This blog has moved! Yes, already!
As of Thursday, Feb. 12, this little blog has relocated to a new home on AJC.com. It’s the same newspaper, the same Web site and the same writer (feel free to groan) — there’s just a new URL.
New features: Bigger type, more graphics, comments that load 10 times faster and a larger and more recent photo that makes me look pretty doggone old. I think you’ll like it (the blog, not the photo). But I am, as we know too well, often wrong.
Home > Mark Bradley > Archives > 2008 > September > 05
Friday, September 5, 2008
Milloy veteran force in Falcons secondary
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The thinking man’s safety was having disquieting thoughts. How, Lawyer Milloy wondered, was he supposed to shepherd a secondary that had shed its most gifted player and was being overrun by kids?
“That was a concern of mine,” Milloy said, recalling the days before training camp. “With all the youth we had, why didn’t we go out and get a veteran? … It was a little bit of a concern for me personally, dealing with very youthful cornerbacks.”
And now, coming off a preseason in which the Falcons yielded no touchdowns via air and saw opponents complete only 46.6 percent of their passes?
Said Milloy, smiling: “I’m looking forward to going into battle with them.”
The defensive backfield is in pronounced flux. Starting corners Brent Grimes and Chris Houston are second-year men; nickel back Chevis Jackson is a rookie. And DeAngelo Hall, who was both Pro Bowler and polarizing presence, was dispatched to Oakland in the spring.
Is Hall’s absence a case of addition by subtraction? “I’m not going to spend too much time talking about last year,” Milloy said. “DeAngelo is a special talent, and [even] with everything he did I know he’s a good person. Did he go about everything the right way? I can’t agree with that.”
What Milloy can endorse is the way the young corners have conducted themselves. “It was very important for them to show up in the offseason, and then to progress the way we did in the preseason,” he said.
Houston and Grimes and Jackson aren’t just running around out there, relying on speed and instinct. Said Milloy: “Once you learn the scheme, you get into nuances. That’s the level they’re on now.”
That’s a heartening sign. Here’s another: On Tuesday, the Falcons added cornerback Domonique Foxworth and safety Jamaal Fudge — two veterans. And that’s why, if you happen to encounter Mr. Milloy, you’ll find a true rarity in our litigious society.
A happy Lawyer.
Permalink | Comments (36) | Post your comment | Categories: Falcons/NFL
