In this blog I will be looking at the chances of Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcon's chances in making an even deeper playoff run than they did last year where they were eventually stymied by San Francisco. With the continued development of Ryan and his impressive wide receiving partnership of Roddy White and Julio Jones the Falcon's seem set to return to the playoffs a second year in a row. There are a number of reasons why I think that they will manage to do this even though some may argue that with the departure of Micheal "Burner" Turner they are even weaker.
However I believe that the departure of Michael Turner has in some way strengthened the Falcon's offensive versatility, they will be able to incorporate the electric Jacquizz Rodgers into their passing game alongside Jones and White. Rodgers adds an element that Turner was unable to bring, he adds a change of pace and an elusiveness that brings a completely different dimension to their offense. This replacement should speed up an offense that tended to become rather stagnant when they relied on Turner to move the ball on the ground, this is a key concern for a team that was 29th in rushing in 2012 with a meager 87.3 yards per game on the ground. We did however start to see Rodgers getting more touches on the ground and in the air, he managed to compile 94 touches on the ground and an impressive 53 receptions, this is a large increase to his rookie season where he only managed to get 57 touches on the ground and 21 receptions. This already indicates to us that his potential had been realised and therefore a concerted effort was made get him the ball, whether this was on the ground or in the air. I think that therefore, we shall see a significant increase in his production next year, as he will be given an even greater number of touches and will hopefully be able to return the Falcon's running attack to the glory of only a few season's ago, when Turner was relatively near his prime and easily clearing 1000 yards.
Now to the next big issue for the Falcon's, Tony Gonzalez, this tight end who is undoubtedly going to be enshrined in Canton Ohio in the Hall of Fame is still apparently undecided as to whether or not he will return next year. Although he seemingly decided at the end of the Falcon's playoff run that it was time to step away from the game, however in the recent months it seems that Gonzalez has had time to think about this decision and is unsure whether he will actually stand by it. This has led to most people assuming that Gonzalez will eventually decide to return to the Falcon's for one more season, if so then Ryan will have one more chance to try and help earn one of the greatest tight end's to ever take the field a Super Bowl ring. Questions will undoubtedly arise however about his health and whether he can stay fit, though many people will point to his continued health throughout his 15 year career, thought there has been an obvious decline in his production due to his age he is still a major touchdown threat in the redzone due to the phenomenal hands and body control that he possesses. This means that he is still a viable threat to score and will be able to take some of the pressure off Julio Jones and Roddy White when the Falcon's are trying to punch in those vital scores in big games. Whatever decision he makes it will definitely impact the Falcon's chances next year as they try to make another playoff run, he provides veteran leadership and skill to a team that otherwise lacks leaders on either side of the ball.
The next most important factor for the Falcon's in establishing themselves as a constant threat to reach the playoffs is there dominating wide receiving duo of Julio Jones and Roddy White. This pair can stake a claim to be the most feared duo in the NFL because of their size, speed and catching ability, all of these attributes that they hold helps to threaten defenses in a multitude of ways that ranges from passes down the field to short passes across the middle that when caught in stride can gain huge amounts of yards. This gives Matt Ryan a various number of ways in which he can beat a defense and helps to increase the threat that the Falcon's offense poses. With this the Falcon's should be able to move the ball effectively in the air, Jones seems to be poised to continue to keep improving at a tremendous rate, and this should help to draw some coverage away from Roddy White which he will surely face because of his outstanding year in 2012 (92 receptions, 1351 yards and 7 touchdowns). Jones will have to play a much more prominent role on the offense of Gonzalez does retire, he did show that he will be able to do this by improving his catches by 25 (from 54 in his rookie year to 79), however he will need to improve again if the Falcon's hope to return to the playoffs for the second year in a row. However at the tender age of 24 we can easily expect to see Julio Jones improve throughout the next few years and emerge as one of the best receivers in the NFL. Roddy White is continuing to produce incredible numbers and I expect him to for at least 3 to 4 years until age starts to slow him down and force him to become more of a possession receiver. All in all the wide receiving group for Atlanta looks set to be one of the very best for the foreseeable future.
The only other concern and one that I believe is relatively minor is the continued high performance of Matt Ryan, he needs to be able to consistently put up the numbers that he managed to post in the 2012 season, he managed to post 4,719 yards through the air and compiled an impressive 32 touchdowns. This paired with his first ever trip to the postseason has helped to finally silence some of the doubters that have been present in the past few seasons, with all of this pressure finally removed from Ryan's shoulders he should be able to play as he wishes without fear of any criticism. I have the personal opinion that all of the criticism that he has had, has been slightly undeserved, I thought he was eventually going to lead his team to the postseason and then win a game. I was finally proven right last year when he managed to engineer his team to a win against Seattle in the Georgia Dome. This showed us that Ryan does have the poise and leadership required to win in the playoffs, and will undoubtedly go on to win more in the future.
All of these factors that I have discussed in this brief blog manage to show how and why I believe the Atlanta Falcon's are poised to make a playoff run in 2013, as long as they can keep all of these under control then there is no doubt that they will repeat their performance of last year. This should help to quell any criticism that may arise of Ryan and the Falcon's performances in the ensuing years.
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