Drafting is the way to long-term success

The Atlanta Falcons are one of the NFL’s pleasant surprises, starting 2-1 after a 2007 season that was ruined from the start by the jailing of Michael Vick and made worse by the harsh regime of Bobby Petrino and his sudden departure for Arkansas with three games left.

The New York Jets are 1-2, not a surprise considering they had a difficult opening schedule. But the way they have played has made it clear that the quick-fix approach that included the trade for Brett Favre is just that: a quick fix that is likely to damage any long-term rebuilding plan.

Yes, there are many ways to build a good team, as New England has shown by using the draft, trades and a few well-thought-out free-agent signings to dominate most of this decade.

But the method that has built champions, before and after the advent of free agency in 1993, is the one that’s always worked: good drafts.

That’s why the Falcons are doing it the right way, even if things don’t work out perfectly. And the Jets are doing it the wrong way, even if Favre leads them to the playoffs this season. At the end of this year or next year, they will still be spinning their wheels, hoping that Kellen Clemens or Brett Ratliff or some older QB off the scrap heap (Marc Bulger anyone?) will lead them to the Super Bowl.

“Scouting and drafting is still the most basic way to build a football team and the good teams know it,” says Gil Brandt, the longtime personnel director of the Cowboys and now the NFL’s draft consultant. “It’s funny that every time I talk to someone from a school that thinks it has a kid who can be a real sleeper in the draft they tell me, ‘The Giants were here looking at him.’ ”

The Giants, in case anyone missed it, upset the Patriots to win the Super Bowl with eight rookies on the roster, including a tight end named Kevin Boss from Western Oregon, not exactly a spawning ground for NFL players.

Dallas, currently the consensus choice as the NFL’s top team, signed receiver and return man Miles Austin two years ago as a free agent from Monmouth in New Jersey. He had two receptions for 115 yards and a touchdown Sunday night to help beat Green Bay. Monmouth just happens to be on the Jersey shore, a place well known to Bill Parcells, the coach of the Cowboys when Austin was signed.

The Falcons can only aspire to be the Giants or Cowboys in a few years.

But after the Vick/Petrino debacle, they began the right way by hiring Thomas Dimitroff, a little-known personnel man from New England, to take over the football operation. He hired the almost totally unknown Mike Smith from Jacksonville to coach the team.

Then Dimitroff used first-round draft picks, the third overall and the 21st, to draft Matt Ryan and Sam Baker. They were made immediate starters at quarterback and left tackle, two of the most important positions on offense, and two of the most difficult for any rookie to learn. They added another rookie at another key position in middle linebacker Curtis Lofton, a second-round pick.

Football people differ on whether throwing in rookies at those position helps or hinders their development. And the verdict, of course, is still out on Ryan, Baker and Atlanta -- considering that while the Falcons are 2-1, their wins are over two of the NFL’s worst team, winless Detroit and winless Kansas City.

Individual results? About what they should be.

Ryan threw a 62-yard touchdown pass on his first play against the Lions, the second NFL quarterback ever to do that. He also had a TD pass against the Chiefs and didn’t have an interception in either game. His passer ratings in those wins were 137 and 120.6, outstanding numbers.

But against Tampa, with a veteran defense that can be one of the most difficult in the NFL to decipher, he was 13-of-33 for 158 yards and his rating was a dismal 39.4.

Beyond that, the best thing about the Falcons’ offense is they found that occasional free agent who can have an immediate impact: Michael Turner, LaDainian Tomlinson’s backup in San Diego and by far the biggest prize this year in the running back crop. He currently leads the league in rushing with 366 yards and has a 6.2 average.

But again, the numbers are skewed by opponents: 324 yards and all five of his touchdowns came against the Lions and Chiefs; just 42 yards were against the Bucs.

Still for a team that won four games last season, getting halfway there in three weeks is an accomplishment.

The Jets, who also finished 4-12 in 2007, are another story.

Feeling squeezed by the success of the Patriots, who have won five straight AFC East titles, and the Giants, who have always owned the New York area and dominated it after their Super Bowl win, they set out to get their own attention.

They did, especially by trading for Favre, which got them on the back pages of the tabloids for a week and into City Hall.

But did they do it the right way?

The price for Favre wasn’t very much: a fourth-round draft choice. And the price for the rest of the players they signed -- notably offensive linemen Alan Faneca and Damien Woody; linebacker/defensive end Calvin Pace; and nose tackle Kris Jenkins (after a trade with Carolina) -- wasn’t the kind fans care about. It was simply millions of owner Woody Johnson’s dollars.

On the other hand, it doesn’t guarantee anything.

Remember that Favre is 38, Faneca 31, Woody 30 and Jenkins 29 with a history of injuries. He hurt his back early in last week’s loss in San Diego, although he is expected to be ready for Sunday’s game with Arizona.

Did they draft well?

Linebacker/DE Vernon Gholston, taken with the sixth overall pick, got his first tackle Monday night as he struggles to adjust to new defensive schemes after a late start. Give him time, but remember that a lot of teams had doubts that he should be rated as highly as he was coming out of Ohio State.

A second first-round pick, Dustin Keller, looks like a good receiving tight end, and fourth-rounder Dwight Lowery has started at cornerback and looks like a find.

But even a draft as good as the Giants had last season won’t do much good once Favre re-retires, either after this season or the next.

Yes, maybe the Jets will monopolize the tabloids again after the season as Favre once again contemplates retirement. And again next June when -- if he retires -- he once again contemplates unretirement.

But they have no idea whether Clemens, Ratliff or Erik Ainge, the three young QBs on their roster, have any real future as a starter. Clemens was erratic at best when he got a chance last season, and Ratliff showed some promise in the preseason, but has never thrown a pass in a real game.

The Falcons’ course also remains unclear. Because Ryan’s first pass was a touchdown and two of his first three starts were wins doesn’t mean that he won’t encounter hard times. In fact, count on it, perhaps as soon as Sunday, when the Falcons go to Carolina. But they seem to be doing things the right way.

Before this season, few people had heard of their general manager and coach -- and the coach’s generic name probably guarantees he will remain relatively anonymous unless his team has some success.

But bet on them to be more consistently successful in the next decade than the team that already has a superstar. An aging one who will be gone in a year or two.

Dirty dozen

The top six and bottom six teams in the NFL based on current level of play:

1. Dallas (3-0). Clearly the best team in the league. Nor is it time to harp on the Cowboys’ recent postseason flops. Wait until the postseason for that.

2. New York Giants (3-0). Winning a close one might help in the long run. So should the Plaxico Burress suspension because a team that punishes one of its best players for misbehavior is a team that’s showing it’s lesser lights that no one is immune.

3. Philadelphia (2-1). Sense an NFC East theme? It’s happened before. From 1990-92, the NFL champions were, in order, the Giants, Redskins and Cowboys.

4. Tennessee (3-0). Jeff Fisher has quietly gone about his business for 14 seasons and produced a quality product in most of them.

5. Green Bay (2-1). The Cowboys exposed some shortcomings in the Packers. But they can do that to anyone.

6. San Diego (1-2). Could finish 12-4 -- as long as Ed Hochuli doesn’t do another of its games.

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27. Cincinnati (0-3). The old Carson Palmer showed up in the Meadowlands. The old Ocho Zero did not.

28. Oakland (1-2). Showing some progress on the field. But Al Davis’ repeat treatment of a young coach (see Mike Shanahan, 1988, and Jon Gruden, 2001) is tarnishing whatever legacy of the old silver and black remains.

29. Cleveland (0-3) .That 10-6 in 2007 sure looks like a fluke.

30 Detroit (0-3). Those fans celebrating Matt Millen’s firing might stop celebrating soon. The Fords are like the Bidwills with the Cardinals: They change bosses but rarely win.

31. Kansas City. (0-3). Croyle, Huard, Thigpen and Huard. Sounds like a down-and-out law firm.

32. St. Louis. (0-3). What can 38-year-old Trent Green do that 31-year-old Marc Bulger didn’t? Is playing behind this leaky an OL a good spot for a QB who had a serious concussion last season?