Atlanta's Mike Smith edged out Miami's Tony Sparano by one vote to capture the 2008 AP Coach of the Year award.

The Associated Press: Smith edges Sparano for AP Coach of Year

After last season and the Michael Vick mess, everyone expected the Falcons to be in a tailspin. But they added Matt Ryan and Michael Turner and really turned some heads in the NFC.

Even though they got bounced in the first round of the playoffs, they've got some very talented and very young players who should be money for years to come.

GM Thomas Dimitroff, formerly of the Patriots, also deserves a lot of credit.

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"Even though I'm no more than a monster - don't I, too, have the right to live?" -- Oldboy (2003)

The Falcons are the second-youngest team in the NFL, so they have a lot to build on -- even losing yesterday.

Shows you what a couple of difference makers and a fresh approach to coaching can bring to a team. With Matt Ryan in town, Michael Vick seems like a figure from the distant past of Falcons Football.

I was watching some of the Falcons game yesterday. They mentioned their run offense (2nd ranked, I think) and specifically there blocking scheme, which was described as perhaps the most inventive in the NFL right now. Lots of cutbacks against the grain and players coming from weird angles to kick out a tackler from the hole and seal off the backside of plays.

Makes me think the "get the biggest five guys and they'll move the pile" philosophy of My Dallas Cowboys is hopelessly simplistic, especially given last week's Example (about #100 at this point) where those 350-lb guys can't move quick enough to pick up the Eagles' blitzes. Nothing new, I guess. I would settle a little ball security for the offense and Flozelle Adams going 2 games in a row without an offsides penalty.

I'm sure Michael Vick is cursing in his cell.

My first instinct was to think the guy who took a team from 1-15 to 11 wins and a playoff birth (Spurano) should have been automatic, but I remember saying before the season started that the Falcons were the least talented team in the NFL.

Great job by Spurano and Smith, though. And John Harbaugh, for that matter.

Even though they got bounced in the first round of the playoffs, they've got some very talented and very young players who should be money for years to come.

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