What was it for Tony? Was it winning his first play-off game in his 16-year career? Was it the taste of a possible NFC Championship and a shot at a Super Bowl performance just left him craving for more? Either way, Gonzalez will be returning with the team as they make another push at a Super Bowl appearance. The team is poised, they were left hungry and have Gonzalez hoping this will be the year he can truly go out on the highest note of all time: A Super Bowl Champion.

During the 2012 season, Gonzalez had one of his strongest seasons of his career. At the age of 36, he had 93 catches and totaled 930 yards and saw eight end-zones. He earned earned Pro-Bowl honors for his 12th time, a record for tight ends in the history of the league. Gonzalez also holds the records for Pro Bowl receptions (42) and touchdowns (5).

You better believe that this record breaking tight-end will bring a whole new level of tenacity, passion, and entertainment as he steps on the field to make that Super Bowl drive one last time and look to go out a champion.

Stay Tuned.

In an interview with the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff, stated that in 2008 the Falcons were amongst the youngest teams in the league and this past year were one of the oldest. While we knew that a cut was looming for the Falcons organization, many were still surprised to see that John Abraham was a part of this cut. He has 122 career sacks which is the most among all active players. Perhaps it was his underwhelming 3.6 yards per carry this season that sealed his deal with the Falcons and sent him packing.

What is most jarring about this cut is that according to Friday’s NFL transaction report, the Falcons tied the release Michael Turner to a “failed physical”. Let’s just stop a second and call “malarkey” right here. They didn’t list a reason for what deemed the physical failed and that frankly does not surprise Turner fans as he has never missed a game in the last three seasons. He started every single game for Atlanta. Turner has graciously stated while it is difficult leaving Atlanta, he does want to continue his career elsewhere. We will await the results of his physical should he secure a roster spot on a new team.

With saying “goodbye” to theree of their over-thirty players (Abraham 34, Turner 31, Robinson, 30) they also opened up $15.9 million in cap space as they look to draft some young talent and look into the free agency pool once it opens.

One main reason why the Falcons failed to make it to the Super Bowl was because of their lackluster ground game. Sure, they had issues stopping the run but even more so, they relied heavily on hail mary passes to carry them deep into the post season as opposed to relying on consistent offensive progression.

This is not to take away from Matt Ryan who had a stellar season and continues to throw for more TDs each year but its safe to say that a ground attack to drill the clock down was not a key component for the Falcons this season. They need to control the ball and control the clock to win the Big Game. As the Falcons scout out the combine, they have few needs but the few are crucial:

- Re-sign William Moore: With the Falcons handing on to mere strands of delusional hope that Tony Gonzalez will return, they need to close the deal with William Moore so that he and Jacquizz Rodgers can re-enforce the offensive padding. This is not a one man job and both these fellows are needed back on the field. Secure Moore.

- Scout who and what will stop the opposing run offense. We’ll dive into this in a later post.

- Rejuvinate With Young Talent: Enter Jake Stoneburner…

With Gonzalez saying he is not coming back and the Falcons dabbling with the idea of releasing Michael Turner, head coach Mike Smith and GM Thomas Dimitroff are going to be keeping a close eye on Jake Stoneburner, the TE from OSU.

What makes Stoneburner a good fit for the Falcons? He has the size they want and hands that will harmoniously make love with the precision of Matt Ryan’s passes. He is tenacious when it comes to going after the catch and is a standout more so on the receiving end than blocking. As a result, the Falcons will be watching his 40-yard dash times closely. Stoneburner does have some room to prove that he is more than purely a possession receiver.

Gonzalez said he left it all out on the field and has no regrets. The Falcons were 10 yards and one touch down away from going seeing the Super Bowl. Emotions are high for Gonzalez right now; coming off the huge loss, in what was arguably the best season of his career. Falconation is left to grapple with if the 5% of uncertainty in Gonzalez’s mind will bring him back as the Falcons will return next season as a big threat and have their sights on cracking into the Super Bowl. Or if he will take the chance to go out on top as he is at the top of the TE ranks.

He said he feels that he has given it all he has to give but the Falcons are really hoping to tap into that 5% of unsure. Falcons Head Coach, Mike Smith has plans to speak with Gonzalez and usher him into coming back for one more season.

How would Mike Smith be able to convince Gonzalez to do so? Gonzalez just had his first career playoff win and was just shy of playing under the lights of the Super Bowl. Smith plans to tap into that hunger for Gonzalez’s first Super Bowl berth. Once the dust settles, Gonzalez may be fueled to come back to see if he can top his stellar performance this season one more time in hopes to truly go out on top – a Super Bowl player.

If Gonzalez does come back, he will look to outperform his veteran success this season in which he had 93 receptions for just under 1,000 yards and eight td’s.  Falcons fans, keep your fingers crossed. That 5% may bring Gonzo back for one more rodeo.

Seconds had ticked down as Falcons Kicker, Matt Bryant, stepped onto the field to attempt the crucial 49-yard field goal with 13 seconds to go and the normally ear-numbing dome grew much to quiet in anticipation of the task that laid before Bryant. Bryant missed the feldgoal as Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll called a timeout that enabled Bryant to line up once more. He connected with the 49-yard field goal to put the Falcons up 30-28. The Seahawks took the field with 8 seconds left and Julio Jones intercepted Seahawks QB, Russell Wilson’s hail mary pass into the endzone to send the Falcons tot he NFC Championship game and never force Matt Ryan to answer the age old question of why he cannot win a play off game ever again.

So how did the Falcons get to this literally unbelievable victory to crush the break wall that has stood between Matt Ryan and a playoff victory all this time? Ryan had not thrown for 200+ yards in any of his three prior playoff loses. Against the Seahawks, he threw for 250 yards accompanied by three touchdowns, and two interceptions.

As the clock strong zero, the flood gates opened for Gonzalez who had yet to win a playoff game in his 16-year career until tonight. Gonzalez who has said he is set to retire at the end of this year has a chance to win the NFC championship against the San Francisco 49′ers and advance to the Super Bowl. What better way for the come-back Falcons to end their amazing season and send Gonzalez out with one heck of a career capstone?

Atlanta started out the season on fire as they had the longest undefeated run of any other team in the league this season. Atlanta will prepare to take on Seahawk rookie QB, Russell Wilson who was the only one out of three rookie QBs to win in their playoff debut in the wild-card round. Wilson has been making waves since the beginning of November as he has thrown 17 touchdowns and allowing only two interceptions through nine games. The Seahawks came out of the 9 game stretch 8-1 with Wilson leading the way.

While the Falcons are sure to prepare for the accuracy and strength that Wilson’s passing game brings, they are making sure not to underestimate Seattle’s speed. Seattle is currently ranked third in the league for rushing offense and in order for the Falcons to redeem themselves they will have to put a stop to the Seahawk’s rush early in the game.

The last three seasons, Smith coached the team to their top three third down conversion performances. With the exception of the 2009 season in which the Falcons finished 11th in the league, the organization has been in the top 6 teams in regards to third down conversion rates since 2008.

However, the Falcons have struggled to showcase this strength in their last two post-season appearances in which they fell under a 30% third down conversion rate in playoffs. To avoid this playoff history, Coach Smith has focused on the importance of handling the ball with caution. The Falcons finished the season tied with Houston for least amount of fumbles lost per game with 0.2 as well as top of the ranks when it came to throwing less than one interception per game this season.

This are key focuses that the Falcons will carry over into playoffs to outplay, outperform, and most importantly outlast their opponents in the post season. They team feels these two key take aways, treating the ball with caution and third down conversions, are what have been their post season Achilles heel in the past (especially against Green Bay in 2010) and they look to strengthen their current talents in these areas even more as playoffs approach.

Falcons safety William Moore still suffers from the hamstring injury that occurred against New Orleans. He has missed the past two games as a result of the injury and again watched practice from the sidelines today. Head coach Mike Smith confirmed he was running off to the side with trainers but sat out of the team portion of practice.

While Moore remains out, O-linesman Joe Hawley made his first appearance back in practice after completing his four game suspension caused by his violation of the league’s susbtance abuse policy for testing positive for Adderall in his system. His suspension began on Nov. 19th.

Atlanta has a week long period in which they are able to decide if Hawley will be added back onto the active roster and they plan to use the week to evaluate the situation. Should Hawley be added back onto the roster, it will be in replace of Harland Gunn who stepped in while Hawley fulfilled his suspension. Gunn has been inactive for all four games on which he was signed to the roster.

As the weekend approaches, only time will tell if Moore will be back on the field, or additional time is needed as the Falcons take extra pre-cautions in hopes to have him present in the post-season.

What exactly will the Falcons look to -remodel? The Third Down Conversion.

Atlanta must figure out how to start progressing down the field again and break through this wall they seem to hit of late on the third down. Two weeks ago the Falcons were 1-of-11 against the Saints and 2-of-8 against the Panthers on third down conversions. Thats 3 for 19 (15.7) on third down conversions. AKA Terrible the past two weeks.

Defensively the third down is another area of focus. The Falcons have got to get off the field defensively in stead of letting the opponent continue the downfield march. The Falcons defense let the Panthers run all over them. The Panthers went 9 for 15 (60%) when it came to converting on third downs.

With last years Super Bowl champs on the horizon, the Falcons have work to do this week in order to remind us all of why they are championship worthy.

The Falcons refuse to listen to the noise the skeptics are stirring up. After the Sunday loss, QB Matt Ryan said “They came out and played better than us. We’re in a position in our season where we’ve got everything right in front of us, and we need to get back to work and worry about that”. Head Coach Mike Smith is employing Sundays loss as a teaching point to help prepare the Falcons for the final quarter of the season.

In order for the Falcons to recover from this they are going to have to focus on gaining the early lead. At this point in the season, teams have every thing to lose and while the Falcons still have prime position for home field advantage, they cant lose their footing now. It was a long day of film on Monday as the Falcons took the day to their lackluster performance, figure out what they did terribly wrong, and what they have to do to get back on track with defending Super Bowl champions, The New York Giants on par for Sunday. Atlanta has now diagnosed their their shortfall and will spend the reminder of the week getting stronger and prepared for defending Super Bowl champs.

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