If you haven't heard, Roddy thinks The Commish makes too much money. And, to be frank, he may have a point. Roger does make twenty million a year. Although Stern and Selig make comparable amounts.

I was a little surprised by some of the fanpost comments about this earlier in the week. It got a little chippy, and that's not cool. Roddy is being Roddy. He's done this for a long time now, even before he launched his Twitter account. At the end of the day, he's a top five receiver, and the notion that we should just trade him (then hope whatever we get in return will be comparable) is somewhat absurd. Not saying that he's untradeable, but it's undoubtedly not that simple.

Chris Smith, Forbes Staff Writer, wrote an interesting article about it. He had this to say:

Smith isn't a big name. But I do think he has a point. We're not a big market team, Roddy's only hurting himself. The proof is in the figurative pudding. Like I said, he's done this ad nauseum for years now, and it hasn't had any noteworthy effect on the franchise itself. While I hated to see this most recent transgression of the front of page of ESPN, the good definitely outweighs the bad.

I'm not sure how long Roddy will be a Falcon, but if he continues to lead the league in first down receptions, then he can say whatever he wants. Disagree with me if you want, but please do keep it civil folks. Internet-based smack talking is for thirteen-year-olds and Saints fans.

Yesterday, we celebrated the best Atlanta Falcons game of 2011. Today, we will somberly decide on the worst.

There were a few worthy candidates, unfortunately. The Falcons got browbeaten by a handful of teams badly enough to leave a sour taste in our mouths, and they were pretty much all nominated.

Rather than spend a ton of time on an extremely distasteful introduction, let's just jump right into the nominees.

Vote!

There was a time not very long ago where you could have talked me into rolling with Ray Edwards & The Kids at defensive end. After all, I think there's promising young talent at the position, and guys like Lawrence Sidbury and Cliff Matthews deserve their shots.

At the beginning of the off-season, I happily predicted that El Sid would be the no-brainer starter if John Abraham walked away. But I've thought about it long and hard and come to an unpleasant conclusion: No one on the roster now is likely to solve this team's problem, and if Edwards has another lackluster season as a pass rusher, the Falcons are suddenly in huge trouble.

So the Falcons need a veteran pass rusher, one with the proven ability to get after the quarterback. They can re-sign Abe and try to squeeze one or two more elite years out of him. They could target a free agent like Robert Mathis or Cliff Avril. But it's clear that whoever they get, no matter how heavily they want to rotate in the young players with so much upside, they need an established presence.

It's more of a safeguard than anything else. I truly believe Edwards will improve this year, the combination of Jonathan Babineaux and Corey Peters will offer a little bit more heat and the linebackers will be asked to blitz more under Mike Nolan. All of that should make a difference, and if Sid could keep up last year's pace in more snaps, the Falcons might be fine. But it's been years since the Falcons had a truly fearsome pass rush, and I'm not sure this group as constructed is ready to provide that. The best passing teams in the league will continue to feast on the Falcons without it.

If you sign a guy like Mathis or Avril, you could use them often and still find plenty of room in the rotation with Kroy Biermann (if he's re-signed), Sid and Matthews. I'd be disappointed if those guys didn't get a chance, because both have the talent to be quality rotational ends, at minimum. I'm just not certain that they can approximate Abraham's value, and the line just doesn't intimidate me with that liability, however excellent it will be against the run.

You're welcome to disagree, of course. Do you?

Falcons fandom isn't easy right now. These are the doldrums. And when I say "the doldrums," I'm not referring to the belt of calm/light winds north of the equator between the northern and southern trade winds in the Atlantic/Pacific oceans. No sir, I'm referring to a dull, listless, depressed time period.

Never fear though, things will eventually get interesting. When they do, the decision to sign Grimes or let him walk will assuredly draw some attention. Bleacher Report columnist Chris Trapasso wrote an article about it. He had this to say about the situation:

I'm not sure if ten million would be worth it. GMs have to hedge their bets. Is Grimes worth ten million? Maybe. But there are two pressing questions. First, is it in the best interests of the franchise to lock him down long-term? Second, if the plan is to franchise him, would doing so unduly hinder our roster? To be frank, neither answer seems clear to me. At least not yet.

Discuss!

Surprise! I deemed myself healthy enough to do this and I'm certainly glad I got started on it early. Thankfully, this one didn't take me nearly as long as the first one (Thank God, because school is about to kill me) so you all are getting it today instead of tomorrow.

HOWEVER, that means there will not be one tomorrow, but I will have one Friday.

I swear I never get sick of the "Falcons on Top" song. Here's the link to the Biermann pick 6 in Chicago, and here's my video breaking it down! Enjoy!

Anatomy of a Play 2 - Biermann Does It Again (via zippo729)

This was a surprise.

I figured the huge comeback against the Panthers—I'll admit I voted for it—would capture your hearts. Or maybe the tough win over the Lions. Heck, even the critical beatdown of the Jaguars.

Instead, you all defied convention and propelled the Eagles game to the top. I think this had a lot to do with trouncing the Eagles, a team that has traditionally slapped Atlanta around and beat them in the NFC Championship game in the last decade, because the game itself was incredibly ugly.

Nonetheless, it was a win against a tough team, and it was the Falcons' first win of the season. It was also one of their better offensive performances, when Michael Turner was fresh and Matt Ryan was throwing bombs and the Falcons were beating Michael Vick. Kind of the total package, when you look at it that way.

Congratulations (?) to this game. Tomorrow, we'll start voting on the worst game of the season.

It wasn't a lock or anything, but it's interesting that the Falcons thought enough of Terry Robiskie to deny him permission to talk to Mike Mularkey.

This is old news that just recently came out, but I thought it would be worth discussing. After all, the Falcons were content to let Mike Mularkey walk and then raid Bob Bratkowski from the staff, neither of which were moves wringing hands over. The fact that they drew the line at Robiskie says something.

Under Robiskie, Roddy White has flourished, Julio Jones is growing and Harry Douglas put together a pretty good season. He's got a good rapport with that group, we know he can tutor WRs and the coaching staff likes him. It's little wonder they blocked him from interviewing elsewhere, particularly when you consider that Kevin Cone and Drew Davis might be pushing for a roster spot and will definitely need developing.

So I'm glad the Falcons made the move. I imagine they'll compensate Robiskie in some way for it, and that's fine too. Good coaches are good coaches, and the Falcons need to keep them around.

What are your thoughts?

If you haven't heard, Hines Ward is a free agent, and apparently the Steelers don't want him anymore. Meanwhile, Ward is droning on and on about how he wants to retire in Pittsburgh. While I certainly respect his position, if he has to choose between retirement and playing for a different franchise, then he may change his tune. And given that he played college ball at UGA, if he's going to play for a different team, Atlanta is a logical destination. Fox Sports South analyst John Manasso wrote an article about it. He had this to say:

He would bring leadership, a winning attitude, and an aggressive style of play.

Let's be honest though, the results haven't really been there the last couple of years. His touchdown and yardage totals have decreased since 2009 and he was benched this year. He wouldn't be a horrible fourth option, because despite his relative inefficiency last year, his DVOA was above the league average every year between 2002-2010.

But let me be clear, I don't want him as our slot receiver and I'm definitely not willing to pay him anything close to the three million dollars he made last year.

Thoughts?