Welcome back: 2010 Falcons commence season with preseason tilt with KC Chiefs

After two weeks of hitting each other while sweating under the blistering heat at their training facilities in Flowery Branch, the Falcons will get their 2010 season underway on Friday when they take on the Kansas City Chiefs at the Georgia Dome.

The Falcons took part in a final walkthrough on Thursday and head coach Mike Smith wanted to make sure his team was healthy and wanted to evaluate the younger talent instead of installing a full game plan against the Chiefs.

“We haven’t spent a whole lot of time in terms of preparing a game plan for Kansas City,” Smith said. “We’re going to go out there and do the things that we feel like we need to do. We did expose them to a little bit of the 3-4 defense because of the different blocking schemes. But until we get to Game 3, we’re not going to do a whole lot of game planning.”

80 Falcons players are on the roster and majority of them will see a good amount of playing time. There are few veteran players that will not see the field such as Michael Jenkins who suffered a shoulder injury on Friday at the Friday Night Lights event at North Gwinnett High School. Other players that are ruled out for Friday’s game are Harry Douglass who is coming off a torn ACL injury from last season and Dunta Robinson who has not take part in practice all week.

“I think [Harry Douglass] is on track to possibly play next week.” Smith said. “That’s the plan. If nothing changes, then he’ll get some limited snaps in the ball game next week.”
There could be from nine to 11 players that will not play on Friday including Brian Williams who, like Douglass is coming of a knee injury. Also, Jerious Norwood could not play in the game, due to the fact he has not practiced all week.

WHAT TO EXPECT…

If fans are looking to see a lot of playing time from the first team offense and first team defense, they will be disappointed because they will see the field for only one series in the first quarter, at most. This first preseason game gives the coaching staff an opportunity to evaluated some of the younger talent on the roster and see how they do in a real game for the first time.

All eyes will be on first round pick Sean Weatherspoon who will start at the weak outside linebacker spot. Despite being on the first team defense, he should see a good amount of playing time just from an evaluation standpoint.

Another rookie to keep an eye on is Kerry Meier who will see a lot of action due to the Jenkins injury and Douglass not playing on Friday as well. Out of all the rookies on the roster Meier maybe the most impressive.

There has also been a lot buzz about the play of Jamaal Anderson as of late and many are saying that he is having a great camp. He will start at defensive end on Friday, but expect him to get some work at the defensive tackle spot. In fact, out of all the starters on defense, he may see the most reps due to the lack of depth.

“Jamaal has had to get a whole bunch of reps simply because we have been light at the defensive tackle position,” Smith said after practice on Wednesday morning. He played a lot longer than we anticipated he would in the scrimmage, and I think he is going to have to pull some extra time in the game on Friday night, simply because of the numbers we have available on the defensive side.”

Kickoff for the game will be at 8:00 p.m. The Falcons will have Saturday off and will then be back at it on Sunday and Monday before the New England Patriots come to town on Tuesday for two combined practices before their meeting at the Georgia Dome on Thursday.

12,000 Falcons fans flock to North Gwinnett for Friday Night Lights

The Falcons wrapped up their first full week of training camp and they ended the week with a treat for the fans with a scrimmage at North Gwinnett High School. Here's my recap of the event. Oh, and be sure to check me out on Sunday from 2-5 on 790 the Zone for Score Atlanta Sports Sunday Show. You can listen online at www.790thezone.com.


It’s almost here. After a week of walk-throughs and drills, the 2010 Atlanta Falcons finally got to put on the pads and play some football, as their annual Friday Night Lights took place on Friday night at North Gwinnett High School.

It was an opportunity for fans who could not make it out to their training facilities in Flowery Branch to watch the team scrimmage and get up close and personal with their favorite players.

The team was split into two, red (offense) vs. white (defense) and head coach Mike Smith had his own point system so the defense had an equal opportunity to score points in the scrimmage. Before the intrasquad scrimmage, the defense was making plays during camp. But this time it was the offense’s turn to shine as they defeated the defense 39-22.

“[The defense] is going get into the swing of things before we do,” Falcons fullback Ovie Mughelli said after the scrimmage. “For us it’s timing, and it’s just getting into the swing of things. So we’ll get there.”

One of the things the Falcons coaches were taking notice was the play of the younger talent. Guys such as Brandyn Harvey and Dominique Franks were able to make some big plays, but the two who stood out the most were running backs Antone Smith and Dimitri Nance who shared time with Jason Snelling.

“Some of our young players had an opportunity to get extended playing time and I think the running backs did a really good job,” Falcons head coach Mike Smith said. “I thought those guys ran the ball well.

Another player that stepped up his game is wide receiver Kerry Meier who made some big plays while working with the first team.

“Kerry is doing a good job for us,” Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan said who sat most of the second half. “He’s been working hard, studying real hard, been learning the offense, getting better day-by-day.”

Meier may have to better quick because Michael Jenkins went down with a shoulder injury early in the scrimmage. Jenkins will be looked at on Saturday but it’s not expected to be serious.

As good as the team looked, one aspect Smith was worried about is tackling because there were more missed tackles than he would have liked.

“This is the first time we had live tackling,” Smith said. “I think we’ll a lot of improvement between now and next week.”

At halftime about 500 youth cheerleaders performed who were part of the North Gwinnett youth cheerleading program. After the game, fans were treated to fireworks and a full-team autograph session. Total attendance for the event was over 12,000 which is close to the numbers last year which took place at Brookwood and the year prior to that when it was at Mill Creek.

The Falcons will have a mock game on Saturday at their headquarters in Flowery Branch where all the players will go through a rundown of a real NFL game. The event is open to the public and will kickoff at 12:00 p.m. The Falcons will have their first preseason game at the Georgia Dome on Friday when they take on the Kansas City Chiefs. The game will kickoff at 8:00 p.m.