Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff got an early start Thursday morning, less than 12 hours after news that defensive end Osi Umenyiora had agreed to terms on a two-year deal with the Falcons, as he joined 790 The Zone’s Mayhem in the AM to discuss the brand new move.

Here’s a bit of what Dimitroff had to say to the 790 The Zone crew:

“We’re excited about having Osi join us. It was a long, drawn-out process — not painful at all. We had a lot of things to work through and we’re pleased that we could take care of it last night. … I think it’s the whole package with Osi. Osi brings to the table a lot of experience. … Here’s a guy who has a few championships in his portfolio so to speak and he’s a guy that can get up and around the corner. He’s got the ability to speed the power rush. He’s a real hard-nosed, competitive guy, and I think it’s gonna be good for our team. He’s a piece, as we’ve talked before. Any of the moves that we’ve made in free agency or in the draft, this is not about one person. We’re excited about having Osi on board and I’m sure he’ll fit into this scheme well.”

Asked if there was the potential to add another pass rusher, namely former Falcon John Abraham, before the draft, Dimitroff said, “As you guys know, we do never say never. It’s always about making sure that we look at how the team is coming together and so, yes, I would say never say never.”

If you were looking for more clarity in the first post-Combine Mock Monitor, I apologize for being the bearer of bad news. Not only is there less clarity than the week before the Combine, there are plenty of brand new names to introduce you to — and even the prospect of a trade out of the No. 30 spot. More on that in a bit.

The first week of the Mock Monitor saw Notre Dame TE Tyler Eifert and Stanford TE Zach Ertz tie for the majority pick, and in the fifth week, we’re right back where we started. As mocks started to shift their picks around after the Combine, the numbers for Eifert — who held the majority pick for three straight weeks — waned.

Click here to view the Mock Monitor

Add in the moves last week to release Michael Turner, John Abraham and Dunta Robinson and things really get crazy. About the only consensus you could really find from the mocks this week is that the Falcons need defensive end help. The mocks project four defensive end possibilities for the Falcons in SMU’s Margus Hunt, Texas’ Alex Okafor, Texas A&M’s Damontre Moore and, Mock Monitor newcomer, UCLA’s Datone Jones, who had a fantastic Combine.

We add two brand new positions to the Mock Monitor, as well, with safety and wide receiver now represented.

And in a Mock Monitor first, we have a trade projection.

This is one of the reasons I don’t do a mock draft myself. Who can really tell what’s going to happen in the bottom 17? It’s hard enough to project where even the top 15 picks will go, and projecting a trade in the bottom of the first round just seems like throwing darts.

However, if you check out a piece we’ll have coming later this week about the No. 30 position in the first round, you’ll see that trading the slot away is actually a common occurrence. FoxSports.com’s Pete Schrager has the Falcons trading the No. 30 pick to the NY Jets, who then select QB EJ Manuel with it.

Vote your thoughts below?

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The Falcons started the weekend by announcing some tough decisions, that the team would be parting ways with veterans Michael Turner, John Abraham and Dunta Robinson.

Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff joined the media on the phone Friday afternoon to discuss the moves, which he called difficult decisions yet thoughtful ones.

“I want to begin by saying, obviously, these are never easy decisions to make and a lot of thought goes into these types of decisions,” Dimitroff said. “These three men have meant a great deal to the success of this organization over the last few years, since we’ve been here in 2008. I want to personally thank John, Dunta and Michael for all their contributions.”

The moves didn’t come without a plan behind it, and Dimitroff was understandably tight-lipped about the details of it Friday afternoon.

Dimitroff said there are a number of positions he and his staff want to hone in on, either through free agency or the draft, but said there are still a lot of moving parts. He said, however, that this move doesn’t take much of Tony Gonzalez’s looming decision on retirement into consideration. Instead, Dimitroff said it was a business decision that will allow the team to take a clear look at the direction of the organization with the focus being on retaining what the team already has.

“Given these three moves, again, our focus has always been that we hone in on our players that are currently on our team and our attempt to try to re-sign our football players,” Dimitroff said. “That’s going to be our focus first and foremost.”

Defensive end John Abraham left Sunday’s divisional round game against Seattle in the second quarter with what head coach Mike Smith called a re-tweak of an ankle injury he suffered during the regular-season finale against Tampa Bay.

Abraham didn’t return to the game after injuring the ankle, but Smith expects Abraham to be fine and ready to practice at some point this week.

“We anticipate John will be back out practicing with us before the end of the week,” Smith said during his Monday news conference with the Atlanta media.

Abraham played just 15 snaps in Sunday’s win over Seattle.

Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez earned his sixth All-Pro team nod Saturday, being named as a first-teamer over Dallas’ Jason Witten at the position.

Gonzalez was the only Falcon named to the All-Pro first or second team. He received 24 votes.

Also receiving votes, but not making the team: WR Julio Jones (1), tackle Tyson Clabo (2), defensive end John Abraham (1), safety Thomas DeCoud (3) and safety William Moore (1).

Head coach Mike Smith updated the condition of several Falcons during his Monday news conference, most notably saying that he expects defensive end John Abraham — who suffered an ankle injury in the regular-season finale — to practice Wednesday.

“John will be participating in practice on Wednesday,” Smith said. “We will have almost a full boat. We won’t have everybody there.”

Smith also said that safety William Moore returned to practice last week, saying that he has progressed well enough for him to return to the practice field.

Cornerback Dunta Robinson, who was in the league’s concussion protocol after the regular-season finale against Tampa Bay, was cleared to participate in practice last week.

Smith said last week that cornerback Chris Owens, who was sidelined in the final game of the regular season, wasn’t far along in the healing process.

Cornerback Dunta Robinson returned to practice Friday after sitting out the previous two practice sessions in the league’s concussion protocol. Robinson suffered the head injury during the first half of last Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay and was cleared to return to practice Friday.

“It was very good to get Dunta back,” head coach Mike Smith said after Friday’s practice. “Dunta’s been cleared to start practicing again. It was good to have him back. It was a great turnaround from Sunday to Friday.”

Smith didn’t provide an update on defensive end John Abraham (ankle) or safety William Moore (hamstring).

He said Chris Owens, who missed the final regular season game with a hamstring injury, has been working out on the side and that he’ll have to wait and see where Owens is next week. Of the injured players, Smith said, Owens is not as far along in the healing process.

Smith also updated cornerback Asante Samuel, who has missed this week of practice. Samuel’s mother passed away early this week and he’s been in Florida with his family.

What looked like it would surely be bad news Sunday turned to good news Monday afternoon as head coach Mike Smith announced during his weekly news conference that he expects defensive end John Abraham and cornerback Dunta Robinson — both hurt in Sunday’s 22-17 loss to Tampa Bay — back and ready to go in time for the Falcons’ divisional playoff game on Jan. 13.

“I can tell you this, on both of the players that left the game yesterday, I fully anticipate that they will be ready to go on Sunday, January 13th at 1 o’clock,” Smith said Monday.

Abraham was injured during the second half Sunday when his left ankle appeared to roll up underneath him as he was trying to tackle Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Freeman. Abraham was on the turf for a few moments before walking off the field with the aid of the Falcons’ Athletic Performance staff. As soon as he got to the sideline, he was carted into the locker room and didn’t return to the sideline.

Robinson left the game in the first quarter after being shaken up on a tackle. Robinson fell to the ground after making the initial hit but walked off the field on his own. He, too, left for the locker room and did not return to the sideline.

Smith said Monday that Robinson is in the league’s concussion protocol but is moving through it very quickly.

Smith also addressed safety William Moore, who has missed the final four games of the season with a hamstring injury.

“We hope to get William on the field in terms of our preparation for the game. He’ll be on the field working with our Athletic Performance group the first day and we’ll see how he’s going,” Smith said. “He’s progressed quite a bit over the last two weeks and we anticipate seeing him out there with us.”

The last thing anyone — from fans to players to coaches — wanted to see in Sunday’s 22-17 loss to the Buccaneers was an injury, no matter how severe.

The nature of football, however, sometimes has other ideas, and the Falcons lost two starters for the game in the process.

Cornerback Dunta Robinson left the game in the first quarter with what was called a head injury. Robinson went into the locker room in the second quarter for further evaluation and was announced as out of the game shortly after.

“Dunta, I think, will be fine. We have two weeks,” head coach Mike Smith said after Sunday’s game. “I don’t know exactly if they’re calling it a concussion. He did not return to the game. I’ll have an update on that (Monday) at the press conference.”

The biggest scare came in the third quarter when defensive end John Abraham went to the turf clutching his left ankle. After sitting with the athletic performance staff on the field, Abraham needed to be helped to the sideline. Once there, he was carted to the locker room and did not return to the sideline.

Smith was cautiously optimistic after the game.

“The early reports are that it’s minor,” he said. “We’re not overly concerned. We’ll definitely have an evaluation (Monday). We don’t know a whole lot more. I did check with the trainer just prior to coming in here.”

Smith’s weekly day-after-game news conference will be held at 2:30 p.m. ET Monday. Follow the @Atlanta_Falcons or my account, @FalconsJAdams, on Twitter for live updates.

More bad news in a game that could use less of it on the injury front. Defensive end John Abraham was carted from the sideline in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury.

The injury came when he was rushing Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman and it appeared like he was bent backward over his ankle.

The official call in the press box was that he is questionable to return.

The Falcons’ locker room after Saturday night’s 31-18 win over the Detroit Lions was the same as it had been all year after the previous 13 wins.

Happy. Loud. Fun.

One thing it wasn’t was celebratory.

It’s a sharp difference from two years ago when the Falcons earned the NFC’s top seed only to lose all the hope, expectations and a shot at that ultimate goal in their first postseason game that year.

It’s a lesson the Falcons learned the hard way: The top seed doesn’t win you anything. Sure, there’s homefield advantage and the easier road to the NFL’s final game, but the No. 1 seed in the NFC doesn’t lift a trophy until it earns one.

“Obviously, we know it doesn’t get you anything,” left tackle Sam Baker said. “We know that once you get in, everybody’s equal. We’ve got to prepare just like we’re the No. 6 seed.”

And the No. 6 seed doesn’t celebrate earning the sixth seed, nor will the Falcons celebrate the top seed in the NFC. For them, it’s all about getting back to work next week, seeing what the game plan is against Tampa Bay and then locking their focus in on the postseason.

The doubters will say they’ve heard that story before, but not in the previous two years have the Falcons had the kind of confidence, attitude and swagger that they do in 2012.

“This is a different team this year. This is a very different team from last year, from two years ago, from three years ago,” wide receiver Roddy White said. “Our players are much more mature. I think we’re ready to go. We feel like we’ve got a lot to prove in the playoffs because we haven’t won a game, and we want to win one so bad.”

The Falcons have set themselves up in the best possible way to achieve that goal and go on even further to other, even bigger goals.

But the new year and the new attitude doesn’t mean that the lessons learned in previous seasons are lost on these Falcons.

“We’re still looking for bigger and better things,” defensive end John Abraham said. “I’ve been in this situation before and I’m just trying to change my past, I guess you could say.”

Click here to view all the playing time percentages and snap numbers for both teams

Download the playing time percentages from Sunday’s 34-0 win over the Giants above. Here are some of the highlights:

• Defensive end John Abraham spent a lot of time on the field, playing 81 percent of the defensive snaps Sunday.
• Safety Chris Hope played 79 percent of the defensive snaps, despite missing some time with a head injury. Hope missed a few plays but returned to the game.
• Dominique Franks played 44 percent of the defensive snaps, even getting in at safety when Hope when down. He had been cross-training there for a few weeks.
• Roddy White played 74 percent of the offensive snaps, a total of 50 of the 68 offensive plays, despite being out all week at practice and coming into the game questionable. Julio Jones only played 82 percent of the snaps as the Falcons were focused on getting the running game going.
• Wide receiver Drew Davis got more involved in the offense this week with 19 offensive snaps.

If you had defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux scoring the Falcons’ first touchdown of Sunday’s game in your office pool, congratulations.

Babineaux picked up a fumble forced by defensive end John Abraham on a sack of Cardinals QB Ryan Lindley and returned it 15 yards for a touchdown to put the Falcons within three of Arizona’s first-half lead.

The touchdown is the second of Babineaux’s career. Babs’ first score came in 2010 on a fumble recovered in the end zone at Seattle two seasons ago.

Falcons fans were hoping for some better — or at least clearer — news today, but the Falcons’ Piedmont Healthcare Injury Report provides neither as the team heads into the weekend’s matchup with Arizona.

LB Sean Weatherspoon and WR Julio Jones did not practice again Friday, but both are listed as questionable to participate in Sunday’s game.

Along with Spoon and Jones, DE John Abraham, RB Michael Turner and DT Vance Walker are questionable with injuries.

WR Kevin Cone and S Charles Mitchell have both been ruled out of Sunday’s game.

On the Cardinals’ side, QB Kevin Kolb has been ruled out of the game, meaning QB John Skelton will likely get the nod under center.

Here’s a quick look at some of the things Falcons players and coaches were talking about Wednesday:

• John Abraham on Mike Nolan’s defensive system: “It’s just a lot of preparation. It’s more knowledge than it is physical stuff. We do a lot of walk-throughs to make sure everybody knows all the checks, so it’s more than just ‘You do this, you do that.’ It’s more like, ‘What can we do? What can we work with?’ It’s more of a collective thing than someone telling you that you’ve got to be in this spot.”
• John Abraham was asked if he thought he’d be back in Atlanta during free agency: “No. I was pretty much gone, then when they hired Mike (Nolan), I called my agent and said, ‘Look, get me back in Atlanta.’ It was a good thing because I was about to go some place else. I was about to take a flight to Tennessee. (Puts his phone to his ear) ‘Look, man. I’m not going. … Nah, I’m gonna stay in Atlanta.’ ‘Are you sure, John?’ ‘No, I ain’t going to Tennesse.’ “
• John Abraham on facing young offensive tackles recently: “I try to keep everybody (the same). I don’t care if you’re old or young, I feel like I’m gonna beat you. That’s just common sense. You can’t go into a fight knowing you’re going to lose. It’s kind of pointless, right? So, I go into it looking at everybody the same as in, I’ve got to do my job and my job is to get to the quarterback.”
• Stephen Nicholas on Cowboys TE Jason Witten: “With Witten, him being very crafty, him being a veteran, he knows how to get open. He’s kinda like Tony (Gonzalez). But he’s definitely a veteran guy that’s very crafty.”
• Michael Turner on what it means that the Falcons rushed for big yardage against Philly: “It means that we can still run the football. We’ve still got to go out there and do things better, but we’re still improving in that area.”
• Michael Turner on Matt Ryan’s performance: “This is nothing new to us. We’ve been seeing the improvement year in and year out, and he’s ready to take things to the next level.”
• Matt Ryan on what the worst part of playing Sunday night is: “I guess waiting around the hotel. That kind of makes for a long day, but night games, they’re fun. They really are, especially in the Dome. Our fans are always crazy when we have night games, so it’s a great environment to play.”
• Mike Smith on having such few offensive penalties this year: “I think we’ve done a good job up until this past ballgame. I thought this past ballgame, we had some silly penalties. Not necessarily on the offensive side — we had illegal procedure and were lined up wrong one time on the offensive side, but I think it’s an emphasis point. It’s something that we talk about every first meeting of the week. We put it up. We have a penalty report. We keep track of our penalties, who’s actually having them — whether they’re offensive penalties, defensive penalties, special teams penalties — whether they’re on third down, because a third-down penalty is weighted much heavier than a first-down penalty, or if it happens in the fourth quarter. I think it’s an emphasis point that we have instilled in our guys, that we don’t want to be penalized. We want to understand what we can do.”

Falcons secondary vs. Bengals WR AJ Green
It’s no secret that two years ago in the NFL Draft, Georgia’s AJ Green was closely tied with Alabama wide receiver Julio Jones in the talent department as not much separated the two. Green went to Cincinnati, Jones came to the Falcons and the rest is history. Still, the Falcons secondary will have a tough test in trying to keep the second-year WR contained. Practicing every day against Jones should certainly help, but a good measure of where the secondary is at this point will be shown in Green’s stat line at the end of the night.

Falcons WRs Roddy White and Julio Jones vs. Bengals secondary
Speaking of Jones, teaming up with Roddy White tonight creates an interesting matchup with Cincinnati’s cornerbacks. Leon Hall and Nate Clements are two top tier cornerbacks in the NFL and will be tough to contend with. Jones’ outstanding camp and his comfort this year, however, may prove to be the separating factor between these two position groups. A more comfortable Julio Jones could mean more attention on him, which could in turn open things up even more for the always-dangerous White.

Falcons offensive line vs. Bengals defensive front
You’ll be hard pressed to find any game in 2012 when the Falcons offensive line isn’t featured as one of the top and most important matchups. The Bengals defense presents an interesting challenge with defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer’s scheme. With big tackles Domata Peko and Geno Atkins in the middle, and middle linebacker Rey Maualuga lurking behind them, the challenge to keep Matt Ryan upright and Michael Turner running free is very real.

Falcons defensive ends vs. Bengals offensive tackles
John Abraham and Ray Edwards — along with Kroy Biermann and Lawrence Sidbury — are charged with a big task of being the force that kickstarts the Falcons’ pass rush. Against Bengals tackles Andrew Whitworth (left side) and Andre Smith (right), the four DEs will get a chance to see what they can do against some very sizey competition. Smith goes 6-4, 335 and Whitworth checks in at 6-7, 330. The speed coming off the edge for the Falcons could be an advantage if they can get that extra quick step on the big men.

Jay Adams: Free agency was kind to you in that you got John Abraham and Kroy Biermann back. What does it mean to have those two guys back in the fold for you?

Ray Hamilton: Quite a bit. Those are our two best defensive end athletes. John Abraham is obviously one of the best pass rushers in the history of the game, and Biermann is one of our up-and-coming guys. Both athletic guys, both help our team in a lot of ways, so we’re very happy to have them back.

JA: You also add a new guy in Jonathan Massaquoi in the 2012 NFL Draft. In the early stages, what do you think of him?

RH: He’s a very quick and explosive guy. He shows the pass-rush ability that we thought he had when we saw him at Troy, but he’s picking up things. Rookies heads swim a little bit because there’s so much going on, but he’s showed a good ability to pick up what we’re putting in. He’s smart enough, but very quick, very athletic, very explosive.

JA: The last couple of years, you’ve had some very good defensive tackles to work with. The core group of guys you have in the middle, what’s your assessment of where they are and what they bring to the table?

RH: Of course, the rookies, we haven’t seen them in pads yet. That’s the big thing for them. Our guys coming back, (Jonathan) Babineaux was a little bit hurt last year. He’s going to be fine this year. Corey (Peters) has been just really, really good. He’s just a really solid player for us. I thought last year, Vance Walker got better and Peria Jerry got better. We’ve got four guys in our core that I think are on the uprise. Now, the new guys we have — (Travian) Robertson and (Micanor) Regis, from Miami — those guys are bigger guys than what we’ve had around, but we’ve only seen them without pads so far, so hopefully, that size and girth and strength — they look big, they look strong, they can move — so hopefully, that will help us in there. It’s all about competition. We compete every day, every play, and that’s what we have those guys in here for.

JA: Fans have really kept an eye on Lawrence Sidbury and Cliff Matthews, two young guys with a lot of potential. What do you see as the next steps for them in their careers?

RH: Obviously, they have to get better. Sidbury has to come in and show that he’s improved from last year. Matthews didn’t play at all last year, but he’s a big, strong, physical, tough guy that we hope will make some big strides and be competitive again this year for us.

I won’t go into too much detail about the story because I really want you to head over to Yahoo! and read it in its entirety, but to kick you in the rear to send you there, Sean Jensen wrote a great piece last week about Abraham’s decision and what all went into it.

Again, go read it, but Jensen reports that there was more dangled in front of Abraham from other organizations, but he chose to remain in Atlanta because of his family and love of the Falcons.

Who says loyalty doesn’t exist in pro sports anymore?

And why are you still reading me? Go read Jensen’s story.

Judging from the headline, you probably think that I scrapped the idea of Wordle Wednesday, which premiered last week.

Not a chance.

World Wednesday is back for Round 2, this time with much more data to pour over.

I explained last week that a Wordle can basically be made out of any set of data, but the real challenge is to be able to parse it down so it actually shows something interesting or surprising.

It’s tough to come up with an idea that’s worth putting the time in to research and gather the information, but I think this week’s is a good one.

I decided to go back over the past 10 seasons and see which players have had the most sacks during that time period. I gathered up all players who have recorded a sack in the past 10 years and put them into Wordle. (If a player recorded a half-sack during the season, I just rounded up since there’s no way to illustrate decimals).

The problem was, there were so many entries that just had one or two sacks during those 10 seasons, so I decided to cut those out. Basically, what I ended up with was a Wordle of the players in the past 10 years who have the most sacks — with the minimum number of sacks being five — while with the Falcons.

And here it is (to view this Wordle bigger, just click on the photo):

I can probably guess what you’re thinking.

“OK, great. So, this tells us what exactly?”

Well, the idea behind a Wordle is to input the data and see what the artwork tells you. When I came up with the idea of doing this Wordle, I had no clue what the purpose of it was going to be until I did it.

Once I looked at it, I understood.

This Wordle, to me, illustrates the importance of solid defensive end play. The two biggest names — or the two players with the most sacks during that 10-season period — are John Abraham and Patrick Kerney, both defensive ends.

If you look at the next biggest names, you’ll see Rod Coleman and Brady Smith. Coleman was a defensive tackle, but Smith was a defensive end. So, of the four top sack-getters over the past 10 seasons, three of them are defensive ends.

I think that’s rather telling when we think about the Falcons’ offseason needs. It’s no secret by now that the consensus out there is that the Falcons could use some help in the pass rush department. If today’s Wordle tells us anything, that help should come in the form of a defensive end.

From a productivity standpoint, based on this data, finding a star at that position is the best way to generate more pressure — and more sacks — on opposing quarterbacks.

Should we be surprised by this? No, absolutely not.

This data simply backs up what we already knew: Defensive ends are likely your best chance to create pressure.

Now, give us your take:

What Do You Take From This Week’s Wordle?survey software

You can always count on ESPN.com NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas to come up with some really interesting stats, figures or polls to pour over. He doesn’t disappoint once again, as today he wrote about Falcons defensive end John Abraham being the only top 10 pass-rusher from the NFC South represented in ESPN.com’s pass-rush power rankings.

Pass-rush power rankings, you ask? Certainly. Why not?

Anyway, Abe came in at No. 7 in ESPN.com’s rankings — the lone NFC South representative in the top 10. If we look at the mocks, it’s clear that most experts believe the Falcons are looking to improve the pass rush during the offseason, particular in April’s Draft.

But ESPN.com’s rankings really underscore a problem for the entire NFC South. Apparently, it’s a division that’s keeping opposing quarterbacks safe and sound.

To be fair, Abe did anything but that during a Pro Bowl 2010 season with 13 sacks. But outside of him and Carolina defensive end Charles Johnson, who netted 11.5 sacks during a breakout year, the division lacked in this critical area.

Behind those two in the division were New Orleans defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis with 6 sacks, New Orleans defensive end Will Smith with 5, Tampa Bay defensive end Stylez G. White with 4.5 and then Falcons defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux and New Orleans linebacker Jonathan Vilma with 4 in the top 40 pass rushers from the NFC in 2010.

Those numbers pale in comparison to the NFC East, which had 11 players represented in the top 40 pass rushers in the NFC last year and accounted for an astounding 84.5 sacks.

So while the mocks continue to project the Falcons getting deeper and better at pass rush positions, the same will likely be true of other teams in the NFC South.

And with Carolina, Tampa Bay and New Orleans all drafting before the Falcons in the first round, it could be a safe bet to see a pass rusher Atlanta wants on the opposite side of a division rivalry.

Now, to the poll:

What Would Upset You More During The Draft?online surveys