After briefly saying there would be a delay, the NFL did release the 2013 regular season schedule after all: Week 1: Sunday, Sept. 8, at New Orleans, 1 p.m. Week 2: Sunday, Sept. 15, St. Louis, 1 p.m. Week 3: Sunday, Sept. 22, at Miami, 4:05 p.m. Week 4: Sunday, Sept. 29, New England, 8:30 p.m. Week 5: Monday, Oct. 7, N.Y. Jets, 8:30 p.m. Week 6: BYE Week 7: Sunday, Oct. 20, Tampa Bay, 1 p.m. Week 8: Sunday, Oct. 27, at Arizona, 4:25 p.m. Week 9: Sunday, Nov. 3, at Carolina, 1 p.m. Week 10: Sunday, Nov. 10, Seattle, 1 p.m. Week 11: Sunday, Nov. 17, at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m. Week 12: Thursday, Nov. 21, New Orleans, 8:25 p.m. Week 13: Sunday, Dec. 1, at Buffalo, 4:05 p.m. Week 14: Sunday, Dec. 8, at Green Bay, 8:30 p.m. Week 15: Sunday, Dec. 15, Washington, 1 p.m. Week 16: Monday, Dec. 23, at San Francisco, 8:30 p.m. Week 17: Sunday, Dec. 29, Carolina, 1 p.m. Note: the Dec 1 game "at Buffalo" will be played in Toronto. The two sections of the schedule that jump out at me: the Seattle game packaged in the middle of a run of NFC South divisional games, and the Toronto trip being followed by three games against playoff teams, with two of them on the road. Also noteworthy... we'll have plenty of prime time exposure. The Patriots and Packers games are Sunday night, with two Monday and one Thursday nighter thrown in. And the two Saints games both have unusual circumstances - the home game is on a short week (the Thursday night game), while the road game will be Sean Payton's first game back from suspension. Apparently the league likes to have us be their opponents for major "event" games. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As usual, no word from the team about William Moore's arrest on simple battery charges other than they're aware of the situation and will be looking into it. It's a bit disturbing to have that kind of thing happen with a defensive starter, especially one who just signed a fat new free agent contract. But at least it's early enough in the offseason that it isn't a distraction. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Falcons had their local workout on Wednesday. Teams are allowed to have private workouts and interviews with 30 prospects, but they are also allowed to have a pro day style event where players who went to local high schools and colleges can work out and interview with the team. In most cases, it's no big deal and hardly newsworthy. But Atlanta does have a history of drafting and/or signing players that attend this workout, such as William Middleton (fifth round, 2009) and Michael Palmer (undrafted free agent, 2010). Georgia Tech defensive tackle T.J. Barnes was one of the players invited. We don't know if his listed playing weight at Tech was legit (John Jenkins has openly said his listed number at UGA was way off). But he weighed in at a staggering 369 pounds at the Combine. He needs to get that number down and focus on conditioning. At Tech's pro day a few weeks later, he was down to 364. Barnes was known for being surprisingly agile for such a big man, and even played the three-tech under tackle position on occasion in college. It's also considered a very deep draft class at the DT position, and Barnes is projected as a fifth/sixth round target, with several other nose tackle candidates ahead of him. He might slide. If he does slip into the late rounds or undrafted free agent territory, he may be on our target list. UGA cornerback Branden Smith (Washington H.S.) also reportedly attended. He had a marijuana arrest (what's with all the UGA kids and off-field issues?). The Falcons contend that they look at each potential case individually, check the background, and simply come out and ask the prospect about it in interviews. He had a phenomenal workout at UGA's pro day, including a 40 time in the upper 4.3 range. I can't imagine the team really needing to see more of a workout unless they want to put him through some unusual position drills. The main focus for him will probably be the interview. The other known names are all late round or undrafted free agent candidates. But they'll all be interesting to root for, as they're all local kids. Auburn tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen (Lassiter) is coming off a hip injury but played well in his college career and had a good Combine. Edmund Kugbila (Central Gwinnett) was part of Valdosta State's Div II championship team. The Falcons do have a solid history of signing small school undrafted free agents, and Kugbila has some good size (6-4, 317) for a small school offensive lineman. Jamaal Johnson-Webb (Mundy's Mill HS) played well enough for Alabama A&M to get a Combine invite. He'll go undrafted, but he's a legit NFL prospect.
