0 and 2, but a lot more to like

Lot more to like than to not like from last night's pre-season road contest, in which the Birds dropped a 27-23 decision to the defending Super Bowl champion Ravens.

So the BIG dislike?

• Lost a winnable game. Didn't need to. Yeah, it's the preseason, but these new/young guys need to understand how to FINISH

Liked:

• O-line much more settled and consistent. In addition to mostly holding the box intact for Matty Ice, the offensive line opened holes for Steven Jackson and Quizz all night
• Konz was huge and pretty much neutralized the vaunted Haloti Ngata
• Ryan to Jackson in the slot. Let's see more of that

• Jeremy Shelly - another "automatic"?
• Dominique Davis - more consistent, less careless; can see him running the offense if we needed him
• Paul Worrilow leads in tackles, again
• Julio!!!!

Wasn't so crazy about:

• Give me a minute...

Falcons pre-season Game 1 - Bengals 34 Birds 10

What I liked:

• Both rookie corners. 21 (Trufant) showed me a lot (involved in every play), but Alford showed a lot for a lot longer
• Paul Worrilow - 12 tackles.Help for Sean W?
• Dominique Davis - looked good in spots
• Osi - stopping the run too?
• Jason Snelling - ol' Reliable
• Harry Douglas - ol' Reliable II
• #2 is still in charge!

What I didn't like:

• Vaunted RB Steven Jackson didn't show much. 5 plays for net 8 yards? And  didn't we bring him in for 3 and 2 situations? He got one tonight and couldn't deliver it!
• Lamar Homes looked lost; whole right side of the ball looks jacked up
• Defense line crumbled on goal line stands
• Big mean presence on defense is still missing...

Desmond Trufant & Robert Alford - Falcons 1st and 2nd draft picks

• Five Things You Need To Know About Trufant
• Trufant's Washington Bio
• Seattle Blog Post On Trufant Heading To Falcons
• The Tacoma New Tribune Report on Trufant After The Senior Bowl
• Bleacher Report Video Highlights of Trufant 
• A Closer Look At Trufant
• Trufant Video Draft Profile

• Follow Alford on Twitter
• See video of Alford's Senior Bowl return
• View highlights of Alford's career 
• Alford's Southeastern Louisiana University bio
• Five things you need to know about Alford
• Alford wants to prove he belongs

Battle of the Trenches

Win...and you move on!

Are we for real? Today's the day we find out

From an early December post:

The division race comes down to Atlanta vs Seattle at the Dome, and SF vs NY in SF. Their assessment is that SF ends the Giants' season,while the Falcons prevail and celebrate our first playoff win in the Matt Ryan era against Seattle. 

Looks like they called it right. Except of course, for the last step. They also had San Francisco over the Falcons in the NFC Championship game, which would be... today!

Not gonna happen. Today is the day that we prove it.

I say they are over-rated...

...that's right I said OVER-RATED!