that ANYTHING can and usually does happen in Week 1 in the NFL, so it may not be as cut and dry as say a week 9 match up. Also, glad to have you on the site. FWIW, I currently have the Falcons at 12-4 for this season so cheers on a good team being put together.
I'm really worried about this game. Not only did the Falcons have a good passing game last year, but now Gonzo has been added! Plus Turner is still in the mix as long as he isnt a one year wonder, which i doubt. I am a little suspect of our defense as a whole. We havent started TC so a lot of my questions will be answered the further we go along. Is Ferguson going to hold up the whole season? Because without him we struggle at the nose. Which one of our "Sophmore" defensive linemen are going to fill the void of Holliday? He might come back but if not, will Merling and Langford be more of a consistent pass rushing threat? Our secondary is also questionable due to our rookies we will most likely have to play. When it comes to offense we kindof know what we get. Will our running game have a slow start to the season as it has for the past 2 seasons? Will our o-line help out Chad as well as last year before the playoff game? I can go on with questions but I"d rather not because that would take too long. As for my prediction, ATL 24 Miami 17 I feel we always have a slow start to our season so we will need to rebound from this one.
I think it will be a great opener for both teams. Keys for the falcons will be to stop the inside run game. Abraham is going to have a tough time being a game breaker vs Jake. He'll be more effective if he rushes on the the other side or plays smart and drops back into the middle and trying to be disruptive against the inside slant passes you know will be comming from Chad to Bess/Cammarillo/Ginn. THe keys for the phins will be to limit the long ball to Jenkins/White early. I know the falcons felt confident throwing deep td routes early. Couple big early strikes could be tough to come back from. They also need to improve their run d against turner. I can see pennington carve up in short increments the ATL pass d. Ronnie should have no problem running either. He's alot like turner, good burst and speed with a lot of muscle to bring down on first contact. Yards after contact in the run game and missed tackles on either back could be the difference in possession and clock control and ultimatley the game. My guess would be whoever's run d comes to play and forces punts could edge this game out. This is going to be an awesome back and forth game. Clock management is going to win this one. 27-24 Phins. Just my thoughts.
Yup, I don't care who the hospitality comes from, all I care about is our members being open and welcoming to newbies.
Abe isnt in the top 2, I'd take Deamarcus and Mario over him any time, he's very good though he just has to stay healthy. I'm more worried about Ryan, Turner and Gonzo. Jake dominated Mario Williams, he dominated Calvin Pace, he dominated Terell Suggs and He dominated Richard Seymour.
