State of the Falcons - The Calling Your Own Plays Edition

I've decided I'm going to be happy about the win. Yeah, it was the Redskins. But I'll take it. We won on the road and scored 24 unanswered points.

But there's a little bit of controversy coming out of Flowery Branch this week.

Michael Vick admitted that he changed a play during the game to get a TD to Michael Jenkins. Vick said, "Nobody knew what we were going to do on the field but me and him...Sometimes you have to overcome coaching." WHAAT?! Admittedly, the media laughed. But Vick looked serious. That statement would have to be quite the inside joke. Click here to judge for yourself (watch Vick postgame video, it's about halfway through.). I don't know if Vick was joking, but I'm not mad at him. It's about time he stepped up. If you're going to put the team on your back, don't half step. Vick is the man in this town, not Mora.

And speaking of putting the team on his back, I'm wondering why the coaches don't draw up more run plays for Vick, especially early in the game. His cuts are unbelievable. He doesn't run straight ahead like a running back. He is breaking ankles out there. Why the coaches don't call more Vick running plays early on just to fatigue the defense, especially when Vick as been adept at avoiding injury and he's otherwise shown he's willing to carry the team on the field?

Alge Crumpler admitted that the Falcons "sulk" when they have a bad play. So Lawyer Milloy called a player's only meeting. And he played like he called a player's only meeting. Coach Mora said that Milloy came to him and asked permission to have the meeting, and Mora authorized it. Veteran leadership. How refreshing.

Chris Crocker came to play. Better late than never.

Roddy White barely played. I'm kind of feeling sorry for him. White has shown glimpses of brilliance, but he mostly sucks. So when I'm starting to go soft, that's when you take a swig of beer and slap yourself and remember we play to win the games. So, fuck Roddy White.

Jerious Norwood showed us why he's taking Warrick Dunn's job. I love and appreciate Warrick, but the writing is on the wall. The organization is phasing Dunn out, whether he actually has diminished skills or just for salary cap reasons. Nothing lasts forever, so it was good to see Norwood justifying the hype. I'll take it.

And everybody in the NFC did what we needed them to do. I admit it was a tough choice deciding whether to root for the Panthers or the Eagles on Monday. It was definitely a lesser of two evils type situation. But I decided the Eagles should win and they did. The Falcons couldn't afford Carolina getting another win in our division. And even though the Eagles now have the same record as the Falcons and are technically in playoff contention, I have no faith that Garcia is going to do anything for the Eagles with 3 upcoming games on the road. Absolutely zero faith. And, actually, the game turned out a little better than I thought. Carolina puts the fear of God in Falcons fans. But Carolina actually looked a little bit sorry on MNF. They have given me hope that they just might be.....done. Maybe the Falcons don't need to worry about beating them.

So, the Falcons have even odds to get it down for the postseason. We're currently 7th in the NFC (up from 11th last week). If we win two games, we'll probably make the playoffs. We'll just have to wait and see if the birds can get it done.

We just have to worry about beating ourselves.