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Toronto_Dirty_Bird · 03-23-2011, 01:44 PM

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Falcons not forgetting WR Harry Douglas
March, 23, 2011

By Pat Yasinskas
NEW ORLEANS -- Defensive tackle Peria Jerry isn’t the only injured player the Atlanta Falcons are expecting a breakout season from in 2011. You can add wide receiver Harry Douglas to that list.

Although we (and I’m talking virtually everyone in the media and fans) have been talking about how the Falcons need to add a speed receiver in the draft, they might already have their guy in place. General manager Thomas Dimitroff said the 2010 season wasn’t a full indicator of what Douglas can do and said his situation is very similar to Jerry’s.

Both players were coming back from major knee injuries and made minor impacts last season. Dimitroff and coach Mike Smith said they expect the impact of both players to be much greater this season.

Much has been made about how the Falcons didn’t have a lot of explosive passing plays last season, even though Douglas was part of that receiver corps. But Dimitroff said a fully-healthy Douglas could provide a big boost.

Douglas showed plenty of promise as a rookie in 2008, catching 23 passes and averaging almost 14 yards a catch. He then suffered a training-camp knee injury in 2009 and missed the entire season. Douglas was expected to come back and be a threat as slot receiver last season, but he got off to a slow start. Part of it was because starting receiver Michael Jenkins was injured and missed the first six games and that forced Douglas to have to do more than just be a slot receiver. Part of it also might have been because Douglas wasn’t 100 percent early in the season.

But Dimitroff said there were encouraging signs as last season went on.

“Just about halfway through the season, Harry was healed,’’ Dimitroff said. “There was no more issue there. I saw an increased explosiveness that I didn’t see in the beginning of the season and more confidence. We would have continued to throw to him and get him more and more involved if we had advanced in the playoffs. He understands this is also a big year for him.’’

Anomaly · 03-23-2011, 01:52 PM

Here is a direct link to the article for anyone interested.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcsouth/post/_/...ry-douglas

caver50 · 03-23-2011, 05:28 PM

Harry has talent, just needs more plays to get in synk with Matt. He has a great burst of speed after the catch.

DawnOfThemBirds · 03-23-2011, 05:51 PM

HD will be much more of a factor next season because he will get alot more of his bursting speed back. He just wasn't quick and he was kind of uncoordinated last season, but I believe that he will get himself together for a very productive season. He also needs to work out alongside Roddy to improve his hands.

Beef · 03-23-2011, 06:23 PM

Ok, so what happens if we get a healthy Jerry, HD, Meier, & Spoon while also drafting the likes of Hankerson, Jernigan, DJ Williams, & puting a Da'Rel Scott at scatback? Especially if Jerry & Biermann blow up like we hope & Meier turns out to be an absolute gem.

We'd have more playmakers than we know what to do with, lol.

I really hope we go huge in FA too. Snagging Asomugha with that kinda draft would make me jiz I think.

I'm confident HD will come back. He just needs to catch the ball & he'll be great.

markdzul · 03-24-2011, 02:56 PM

always have to plan for some kind of setbacks with injuries during the season, but getting all back at 100% would be unbelievable....

babuka · (This post was last modified: 03-25-2011 03:33 PM by babuka.)

Douglas and Meier need to step up and be a good 3 and 4 receiver. I still think another receiver needs to be brought in that can be a true no. 2 receiver. By true no. 2, I mean somebody that could fill the no. 1 role if needed if Roddy went down and the offense still be good enough to win the division and win in the playoffs.

cooperbh · 03-25-2011, 11:07 PM

The biggest issue I saw with HD during the couple of games I attended last season was a general lack of awareness to work back to Ryan whenever a play broke down. For the most part, HD would run his route and then just stand there. Sometimes, he would get flattened by a defender going after the ball because he himself had no idea where the ball was.

Other than that, I really don't recall seeing HD last season unless he was dropping balls.

Welker, BTW, is a master at anticipating where his QB needs him to be when he is under duress. Hopefully, a fully healed HD will be able to better focus on and improve this part of his game next year.