When the United Football League debuts in October, Michael Vick could be one of its players.
Source >> ESPN

Posted by ESPN.com staff Atlanta Falcons Falcons safety William Moore took this away from the rookie symposium: "You're here…
Source >> ESPN

Suspended NFL star Michael Vick would keep one vehicle, one home and a large assortment of furniture and personal items if his creditors and the judge who rejected his previous bankruptcy plan approve a revised one filed Thursday.

Source >> Topix

Tom Owen from The Falcoholic shares his insight on the 2009 Atlanta Falcons . Check in on other teams here .

Source >> Topix

Yeah, we’re back to the biggest free agent acquisition of the off-season. You wanna fight about it?

You’re probably familiar with the format by now, but for some of our newer readers and people who might comment on this story for the first time ever–don’t be shy, folks!–this is basically a projection thread. You’ll be figuring out how many catches Tony Gonzalez is going to get in the year ahead at tight end, how many touchdowns, yards per catch, yards after the catch, yards after the end of the world, and so forth. We’ll be looking for some kind of general consensus about the type of player he’ll be and his impact on the 2009 Atlanta Falcons, so this one relies heavily on all of you weighing in.

Get it going, ladies and gentlemen.

Source >> Falcoholic

Since it’s never too early to discuss the coming NFL season, I thought it could never be too early to discuss something else involving professional football, that being fantasy football leagues.  This will be a two part discussion with the first intended for the uninitiated or new participants to fantasy sports, in general terms, and the second going into further detail with regards to fantasy football specifically.

This post will cover the five W’s of who should play, what type they should play, when they should play, where they should go to get started, why they should spend even more time in front of a computer for a silly game.  So jump on in Alice, I’ve got a wonderful fantasy world for you to explore!

Personally, I have been playing fantasy sports since I was in middle school, like early 90’s.  Back then we did everything with pen and paper and used the Sunday edition of the AJC to keep up with stats from box scores.  Thankfully, things have progressed since then and, thankfully, Al Gore invented the interwebs for us so now I don’t have to write nearly as much as I used to.  No more calculators to add up cumulative stats and create percentage based stats that the paper didn’t track or provide.  But, while the computer age has provided us much, I still break out the pen and paper to create strategies and personalize things my own way.  Call it an old habit if you will.

I have been running leagues for over a decade now covering just about every sport you can think of.  When I couldn’t find a site to provide what I wanted, I created my own just like I did back when I was a teenager.  Instead of pen and paper though, I use spreadsheets and formulas.  I have created fantasy college football, college baseball, and college basketball leagues in this manner since they don’t have the same following or support that professional sports do.  Since this is a Falcons site, I will stick to fantasy football when covering specifics, and since I am most familiar with Yahoo, I will base the rest of this post on my experiences there, but all of the below information should mold to any sport or site you choose to participate in.  So let’s start by answering the five W’s, who, what, when, where, and why.

Who should play depends, but the easiest answer is everyone.  Everyone should play at least once, that is.  If you like sports, regardless if it’s hardcore or casually, fantasy sports leagues will allow one to get even more involved with that sport and more importantly, their chosen team.  Sure, I follow the Falcons, but managing a successful fantasy football team is more about following every player in the league than it is following one team.  You know how on that one awesome Falcons site, The Falcoholic, there are always these guys posting a bunch of numbers and stats and sometimes you don’t understand what all those acronyms mean?  Well, fantasy sports allows you to dive into the world of statistical analysis without doing all the dirty work and it can even act like a ‘NFL Stats For Dummies’ book.  See, who doesn’t benefit from a little extra knowledge?

What fantasy sport you play and when you play it depends on what you like, but there is just about everything you can think of out there so you probably won’t be left out if you wanted to manage an IRL fantasy racing team.  All of the major sports are covered thoroughly as well as most of the minor sports, but some will require you to find a specialty site, especially if you are looking for something in the college variety.  Obviously, the sport you choose will dictate when you can find a league since all sports follow some form of season.  And as far as styles go, well, those are just as varied as the sports available to choose from, so I will cover the football specific things later in the post.

Where you decide to join a fantasy league also depends on what sport you choose.  As I mentioned above, most sports are well covered, but some require finding a specialty site, and in some cases you may have to create your own as I have in the past.  I use Yahoo for almost all things fantasy sports related, but I have used many others such as FleaFlicker, ESPN, CBSSportline, and countless others over the years.  Yahoo’s leagues have gotten so much better over the years that I just stopped using other sites unless I was invited to someone’s league on a different site.  They have a free league and a pay league.  Typically you get many more options when you pay for their Plus leagues, however, I have noticed that each year they implement more and more of the Plus league options to their free leagues, so it’s really not necessary to pay unless you want to dish out cash prizes or have something very specific that you want to cover in your league.  I think last year they finally let the keeper league option go to the free stuff, but can’t remember.  ESPN, and I believe NFL.com (though I think NFL.com merged with CBSSportsline so…), let’s you do a keeper league for free, but CBSSportsline might make you pay for that option.

Why a person should choose to play fantasy sports really comes down to personal choice more than anything else.  Maybe you want to be more knowledgeable about the players and teams in your favorite sport.  Maybe you want to get a little office rivalry going so you have something to brag about while hanging around the water cooler.  Maybe you just want something fun to do while sitting at work home, haha.  Either way, for me, I say why not?

Granted this is very generic, but I’m hoping that it helps some who have never experienced the candy that is fantasy sports to take the plunge.  Fantasy sports caters to many different types of people that I feel everyone should try it.  From casual sports fans to hardcore staticians, fantasy sports provides something for everyone.  Stay tuned for part two where I will delve more deeply into fantasy football and how to get started.  Thanks for reading!

Source >> Falcoholic

I hope we have found a way to get him the ball more. I think our staff is smart enough to do that. He has too much talent to not have
more touches. I especially love when he catches the ball in the flat. I really don’t care how they do it as long as he is on the field more.

http://falcons.fandome.com/video/107957/Je…ame-Sealing-TD/
Source >> Atlanta Falcons Blogs

link
Rookies undaunted by Buffalo’s O-line overhaul

July 2, 2009 2:53 PM

Getty Images
Rookie guards Eric Wood (70) and Andy Levitre are expected to start this season.

Posted by ESPN.com’s Tim Graham

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — A decent amount of pressure rests on the young shoulders of Eric Wood and Andy Levitre.

The Buffalo Bills need these rookies to perform straight away for an offensive line that’s going through a serious overhaul slathered with skepticism.

“We’re going to have five guys probably playing in new positions up front for the Bills,” Wood said at a youth football camp during the four-day NFL Rookie Symposium, which ended Wednesday at PGA National Resort and Spa.

Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters is gone, traded away to the Philadelphia Eagles to avoid another contract spat that would’ve doomed the season before it began. Gone is left guard Derrick Dockery, cut two years after the Bills gave him the richest contract in team history.

Those were the first dominoes in an offseason that ensured the Bills won’t have any offensive linemen playing in the same position as last year.

Wood and Levitre are projected to be the starting guards, positions they weren’t known for in college.

The Bills selected Wood, a star center at Louisville, with the most meaningful pick they received in the Peters trade, making him the 28th player off the board. The Bills traded up with the Dallas Cowboys to grab Levitre 51st overall. He played tackle at Oregon State.

Much will be expected of them. The Bills declined to draft a tackle to groom as Peters’ replacement.

Instead, they’re switching Langston Walker from right tackle to left. Last year’s right guard, Brad Butler, is being shifted to Walker’s old post. The Bills said goodbye to centers Duke Preston and Melvin Fowler and signed free-agent Geoff Hangartner, a Carolina Panthers reserve for half of last year.

The term “hodgepodge” comes to mind.

“I love it when people have doubts about us,” Levitre said. “It just feels so much better when you can go out there and prove it. It’s something to work for. You want to go out there and prove you’re not a bad line just because you’re new.”

Perhaps no other unit needs to work in harmony more than the offensive line.

While the Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots and New York Jets could enter 2009 with a grand total of one change on their offensive lines combined (the Dolphins have a new center), the Bills arguably have the league’s most chaotic situation.

“Any time everyone’s doubting you, you’re definitely going to have a chip on your shoulder,” Wood said. “That’s a challenge we’re welcoming.

“The good thing about my experience in the NFL so far is you got enough meeting time and you got enough practice time to make it work. We got some guys returning from last year and some guys that know our divisional opponents.

“It should be an easier transition than it seems, but it’s definitely going to be a challenge.”

Wood and Levitre will have to mature quickly. Twice a year they will be facing defenses stamped by Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick and Rex Ryan.

The AFC East will play against the AFC South and NFC South this year. The Bills will need to stop six of the top 11 sackmasters from last year.

“We go against some great nose guards and D-ends,” Levitre said. “As long as you know what you’re doing on the field, it doesn’t really matter. If you know your assignments, that shouldn’t pose too much of a problem.

“We got a lot of new guys on our offensive line, but I feel we’re clicking pretty well. We’ve been working together, going out together. I think we’re going to be pretty cohesive.”

Wood and Levitre have each other to lean on.

As players turning pro at the same time and with expectations to start, each will know what the other is going through.

“We’re both hardcore competitors and ideally we’d like to play out our careers in Buffalo and hopefully be the starters forever,” Wood said. “But we got a lot to do before anything like that can happen. We realize the challenge just earning a spot on the line is.”

Wood has been speaking with former Louisville mate Jason Spitz, a guard the Green Bay Packers drafted in 2006 along with guard Daryn Colledge and right tackle Tony Moll. The trio started as rookies.

The Bills are banking on versatility and intelligence with their crew. They all can play multiple positions. Hangartner started games at center and both guard spots for the Panthers last year because of injuries.

And they have impressive brains. Walker has an economics degree from California-Berkley. Butler has interned on Capitol Hill during the offseason. Hangartner scored 47 out of a possible 50 (believed to be the highest score ever by a lineman) on the Wonderlic intelligence test before the 2005 draft. Wood turned down a scholarship to play at Columbia. Levitre was academic All-Pac-10, graduating from Oregon State with degrees in finance and sociology.

“I think we’re going to have a tough unit up front with a bunch of smart guys,” Wood said. “From any offensive line coach you talk to, if you got smart, tough guys, you can make it work if the guys come together.”

Of course, a No. 2 pencil can’t help them answer the questions that will test them on Sundays.

How will the line respond with Peters and Dockery gone?

Will two rookies learn new positions adequately enough?

Can so many juggled players work in concert without a prolonged adjustment period?

“We know that we’re young and new and have a lot of work to do to get to where we want to be,” Levitre said. “I think all of us understand that.”

Buffalo Bills, Andy Levitre, Eric Wood, Langston Walker, Geoff Hangartner, Melvin Fowler, Duke Preston, Brad Butler, Jason Peters, Derrick Dockery, Rex Ryan, Bill Belichick, Bill Parcells

With possibly 2 rookies starting(at positions they didn’t ply in college) and no more peters how do you think we could do against them?
Source >> Atlanta Falcons Blogs

Remember When Ryan and BC came to GT and he destroyed Tech. I remember the commentators saying that Falcons scouts were spotted at the game and that Atlanta would love to just kidnap him and start him right away. Just though I would bring up that moment in history
Source >> Atlanta Falcons Blogs