As I write this, I know there are some folks who are going to jump all over this.  I am well aware.  I can even name them, but I won't.  But here's the stat- Teams that have 3 road games in a row only win all 3... 11% of the time.  They lose at least 1 game 89% of the time.  This may be associated with stats since the league realignment or it could be longer.  I saw it on ESPN yesterday.   Why do I bring that up?  It obviously has to do with the Falcons.

Now, don't get me wrong.  The Falcons could easily be in that 11%- they don't defeat themselves.  They have played well.  I don't find them overly impressive, but I do find them solid. Two things strike me about this situation.  It seems like a lot of our CSC members are ready to proclaim them as the #1 seed and are not looking at all the factors such as this 89-11 discrepancy or another big factor mentioned below. This stat clearly leaves much more room for optimism.  Or the fact that we are just a better team- more explosive on both sides of the ball.  The other is that  the Falcons (ok my research is far from scientific) have had like a factor of 1 on the injury gradient on a scale from 1-10.  Anyone have any data on that?  I know they have way less injuries than the Saints, Giants, Eagles, Packers, Vikings, Bucs, Bengals, Redskins, etc.  But it seems uncanny.  It must either mean they are due, they are beat up but holding on, or it's their year.  Playing on an artificial surface, I am amazed at how few injuries overall and how few key injuries they have suffered.  It seems like one of the less-injured teams of all times.

Is it their year? Well, they are good but a little too unexplosive and a little too vanilla for my tastes. But, they are consistent and they don't turn the ball over.  Big pluses.  Matty Ice- for my taste I think he got his nickname a little too easy-  I mean... what pressure game - I mean really important game- did he earn it on? Don't you need to earn that a little past your 3rd year and/or in an important- maybe a playoff- game?  A Super Bowl? Or, a series of important playoff games? I mean they didn't even call Montana or Bradshaw "Ice."  It's his third year and they didn't make the playoffs last year and he had a so-so season last year.  But, let's face it - he is a good QB.  If he does anything on Mon 12-26 to earn the name "ICE" I will recant.  Let's keep watching. I'm on record as opposed to him being labeled ICE so early on.  I think he needs to have more of a resume for it.

Getting back to the whole premise here, I was watching the NFL channel and one of its specials was about the 10 most difficult venues to play in the NFL.  I'll have to admit, I didn't watch it but the synopsis said that the Dome in Seattle is one of the most difficult places to play in.  I was surprised. I thought places like NOLA (modern day) KC, NY, Chicago, NE, Phila, were some of the toughest.  I never thought Seattle.  But, they say yes.

Well, anyway,   that's my story; I'm sticking to it.