Falcons Cut Milner

The Falcons cut Martrez Milner today. I'm not surprised by this at all. I noticed him on the sidelines in street clothes on Sunday, and I knew it wasn't a good sign. He was inactive for the first two weeks. These comments from the AJC sum the decision up:

Milner fell out of favor with the new coaching staff after injuring his leg and ankle and missing most of training camp.

In the new offensive system under offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey, tight ends are required to block a lot.

Milner, a fourth-round draft pick (133rd overall) in 2007, was selected as a pass-catching tight end to fit former coach Bobby Petrino’s system.

So it sounds like the coaches want a big blocker, which Martrez is not. The injury comment makes it sound like the coaches think he's soft.

Personally, I think it's Falcons tight ends coach Chris Scelfo still trying to get back at Georgia for firing Jim Donnan. Ok, not really.

Terrence Moore Wants Shockley

Generally speaking, I disagree with Terrence Moore of the AJC. But I love what he has to say today.

Now let’s say folks do what they always do, and that is, scream for the backup quarterback. Actually, in this case, let’s say folks bark themselves red and black for the backup quarterback.

You don’t stick with the $72 million man as your starter. You switch to the guy who can help you fill all of those empty seats you’ll have this season.

And then we get this gem of a quote from D.J.'s dad.

“I’m going to tell you right now, man,” said Don Shockley, the proud father who coached his all-state son at North Clayton High School. “Bottom line is that, if D.J. ever gets a chance to take over this thing, he’ll set the town on fire.”

The funny thing is that D.J. Sr. is totally right. If D.J. starts a game, the Dome will be packed with Georgia fans. They won't have to worry about potential blackouts anymore.

Falcons Swap Tony's

In a completely random move, the Falcons released Tony Taylor today and signed Tony Gilbert. At this point in their respective careers, I would think that Tony Taylor is the better player. Don't get me wrong. I love Tony Gilbert. All he did was rack up tackles at Georgia, but he has been pretty much a special teams player in the NFL.

I guess this just stems from the fact that Gilbert played for both Brian VanGorder and Falcons head coach Mike Smith in Jacksonville.

In other news, the Falcons signed Brandon Miller to the practice squad. Over the past few seasons, Falcons defensive ends have been dropping like flies during the season. So you never know, he could be activated at some point.

Shockley Makes Falcons!

The Falcons announced their 53 man roster this evening. This announcement was good and bad for the Dawg Falcons. D.J. Shockley beat out Joey Harrington for the third string quarterback job. I'd love to say I predicted it, but I really didn't. I said I thought Shockley should get the job, but I wasn't sure he would.

Also making the team was Martrez Milner. In a very surprising move, the Falcons release recently signed Marcus Pollard. On a side note, Jason Rader also made the team. You may recall he played at Georgia prior to transferring to Marshall.

As expected, Brandon Miller was cut. I'm still thinking he may get added to the practice squad.

Finally, Thomas Brown was not cut, but he was added to the injured reserve list. This means his season is over. That really, really stinks as it looked like he was going to be the number one kick returner. According to the AJC, Brown has a "torn abductor muscle near his groin." Here's to a speedy recovery.

Falcons to Finalize Roster

The Falcons must set their 53 man roster by 6pm tomorrow. The question everyone wants to know is, will D.J. Shockley make the team? We'll address that last. Let's walk through the other Dawg Falcons.

Brandon Miller - I just don't see Brandon making the 53 man roster. He is still learning the defensive end position, and I don't believe he got much playing time there during the pre-season. He played a lot of special teams, but I don't think that is enough. Look for Miller to remain with the Falcons as a practice squad player.

Martrez Milner - Wow. What a fall Martrez has taken. Early in pre-season, he looked to be the starter as the Falcons' only pass catching tight end. After injuring his ankle Milner missed multiple games prior to returning for last night's finale against the Ravens. With the signing of Marcus Pollard, it looks like Martrez may not even make the team. I don't have a good feel for this one. We'll just find out tomorrow.

Thomas Brown - I really think Thomas is going to make the team. He's looked solid both as a back and a kick returner. He had a 50+ yard return last night that was called back on a hold, but it still was pretty nice. Unfortunately he hurt his groin in the game as well. I think he'll make the cut, and maybe the bigger question is will he be healthy enough to contribute.

Tony Taylor - Duh. The question isn't if Taylor will make the team, it's if he'll start. I don't think he will, but look for him to be a key reserve on the defense.

D.J. Shockley - Last but not least, we have D.J. It's pretty remarkable how much talk there has been about D.J. Shockley vs. Joey Harrington for the number 3 QB spot. I almost want to say that has been a more popular topic on local sports talk in Atlanta than Matt Ryan starting. If you watched the game last night, you saw that D.J. flat out moved the offense better. He threw a nice touchdown pass to Brian Finneran, and he just brings another dimension to the offense.

Let's say that D.J. and Joey grade out equally. Shockley is cheaper, and he is a marketable player. I'll repeat that. He is a marketable 3rd string QB. To me it's a no brainer.

NFL Update

Lumpkin Looking Good
Kregg Lumpkin's chances of making the Packers are looking very good. Check out this article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. This was written prior to Lumpkin rushing for 39 yards and a touchdown in Green Bay's 27-24 win over Denver on Friday. At this point, K-regg leads the Packers in rushing for the pre-season with 126 yards on 28 carries (4.5 ypc). I'm really not surprised by his success thus far. The guy was a beast when healthy in college. I wonder if he still does the "you can't see me" celebration...

Credit to The Deaner on the Lumpkin story.

Mixed News for the Bulldog Falcons
D.J. Shockley didn't even play in the Falcons' victory over the Titans on Friday night. Not good. Again, I just hope he makes the next round of cuts and gets to start the finale. Maybe he can make something happen with the first team and stick around.

Also not so great news is that Curtis Lofton started at middle linebacker over Tony Taylor. Taylor started the first two games. One of the announcers on the broadcast said Taylor "hasn't played poorly. He just hasn't made anything happen." Ouch. I haven't watched enough of the games to agree or disagree. Whatever happens, Taylor is going to play. As the linked AJC article says:

With Lofton and Taylor, the Falcons were comfortable enough to move Brooking back to his preferred position of weakside linebacker, where he was named to five pro bowls.

With the nerd playing another position, Taylor will see the field much more often.

It wasn't all bad news for the Bulldog Falcons though. Thomas Brown rushed for 29 yards and a touchdown on 7 carries. He also had 2 receptions for 3 yards, and returned 2 kicks for 43 yards. Jason Snelling, Brown's competition to back up Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood, also had a good night rushing for 46 yards on 9 carries. I'm not sure if the Falcons plan on keeping 4 backs or not. Hopefully Brown's ability as a kick returner makes him less expendable.

Not Looking Good for Shockley

According to D. Orlando Ledbetter of the AJC, it is looking more and more like D.J. Shockley is the fourth man in a three man quarterback race. I agree it doesn't look good that D.J. has been the last QB to come off the bench in the first two games. Add to that his 2 interceptions and abysmal QB rating, and you see that things aren't going so well for Shockley.

I'd like to say that D.J. hasn't looked all that great because he's been running for his life, playing behind an offensive line of guys that will be cut. But I doubt he'll get any more meaningful playing time in the game on Friday. Word has it that Matt Ryan will play into the third quarter.

At this point, I just hope D.J. makes it through the next round of cuts to play in the final pre season game. If he does, he should be the starter. But at that point, you hope that he gets to play more than a few series. We'll just have to wait and see, but it isn't looking good for him to make the team at this point.

Shockley to Start, But Not Yet

Chris Redman will get the start in Atlanta's pre-season opener in Jacksonville on Saturday. No surprise there. Redman finished last season strong (as strong as you can be on a team that bad), so I was expecting that.

However, check this out from the AJC's Steve Wyche:

Smith did not disclose the rotation for the remaining three quarterbacks — Joey Harrington, D.J. Shockley and No. 3 overall draft pick Matt Ryan — who are in an open competition for the regular-season starter's job and two backup spots. In fact, Smith did not mention any of them by name.

He did say that each quarterback would start one of the four exhibition games.

Maybe this really is an open competition? I still think Shockley is competing for a roster spot with Joey Harrington, but who knows?

Also, if the Falcons have any marketing savvy at all, D.J. will start in a home pre-season game. That will sell tickets.

Milner Injured, Taylor to Start

Martrez Milner will miss the Falcons pre season opener on Saturday at Jacksonville with an ankle injury. Apparently this has the Falcons concerned as he is their only pass catching tight end. There's a joke there somewhere...

On a brighter note, Tony Taylor will get the start at middle linebacker against the Jaguars. I don't know if he'll hold off Curtis Lofton or for how long, but it sounds like Tony should get a lot more playing time on defense than he did last year.

Finally, the Falcons QB rotation has not yet been determined for the game. I assume they are going to want to get a good look at Matt Ryan. My guess is Redman starts but doesn't play much. Next in is Ryan, and he gets more snaps than anyone. What will be interesting is if they give Shockley or Harrington more playing time. If it's Shockley, and he plays well, that's a huge step toward earning the number 3 spot over Harrington.

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