Tom Brady is sad. That helps a little. Mandatory Credit: Stew Milne-USA TODAY Sports

What We Learned in the NFL Conference Championship Weekend

• Steeler Nation is being punished
• Atlanta Defense fails to stop Kaepernick and Davis
• Falcon fan stabbed following NFC Championship game
• Tom Brady blows it and Belichick pouts
• Ray Lewis nothing but humble
• Harbowl already turning people off of SB XLVII

Clearly we’re being punished, Steeler Nation.  We all know we’re spoiled, we expect the Steelers to be in the Super Bowl every year because that’s what we’ve grown accustomed to.  I’m not sure what the egregious offenses were exactly but the Football Gods are clearly not pleased with us and now we must suffer the consequences.  It was bad enough to have to watch another AFC Championship between the Ratbirds and Patriots but now we’re staring down our worst nightmare as we’ll be flooded with nonstop coverage of Ray Lewis and his dancing/crying/preaching farewell tour and the Jagoff vs. Jagoff that will be the Super Bowl between the two Harbaugh brothers coaching.  Ugh.  I’m disgusted already.  Let’s throw out some cheap shots.

Last week we saw Seattle and their offense pick apart the Falcons defense in their comeback from a 20-0 deficit.  This week we saw Atlanta jump out to another easy 17-0 lead, only to blow every chance defensively to stop Kaepernick, Gore, and Vernon Davis collectively.  Also, apparently Randy Moss is still alive and well in the NFL and actually caught a few passes on his way to his first Super Bowl appearance with the 49ers.  While the top seeded Falcons managed to win their first playoff game under head coach Mike Smith and quarterback Matt Ryan, they didn’t seem to have enough gas left in the tank to stop the surging 49ers.  Jim Harbaugh goes from throwing toddler-like temper tantrums on the sidelines to rejoicing over a Super Bowl berth.  Clearly his move to bench Alex Smith following his concussion in favor of Colin Kaepernick has paid off.  A risky move considering Smith was not playing badly and the team was succeeding.  But Harbaugh made his choice and now he’s doing as a coach what he was a Hail Mary batted down in the endzone of Three Rivers Stadium away from doing as a quarterback, he’s going to the Super Bowl.

Following the NFC Championship in Atlanta, a Falcons fan is now recovering in the hospital from stab wounds received in a fight with a 49ers fan outside of the stadium.  If you’re thinking that the most incidents we hear about regarding fan violence sending someone to the hospital stemming around the 49ers, you’d be right.  There have been several incidents of stabbings and fights outside of Candlestick Park in San Francisco following 49ers game against the Giants and Raiders.  The Falcons fan is reportedly in stable condition and there is no truth to the rumors that Ray Lewis was involved in this stabbing although if the police in New Orleans know what’s good for them, they’d be on high alert next week, for all parties concerned.

Speaking of Ray Lewis, how humble is this man?  Just unassuming, going about his business not wanting any attention or praise kind of hard working guy huh?  If you’ve gotten sick of the entire Ray Lewis last ride BS, you’re going to take a turn for the worse before you get any better.  If you like your football without a side of religion, you might not want to follow any part of these purple guys.  Apparently God likes them the most and that’s why they got to finally win and beat Tom Brady and the Patriots.  The Godly Terrell Suggs was heard screaming at reporters to tell the Patriots to “Have fun in the Pro Bowl” and then added, “Arrogant f*****s” just for good measure.  Meanwhile, Lewis was probably leading a prayer circle or a Soul Train dance line in the middle of the Patriots field.

Can’t get away from the fact that the Ratbirds beat the Patriots and beat them soundly.  Tom Brady managed only one touchdown and two interceptions after leading an offense that scored 557 points this season.  Flacco’s policy of chucking the ball in the air and seeing if either his receiver will catch it or if they’ll be the benefactor of a pass interference call is still working apparently.  In all fairness though Anquan Boldin has been catching everything this post season and for his sake I hope he’s gotten his flu shot.  The Ratbirds defense held the Patriots scoreless in the second half of the game.  Following the loss, the hoodie pouted and refused to do the obligatory “we just didn’t make enough plays” interview with CBS on the field but did give his usual emotionless press conference following the game.

For the first time since 2003 the Super Bowl will not have a quarterback named Brady, Manning, or Roethlisberger playing.  Does this make Flacco elite now?  You bet your ass his agent will think it does as Flacco will be renegotiating for a new contract this offseason regardless of the outcome of the Super Bowl.  Make your plans now Steeler Nation, are you going to watch just for the commercials and hope to stomach though the jagoffery or are you going to boycott all together and finally clean that garage out?  Super Bowl XLVII is less than two weeks away and it’s going to blow.

Follow me on Twitter @Kimmy_KimKimM and follow all of NPC’s posts @NicePickCowherC

Like riding a bike right Peyton? Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

What We Learned in the NFL Divisional Playoff Weekend:

• Peyton is truly back to his old self
• Harbaugh’s risk on Kaepernick might just pay off
• Atlanta outlasts Seattle for first playoff win for Ryan
• Patriots win, big whoop

Ever have that kind of morning where nothing seems to go right?  Yeah that was me this morning which is why you’re reading my Monday Morning Quarterback much later in the day than you’re accustomed to.  My apologies for the delay.  Anyhow if anyone is wondering what that icky feeling you’ve been feeling since Saturday evening is that is the feeling of getting hosed for the second year in a row in an overtime game in Denver.  I’m not sure when it’s going to go away.  Being a football junkie and apparently a glutton for punishment, this weekend, which is usually one of the best weekends of the year, didn’t disappoint the appetite for football with some nail-biting games.  Being a Steeler fan and having to watch these games knowing the Black & Gold couldn’t get the job done to even get into the post season makes me saltier than a bag of potato chips.  Let’s get on with some cheap shots, shall we?

Going into Saturday afternoon’s game against the Broncos, the Ravens were the biggest “underdog” according to Vegas for the whole weekend.  No one was giving them a shot against Peyton and that stellar Denver defense, especially given the fact that the Broncos had already worked the Ratbirds in the regular season in Baltimore.  Unfortunately, those odds makers in Vegas didn’t account for Champ Bailey blowing his coverage every friggin chance he got.  Also, Peyton is back to his old ways of blowing it in the big games.  I remember vividly watching him blow game after game way way back when he was at Tennessee.  That old Peyton popped up again in the second possession of the second overtime when Peyton made one of those “you just know this is going to get intercepted” throws and sure enough landed in the arms of Ravens CB Corey Graham.

Now I realize that we live in a “Now” society.  Whatever is newest and freshest is the best thing ever and I can get caught up in that just as much as the next person.  However, hearing Joe Flacco’s 70-yard touchdown pass to Jacoby Jones being compared to the “Hail Mary” or “Immaculate Reception” in terms of NFL immortality makes me want to puke.  The name it has been given is even worse.  Brace yourselves; they’re calling it the “Flacco Fling”.  Now after you’re done cleaning up maybe you’ll remember that pass was basically a rainbow Flacco threw up in the hopes someone could catch it and was more the inexplicable inability of Broncos safety Rahim Moore to stay in stride with Jones and jumping at the worst time possible than it was Flacco’s mastery and precision that made that catch possible.  Don’t be fooled into thinking this makes Flacco “elite” now no matter how much his agent rants on Twitter about it.  No one thought Tebow was “elite” for that throw to Thomas last year against the Steelers, besides Skip Bayless of course.  Busted coverage is busted coverage.  While we’re talking about things that will make us sick, let’s all have yet another week of the “Ray Lewis Retirement Tour” shall we?  I just haven’t gotten enough of that yet, gimme some more please!

How in the hell did we end up with a possible Harbaugh vs. Harbaugh Super Bowl ahead of us again?  Seriously?  Mid-season while the 49ers were already leading their division, Jim Harbaugh took the opportunity with Alex Smith going out with a concussion to switch to the kid Colin Kaepernick and he never looked back.  Well, he kind of didn’t officially commit to the switch immediately, with a couple of awkward press conferences, but you get the idea.  His decision to switch to Kaepernick is showing successful as the young QB had a record-breaking performance while beating the reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.  First things first, the Packers defense stinks.  They’ve stunk for years.  Their basic strategy has been to see if Rodgers can outscore the other team.  Not taking away anything from what Kaepernick did with 263 passing yards and 181 rushing yards but he did that against a really, really crappy defense.  Anywhoo while most of the NFL experts are spending the day congratulating Harbaugh for making the switch and sticking to it I just have two observations: 1. they’re in the exact same position they were last season with Alex Smith at quarterback so the switch didn’t exactly pay off yet and 2.  Kaepernick kissed his own bicep following scoring a rushing touchdown and I’d just like to say that I don’t know Kaepernick personally but if that’s not the international sign for being a douchebag, it should be.

Welcome to the gun show. Classic. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

The Falcons won their first playoff game under Matt Ryan in more than dramatic fashion.  In what initially looked like a rout, the Falcons saw their 20-0 lead over the Seahawks diminish to a 1 point deficit with 31 seconds left on the clock.  Just when you thought the show Russell Wilson and the Seahawks have been putting on would continue them onto the NFC Championship Matty Ice and the Falcons were getting themselves into field goal range.  Ryan connected a quick 29 yard pass to Harry Douglas and then a 19 yard pass to Tony Gonzalez before Matt Bryant got on the field to kick the game winner.  Naturally, Pete Carroll called a timeout just as Bryant was kicking in his attempt to “ice the kicker” and the kick sailed to the right.  Then when Bryant kicked again for realizes, the kick was good.  Attention NFL head coaches: stop doing that!  No one is going to say after the game, “Gee I don’t understand why they didn’t try to call a timeout and ice the kicker, it almost always works!”  Unfortunately Falcons fans can’t be too confident right now in their chances for the Super Bowl.  Sure they will host the NFC Championship, but they just barely survived the Seahawks and even though they came away with the victory, they did still blow a 20 point lead.

For the finale of the divisional weekend we were all treated to Phil Simms calling the Patriots game.  Aren’t we so lucky?  Not surprising the Patriots easily handled the Texans, who showed more signs of life than in their earlier regular season meeting, but didn’t make nearly enough plays to amount to a competitive game.  So now we’ll have a rematch of last year’s AFC Championship game with the Ratbirds heading to New England in the hopes the kick will be good this time.  Can anyone get ahold of that Bane guy to just blow up the stadium like he did in Batman?  Bring it on Conference Championship Weekend!

Follow me on Twitter @Kimmy_KimKimM and follow all of NPC’s posts @NicePickCowherC

The Harbaughs not sure what the gatorade bath scenario would be with a tie game. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-US PRESSWIRE

What We Learned In Week 10 in the NFL:

• Atlanta loses unbeaten season in New Orleans
• Ratbirds let loose on the Raiders
• Giants falter in Cincy
• Eagles season goes down the drain along with Reed and Vick’s jobs
• 49ers and Rams get NFL’s first tie since 2008
• Texans D dominates hyped Chicago D

While it was a Steeler-less Sunday in the NFL there were some definitely good matchups worth taking a look at to satisfy your craving for football.  Going into Week 10 Atlanta remained the only unbeaten team in the NFL and quite possibly the least respected team as well.  No one was willing to give the Falcons any credit for their great start considering they’ve looked promising in the regular season in years past and have yet to win a playoff game under Matt Ryan.  Unfortunately for the Falcons, they’re going to get even less respect now as their bid for a perfect season fell at the hands of division rival New Orleans in a tight game. (more…)

It’s deja vu all over again.

The Pittsburgh Steelers managed to pull out a gutwrenching 15-9 win in overtime against the Atlanta Falcons yesterday.  The game was very much a throwback to days gone by when the defense played lights out while the offense had to struggle to cover for the obvious inexperience of the man behind center.  If the team we’ve been watching recently are the New Steelers, then what we saw yesterday could best be described as Stillers Classic.  Although that contest was by no means a classic in any sense of the word.

The past couple years, the Black and Gold have fallen into this rut of making stupid mistakes while figuring Ben Roethlisberger will eventually put on his cape and save the day.  With Dennis Dixon starting, you couldn’t rely on your quarterback to make the big game-changing play.   Somebody else had to step up and take the pressure off him.  With a few exceptions, it was almost a case of too little, too late.

Things started off well.  The Steelers opening drive was an old-school seven minute clock-milker.  Mixing Rashard Mendenhall runs with short safe passes, the team moved 42 yards on 11 plays.   Issac Redman, it should be noted, converted two short yardage situations into first downs on this drive and two more later in the game.  It looks like the team has FINALLY found a back who can get those tough conversions.   The drive stalled at the Atlanta 36 which led to a Skippy Reed 52 yard FG, the longest FG ever at Heinz Field.

The rest of the quarter was a puntfest as neither team could get much of anything going.  The Steelers did a great job at run defense as Atlanta’s Michael Turner (42 yards on 11 carries) was a non-factor.  I’ve been tough on Lawrence Timmons, who was lousy at run defense last season, but he played a tremendous game, arguably the best linebacker on the field yesterday.  He shot gaps, covered tight ends, and made several key stops in short yardage.   Casey Hampton left the game with a groin injury and the Steelers played most of the day with Chris Hoke and Nick Eason in his place which makes the run D even more impressive.

Conversely, Mendenhall was a steady pounder, gaining 70 yards on 21 carries before breaking off the 50 yarder in OT which iced the game.

While the Steelers’ running game was returning to Stillers Football, the passing game continually stymied anything they were about to accomplish.   Early in the second quarter, a 17 yard catch by Heath Miller followed by a 21 yard effort by Hines Ward set the team up at the Atlanta 39.  A terrible throw on an out-pattern to Miller was intercepted by Atlanta to end that drive.

Dixon repeated this pattern throughout the game.  He could’ve easily had two or three additional picks.  While he made some nice throws, particularly a 52 yard bomb to Mike Wallace in the third quarter,  he seemed nervous or uneasy because instead of putting touch on many of his passes, he was gunning everything.  It cost the team several first downs where he had wide open receivers and he’d just fire it at their shoetops.  Also, any pattern with the receiver cutting toward the sidelines which required Dix putting some finesse on the ball to get it over the defender was a disaster waiting to happen.  Instead of lofting it into the receiver’s hands, the ball would come out in a straight line where a defender could easily make a play on it.  Against a more skilled ball-hawking secondary, he would’ve had a really bad game.

Atlanta abandoned the run in the second half and basically went to a no-huddle all-passing offense.  The change in philosophy paid immediate dividends as they finally moved the ball effectively.  Our secondary didn’t play too badly (with one exception I’ll note later) with Bryant McFadden a welcome sight back there.  On this drive, he gave up a 14 yarder to Roddy White where he clung to the Rowdy One like noxious fumes cling to Cleveland.  Sometimes, you just have to tip your hat to the receiver.  The other big play was a 20 yarder to Tony Gonzalez, his 1,000 career catch, where James Farrior was covering.   Most of the big passing plays the Falcons converted were on linebackers covering which is an obvious mismatch, especially against the slow-footed Farrior.

The Steelers answered on their first drive of the second half.  The aforementioned bomb to Wallace got them into Atlanta territory.  A sack took them out of FG range.   But Dixon fired high to Hines over the middle and Hines made a fantastic catch where he batted the ball upwards, caught it on his way to the turf, then had the presence of mind to get up and run because he hadn’t been touched by the astonished Atlanta corner.   This 17 yard effort set up a Skippy boot to tie the game.

Late in the third, Max Starks had his ankle rolled up on and left the game on the cart.   He couldn’t put any weight on the foot which is never a good sign.  Jonathan Scott replaced him at left tackle.  All in all, the line played surpringly well.  Don’t misunderstand, if not for Dix’s mobility, there would’ve been another three or four sacks to go with the three official ones.  But they run blocked well and the pass protection was decent enough.  It seemed to me that Dixon was yelled at to STAY IN THE POCKET because he had room to scramble on several occasions and instead stood his ground looking to make a play.  No doubt that is Bruce Arians‘ idiotic influence since he has no idea how to use a multi-dimensional weapon like DD.    Slash 2.0 only ran twice for 4 yards which is like having a Camaro in your garage and then refusing to drive it more than 35 miles per hour.

Early in the fourth, the Steelers had a chance to make one of those game-changing plays you need when starting an inexperienced quarterback.   Matt Ryan threw a poor ball to Tony G and hit Willie Gay right in the hands.   Of course, Will.i.am couldn’t hang on to it.   The Falcons were deep in their own territory and a turnover there would’ve been a major turning point.   It’s those moments where you need players to step up and make big plays.

After the punt, Hines stepped up and showed why he’s one of the greatest Steelers of all-time.   He caught a 24 yard pass on 3rd and 8 and on the very next play added another 25 yards with a run-and-catch.  Ward, who finished with 6 catches for 108 yards, is one of those guys who rises to the occasion.  If not for his heroic efforts, this game would’ve ended very very differently.  Anyway, the drive stalled at the Atlanta 20 but they still pulled ahead with a, you guessed it, Skippy FG.

Matty Ice answered with a 13 play 73 yard drive of their own.  Rowdy Roddy converted another 18 yarder on B-Mac and then Tony G blew down the middle for a 15 yard catch.   The D stiffened up in the red zone and forced the tying FG.

Then came a comedy of errors as the Steelers blew two chances to win the game in regulation.   With 3:24 on the clock, Hines made a nice 12 yard catch.   After a short completion to Heath, they called a time out at their 44 yard line.  Facing 2nd and 5 with two time outs and the two minute warning remaining (remember you’re playing with your second string LT), Arians dialed up a boneheaded pass play.   Dixon had no chance and was sacked for a ten yard loss.  That drive was doomed and the Steelers punted.

Troy Polamalu, who was all over the field, took matters into his own hands on the Falcons first play.   He dropped a good five yards off White, baiting Ryan to throw at his favorite target.  When he did, Troy honed in like a missile, jumping the route and then making a tremendous toe-dragging interception.  And he didn’t mess up the hair!

Three runs set up the game winning field goal by the ever reliable Jeff Reed and…

UGH.  Skippy shanked it wide right.  And this is what I’m talking about.   Your team needs to make plays and bail out your inexperienced quarterback in games like this.   Hines stepped up.  Troy stepped up.   But while the defense played well, there were only two sacks and no fumbles caused by our linebackers.   Gay muffed a gift-wrapped INT.  Subtract the bomb Wallace caught and the receivers accounted for 62 measly yards.  Nobody made any spectacular individual efforts.  And special teams, which need to be perfect in tight games, missed two makeable FGs.

Atlanta won the toss but two costly penalties ruined their opening drive.   First, a nice run back on the kickoff was nullified by holding.   Then James Harrison was hauled down by their offensive lineman setting them back another 10 yards.  After a punt, the Steelers took possession at their 50 yard line.   On their first play of overtime, Mendenhall burst off-tackle, stumbled a bit at the second level but maintained his balance and without breaking stride blew down the sideline for a 50 yard touchdown.

Dennis Dixon:  Two career starts, two overtimes.  Only he wound up on the right side of the outcome this time.  Hopefully with the butterflies out of his stomach, he can relax in the coming weeks and play a little more polished game.   While his final line of 18/26 for 236 yards isn’t horrible, I know he’s capable of playing better than we saw yesterday.  Next week will provide a much stiffer test against a very good Tennesee Titans defense.

In the meantime, the Steelers may never make things easy but they sure provide plenty of excitement.

For those of you new to NPC, every Friday I like to present a little segment called “Know Thy Enemy.”   I take a look at the Pittsburgh Steelers upcoming opponent and attempt (badly) to guess as to how the two teams match up.  So without further ado…

In trying to follow their surprising playoff run of 2008, Atlanta gave it a good effort last year but came up short.  The Falcons started 4-1  before losing six of their next eight games.  They won their final three to finish 9-7 but by then it was too little too late.  They had a productive off season addressing some of the holes on their team and under coach Mike Smith should be in the NFC playoff mix again this season.

STEELERS DEFENSE vs. FALCONS OFFENSE

Atlanta ranked 16th in offense last year but fell from second in rushing in 2008 to 15th.  Therefore, one can pretty much assume RB Michael Turner missing five games with a sprained ankle had a large effect on their offensive efficiency.  The Burner seems primed and ready to go this season so the Steelers had better be prepared to deal with a healthy dose of him toting the rock.

QB Matt Ryan enters his third season as a pro with a 20-11 record as a starter and a 38/25 career TD/INT ratio.  Losing Turner no doubt contributed to Matty Ice’s sophomore slump.  Much like Joe Flacco, Ryan is one of the NFL’s young guns looking to make that jump to the next level in his junior year.

Also like the Ravens, the team is attempting to help their young quarterback by giving him an ever expanding range of weapons in the pass game.  Veteran TE Tony Gonzalez can still go.  WR Rowdy Roddy White is one of the best big-play wideouts in the game.  The Dirty Birds have had trouble finding a good option to draw heat away from him but may have found something in second year man Harry Douglas, who will play a slot role similar to what Mike Wallace did for us last year.

The Falcons may not do anything spectacularly but they do a little of everything well.  So this will be a nice test for the Steelers D, which had trouble in almost all areas last year.   A healthy Aaron Smith will help the run defense immensely.  Lawrence Timmons looked better at shooting the gaps during the preseason.  Plus Larry Foote was always a very good run stopper in the base defense.  Hopefully, the days when no back ever rushed for 100 against us will return.

The secondary and linebackers will be tested with White and Gonzalez.  Last year, the team got killed down the middle because James Farrior couldn’t run with TEs but hopefully some combination of Timmons, Farrior, and Foote will do better this year.  Slot receivers would also torture our safeties.  Well, we have a safety by the name of Troy Polamalu back now and his presence seems to make everybody else look much much better.

STEELERS OFFENSE vs. FALCONS DEFENSE

Speed, speed, and more speed.  The Falcons defense is built to be fast and athletic.  They’re anchored by MLB Curtis Lofton and DE John Abraham, one of the best pure pass rushers in the game.  The return of DT Peria Jerry will solidify the run defense and Abraham may finally get some bookend help rushing the passer from either Koury Biermann or Lawrence Sidbury…or both.

The Falcons did a lot of work this off season upgrading the defense.  First, by drafting rookie LB Sean Weatherspoon, who was the highest rated ‘backer on many draft boards.  He’s a sideline-to-sideline weapon who’ll run all over the field making plays.  The other major acquisition was signing CB Dunta Robinson to a six year $57 million contract.   Robinson, a huge upgrade to a suspect secondary, spent the past few years dealing with Peyton Manning as a member or the Texans so you know he has experience playing against the highest caliber of opposition.

Robinson has already stated he’s worried about facing Dennis Dixon and would have preferred to see Charlie Batch starting Sunday:

“Dennis Dixon, in his start last year, looked real good,” Robinson said. “Everybody gives you something different. With Dixon, you have a versatile quarterback. You hate playing against quarterbacks that can get out of the pocket. That’s one of the things that defenses hate the most.”

As you may have heard, Sunday marks the beginning of Dixon’s four game stint as starting quarterback for the Black and Gold.  We’ve analyzed him to death on this website the past month so there’s no point in chewing our cabbage a fifth time.  Suffice to say, he’s a young player with all the young player tendencies.  He made dumb mistakes in his lone preseason appearance with the first team offense but I chalk that up to him being told “You have to impress us” and forcing the issue.  The job is his and I doubt Mike Tomlin would have a quick hook unless an absolute disaster occurred so that should allow Dixon to relax and play his game.

Rashard Mendenhall will be the workhorse if the Steelers are to be successful.  Just like in the Baltimore game last year, the Steelers will have to return to Stillers Football if they want to succeed with their young QB.  Bruce Arians is probably miffed that he won’t be able to dial up 55 idiotic pass plays but this team is truly better off when they run first and pass second.  I expect Issac Redman to get a handful of carries in relief or as part of the two back Pony Backfield.  It would be nice if either Red Zone or rookie Jon Dwyer can bring back the good old days when third and short were automatic first downs.

When Dix does pass, he’ll have Mike Wallace stepping into the role vacated by pothead woman-beater Santonio Holmes.  Wallace isn’t as polished as Holmes but I think his big-play explosiveness may be greater.  Antwaan Randle-El provides a stable good-hands target over the middle and I would expect rookie Emmanuel Sanders to see some action in the slot.  The criminally underrated Heath Miller and future HOFer Hines Ward provide plenty of veteran stability.

The reason I’ve been on Team Dixon from the start, besides my unapologetic worship of Kordell Stewart, is our offensive line.   I’ve seen precious little this preseason which leads me to be it’ll be significantly better than in previous years.  Maurkice Pouncey entrenched at center should help our running game because LBs won’t knife up the middle on every off-tackle play.   But Flozell Adams has shown problems with speed rushers all off-season and the Falcons have a couple good ones.  Thankfully, we’ll have a QB who can move away from a collapsing pocket and make something out of nothing with his mobility.  If nothing else, Dix’s presence will help the team by turning three or four 9 yard sacks into minimal gains because he can get away from pressure.

The Falcons are a playoff quality team.  How the Steelers fare against them this weekend will go a long way to answering whether they deserve to share that designation as well.