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The Falcons are way past the point where winning leads to any meaningful outcomes from a win/loss perspective or in the sense of actually competing for the playoffs Womens Calvin Ridley Jersey , and they only hurt their draft stock with victories. But with a pretty easy slate at the end of the year and the pressure off, the Falcons have been absolutely cruising these last two weeks, and they appear to be enjoying themselves.Again, the implications of this aren’t real clear, except on the draft front. The Falcons may still wind up with a top ten pick—they have #10 right now—but they certainly did their damage to their draft stock by winning. They also embarrassed an (admittedly banged up) division rival at home, picked up multiple sacks and had the offense humming again in this one, leading to one of their better wins of the season. How do you balance your fear over the Falcons potentially missing out on an elite player with the excitement that comes from, you know, watching your favorite Falcons team win?Your answer will vary, but at least for one day, I was just genuinely happy to see this team string together a couple of victories and look strong doing it. My greatest fear is that Atlanta is going to walk into this offseason thinking they don’t need to make changes and hard choices because they got it going late, but based on the humiliations they suffered earlier this season, I genuinely can’t imagine that happening. They’re at least getting a look at some of their better players making plays, and beginning to sort out where they can make improvements. But also, they won, and I think to a man the Falcons will tell you that means a lot inside the building.And hell, it’s encouraging to see so much from Grady Jarrett and Jack Crawford, to say nothing of Takk McKinley. It’s great to be reminded of what this offense looks like with Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley and Mohamed Sanu all rolling, and with Brian Hill as your #3 running back next year. It’s nice to see the defense doing good things and the offense doing solid things because it’s a reminder that this team doesn’t need an atom bomb to be relevant again, even if every draft pick and dollar needs to be wisely spent to get them into better shape. While I always am fond of saying that the Falcons would never quit and never tank, it’s nice to be reminded that they won’t, especially after five weeks of stinking garbage. I don’t know if they can and will beat the Buccaneers, potentially sealing the fates of Ron Rivera and Dirk Koetter in back-to-back weeks, but I do know these Falcons can win some hearts and minds if they exit this season at 7-9 with three quality games in a row and land a killer player with, say, the #13 pick. Otherwise, they’ll probably just be asked where these kinds of efforts were when the team needed them most, and they’ll be confronting an offseason that is no less pivotal and fraught today than it was two weeks ago. The Falcons are taking baby steps Calvin Ridley Jersey White , however inconsequential, toward a legitimate fix. There are miles to go before they truly get there. On to the full recap. The Good Matt Ryan had one sailed throw to Julio Jones, but otherwise was sharp throughout this one, finding receiving options seemingly at will. He hit Julio Jones, Mohamed Sanu and Calvin Ridley for touchdowns, locating all three of his top receivers and overcoming a slow stretch for the offense to pull ahead. Ryan’s putting together a season that compares very favorably to his 2016 MVP campaign, and while he won’t get the award this year, we’re clearly entered the best epoch of his career. I hope we don’t leave it anytime soon.Julio has a sore hip? No big deal. He’ll still manage a touchdown, his seventh of the season, and draw the kind of attention that allows Ridley and Sanu to operate with such impunity.And those two did just that. Sanu went for 81 yards and a touchdown on five grabs, including a beautiful 44 yarder, and Ridley added 90 yards and a touchdown on three receptions, including that third quarter-opening 75 yard score. This was may 75% of Julio, maybe less, and for much of the game it was just the Brian Hill show on the ground. Yet the Falcons still had a fine day through the air, which is a testament to this offense.The ground game was very solid, thanks in part to rock solid blocking up front. Ty Sambrailo continues to shine as a run blocker and Wes Schweitzer has been settling back in, and the result was that Tevin Coleman managed 51 yards on 10 carries before exiting with an injury. Hill fumbled and trash talked his way into some cringe-worthy moments, but he also went off for 115 yards on eight carries against a very solid Carolina front, showing physicality and burst along the way. The Falcons are in absurdly great shape at running back even if they lose Coleman if they have a healthy Devonta Freeman, Ito Smith, and anything like the Hill we saw on Sunday. Takkarist McKinley has been trying to get back on track for weeks, making plays here and there, but he really put it together against the punchless Panthers. He only had a half sack, but he was on Taylor Heinicke constantly and hammered the poor backup quarterback. Jack Crawford and Grady Jarrett have been one hell of a duo for these Falcons, even if the rest of the defense has been pretty disappointing. Jarrett managed a sack and a forced fumble in this one, while Crawford got a sack and a nice interception off a Damontae Kazee tip earlier in the game to stop a Panthers scoring drive cold. Jarrett has a team-leading seven sacks, Crawford has six, and a draft addition and modest improvement from Deadrin Senat would give them a pretty fearsome group at the position in 2019.Bruce Irvin looks like a man who wants to come back to Atlanta https://www.falconslockerroom.com/authentic-calvin-ridley-jersey , too. He’s up to 3.5 sacks as a Falcon, with the latest coming on a fourth down against an overmatched Taylor Heinicke, and he’s clearly enjoying the ride. Brooks Reed and Derrick Shelby may both be gone, and it would be awfully nice to keep a pass rusher with Irvin’s history of production around. Another solid week for Steven Means, while we’re at it, and he should be in the running to be a low-cost Shelby replacement. Another Brian Poole pick as he comes on hot toward the end of the season. He’s a restricted free agent and will be back, I’m pretty certain, though I have no idea what his role in 2019 is going to look like. His physicality and ballhawking ability make him a mighty useful reserve at worst. Matt Bosher has been quietly pulling out of the mediocrity he was mired in earlier in the year, but it’s always been the big hits that made him a fan favorite. He added one to the highlight reel on Sunday, and it might’ve been his definitive moment, as he absolutely upended a charging Kenjon Barner and then flexed over him. Bosher’s at worst a solid punter and, as Barner himself put it, a killer when it comes to making a big special teams tackle. The Ugly In a different game, the Falcons would have cost themselves dearly with bad penalties (Desmond Trufant), unforced turnovers (Hill), and costly drops (Ridley, again). Happily those mistakes were not costly, but it’s a reminder that the Falcons are still prone to exhausting bouts of undisciplined play that put them in very bad spots. Too many missed connections today, and with the exception of Ryan’s throw to a gimpy Julio, it was nice defensive play or receiver error that caused them. The Falcons tried to throw to promising rookie Russell Gage early but abandoned that after Gage couldn’t reel in a pair of targets, and Marvin Hall, Hill, and Coleman all picked up targets and had nothing to show for them. It’ll get lost in what was a pretty solid win overall, but the Falcons consistently allowed the likes of Christian McCaffrey and Ian Thomas to slip by them. McCaffrey had little trouble putting up positive yardage on every play, and considering that Taylor Heinicke and Kyle Allen are not at all good, they had solid enough games. The Falcons were trying to bend and not break against this Carolina team, but I would have been very interested to see what might have happened if they pinned their ears back from very early on and went after an inexperienced quarterback instead of just trying to keep a bad offense in front of them. In their (very weak) defense, McCaffrey is tough. Special teams will come under the microscope this offseason, I suspect Womens Takkarist McKinley Jersey , because of Keith Armstrong’s unit remaining unable to put even a halfway decent return game out there. They also let Barner eat them up a bit (minus that Bosher hit). I don’t think Armstrong is in any real danger, but I would love to see this team put a weapon out there on returns in 2019, instead of muddling along with, say, Justin Hardy. The WrapupGame MVPGive this one to Jack Crawford and Grady Jarrett, who sowed terror and confusion from the middle of this defensive line and either forced or contributed to multiple turnovers along the way.One TakeawayThis maddening, excruciating season may not end with the Falcons playing garbage football, which is something.Next WeekThe final game of the season, against a dispirited Buccaneers squad that’s probably on the cusp of cutting ties with Dirk Koetter. Hooray!Final WordOnemoreweek. Are there any offensive trades that make sense?"WhiteFanposts Fanshots Library FalcFans Podcast on The FalcoholicContact The FalcoholicFalcons StoriesScheduleRosterStatsYahoo Falcons NewsYahoo Falcons Team PageYahoo Falcons ReportYahoo Falcons Depth ChartYahoo Falcons TransactionsYahoo Falcons PhotosOdds About Masthead Community Guidelines StubHub 鉁昇FL DraftTrade Machine: Which Falcons draft day trades make sense on offense? New,26commentsAre there any offensive trades that make sense? ESTShareTweetShareShareTrade Machine: Which Falcons draft day trades make sense on offense? Kirby Lee-USA TODAY SportsAfter surveying the defensive crowd for potential Falcons trades this offseason, let’s dive right in with what the team could do on the offensive side of the ball. As was announced last week, the team officially has two new, tradable comp picks that it can leverage this spring for new talent. Will they opt to do so? As far as positions go, guard, offensive tackle, fullback and tight end make the most sense for a move, with the quarterback, running back, center and wide receiver spots already settled or likely to add talent elsewhere. Let’s dive in, shall we? G Kelechi Osemele for fourth and sixth roundersIf they opt to let Andy Levitre walk in free agency, the Falcons need a new guard...badly. The team is reportedly not re-signing Ben Garland, and has no major commitment right now to either Brandon Fusco or Wes Schweitzer for the future. So, that might need to be rephrased to “the Falcons need new guards...badly.” Fusco has a chance at sticking around at right guard after a half-season of decent play, but the team could use at least one upgrade. Why not go get one of the NFL’s best guards on one of its worst teams? The Raiders are in firm rebuilding mode, but they’ve a Pro Bowl-level talent in Osemele. He’s a mauler and excels in the run and pass game. If the Falcons are serious about returning to the playoffs, getting Osemele in house would be a huge boost. He could, hypothetically, slot in between Jake Matthews and Alex Mack and give the team the strongest link on its offensive line in ages. Osemele will be 30 when the league year begins, and is only at a cost of $10-11 million a year for the next two seasons. For an elite player at the position Takkarist McKinley Jersey White , that’s not all that bad. GM Thomas Dimitroff has punted investment in the interior offensive line over the years, but he’s said in the past the Alex Mack deal and returns have turned his heart on putting money there. With the potential to patch up other spots on the OL with the draft/in-house options, why not splurge with a player in his prime at a spot you desperately need talent for? Get Osemele here, strike a new deal, and thrive. With Dirk Koetter noncommittal to what blocking scheme he’ll primarily use, having Osemele around would be splendid. And, for what it’s worth, Dimitroff visited with Oseleme in 2012 in the draft, Koetter’s first season with the team.G Austin Corbett for a third rounder The Cleveland Browns have one of the better interior offensive lines in the NFL, with guards Joel Bitonio and Kevin Zeitler both locked up on big contracts for the next few seasons and J.C. Tretter in house for two more as the center. The Browns curiously added guard Austin Corbett in the 2018 draft, though the team really has no use for him as a starter at the moment. Desmond Harrison and Chris Hubbard are the starters at tackle, making a positional transition all the more unlikely for the Nevada alum. Younger players being traded tend to be a bit more pricey because of the youth and potential, and it’s not really common to see a guy drafted less than a year ago get moved. But Cleveland is trying to build its roster to contend for the playoffs, and they might be interested in flipping Corbett for a third and adding to other spots. The Falcons could give Corbett a shot at guard right away and see how he does. Now, investing this high of a pick would mean the team is serious about him, but it’s not necessarily a pick that has to start right away. This would be a fascinating move to add a guy who could be either the right or left guard of the future on a good compensation rate. It might be worth Atlanta giving GM John Dorsey a call and seeing what he thinks.FB Patrick DiMarco for a seventh rounderIt was stupid for Atlanta to ever let DiMarco walk, a clear whiff from the front office after his 2017 departure. The team hasn’t found stability at the position since his departure, and now DiMarco is stuck on a changing Buffalo offense in a league that devalues his position. The Falcons have also de-emphasized the position since Steve Sarkisian took over in 2017, but with Koetter’s return, that may change. Why not make a reunion happen? DiMarco could probably be had for a seventh-round pick, which would get his contract off Buffalo’s books and give them the chance to add elsewhere. It just makes too much sense; Atlanta rights an old wrong, and settles the fullback spot for the immediate future with a fan favorite who is also good at his job. Other trades: The Chargers haven’t done a ton with guard Forrest Lamp after he missed his 2017 season with an ACL tear and was a reserve guard in 2018. The Falcons could, say, flip a fourth or fifth rounder over to Los Angeles to see if Lamp could thrive with a change of scenery. Lions reserve OL Joe Dahl could be someone Atlanta throws into a competition for one of the guard spots. PFF gave him a 72.4 grade for his 2018 snaps, though they list him as a tackle. The same goes for Kenny Wiggins, though his PFF grades weren't as high. So that’s what we’ve got! The options are a bit less plentiful on offense, with OL play across the league not exactly what it should be. When you find a guy, you tend to want to keep him. You all have any ideas?