Today's election day and so I look for a distraction to make it pass by a bit faster and naturally I turn to football. 

There are some thoughts that have been rolling round in my head and I thought I'd see if any people around here wanted to chat about them.  Don't be shy, I just thought it'd be fun to have a general discussion thread here.  Sure, John Morgan is the best football analyst anywhere, but sometimes the front page just isn't enough for me and I want to chat.  So in no particular order . . . . .

1.  Has Jon Ryan unleashed some monster punts recently?  No one seemed to comment on it but I feel like a few of his punts the last couple weeks have been absolutely HUGE.  am I imagining this? or are they low punts and therefore don't have the requisite hangtime to be considered good punts? 

2.  How does Marvin Lewis still have a job? I know this isn't a Hawks question but with head coaches dropping like flies this year I can't get this question out of my head.

3.  Can someone remind me why Mora was our pick for the next generation Hawk team and not Zorn?

4.  I know we're all aware of a need to start the grooming process for the next Hasselbeck but am I the only one who's seriously worried about finding the next Walter Jones?  Our last draft seemed way too light on offensive line.  Does Ruskel know something I don't know? is there depth within the organization?  I'm a firm believer that a football team starts and ends with its o-line and that thought leaves a pit in my stomach when I think about the future of the Hawks.  Is there any depth here?

5.  How could the defensive coaching be this bad?  I just can't blame the talent.  Why?  Because the wide receivers of other teams are frequently amazingly open.  When a db can't cover a guy, or gets beat, he's usually somewhere in the vicinity, just a step or two behind the receiver and it's clear he got beat or juked.  But, whenever there's a decent pass play against the Hawks it seems like there is no one around.  anywhere.  Just a receiver standing all by himself, it happens ALL THE TIME!  It seems like it's been a problem all year.  How can the defensive coaching be THIS bad? anyone?

6. Which running backs are people liking in this backfield?  Personally I really like Julius Jones.  He's playing with something to prove and he can BLOCK.  I'm not someone who goes back to look at game film, but even in casual game watching I have seen Jones make some great blocks and pickups in pass protection.  That kind of versatility makes him the key back to keep over the next few years, in my mind.

7.  On the RB note, why don't we use Duckett more?  I get that he's the 'short yardage' back, but it seems like shaking things up and using him on some first or second downs with 7-10 to go could pay dividends.  He runs hard and defenses (right now) won't be looking for it.

8.  How awesome is this site?  seriously.  And how has John Morgan not been offered a job by ESPN? I know he just focuses on one team, but I have learned more about football from this site than I would reading espn.com everyday for years.

9.  Why are we playing Seneca Wallace over Charlie Frye?  Is it because he gives us the best chance to win right now?  I think Wallace played fine against the Eagles, but presumably we picked up Frye because Holmgren (or someone) saw something in him that they thought could make him a good QB in the future.  Isn't this the situation to test that out?  or is he so not ready that trying him too early could break him?

10.  I really didn't intend such a long list.  But now that I'm here I really feel like there should be '10'.  So . . . how awesome is Matt Ryan?  Did anyone see that play action fake he did where he tossed the ball up and flared his hands so the defenders could see that he didn't have the ball and then he caught the ball and threw that pass?  I've never seen anything like that, and sure, the risks probably outweigh the benefits, if you don't count one of the benefits as that move being completely AWESOME.

thoughts?