Friday, Aug. 19, 2011

• NFL, N.Y. Jets at Houston Texans, noon (tape, NFL Network)

• NFL, New England Patriots at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 3 p.m. (tape, NFL Network)

• NFL, Atlanta Falcons at Jacksonville Jaguars, 7 p.m. (LIVE, Fox)

• NFL, Kansas City Chiefs at Baltimore Ravens, 10 p.m. (tape, NFL Network)

All network programming is subject to change without notice.

Read More: Jerious Norwood (RB – STL), Jason Snelling (RB – ATL), Tiki Barber (RB – NYG), Ronnie Brown (RB – PHI), Ricky Williams (RB – MIA), Jerome Harrison (RB – PHI), LeRon McClain (FB – BAL), Ahmad Bradshaw (RB – NYG), Kevin Smith (RB – DET), Atlanta Falcons, Kansas City Chiefs

Even for those of us who want Jason Snelling to return to the Atlanta Falcons, this is getting kind of frustrating. First he went to visit the New York Giants, only to see his hometown team re-sign Ahmad Bradshaw. Then the St. Louis Rams passed him over for fellow Falcons veteran Jerious Norwood and Cadillac Williams, with Ronnie Brown going to the Philadelphia Eagles.

With Le’Ron McClain now gone to the Kansas City Chiefs, the free agency pool is fresh out of decent running backs, besides Snelling. The Chiefs even worked him out, according to John Clayton, before opting for McClain.

Seriously, who’s left? There’s Kevin Smith, Jerome Harrison … Ricky Williams … Tiki Barber … Whether Snelling is as nationally known as Williams and Barber or not, he doesn’t need to be waiting alongside a retired TV analyst for a deal. Come on home, big guy.

Visit SB Nation’s 2011 NFL free agency hub for the latest news on all 32 teams. Head to The Falcoholic to discuss more Atlanta Falcons news and opinion.

Falcons’ success based on string of key decisions

By GUERRY CLEGG

Special to the Ledger-Enquirer

Unless they meet in the Super Bowl in six weeks, the Atlanta Falcons and New York Jets really have no reason to be concerned with each other.

All the Falcons are concerned with right now is beating the New Orleans Saints. A win Monday night would lock up the NFC South championship and home-field advantage all the way to the Super Bowl in Dallas.

But the weird news last week from the Meadowlands — by way of Deadspin and YouTube — led to a vision even more yeewww than watching an NFL coach and his wife playing footsies on camera.

What if the Falcons had hired the repugnant Rex Ryan instead of Mike Smith? It would have been perversely fitting. The franchise taken down by a dogfighting scandal would have been, once again, the punch line of pro football.

In fact, these past three seasons since Bobby Petrino shockingly, cowardly — and fortunately — heard the call of swine and bolted for Arkansas have led to an amazing string of what-ifs:

It begins at the top. What if Bill Parcells had not left the Falcons at the altar? The Falcons never would have hired Thomas Dimitroff, who certainly wouldn’t have left the security of being the New England Patriots’ chief college scout to be anything less than the chief architect of the Falcons.

And that led to hiring Smith, the universally respected but unheralded defensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Ryan was the son of Buddy Ryan, himself a former NFL head coach. Smith still might be coaching in a mid-level college program if not for the fortunate break of his brother-in-law, Brian Billick, landing a head coaching job in Baltimore.

Dimitroff chose substance over style, which would become his M.O. And that led to another what-if.

What if Dimitroff and Smith had yielded to public pressure — and, in some cases, ridicule — and drafted Glenn Dorsey, a mountain-like defensive lineman from LSU, rather than quarterback Matt Ryan.

Dorsey was seen as the “safe” pick. He was, to use a baseball scouting term, “can’t-miss.” Many scouts questioned Ryan’s arm strength and accuracy. USA Today gave the Kansas City Chiefs, who selected Dorsey, a A for their draft, and the Falcons a C-plus. John Clayton, another NFL analyst, ranked the Chiefs’ draft as the best.

Meanwhile, taking Ryan so high was considered a reach. Some guy named Robert Ferringo, a veteran draft analyst, wrote:

“I don’t like the Matt Ryan pick. They have zero receivers and a terrible offensive line. So throwing Ryan back there to get destroyed is only going to either A) get him hurt, B) help him develop awful habits, and/or C) make the fan base lose faith in him and pine for Michael Vick.”

In three years with the Chiefs, Dorsey has registered 2½ sacks. That’s an average game for John Abraham, the Falcons’ top pass rusher. This is not to disparage Dorsey, for he wasn’t the one doing the rankings.

But Ryan has been every bit the franchise quarterback that Dimitroff and Smith expected him to be. Three years as a starter have resulted in three straight winning seasons — unprecedented in franchise history.

Public perception of the Falcons has changed significantly in one respect. But even as they’ve won eight straight games to match the Patriots for the NFL’s best record at 12-2, they seem to get slighted. Ryan is 19-1 at home and Las Vegas has the Falcons as a slight favorite against the Saints. Yet listen to the TV analysts, and many of them remain unsold on Atlanta.

That’s fine. This isn’t the BCS, where perception becomes reality. This is the NFL, where the championship plays out every week on the field. So let the national media continue their love affair with Sexy Rex and the Jets and Vick and the Eagles. The Falcons — a team that has chosen substance over style — will be quite content to remain underrated until they are hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in Dallas.

I’ve abstained from making game predictions, but Rex and Michelle Ryan have made this one too hard to resist.

Falcons by a toe.

– Guerry Clegg is an independent correspondent. You can write to him at sports@ledger-enquirer.com