My Letter To Arthur Blank

Dear Mr. Blank,

It is less than two hours from the most important draft in Atlanta Falcons history. You will probably never read this letter before you make your first choice. I am sending this to you via my alien powered telepathic machine connected to my computer. I am hoping that somehow my message will get to you before it is too late.

Frankly, Mr. Blank, I am worried. When you started as owner of the Falcons I was hopeful. I knew that you have been a successful business man and prone to spend money as well as take risks. So you spent lots of money and made lots of risks. I was willing to overlook the fact that you look like a card shark with a bad porn mustache as long as the team was successful. In your tenure the Falcons have taken more up and down rides than Pam Anderson. The team made it as far as the NFC Championship only to be embarassed in Philadelphia. The crazy train derailed from there. Your hip young coach started a public romance with the University of Washington. Your star quarterback whom you wheeled around in a wheelchair on the sidelines, Ron Mexico, is on the real world version of The Longest Yard. Hopefully, he will never suit up for your team again. The Ron Mexico era needs to end and we all need to move on to the nightmare that started a year ago at this time. Your big time college genius coach fled the coup faster than Lindsey Lohan could find a coke dealer. Your team turned into a joke.

I implore you though to not end the Mexico era via the draft coming up in less than two hours. This draft is too important for the nucleus of the Falcons to burn picks on overly hyped sexy highlight reel type stars. The Falcons have four picks in the first 48. This provides an opportunity to allow your new football brain trust to implement their system and address the teams gaping needs. Your new GM Thomas Dimitroff, whom you stole from the Patriots, and Head Coach Mike Smith (picked off from Jacksonville) have both stated on record that the biggest need in the draft is in the interior. This would be the offensive and defensive lines. Your picks though it will not be splashy should address those needs. The best athletes on the board are going to be defensive lineman and offensive lineman. So please do not select Matt Ryan with your first pick in this draft. Ryan is the best quarterback in the draft, yes, but is not the best athlete on the board and he does not address the stated needs for the team. In the new offensive system that appears to be the one installed this fall is a power running offense. You picked up Michael Turner to run the ball in this system. The quarterbacks you have at least can hand over the ball. So in the end you don't need a strong armed quarterback that will probably be arrested at the Gold Club in October. Please do not even think of taking McFadden at running back. Let the Raiders take him as he the perfect fit for a dumpster fire of an organization that the Raiders are. Make a pact with us that you will not take anyone who has an arrest record or has character issues. Please.

The best athlete on the board that also best fits the Falcons needs is Glenn Dorsey who will most likely be available when your turn comes. He is a devastating defensive lineman who will be able to rush the quarterback and stuff the run. He showed stellar skills on a stellar defense against stellar competition. Dorsey is a force. He can be dominant. That is what the Falcons need. They need someone on the line that opponents will fear. The Falcons don't have that. The defensive line instills fear at a buffet line or casino on the Mississippi coast. Dorsey can change all of that quickly.

Use your other picks you have in the first forty eight to add other top lineman that can make significant impacts quickly to build your foundation of blockers and rushers that you will need to drive both sides of the ball. Once those needs are addressed then you can pick up the sexy picks at quarterback and running back who will have the protection and running lanes to be successful. Matt Ryan (as Harrington found out) without a solid offensive line in front will be killed, lose his confidence, and end up in Houston. Just don't do it. Mr. Blank, I know taking Ryan is as tempting as a bad suit, but just let your guys run the draft and use their system to fix this mess of a team. You should know better than anyone that you can't fix a house without a solid foundation.