The Atlanta Falcons introduced on Thursday the throwback uniforms they will use for the 2009 season. The white, black and red uniforms are in honor of the franchise’s 1966 inaugural team.

The uniforms will be worn twice this season, during the Alumni weekend in week 2 when they play the Carolina Panthers and the week 11 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, another division rival. This will be the first time that the team will have worn throwback uniforms in the club’s history.

Rich McKay, Falcons President said that NFL Throwback Weekend would be an opportunity for their club as well as their fans to celebrate and honor the 1966 inaugural Falcons team. He added that honoring former players and past teams was an NFL time honored tradition and they were planning to make sure that Falcon fans had plenty of opportunity for celebrating the 1966 Falcons along with the club in a very big way.

Matt Ryan, Falcons quarterback, said during the team’s video for the photo shoot that he was excited to wear the jerseys a few times a year. He added that he thought the fans would like them a lot.

The throwback uniforms feature black jerseys with red trim, white numbers and a Falcon crest on the sleeves that is also white. The white pants have two black stripes that border a red strip. The vintage helmet is red with a Falcon crest logo which is black with one black stripe and two white strips running down the center of the helmet.

The helmet stripe had gold trim as well, which the clubs says was intended to acknowledge colors from Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia, rival schools in the Atlanta area. However the gold trim was removed later.

Fans who attended the September 20 Week 2 game will be given a commemorative flag which comes courtesy of Ticketmaster.

All of the throwback merchandise for the Falcons will be sold exclusively through the team’s online retailer Falcons365.

Its that time of year when the NFL teams take the field to prove that their second team is better than your second team. Its exciting stuff let me tell you, but if nothing else it gives the fans a chance to get a glimpse at the potential stars of the future. In Saturday’s preseason opener where the Falcons took on the Detroit Lions at Ford Field, we got plenty of flashes of the future.

Matt Ryan and Michael Turner started the game with the first team, hanging on for two drives in the first quarter. Ryan came out 5-for-7 with 33-yards to his credit as Turner broke free on a 40-yard scamper for a touchdown. Free agent acquisitions Tony Gonzalez and Mike Peterson showed up to play as well. Gonzalez converted a Ryan pass on third down as Peterson racked up three tackles in the first quarter.

Former Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford took over for Daunte Culpepper in the second quarter and showed why he was the number one pick in the draft. Stafford didn?t post gaudy numbers going 7-for-14 with 114 yards, but the number of drops by Lions receivers, most notably Keary Colbert, took the sizzle out of an otherwise stellar performance. Calvin Johnson was sidelined by a sprained thumb and will be a welcomed addition by Stafford once he is healthy. Lions’ RB Kevin Smith was also showing continued flashes of brilliance to follow up on his great 08 campaign.

Atlanta’s backup quarterbacks didn’t offer up much to write about. Redman seemed to make a habit of going three and out, and DJ Shockley seemed as erratic and inconsistent as ever. The one positive seemed to be new pickup out of Alabama John Parker Wilson. His passes were on the money more than they weren?t, and he seemed to step up at key points in the drive. It will be interesting to see who is the odd man out when it comes time to make final cuts.

The one name that kept echoing through the broadcast was rookie CB Christopher Owens. Where ever the play was developing on the field, he was in the middle of the action. I guess he’s trying to prove that coming out of a small school (San Diego State) doesn’t mean his play is small. Also consistently on the highlight reel was third string running back Thomas Brown. He put the team on notice that there is more than just Turner and Norwood that could carry the ball.

The score showed a Falcons loss at the end of the day 27-26 due to a 47-yard field goal by Jason Hanson as time expired, but there is a lot for the Falcons to take away from the effort. Lots of guys are fighting tooth-and-nail to make the squad and have three more games to prove their worth. Next up is the St Louis Rams on 8/21 at Edward Jones Dome. Trying to stuff Steven Jackson behind the line will be a great test of the Falcons run defense.

As we get ready to wrap up the first official week of training camp, one man is still noticeably absent — Roddy White. White is in the last year of his contract and is set to make a paltry $2.28 million. Evidently, ol Roddy is barely scrapping by and is vying to lock in something in the neighborhood of Larry Fitzgerald’s $10 million a year contract. Fitzgerald is currently drawing the highest average salary among wide receivers in the league. 2009 is Roddy White?s last year under his current contract.

Falcon’s GM Thomas Dimitroff commented about the situation saying, “I’m a little bit disappointed with the direction that the negotiations are going at this point. It’s one of those situations where both parties are digging in and feel strongly about their case.”

Talks seem to have broken down sometime on Tuesday. Prior to Dimitroff said both sides were making progress and thought Roddy would be in camp shortly. The Falcons are mulling pulling their offer off the table and letting White play out the 09 season under his current contract. There doesn’t seem to be much urgency on the Falcon?s part since White won’t be hitting the open market until 2011. By opting out of the collective bargaining agreement, 2010 could become an uncapped year and Roddy would be a restricted free agent.

The Falcons have made progress on their expiring contracts this offseason, locking in both Jonathan Babineaux and Michael Jenkins.

Tough break for the Falcons as it was revealed on Wednesday that wide receiver Harry Douglas is out for the season due to a torn ACL. The injury happened during one-on-one drills as he got tied up with corner back Chris Houston while going for a Matt Ryan pass. He wasn’t mobile and had to be carted off the practice field at Flowery Branch. Later in the evening, ESPN’s Adam Scheffer relayed the bad news to Falcon?s fans everywhere regarding Douglas’ torn ACL.

The timing couldn’t be less opportune as Roddy White continues to hold out of camp as he pursues a larger paycheck for his deft-defying catches he racked up last season. Douglas was serving as the number 2 receiver in White’s absence. Now that role falls to Brian Finneran as Michael Jenkins serves as the primary receiver. Troy Bergeron or Aaron Kelly could find themselves in the slot while White is delayed at the bargaining table.

Harry Douglas had an impressive 2008 campaign, snagging 23 receptions for 320 receiving yards. He also helped out at punt return, bringing balls back for 11.5 yards per carry. He tallied up 3 touchdowns, one each for receiving, rushing and punt return. He?s a local boy out of Jonesboro High who was picked by the Falcons in the third round of the 08 draft out of Louisville.

While Roddy White would never wish to see his teammate injured, it has to help his position as the receiver starved Falcons look to get him in camp as quickly as possible to patch the gapping holes in the receiving corps.