QUOTE (caneman @ Nov 24 2010, 12:05 AM)

Bold statement but they are a much more balanced team than the last Falcon team that went, that is for sure!
I wouldn't go that far. The '98
Falcons had a better defense than this team, and the offenses are probably about equal, maybe with a slight advantage going to '98 Falcons as they had two legit receivers, Terrance Mathis and Tony Martin (both with 1,000-yard seasons) with Mathis being the speedster and Martin the legit deep threat. While this Falcons team has Roddy White as a primary weapon at wideout, they don't have a real 2nd threat. Jenkins, Douglas, Finneran, all those guys are good complements, but none of them stack up to Martin and his ability to stretch the field.
Chandler had a better deep pass than Matt Ryan does too, though Chandler was never a sure-fire bet because of his tendency to get hurt. In fact, we used to call him Chris Chandelier in Atlanta because he was so damn fragile.
Anyway, I'm from Atlanta; a born and bread Falcons fan, and that's why I won't dare predict anything good for them. Atlanta has a long and storied history of losing.
In fact, here's the only story you need to know. When the Falcons were preparing to play their first ever game in the city of Atlanta, in Fulton County Stadium, a real life falcon was brought in to celebrate the event. His trainer was supposed to release him in the air, he would circle the stadium, and then fly back down.
So the trainer lets his falcon go. It soars into the air majestically, circles the stadium once, looks down on the mass below in disgust, and flys off into the sunset, never to return. And that, my friends, was an omen. And so it has gone for the city of Atlanta ever since, specifically, the Atlanta Falcons.