Tony Taylor Featured on AF.com

AF.com has a feature story up on Tony Taylor today. J. Michael Moore talks to Tony and his coaches about his progression in the NFL.

Apparently Tony has been running with the first team at times this off season. The common opinion is that Curtis Lofton is going to take over at middle linebacker with Brooking moving to his natural weak position...I mean weak-side position. I don't necessarily think Taylor will start this year. But, I do think he'll play a lot more defense this year, whereas he played mostly on special teams last season.

There's some quotes I want to grab from the article. This was a funny one from Tony...

"I was trying to trim my baby fat off and, at the same time, build muscle," he [Taylor] said. "I feel like I'm a step further than I was at this time last year. It's hard not to eat Zaxby's all the time but every once in a while you've got to leave that to the side."

Come on Tony. Zaxby's? Guthrie's is where it's at.

Then there was a trend from the coaches...

"I think he's a guy that's very sharp mentally," linebackers coach Glenn Pires said. "That's what's allowing him to continue to grow. He understands the game and is a very good instinct guy. (With) those instincts he keeps getting better and making good decisions."

"Tony has done a nice job," [Head Coach Mike] Smith said. "He's a very intelligent football player and has played extremely well for us. Tony doesn't necessarily have all the measurables you look for but there are a lot of guys that have been successful in this league that don't have those measurables. Tony has done a really good job; he's a good communicator and gets us lined up."

It's nice to see these comments made about a black player for once. If you watch the NFL draft, it's amazing how all of the black players have raw talent and natural ability. On the other hand, white players are often described as being intelligent and maximizing their potential. It's refreshing to hear coaches not following the stereotypes that the so-called experts always seem to go by.

Falcons Sign Thomas Brown

Thomas Brown signed a contract with the Falcons today. Look for The Thomas Brown Affair to be returning kicks in the fall...

Watch Shockley's Live Chat

If you missed D.J.'s live chat today on AF.com, you can catch the whole thing here.

The topics of discussion range from rehab to where D.J. sees himself on the depth chart (which he kind of dodges) to "Georgia homers" that want him to start to Georgia's high expectations this upcoming season.

It's worth watching. Enjoy!

More Falcons/Dawgs News

Today I was checking out the mini camp wrap up piece from J. Michael Moore on AF.com when a sub header in the article caught my eye..."BULLDOG REPORT." Ha! Like I said yesterday, the Falcons have learned to try and make Georgia fans into Falcons fans. At any rate, J. Mike has some good info in there, so you should check it out. Now, it did take him three times in the article before he finally spelled Shockley right, but I'll cut the guy some slack. The Deaner corrects stuff in my posts all the time (thanks Deaner).

In other Falcons/Dawgs News, A.J. Bryant was among several players the Falcons tried out during last weekend's mini camp. The team has yet to announce if any of these players made the team. I'll keep you posted on that when I hear something.

Finally, don't forget about the live chat with Shockley Wednesday at 1:30 pm. I'll be at work, so I'll miss it. Fill me in if you check it out. Oh, and if you want to meet D.J., he'll be at Flagstar Bank in Duluth on Friday signing autographs from 5-6 pm. Again, how many teams can do this kind of stuff with their 4th string qb?

Falcons No Longer Afraid of Dawgs

From this picture, it looks like Thomas Brown is fitting just fine with his Falcons teammates. Of course, it helps when the teammate was your quarterback in college.

Image from AF.com

A few years ago, I never would have believed that the Falcons would have so many Bulldogs on the roster. The Falcons I grew up a fan of passed on the likes of Rodney Hampton, Hines Ward, and Jermaine Phillips, only to draft lesser players at the same position. Steve Broussard, Jammi German, and Kevin McCadam anyone?

But looking at the current roster, you can tell the new regime is not afraid of having some former Dawgs. Here's a rundown:
Thomas Brown
Brandon Miller
Martrez Milner
D.J. Shockley
Tony Taylor

And I'll tell you something else. The Falcons' marketing people are using this to their advantage. It's not often you see a marketable 3rd, or now 4th, string quarterback, but that's what Shockley is for the Falcons. You can even have a live chat with D.J. this Wednesday.

I'll try my best to link over to content on AF.com featuring former Bulldogs, but it's quite possible I may miss some of it. There's a lot of them to cover these days.

Stockpiling Dawgs

After years of seemingly going out of their way to avoid players from the University of Georgia, the Atlanta Falcons have nabbed two Dawgs in one year for the second straight year. Last year, the Falcons drafted Martrez Milner and signed Tony Taylor as a free agent. History repeated itself today. The Falcons drafted Thomas Brown in the sixth round and are rumored to have signed Brandon Miller as a free agent. When I talked to The Deaner today, he was wondering if Matt Moore is now in charge of personnel for the Falcons...

Shockley Missing Mini Camp

The Falcons' first mini camp is underway, and DJ Shockley cannot participate due to injury. The AJC's Steve Wyche writes that Shockley may be the odd man out for the Falcons.

Shockley is in the unenviable position as the No. 3 quarterback on the depth chart. Both Redman and Harrington signed new contracts in the off season. By April 28, a day after the NFL draft, Shockley could be No. 4. That isn't good since most NFL teams typically carry three quarterbacks. Atlanta is expected to select a quarterback — possibly Boston College's Matt Ryan with the No. 3 overall pick — and the pecking order will change.

I agree with Wyche, except for the Matt Ryan stuff. The Falcons will pick a QB that will be ahead of Shockley on the depth chart, but it won't be Ryan. At least I hope it's not.

At any rate, Shockley is going to need to look good to stick around. I think he has to beat out Joey Harrington to make the team. Who knows, maybe that is possible. I mean, they are competing at quarterback, not piano.

Image from AtlantaFalcons.com

Brian VanGorder Hearts Changing Jobs

I'm Brian VanGorder, and I'm Georgia.

I'm tired of waiting to be a head coach. If I get some NFL experience, I'll become a college head coach sooner.

I'm Brian VanGorder, and I'm Georgia...Southern. See, I told you the NFL experience would help me become a college head coach!

It's worth leaving my college head coaching job to work for a great man like Bobby Petrino. Plus, I get to coach Tony Taylor again!

He only worked for me for a month, do you think we actually have pictures of him at South Carolina?

Ah, it's good to be back with the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL...where I always wanted to be. Hey, I get to coach Tony Taylor again!

Petrino's Ripple Effect

Earlier in the week, PWD talked about how Petrino leaving the Falcons would affect Brian Van Gorder. However, there are more Georgia people involved with the Falcons than coach Van. Tony Taylor, Martrez Milner, and DJ Shockley are the only Georgia players still under contract with the Falcons. Let's take a look at each player one at a time.

Tony Taylor
I'll be honest, I don't feel great about Taylor's chances of hanging around with the Falcons. It's tough for undrafted free agents to make it in the NFL. Add to that his old college coach (Van Gorder) who I'm sure vouched for him, will likely be gone. I just remember Terrence Edwards making the team under Dan Reeves. Then Reeves was fired and Jim Mora didn't keep Edwards around long. I could see Taylor having the same fate.

Martrez Milner
Since the Falcons used a draft pick on Martrez last year, I think his status with the Falcons is in the best shape of any former Georgia player. He's on IR right now, but he actually played pretty well this season.







DJ Shockley
While I do think Milner is in the best position with the Falcons, I also think Petrino's departure will have the most positive impact on DJ Shockley. I get the feeling Petrino didn't think very highly of DJ. He was a very low draft pick by the prior regime, and Petrino obviously had a soft spot for Chris Redman. I'm not saying DJ will definitely make the team next year, but I think his chances increased significantly when Petrino resigned.

Petrino Quits, Heads to Arkansas

Bobby Petrino called it quits today, resigning from the Atlanta Falcons. Apparently, he's close to a deal to replace Houston Nutt as the head coach of Arkansas.

Petrino will feel right at home in the SEC West with Nick Saban. Both coaches bailed on their NFL team after stating they were not interested in returning to college. Personally, I think Petrino is even worse than Saban. Maybe that is just the Falcons fan in me talking, but at least Saban didn't quit mid-season.

So now the Falcons need to hire the 4th coach of the Arthur Blank era. I'm sure defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer will get a shot, but I'm hoping for Bill Cowher. He's a good coach, a Super Bowl winner, and he loves drafting Georgia Bulldogs.

In other Falcons news, they have now launched FalconsLife. It's an online community for Falcons fans that is somewhat similar to a MySpace or Facebook. Also, UGA Grad and Falcons video coordinator Matt Moore has one of the featured blogs on there, so be sure to check it out.

AJC Reporting Shockley Out For Season

The Falcons still have not confirmed this. However, the AJC says "a person close to Shockley with knowledge of the injury" has told them it's a torn ACL.

This is a devastating blow for DJ, and it's also very bad news for the Falcons. With the way DJ was playing against the Bills, I think the Falcons would have been comfortable keeping Harrington, Redman, and Shockley as their three quarterbacks. Now it looks like the Falcons will sign yet another qb.

It's bad news for Shockley because the NFL is a business, and he could end up losing his job due to this. Not this year, but maybe down the line. The Falcons will put DJ on injured reserve for the year. But next year, he'll need to impress the team to stick around. That could be hard to do coming off this injury. However, history has shown that DJ is a fast healer. I'll be rooting for a speedy recovery along with a return to the field as a Falcon next season.

Image from AtlantaFalcons.com

Shockley Goes Down

DJ was playing really well tonight. He was 4 of 5 for 46 yards passing. He had 3 rushes for 18 yards. Unfortunately, on his final rush that was a first down run, DJ cut right on his left leg and just went down. It was the second time he slipped while trying to cut. They are saying sprained left knee on the broadcast. Hopefully that is all it is. Fingers crossed...

Your Falcons Minute

How to save the Falcons season, or at least distract people.

Two words: Noriaki Kinoshita

Now don’t call me crazy just yet. Let’s look at the impact of Japanese players in American pro-sports. Ichiro recently signed on for $100 million dollars, a contract that people like Marlins president Dave Samson said would ruin the sport and take us back to an era of Kevin Brown/Albert Belle fiscal ridiculousness. Sure he’s a mid-30’s singles hitter who hasn’t led his team to anything but the Mariners have swung their margins by over $100 million since his arrival (forbes.com). His impact (economically) on both the franchise and the city cannot be overlooked (as it has been in the media). Do the Mariners put a team on the field that should draw over 3 million a year? Not a chance. People aren’t paying to see Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre strike out with runners on base or Jeff Weavers blond locks; they pay to see Ichiro (and buy his merch). Throw in the fact that he is a hit machine and he still gets it done in the outfield and his crazy contract doesn’t look so bad after all. It changes from How can the M’s afford to pay him that? to How can the M’s afford Not to pay him that? Come to think of it, the hotels in Seattle should be paying half his salary just from the impact of Japanese tourists!

So we’ve seen what Ichiro did for Seattle, but you may remember an under-the-radar story from 2004 in the NBA. Yuta Tabuse played in 4 games for the Phoenix Suns (he was later cut to make room for superstar Jake Vroman) and set off a media frenzy in the Land of the Rising Sun immediately. How does this affect the Falcons strategy? Jerseys. Tabuse (does he just go by Yuta?) had almost as many different jerseys available for sale (3) as games played. He stood 5’9” and 165 lbs. and his highlight was his 7 point, 10 minute spurt at the end of a blowout against the (who else?) Hawks. His jersey was selling out all over and foreign media credentials soon followed. In fact he even drew (Yi, take note) a media and fan following when he played for Asian mecca Albuquerque in the D-League. Then-coach Michael Cooper called it a ‘cult-like’ following. I have to believe that the Suns knew exactly what they were doing. What other 4th string diminutive PG has a Road-Sunday-Alternate-Jersey available?

SO. My plan for the Falcons? Run Norwood and start pimping Noriaki-Fever! Let him return half the kicks or put him in 4 receiver sets just as a decoy. Don’t you think if you create a media storm around him that these ego-maniac coaches will start to scheme against him? Certainly! They don’t want to be upstaged by the NFL’s version of Yuta. Sure it’s shameless - Yeah he probably can’t play in the NFL - but we gotta make up that revenue somehow and more importantly we gotta take some of the attention away from Vickgate 2007. Plus if the Japanese media take all the credentials then Roger Cossack/Shelley Smith/Pedro Gomez can’t get in there and ruin everyone’s Sunday afternoon. So Arthur! Cut those ticket/parking/beer prices again and give us some Kinoshita baby! At least we can sell out a few games and maybe save Delta and some hotels a lot of headaches. What else are we gonna do this year?

Calvin Johnson Admits to Marijuana Use

Let the photoshopping begin. Reportedly, Calvin Johnson admitted to using marijuana during an interview at the combine. I would love for this to affect his draft status such that the Falcons could get him with the eight pick in the draft. Unfortunately for the Falcons, I tend to agree with Chan Gailey. From the article...

"I doubt it will have any effect whatsoever," said Gailey, a former Dallas Cowboys head coach with 16 years of experience in professional football. "I think he's a great young man who probably did it one time to see what it was like and told the truth [when asked about it]. I don't think it's an issue with him."

If this indeed does not affect his draft status, the Falcons better not trade up for him. I think he's going to be a great NFL receiver, not good...great. However, the Falcons need bodies right now. They can't afford to trade away draft picks to get Johnson.