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
September 2008
Braves hope to be big shoppers this off-season
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit Frank Wren for candor. Asked Monday where the Braves as constituted would fare in 2009, he said: “We’d have a team that would finish somewhere in the middle of the pack.”
For “the great, grand organization” — John Schuerholz’s timeless description — it was a major concession. For the first time in nearly 20 years, the Braves are acknowledging that they require outside assistance. They no longer have enough good players under contract to consider themselves contenders.
“That’s where we are, talent-wise,” said Wren, who succeeded Schuerholz as general manager last October and who saw the first Braves team of his design finish with the franchise’s worst record since 1990. “Offensively, if we did nothing, we’d be OK. We need more power production.”
And starting pitchers, Wren allowed, are a more pressing need. He wants to find two of them, and the fan’s kneejerk response is to think, “No problem! We just buy CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets!” Without quite saying such a thing isn’t going to happen, Wren hinted it isn’t going to happen.
“Our first priority would be developing our own players,” Wren said. “Second would be to trade for them. Third would be the free-agent market.”
Speaking specifically of free-agent outfielders, Wren said: “It’s not real good. It’s not a real deep market.” Speaking of free-agent starting pitchers: “The marketplace in some respects is dwindling. It’s a very, very competitive market. We’d like to get a couple. That being said, the market keeps going down.”
Does Wren have a notion of how much money he’ll be able to spend? “I have a pretty good idea. Our payroll will be north of where it was this year.”
Far north? Due north? North to Alaska?
Said Wren, smiling: “It will be going up again.”
It won’t, alas, go up so much as to allow $20 million a year for Sabathia. The Braves haven’t trafficked in big-ticket free agents since signing Brian Jordan in 1998. They might make an overture to someone this winter, but it’s more likely they’ll have to find pitching via trade. That’s what happens when you stop growing your own.
Wren contends his minor-league system is deep in pitching, but it’s not deep in the sense that there’s a Glavine and a Smoltz and an Avery ready to break upward. It’s deep in terms of numbers, as opposed to top-shelf quality. The greatest value some of these minor-leaguers will have to the Braves is as bait.
But are you apt to find a No. 1 and a No. 2 starter for a package of Class AA arms? With everyone needing pitching, exactly what do the Braves have to offer that’s so compelling?
And now we come to the indication that the Braves are really and truly desperate: They’d like to re-sign Mike Hampton, and not as one of the two starters Wren wants to import. He’d be in addition to those.
“We need some older pitchers,” Wren said, meaning to augment youngsters Jair Jurrgens and Charlie Morton. But that, sad to say, is how the Braves got here in the first place. They banked on aging pitchers, and three of those just had arm surgery. And now the question: How do you fill out a defoliated rotation in one winter?
Grim answer: You probably don’t. Wren will surely try, and he’s chipper about his chances: “We have the financial resources and the prospects [to trade].” But reality figures to set in soon enough. No longer grand and no longer great, the fourth-place Braves stand to get worse before they get better.
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Bradley’s Buzz: The fallout after Georgia’s fall
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Dogs, the Tide and the future
This feature is in just its seventh week of operation, but already I feel a proprietary interest. Indeed, as I was leaving the Sanford Stadium press box Saturday night — actually Sunday morning — I told Pat Forde of ESPN.com and Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports, “You national guys be sure to write something good so I can link to it.”
Said Wetzel, gesturing to his computer and referencing the strange Nick Saban press conference we’d just attended: “I’m afraid this [effort] is more like Alabama’s second half than Alabama’s first half.”
Luckily for Buzz readers, he was being modest. Some very fine journalism was committed after a surprisingly lopsided game. Here’s Wetzel on Coach Satan, and here’s Forde on Alabama. And here’s Dennis Dodd of CBSsports.com on why the Tide deserves to be No. 1.
And here, from Andy Staples of SI.com, is a dismissal of Georgia’s national-championship hopes, which I must point out stands in opposition to what I wrote about the Bulldogs for the ol’ AJC. For a more detailed take on what the events of last week mean in the grand scheme, check out this breakdown from Pete Flutak of FoxSports.com, who suggests Georgia (or Florida) could still play for the national title if it wins the rest of its games.
And here’s a technical analysis of just why the game wound up the way it did. Matt Hayes of the Sporting News judges Alabama’s offensive line alongside Georgia’s and finds more contrasts than comparisons.
And here’s a promise: In the interest of variety, next Monday’s Buzz will not — repeat, will not — be yet another aggregation of Georgia postgame links. Know why? Because Georgia doesn’t play this week. Hee, hee.
Misery loves (and has lots of) company
When the local team crashes, there’s nothing quite like reading about some other team’s flop to restore some perspective. In that spirit, here’s a quick trip around the South to other losing locales.
In Jacksonville for Florida State’s victory over Colorado, Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel describes FSU’s glee over Florida’s loss to Ole Miss. Writing for the Gainesville Sun, Pat Dooley paints a portrait of a crestfallen Tim Tebow.
Georgia fans grieving over one loss need to step back and imagine how it would feel to have lost twice already. Clemson has, and Bart Wright of the Greenville News says time might at last be running out on Tommy Bowden.
And Tennessee just lost its third game, prompting John Adams of the Knoxville News-Sentinel to do what we columnists do when we’re not firing the head coach — call for a change of quarterbacks.
Tech could go 11-1, says Tech player
Defensive end Michael Johnson, in an as-told-to effort in Sporting News Today, says we shouldn’t be surprised if his team finishes 11-1 and avers “the only team that can beat Georgia Tech is Georgia Tech.”
Don’t laugh. Tech is actually pretty good. And I well remember Ken Swilling saying Tech would go undefeated in 1990. It finished 11-0-1 and was the UPI national champion.
Tex must be re-signed! (Your turn, Angels!)
Writing in the Los Angeles Times, the venerable Ross Newhan — whose son David played baseball at Georgia Tech — lobbies for the L.A. teams to keep their high-profile midseason acquisitions long-term. In the Dodgers’ case, he means Manny Ramirez. In the Angels’, he means Mark Teixeira, of whom you’ve heard.
Scott Boras represents Teixeira. Scott Boras also represents Ramirez. Scott Boras runs baseball. But you knew that already.
Speaking of Scott Boras …
I’m guessing you can guess the identity of the Boras client Jayson Stark of ESPN.com calls the National League’s least valuable player. Here are three hints: The guy used to be thin, used to be really good and used to be a Brave. Now he’s none of the above.
Ode to a Grecian earner
According to Bill Ingram of Hoopsworld, Josh Childress missed the game-winning shot in his debut for Olympiakos and hasn’t looked like a world-beater in any of his first three appearances. Hawks loyalists might see this as karma for Childress’ abrupt departure. Me, I believe the Hawks forfeited all claim to karma when they drafted Shelden Williams.
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Lessons for Dogs: Play by rules, toughen up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In college football, perspective is the first casualty of defeat. The temptation is to overstate any loss, and certainly it’s difficult to overstate just how badly Georgia was beaten by Alabama Saturday. Still, this needs to be said: It was only one game.
With the difficulty inherent in the Bulldogs’ schedule, it was almost a given that they’d lose once. Now they have. Doomsayers will suggest the level of this home thrashing dashes any hopes of a BCS title, but it manifestly does not. Last season LSU lost to an unranked team in Baton Rouge the day after Thanksgiving and still finished No. 1.
“Anything is possible at this point,” said Rennie Curran, the splendid linebacker. “There’s a whole lot of football to be played. We haven’t really lost anything with this loss. We’re hoping we get another shot at Alabama in the SEC championship game.”
Said Mark Richt, placid as ever: “Last year we had two [early] losses, two Eastern Division losses. The best news today is that we still have a chance to control what happens. … Our guys have not lost hope at all. We do have a bright future if we take care of business.”
Alabama and LSU are ranked ahead of Georgia today, but the Bulldogs must play the latter and, provided they win the rest of their games, could again meet the former. Four Big 12 teams are above them in the polls, but only one of those can finish unbeaten. Southern Cal and Ohio State and Wisconsin have already lost. Losing to Alabama leaves Georgia with no margin for error, but that’s not the same as being left with no chance.
At issue isn’t whether there’s still a path to Miami but whether the Bulldogs are resourceful enough to negotiate it. They were outfought by Alabama, which shouldn’t have happened but did. It cannot happen again. As Tide coach Nick Saban noted, Georgia’s late flurry was an indication of how skilled the Bulldogs truly are. Open to question is how strong they can be along the line of scrimmage.
Also open to question is how strong-minded they are — or aren’t. It’s probably too easy to link the raft of summer arrests to the raging pandemic of penalties, but Georgia does bear the look of an undisciplined team. Curran again: “We really just gave it to them in the first half. We made a few mistakes and we were down 20, 30 points. Coach Richt kept telling us penalties were going to come back to bite us, and they caught up to us fast.”
Some of the flags at Arizona State seemed iffy; none of the early fouls against Alabama were. The Bulldogs handed the Tide four first downs on its first two possessions, and just like that the game was gone. Florida ranked next-to-last nationally in penalties in 2006, the year it won the BCS title, and LSU was third from the bottom last season, but that’s a perilous way to live. Put simply, Georgia has to decide if it’s man enough to play football according to the rules.
It has time now to make such a decision. It’s off this week, and then come two more home games before the trip to Baton Rouge. No matter how dark it seemed Saturday night, one Saturday doesn’t scuttle a season. As Saban said, speaking of the possibility of his team being ranked No. 1: “It doesn’t matter where you are until the end.”
He should know. His LSU Tigers lost at home to Ron Zook’s Florida on Oct. 11, 2003, and weren’t ranked above No. 3 until they beat Georgia for the SEC title. They wound up BCS champions.
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Tidal wave blacked out Georgia’s hopes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Athens — Forget Corso and Herbstreit. Forget Holtz and May. Forget, for that matter, anything you might have read in this space about Georgia being really good this year. For guidance in matters concerning college football, you had only to read the financial magazine Forbes, which last month proclaimed Nick Saban “the most powerful coach in sports.”
Here’s how mighty the Alabama man actually is: He came to Sanford Stadium and outflanked Mark Richt in a way nobody has since … since ever.
For all the blather about the blackout, the supposedly supercharged Bulldogs were the ones who performed as if unprepared. The Tide, by way of conspicuous contrast, acted as if it had awaited this moment of arrival since that long-ago night when George Teague stole the ball from Lamar Thomas in the Superdome. For the second time this young season, the Tide came to this state and sent a message to the masses: We’re back.
Once again, Bama football matters. And Georgia? Never has a band of Bulldogs so good been made to look so bad as in this first half.
Debit the Dogs, yes, but at the same time credit the Tide. Saban’s team handled the night far better than the home side, which appeared to believe its choice of haberdashery would cow the proud visitor. Much was made during the week of the leaked video that showed Alabama strength coach Scott Cochran suggesting the Bulldogs were donning black because they “were going to a [bleepity-bleep] funeral.”
Truth to tell, corpses show more fight than Georgia did in that unaccountable half. And Alabama was utterly resolute. Said Saban: “We focused on what we had to do. We knew we had to be single-minded in our approach and not be affected by the atmosphere.”
Bama played a perfect first half, mixing powerful inside running with John Parker Wilson’s deft passes to his splendid receivers. Wilson completed his first six tries. Alabama scored on its first five possessions. And poor addled Georgia kept being called for penalties, the same penalties they’d overcome in Columbia and in the desert, the penalties that left them no chance against an opponent of comparable skill.
It was 7-0 after 6-1/2 minutes, 17-0 after 18 minutes, 31-0 at the half. Not since the 1999 Auburn game had Georgia trailed by so much after a half, and this time Kevin Ramsey, the overmatched defensive coordinator on Jim Donnan’s next-to-last team, wasn’t to blame.
Richt kept waving his play sheet to the crowd, exhorting the masses to do what his team clearly couldn’t, which was stop Alabama. And the sleek Bulldog offense, the one with Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno and A.J. Green, couldn’t ding Saban’s defense. Georgia had four first-half first downs, Bama 17.
For his part, Saban didn’t play to any audience. He paced his sideline, clapping now and then. His mission had been accomplished in the days before his team hit town. He’d made believers of his men, and he’d handed them a scheme against which Georgia had no reply. He’d earned his $4 million this week.
Afterward, Saban was coaching still. He was upset his team bungled two onside kicks and had a punt blocked to let the Dogs within sniffing distance the second half. He actually said: “I hope we can learn from this.”
Owing to his dour demeanor, Saban has been dubbed Coach Satan by media wags, and surely his dark presence seemed appropriate in a place where most everyone was wearing black. “I know I don’t look happy,” Saban said. “But I am happy.”
The most powerful coach in all of sports is also the toughest to please.
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Did Braves ever really have a chance?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Let’s say Mike Hampton hadn’t strained a pec before his first scheduled start.
Let’s say Kelly Johnson hadn’t dropped that pop-up.
Let’s say only one of two starting outfielders — Mark Kotsay or Matt Diaz, take your pick — had gone on the disabled list the week after Memorial Day.
Let’s say Rafael Soriano hadn’t become the Mike Hampton of relievers.
Let’s say Corky Miller had actually gotten a hit.
Let’s say only one of the over-40 set — John Smoltz or Tom Glavine, take your pick — had needed surgery.
Let’s say the Braves hadn’t wasted a five-run lead and a six-run lead on consecutive July days in Philadelphia.
Let’s say they hadn’t surrendered and traded Mark Teixeira two days later.
Let’s say Blaine Boyer had actually gotten somebody out.
Let’s say they’d been only moderately, as opposed to immoderately, unlucky. Given the way the Phillies and Mets are stumbling to the finish, would these Braves have been in the fight for first place, as opposed to 18 games back?
Yes. Heck, yes.
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Georgia the best of SEC title contenders
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Richt said last week there “are probably at least six legitimate contenders for [the SEC title], and any one of those six could be considered the best team in the country at the end.” We can eliminate Tennessee from that mix now, and even though Vanderbilt is undefeated and stands 21st in the Associated Press poll, it’s hard to imagine the Commodores climbing much higher.
So that leaves five teams, four of which are ranked among the nation’s top eight, two of which will collide Saturday night in Athens. And here, in ascending order, is a rating of those five:
5. Auburn: The temptation is to dismiss the Tigers after losing at home to LSU. Look closer and you’ll note that Auburn probably shouldn’t lose another SEC game until November, if then. The muddled offense that mustered three points against Mississippi State managed two touchdown drives and 320 yards against LSU, and the unit can only improve with time. (Brad Lester, the tailback from Parkview who was injured in Starkville, has been cleared to play against Tennessee on Saturday.) It’s an uphill slog, but this team might still win the West.
4. Alabama: The Tide can run the ball and play defense and has a senior quarterback in John Parker Wilson and a breakout freshman in receiver Julio Jones. Can those conspicuous assets deliver a conference title? Not just yet. It’s one thing to beat Clemson in the Georgia Dome, quite another to win at Sanford Stadium and in Baton Rouge. The suspicion is that Bama, which starts only six seniors, is still a year away from full-blown arrival. It probably will have to satisfy itself with beating Auburn for the first time since 2001 and making Tommy Tuberville stick his hands in his pockets.
3. Florida: Assuming they beat LSU in the Swamp, the Gators figure to be undefeated when they arrive in Jacksonville for The World’s Largest Outdoor Celebration Penalty Grudge Match. The young Florida defense has made clear upgrades over last season. But this is still Tim Tebow’s team, and Tebow, for whatever reason, hasn’t been as effective. (He ranks sixth in the conference in total offense, behind legends like Casey Dick and Chris Smelley.) And it isn’t as if Urban Meyer is resting his quarterback: Tebow was still playing inside the final three minutes with a 24-point lead in Knoxville.
2. LSU: The winner of the LSU-Auburn game usually wins the West, but the Bayou Tigers aren’t safe just yet. They still have to go to Gainesville and must play Georgia and Alabama. This remains a tremendous defensive team, and quarterback Jarrett Lee seemed to find himself in the second half at Jordan-Hare Stadium, but the feeling persists that LSU simply lost too many players from its BCS title-winning team to rule the nation’s toughest conference again. It could and probably should win the West, but not the league.
1. Georgia: The Bulldogs are the best fusion of running and passing, of offense and defense, in the SEC and maybe the land. They have more ways to win than any other conference team, and they’re finding new ones as they go. (Say hello to A.J. Green.) They still have a wicked schedule, but they can lose once — so long as it’s not in Jacksonville — and reach the Dome on Dec. 6. At issue for Georgia: Opponents have managed 69 first downs, and 13 of those have come via penalty. That aside, the season’s first four weeks have done nothing to lessen the notion that took root months ago: That 2008 will be a Dog year.
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Falcons show encouraging signs of promise
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s possible the Falcons won’t win again until November, but even if they don’t we can see the wisdom in their method. Thomas Dimitroff set out to rebuild a dilapidated roster with an emphasis on the whole, as opposed to a few glittering parts, and the nicest thing anybody can say about Dimitroff’s Falcons through three games is this:
They look like a real football team.
Maybe that sounds like faint praise. It shouldn’t. The Sporting News picked the Falcons to win one game; Sports Illustrated tabbed them to win two. Even if this promising start has been built on victories over lousy opponents, it’s worth noting that the Falcons, once thought to be lousy themselves, have twice beaten bad teams the way a decent team should.
Dimitroff was asked Monday if he’d yet raised a we’re-already-twice-as-good-as-the-Sporting-News-predicted toast. “I don’t feel like celebrating,” he said, laughing. “But I am encouraged by the direction of this team and by Mike Smith’s coaching and the way these players have responded. That feels good.”
The Kansas City game had to be especially delicious. The Falcons beat the Chiefs, who drafted Glenn Dorsey, whom many Atlantans preferred to Matt Ryan, by 24 points. If you’re Dimitroff, what’s it like watching players you’ve acquired — Ryan, Michael Turner, Sam Baker, Curtis Lofton — make such a massive splash?
“I don’t know if I feel vindicated,” Dimitroff said. “It’s more a validation for all the time we spent analyzing and watching film. We made very calculated moves, and we feel like we’re moving in the right direction. Our decisions on whom to draft have been positive.”
A case study: Once the Falcons decided to draft a quarterback with their first pick, they knew they had to find a left tackle, too. That led to the decision to trade up and take Baker. And Baker’s success in preseason essentially made a tough choice — whether to start Ryan in Week 1 — easy.
The only way the Falcons wouldn’t have gone with Ryan was if they thought their lampooned line couldn’t protect him. But anyone who deigned to watch the exhibition games closely saw the line was holding its own. And Baker, deemed a reach by some, has been concussed at Tampa Bay but not yet overmatched.
And the move to draft Ryan was also a function of Dimitroff’s first key free-agent signing. Turner leads the league in rushing, and the best way to nurse a young quarterback is to let him hand off more than he drops back. Put all this together — good young quarterback, improved O-line, splendid big back — and you have the makings of an offense.
Said Dimitroff: “I’m proud of our acquisitions. Not only were they possessive of the requisite skills, but they fit into our system.”
That’s no small thing. The focal point of the Falcons’ offense under Jim Mora was never clear — Greg Knapp’s dinky passes? Alex Gibbs’ cut-blocks? Michael Vick’s improvisation? — but it’s crystalline now. This team wants to run first and ask questions later. This team, while still a work in the early stages of progress, is being constructed not by whim but by blueprint.
Dimitroff: “It was a question of timing: We had to see how this whole bunch of new players and new coaches came together. And I’ve been encouraged.”
He should be. We all should be. Even if this team winds up 5-11 after starting 2-1, there’s real hope here. “We’re better than the prognosticators thought we’d be,” Dimitroff said, and that constitutes one small step for a franchise. Can the giant leap be far off?
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Munson as much UGA as Dooley, Herschel
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The news comes as a blow, but it’s a softened blow. Truth to tell, we hadn’t had the old Munson for some time now. Failing health had reduced him to home games only, and not having Munson on the road had conditioned us to doing what once seemed unthinkable — listening to the Dogs without listening to Larry.
Standing in the lobby of the Phoenix Airport Marriott, this correspondent watched Saturday as the broadcast team assembled to drive to Sun Devil Stadium. There were Loran Smith and Neil Williamson and Scott Howard, and Eric Zeier came along soon enough, and off they went. And only after they’d departed did this observer remember the famous man who wasn’t there.
This isn’t to say we’ll forget Munson. He is, it’s safe to say, unforgettable. He came along in an era where radio was the one reliable link to a team. Remember his call of Rex Robinson’s field goal at Kentucky in 1978? Sure you do, because you couldn’t watch the game on live TV. Remember him describing Herschel flatten Bill Bates? That one wasn’t televised, either.
Munson painted the picture — indeed, that’s how the famous voice would introduce a game, by growling, “Get the picture …” — at a time when real pictures weren’t readily available. He taught Bulldog Nation how to see and what to think and, oh yes, how to worry. He fretted over everything, and in so doing he’d manage to make a victory over Vandy seem an upset on the order of Lastinger outrunning the Texas defense.
Suggesting Munson wasn’t the greatest technical play-by-play man is akin to saying Dali wasn’t very skilled at drawing a straight line. Technique wasn’t the point. Performance was, performance and passion. Munson didn’t so much recount the action as interpret it.
A confession: The first time this listener heard Munson call a game, he thought he’d spliced into some pirate radio broadcast of a man having a nervous breakdown. But once you learned to listen to Larry — and it did take some learning — a whole aural world would open up, a world in which the opponent was “always looking like she wants to score” and the opponent always had “so much speed!” and yet Georgia invariably prevailed.
There will never be another Munson, but we all knew that already. He belonged to yesteryear, to that fraternity of wordsmiths that included Cawood Ledford and John Ward and Al Ciraldo, to a time before ESPN and ESPN2, to that time when firing up the transistor on an autumn Saturday was as much a ritual as Sunday churchgoing. If video has indeed killed all the radio stars, we can at least delight in how long it took the great Munson to succumb.
We had him for more than 40 years, and we have a trunk of memories — and tapes, and CDs, and DVDs — to remember him by. There’s no greater moment in Bulldog lore than Lindsay Scott’s catch-and-run in Jacksonville, but we don’t just recall him catching and him running; we think of it in tandem with “Run, Lindsay, run!” and “I think I broke my chair.”
Larry Munson never played a down, but he lived every snap, every yard, and he was in his crusty way as big a part of Georgia football as Dooley and Sinkwich and Herschel and the UGAs. He was the sum of all fears and the fount of all jubilation. He was The Voice, and that voice has called its last game. Munson’s beloved Bulldogs will go on to win more championships, but never again will sugar fall on them from the sky.
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Bradley’s Buzz: Stafford No. 1, GT’s MJ No. 2?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Who goes first - a Jacket or a Bulldog?
The NFL draft is only seven months away, and the local debate can commence. If you check mock drafts around the Internet - and let’s face it, they’re pretty irresistible - you’ll find a consensus that either Matthew Stafford, the Georgia quarterback, or Michael Johnson, the Georgia Tech defensive end, will be among the top picks. You’ll find no consensus as to which will be taken first.
The site DraftEmpire.com has Stafford going No. 1 overall and Johnson No. 2. It also has Geno Atkins, the Georgia defensive tackle, being taken with draft’s seventh pick and Knowshon Moreno, the Georgia tailback, with the 12th. According to WalterFootball.com, Johnson will go No. 2 overall and Stafford No. 4.
Stafford is No. 2 overall in NFLDraftDog.com’s mock, behind Alabama offensive tackle Andre Smith. This would seem to make Saturday’s game in Athens a big night not just for the Bulldogs and the Tide but for all NFL scouts. NFLDraftDog has Johnson going 13th.
Not to be confused with DraftDog, NFLDraftGeek has Johnson as its No. 6 pick and Stafford as its No. 9. DraftGeek, you should know, has Florida quarterback Tim Tebow as the No. 3 choice, and already there’s a debate raging over the Heisman winner’s pro potential. Toward that end, The NFL Draft Site has Stafford and Tebow going 1-2, with Johnson only No. 19, which seems way too low.
Here’s one last mock: The New NFL Draft lists Stafford, Johnson and Tebow as Nos. 4, 5 and 6. And here’s the obligatory Bradley disclaimer: I have no idea of the perspicacity, or the lack thereof, of any of these listings. But I’ve linked to these because they’ve been updated lately and because, unlike Mel Kiper Jr.’s draft stuff on ESPN.com, they’re free.
Nice(r) Doggies
You’ll recall that the nation’s press was unkind to Georgia after its victory in Columbia. Pete Thamel of The New York Times, who sat next to me in the press box at Sun Devil Stadium on Saturday, was much more complimentary after the Bulldogs’ defeat of Arizona State. He describes Georgia as “the best team in a very good league.” Which it is.
Stewart Mandel of SI.com writes about A.J. Green — good choice of topics — and looks ahead to Green playing against fellow freshman Julio Jones this weekend. Of Jones, Green is quoted as saying, “He’s cool.” Which he undoubtedly is.
And Derek Samson, writing for Sporting News Today, mentions Green but also takes a shot at Urban Meyer for playing Tebow so long in the rout of Tennessee. Which always makes for good reading.
Mad Dog on a short leash?
You’ll recall that Greg Maddux accepted a trade from San Diego to the Dodgers because he wanted to be part of a playoff push. Well, Bill Shaikin of The Los Angeles Times reports that Maddux might not make it to October. The Dodgers, Shaikin writes, could leave him off their playoff roster.
I yield to no one in my esteem for Maddux. But I have to say I’ve grown tired of aging pitchers who seem to hang around for no real reason. (David Wells would be Exhibit A.) Maddux is 7-13 this season, having yielded 202 hits in 188 innings. He’s not the Mad Dog of old. He’s not even a decent big-league pitcher anymore. And yes, it’s sad to see.
One goalie, two views
It’s hard to know what to make of Kari Lehtonen, who was supposed to become the Thrashers’ franchise goaltender and still might. Or might not. The difference in opinion is nicely illustrated by Darren Eliot in SI.com, who writes that Lehtonen was “impressively resolute” at the end of last season and “can be counted on to provide consistent goaltending,” and Scott Burnside of ESPN.com, who opines that Lehtonen could be displaced by Ondrej Pavelec.
It must be noted that Eliot is a Thrashers’ TV commentator and their director of hockey programs. But he’s a very good writer (and a good broadcaster, too), so I wouldn’t dismiss anything he says out of hand.
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Bulldogs’ victory convincing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tempe, Ariz. — You wanted a Statement Game? Here it was. Two thousands miles from home, working in 99-degree heat, facing a team once considered second-best in the Pac-10, the Georgia Bulldogs cleared their collective throat and didn’t just bark. They howled at the desert moon.
You wanted some assurance that the Bulldogs belong in the upper tier of the rankings? Here it was. It was 21-3 at halftime and 27-10 at the end, and it coulda/shoulda been worse. “We were not here to make a statement,” Mark Richt would say, but his team made one anyway.
You wanted some indication that Georgia isn’t just Knowshon Moreno? Here it was. Matthew Stafford threw for 285 yards, 159 of them to the outrageous freshman A.J. Green, who looked like Lynn Swann in the Super Bowl this steamy night.
“So many playmakers on both sides of the ball” — that had been receiver Mohamed Massaquoi’s description of his team this week, and three time zones away we saw what he meant. Maybe there’s a better collegiate linebacker than Rennie Curran. Maybe not. The one time Arizona State threatened early, the peripatetic Curran threw Dimitri Nance for no gain on third-and-1 to force a field goal.
And Knowshon? He gained 149 yards, and his first touchdown was culled from the Reggie Bush highlight reel. He went airborne at the ASU 4, and by the time Moreno landed — for the record, two yards deep in the end zone — the game had changed not just in score but in tone. Seeing such a breathtaking maneuver, the gold-clad Sun Devil fans had to be thinking, “We’re in trouble.”
And they were. Georgia made the Sun Devils seem smaller and slower and weaker by comparison. If it wasn’t perfection — and it wasn’t, not with all those penalties yet again — it was powerful enough for a hot night in September in a foreign stadium ringed by cacti.
This was Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson, who won two national titles at Miami, on the Bulldogs afterward: “They’ve got great speed on both sides of the ball.” We saw Georgia’s defense rise up after Arizona State scored its touchdown and limit the Sun Devils to a total of one first down over the next three series, that on a penalty that nullified Asher Allen’s interception.
Justin Houston, a third-string defensive end, had a sack to blunt one drive, and Darryl Gamble and Andrew Gully shared another sack to quash another. And then CJ Byrd broke up a third-down pass, and then it was 27-10 with six minutes left and the gold shirts were filing out and the stadium was left to those 20,000 Georgia fans who’d made the trek West.
Those hardy travelers had gotten what they’d wanted — Georgia’s first really impressive effort of the 2008 season. Anyone doubting the defense after Georgia Southern or the offense after South Carolina can stand down now. This team was not overhyped. This team is loaded. This team, with a little more attention to detail, can play for the national championship.
Yes, Georgia again left some points on the field, and yes, 12 penalties is seven too many, but those flaws can be corrected. What cannot be discounted is the talent and the will of this team, which has spent the season’s first month mostly being criticized and has clearly ignored all the negative.
This doesn’t mean Georgia will roll over Alabama next week. The Tide will be the best team the Bulldogs have seen. But what we can say is that Georgia came to the desert and left with a 17-point victory. What we can say is that a really swift team is gathering speed.
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Richt’s Bulldogs are at home on the road
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Richt learned under Bobby Bowden, who carried the nickname, “King of the Road.” Since coming to Georgia, the apprentice has usurped the throne.
For all the gaudy numbers compiled by Richt’s teams — two SEC championships, three division titles, five Top 10 finishes — nothing trumps 26-4, which is his astonishing record on an opponent’s field.
Saturday night, Georgia will play Arizona State in Sun Devil Stadium, a place the Bulldogs have never visited. Richt being Richt, he has been there and won already. He was on the Florida State staff when the Seminoles drove 98 yards to beat Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1, 1988. He remembers the winning play: “Fourth-and-15, and we hit Ronald Lewis on a little square-in.”
He smiles. “That was a great trip. Katharyn and I were pretty much newlyweds.”
His second Tempe excursion fared less well. Tennessee beat Florida State for the 1998 BCS title. “Our boy [Chris] Weinke had gotten hurt, and we were going with Marcus Outzen [at quarterback] and we just didn’t have enough juice.”
As Georgia’s coach, Richt has lost just once — to LSU, the eventual BCS titlist, in 2003 — the first time he has taken his team to a hostile stadium. He won in Knoxville on David Greene’s pass to Verron Haynes. He won in Columbia on David Pollack’s sack-and-snatch. He won in Tuscaloosa on Billy Bennett’s field goal. He won at Auburn on Greene’s fourth-down cast to Michael Johnson. All those famous victories came in his first two seasons, setting a tone that resounds still.
“If you don’t believe you can do something, it’s hard to do it,” Richt says. “When you start truly believing you can win, sometimes it’s hard to lose. Go back to that David Greene Tennessee game. If we don’t win that one, who knows what the mentality of our program would be? Who knows if I’d even be sitting here? I’d say it’s pretty debatable.”
What’s beyond debate is that the Richt Road Method works. There was no great innovation to it, he admits — “I just did it the way we did at Florida State” — but he’s happy to highlight the components.
“The No. 1 thing you have to have is a quarterback who can handle it. Of all the people who have to deal with the crowd noise and the emotion, he’s the one who gets affected the most. He can’t hear very well; we can’t hear him very well. When he makes a mistake it’s just unbelievably loud and crazy. He’s just got to be poised.
“David Greene couldn’t have asked for a better start [the Tennessee game] — a defining moment for a redshirt freshman. And we had him for four years, and [D.J.] Shockley just carried on the tradition. And now we’ve got [Matthew] Stafford. We suffered when he was a true freshman, and that’s what happens to quarterbacks if they’re not mature enough to handle it.”
After the quarterback? “The No. 2 thing is that your staff doesn’t panic, doesn’t overreact, doesn’t get too far off the game plan. You can make changes too rapidly when something seems worse than it really is, and that’s what a hostile crowd can do — accentuate your negative.
“Something bad’s going to happen. It’s inevitable. Somebody’s going to fumble. Somebody’s going to throw a pick … Don’t be surprised. You’ve got to prepare your mind for when it does happen: How are you going to react to it? You’ve got to decide that before the game.”
The third leg of the Richt Method is to be systematic. Georgia doesn’t bother with a walk-through in the opponent’s stadium on Friday. “We just meet and rest and go.” And it hews to its clock, not the time zone’s.
The plan for Tempe was to keep all watches and reset all hotel clocks on Eastern Time. Richt’s rationale: “It’s hard for a kid to see it’s 9 o’clock where they are and think, ‘It’s time to go to bed.’ It’s midnight, son … The bottom line is: We’re playing an 8 o’clock game, and we’ll treat it like that.”
Call that a royal decree from the new King of the Road.
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What if McDavid owned Hawks, Thrashers?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Thrashers open training camp this weekend. The Hawks’ first practice is Sept. 30. On Oct. 6, the lawsuit of David McDavid, the Texas car salesman, against Time Warner is set to begin in an Atlanta courtroom. Is there anyone among us who can look on this convergence of events and not wonder: What if?
What if Time Warner had sold the Hawks and the Thrashers to McDavid, as the conglomerate seemed poised to do, instead of seeking another bidder and finding the many-headed Atlanta Spirit? Could our winter pro teams possibly have been any worse?
A confession: I preferred the Spirit, or at least I did then. (My first sentence the day after the new group of bidders was presented: “This way is better.”) I was leery of McDavid because he had no connection to Atlanta. But there are times now when I’m leery of the Spirit because it seems to have little connection to reality.
The Thrashers still have Don Waddell as general manager. The Hawks still have Mike Woodson as coach. The Thrashers are a one-man team whose one man seems destined to depart. The Hawks saw their fourth-best player depart for Greece. The Thrashers haven’t yet won a playoff game under this ownership, and the Hawks haven’t yet had a winning season.
And it isn’t as if these owners have contented themselves to spend money and keep quiet. They’ve become front-page news by suing one another, and that case still seems years from final adjudication. We forget this now, but the only reason Steve Belkin became a Spirit man is the locals (the Gearons and Rutherford Seydel) and the Washington, D.C., contingent (Bruce Levenson and Ed Peskowitz) were seeking one last investor to join the cobbled-together partnership, and Belkin’s name came up.
Five years later, I wonder: Would a Texas car dealer have done any less with not one but two teams? Would his brother-in-law, acting as on-site steward, have been this ham-handed? Would McDavid have contrived to sue himself?
We’ll never know, and there’s no way McDavid’s suit can rewrite history. (Even if he wins, he’s not getting the teams. Time Warner no longer has them.) Five years ago, I thought Time Warner had done our city a favor by spurning the Texan. Now I think: Some favor.
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Why the nitpicking with UGA’s start?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Athens - In three weeks Georgia has dropped from No. 1 to No. 3 in the polls. CBSsports.com suggests the Bulldogs are no better than fourth-best in their conference. SI.com no longer lists Knowshon Moreno among the top 10 Heisman contenders. Has a 3-0 start ever been so devalued?
And an even more salient question: Do the objects of this derision still believe they’re any good?
Said Mohamed Massaquoi, the wide receiver: “Oh, yeah. I’m obviously seeing us perform every day, but we’ve got so many playmakers on both sides of the ball. We’re winning. We’re moving in the right direction. We’re getting better every week.”
Said Matthew Stafford, the quarterback: “I think so. We’re winning games and playing tough teams.”
Said Moreno: “I feel like we’re making progress.”
If that’s true, why have these three games been characterized as a retreat? From the 21 points yielded against Georgia Southern to the 14 mustered in Columbia, every facet of the preseason No. 1 team has been nitpicked to the point of belittling. The Bulldogs have been held to some ineffable higher standard, and twice they’ve been found wanting.
Southern Cal leaped them in the season’s first week on the dubious strength of a rout of a terrible Virginia team that has since been beaten nearly as badly by Connecticut. Oklahoma just shot past them after having beaten winless Washington. When did winning become grounds for demotion? And why?
Said Stafford: “I don’t care. People are going to talk and say what they want to say.”
Moreno: “It’s kind of cliched, but we have to let the polls do what they do and worry about ourselves.”
Massaquoi: “It doesn’t bother me. The rankings are rankings. At the beginning of the year, it looks good.”
That’s the point, kind of. People spent eight months building up Georgia, and some of those same folks are experiencing builder’s remorse. It mightn’t make much sense, but it is human nature.
Said Mark Richt, the coach: “I really haven’t paid that much attention to it. Because I just know how big a stab in the dark the preseason poll is.”
Does he believe his team was overblown? “I don’t think we’re any better or worse than I thought we were going to be,” Richt said. “I do think we have a legitimate shot to win the division and get into the SEC championship game.”
Will that be enough to buy Georgia, now No. 3, a spot in the BCS title game, where only two can play? Richt again: “I think we’re good enough to win the East, and if you’re good enough to win the East you’re good enough to win the SEC. There are probably at least six legitimate contenders for [the league title], and any one of those six could be considered the best team in the country at the end. I think the winner of the Southeastern Conference is going to be considered one of the best teams in the country — I do believe that.”
And there’s your bottom line. The SEC has produced the past two BCS titlists, and it’s hard to imagine an unbeaten SEC champ would be any worse than No. 2 come December. (Lose a game and the equation changes, but that’s another matter for another day.) So long as Georgia keeps winning, it will be fine.
Already one curious truth has become evident: Voters treat the top of their rankings differently than the middle portions. Ninth-ranked Auburn won 3-2 at Mississippi State and stayed No. 9 in the coaches’ poll and slid only to No. 10 in the writers.
Said Richt, smiling: “If we’d have won 3-2 in like the first game or something, we’d have been No. 5 or 6.”
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Bradley’s Buzz: Do Dawgs have fleas?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A win is a win, except when writers get hold of it
At the rate Georgia is falling, it will finish the regular season 12-0 and be ranked No. 12 in the land. The Bulldogs’ halting victory in Columbia was the subject of much national bloviating, a phalanx of national pundits queuing up to decide what the 14-7 defeat of South Carolina actually meant.
The extremely opinionated Gregg Doyel of CBSsports.com decided it meant Georgia is way overrated. This is the same Gregg Doyel who in Week 1 declared the 2008 SEC the greatest conference in collegiate history. Now he believes the Bulldogs are no better than fourth-best in this mighty league.
Writing for ESPN.com, Chris Low opined that Georgia has work to do offensively, which seems a reasonable assumption. But Low also quotes Mark Richt as recalling the breakthrough season of 2002 and how those Bulldogs, who finished 13-1 and were ranked No. 3 nationally, barely escaped Columbia without scoring an offensive touchdown.
And that would seem the salient point: With Georgia’s schedule, style isn’t required. If the Bulldogs keep winning, they’ll wind up where they want to be. So it doesn’t matter if Gennaro Filice of SI.com decides Georgia’s title hopes “look pretty bleak at the moment.” There are lots of moments ahead.
For a more technical breakdown of Georgia’s strengths and liabilities, here’s Vinnie Iyer of Sporting News Today. Iyer, you should know, decides Georgia’s receivers aren’t nearly the bums Doyel makes them out to be. Which Arizona State is about to learn.
Speaking of Arizona State …
If you’re about to play what’s been billed as the biggest home non-conference game in program history, it’s never a good idea to lose to UNLV the week before. Paolo Boivin of the Arizona Republic pronounces this Saturday’s Georgia game duly downgraded, and Doug Haller of the same paper reports that the victorious Runnin’ Rebels mentioned Georgia freely in the giddy aftermath. “How big is that Georgia game now?” shouted one Rebel.
Answer: Not as.
PJ is, ahem, teed off
You might have expected Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson to be less than appreciative of the two personal fouls levied against his team on Virginia Tech’s game-winning drive. According to Randy King of the Roanoke Times, you’d be correct in that assessment. King quotes Johnson as using the word “wow” three times in reference to the penalties, and he called the Hokies’ drive “one for the books,” which would seem to indicate he thought it was kind of hokey.
The Fridge cools the heat
After Maryland lost to Middle Tennessee, the grumbling around College Park was at a level unheard since Ralph Friedgen took over the Terps, writes Mike Wise of The Washington Post. Beating a ranked California team will surely soothe the disgruntled masses.
Speaking of heat …
Should his nose-diving Brewers fail to reach the playoffs, former Braves coach Ned Yost will be out as Milwaukee’s manager, according to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com. In Rosenthal’s report, an unnamed scout refers to Yost as “a nervous Nellie.”
Gee, and here I always called him “Ned.”
Late-breaking update! The Brewers didn’t wait. They fired Yost today. So here’s what I’m wondering now: Has a team ever dumped a manager on Sept. 15 and then made the playoffs? (My off-the-top-of-my-head guess: No.)
The divine Matt Ryan?
Here’s a weird one, courtesy of TheBigLead.com by way of the Augusta Chronicle. A woman called the Georgia paper to complain about Wes Durham’s call of Ryan’s touchdown pass to Michael Jenkins against Detroit. Said Durham: “He lives in Atlanta!” Apparently the woman, who identified herself as “Carol,” took that as honest-to-goodness sacrilege.
Then again, it was Gil Tyree of WGCL TV who was quoted by Peter King of SI.com as calling Ryan’s predecessor “the messiah.”
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Ryan showed some fight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tampa — Think of this game as a big fat cake. Picture Matt Ryan bending down to inspect the delicacy. Imagine his shock when the top layer flies open and up springs a boxing glove to smack Matty Ice on the snoot.
Only then does he read the inscription on the icing: “Welcome to the NFL.”
Every rookie has this game, rookie quarterbacks especially. Matt Ryan got his in Week 2 of Season 1, and for nearly a half it was as bad as Week 1 had been good. Against Detroit, he’d thrown his first NFL pass for a 62-yard touchdown. Against Tampa Bay here Sunday, his first nine passes were incompletions, and two were caught by the wrong team.
So addled was the guy lauded for his poise that he actually slung the ball backwards for an 11-yard loss at the end of the second quarter. “I was trying to pull it down,” he said, but at that stage he really didn’t know what he was doing.
It was 17-0 after 21 minutes, and it looked for all the world like one of those vintage Bay beatdowns — such as the 34-10 wipeout in 2002, Michael Vick’s first start here, or the 37-3 annihilation of last December. So it was with great surprise that you looked up with seven minutes remaining and saw …
The Falcons down 17-6 with first-and-goal at the 4.
“It looked rough from the beginning,” said receiver Roddy White. “But we did have a chance.”
No, they didn’t win. Matty Ice didn’t throw the big chill on the Bucs in the final reel. But Ryan did, in his first road start against a proud and polished defense, fight his way through what began as an abomination and turn it into just a garden-variety bad game.
White again: “Everything he did today, he’s learning on the run. And [Bucs defensive coordinator] Monte Kiffin always does this to young quarterbacks.”
Young Matt Ryan was buffeted and bewildered like he’d never been before and might not be again, and still he gathered himself and completed 10 of 18 second-half passes, a half in which he drove his team inside the Tampa 10 twice.
“As a rookie, it’s never going to be easy,” Ryan said. “You have to continue to weather the storm and learn from it.”
And he will. He’ll profit from the worst day of his professional life. It isn’t often a team can take solace from a 24-9 loss, but the Falcons could and did. They knew this could have been 37-3 all over again, but their resolve wouldn’t allow it.
Ryan: “You’ve got to keep battling. All our guys are continuing to battle.”
Back to first-and-goal at the 4. The Falcons choose a play that left Ryan running with the ball, which made no sense then and less in hindsight. Mike Smith, the coach, said the play was supposed to be “a run-pass option.” Ryan said it was a straight quarterback draw. It wound up losing three yards and limiting them to a field goal at a time when a touchdown would have made it dicey for the home side. But that, too, is fixable.
The Falcons are starting over, and they’re growing as they go. Standing in the tunnel as dusk fell Sunday, general manager Thomas Dimitroff simply shrugged when asked about Ryan: “A learning experience.”
Ryan was never going to be Tom Brady overnight. Tom Brady wasn’t Tom Brady overnight. Ryan didn’t trip the light fantastic in his second pro start, but he won a few more fans among a famously difficult audience — his peers. Said Lawyer Milloy, the safety who once shared a locker room with Brady: “I saw some fight out of a very young leader.”
There will be more weeks, more years, more visits to Tampa. Next time Matt Ryan will come packing a boxing glove of his own.
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From the land of the pirate ship
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tampa — Gary Shelton, the fine columnist from the St. Petersburg Times, just wandered over and said, speaking of the team he follows, “This could be a long year.”
Then he said, “Of course, you guys know all about that kind of thing.”
Well, yes. It was here last December that the worst season in the history of professional sports reached its nadir. Playing for interim coach Emmitt Thomas, the Falcons managed five first downs in losing to the Bucs 37-3. Chris Redman’s quarterback rating was 0.0. A franchise (Tampa Bay) that had returned 1,864 kickoffs in its history without running one back all the way ran one back all the way.
It was so bad that a guy in the AJC wrote that Roger Goodell should stop the Falcons before they played again, but as it turned out the lost season’s final two weeks weren’t so bad. The Falcons lost in overtime in Arizona and beat Seattle in the finale, which didn’t mean much in the grand scheme but was still better than losing 37-3.
Nine months later, the Falcons arrive with a better record than the Bucs and probably the better quarterback. Brian Griese starts for Tampa Bay in place of the injured Jeff Garcia, and nobody down here seems to believe a Griese-led offense will be able to muster much today.
So does that mean the locals are picking the visitors to win? Uh, no. Three Tampa Tribune writers pick the Bucs in today’s edition, including Ira Kaufman’s forecast of a 20-0 TB victory. And Shelton and colleague John Romano both like the Bucs, sort of, although that rascal Shelton guesses the home side will score 23 points — on 10 safeties and a field goal.
Check back throughout the afternoon. I’ll try my best to make sense of the doings, although I have to warn you: Today’s my birthday, and I’m feeling even older than ever.
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Sympathy for the Evil Genius
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Steve Spurrier once sent me a fan letter. (Actually, it was a postcard.) I’d written some goofy thing back in the early ’90s about how, with half the SEC being investigated or on probation, the day was coming when Vanderbilt would win the conference by default.
And Spurrier, being a discerning reader, found this hilarious. And he dropped me a note to say as much.
I mention this because Spurrier - who would subsequently send missives not nearly so complimentary, one of which wound up getting mentioned in The New Yorker - has lost to Vandy two years running. (He’d been 14-0 previously.) Part of me thinks it’s amusing, the guy who was so tickled by the notion of the Commodores winning being thwarted by them now. A bigger part of me finds it sad.
See, I’ve developed a weird case of sympathy for the Evil Genius.
He was more fun when he was winning big and rubbing it in. Now he’s just another coach humbled by the cold reality of working at South Carolina, where nothing big ever happens.
This is his fourth season in Columbia, and he’s 22-17. Last year was supposed to be the breakthrough, and the Gamecocks didn’t even grace a bowl. And even when Spurrier has won at Carolina, it hasn’t been the sling-it-around-and-score-every-possession sort of winning he did at Florida. His first Gamecock bunch finished 100th in the nation in total offense; last year’s team was 77th. Through two games this season, Carolina is 76th.
It’s clear Spurrier will have to be satisfied with occasional triumphs, such as last season’s 16-12 upset in Athens, and not the carload of championships he collected in Gainesville. He won’t beat Georgia, the team he used to own, this Saturday - I don’t think Carolina can stay within two touchdowns - and I’m not sure he will again. He is, lest we forget, 63.
He walked away from the Redskins after two seasons, and I wonder how long he’ll stick it out in Columbia. Even Ray Goff, Spurrier’s addled foil, never lost two straight to Vandy.
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Cox not ready to call it a career
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Attention, bashers: You will — repeat, will — have Bobby Cox to kick around next season. As much as he hates losing, he loves his job more.
“Nothing will change my mind about returning — not winning, not losing,” Cox said Wednesday. “It’s still fun for me. Being here is fun.”
By “here,” he meant Turner Field, not fourth place. By won-lost percentage, this is the worst full season any Cox-managed team has endured since the 1979 Braves. By depth of disappointment, this is the worst, period. Leaving spring training, Cox said he liked this team “a lot — you could win with it.” Then everybody got hurt.
Even then, the world’s most optimistic man was the last holdout. Asked how it felt, in the wake of the Mark Teixeira trade, to quit on a season, Cox said: “I didn’t, frankly. I don’t give up very easily.”
But now the manager who has won 15 division titles gets his pennant-race fix from watching former lieutenant Ned Yost’s Brewers play an afternoon game on TV. Yes, that’s different. “Even the last two years, we’ve gone down to the last two weeks,” said Cox, whose team was mathematically eliminated Monday. “This has not been good. You want to be in the chase — that’s what we preach.”
Then, brightening: “This year has been a bummer, but it’s still fun to come to the park and be a part of it.”
For six weeks now, the Braves’ emphasis has been on 2009. “We have a lot to do during the winter,” Cox said. More to do than ever before? “I think so … We’re going to have money. We’ll spend until we’re at the top of the budget.”
Will the recently frugal Braves actually buy a big-ticket free agent? “We are going to try to do that, I can tell you. And trades, too. Frank [Wren, the general manager] will pursue every angle on free agents and trades.”
The rotation will be the top priority — “We’ve got to get that in order,” Cox said — but he doesn’t believe the Braves have seen the last of John Smoltz and Tom Glavine. “I’d lean on the side of them coming back. But we have to make moves and then hope they come back.”
Asked specifically about Charlie Morton, the heralded rookie who carries a 6.32 ERA, Cox said: “Some of the young guys have got to prove they can stay here.”
Asked if he’s worried about his outfield, Cox didn’t answer. The interrogator reframed the question: Could the outfield use another bat? “That’s a better way to put it,” Cox said. “We could use another bat.”
Barring a major acquisition, who would be his 2009 center fielder? “Hmmm,” he said. “[Gregor] Blanco or [Josh] Anderson.” What of the prospect Jordan Schafer? “He missed an awful lot of games this year [due to suspension]. He’s going to play winter ball.”
And Jeff Francoeur, whose flailings have been documented in excruciating detail? “Jeff is making a little bit of a comeback. He’s a very determined kid. He has [hit] before, and that makes you think he’ll do it again. He’s on the right path right now.”
And has the 67-year-old manager, as a host of AJC.com bloggers insist daily, indeed lost his touch? Said Cox, flashing a rakish smile: “I’m probably better now than I’ve ever been.”
He has every intention of honoring the extension he signed earlier this year and leading the Braves throughout 2009. And his wife, Pam, Cox reported, has raised no objection. “She hasn’t mentioned [retirement] one bit,” he said. “She has a million times before, but this year she feels bad about what’s happened.”
He shrugged. “Everyone’s used to winning.”
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Just one game — but a statement nonetheless
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Flowery Branch — For a franchise that has seldom seen anything go according to script, the opener played out as if ordained by a benevolent deity. For one of the few times in Falcons’ history, everything that could have gone right went right. Usually it’s the other way around.
An offensive line that was supposed to be as brutish as Barney Fife opened holes broad enough to hammer out 318 yards rushing. A career backup set the team single-game rushing record in his first Atlanta start. A rookie quarterback threw a touchdown pass on his first delivery. A skeptical city sat up and took notice and, wonder of wonders, began to smile.
And the Falcons themselves? They awoke Monday morning and went back to work.
“We have to show everyone it wasn’t a fluke and we’re not just riding a wave,” said Todd McClure, the center. “Our approach is: ‘It’s over. We’ve done it. Now we’ve got to do it again.’ “
As festive as this September Sunday was, 15 Sundays remain. During the preseason, the new architect Thomas Dimitroff kept stressing that the Falcons’ evolution “is a process.” Back then, his mantra sounded like a plea for patience. After this improbably rousing opener, it can stand as a caution.
The Falcons aren’t yet where they want to be. You don’t raze a franchise in one offseason and turn it into a fortress overnight. What transpired Sunday was the strongest indication yet that this method has merit and that these men are skilled implementers. Said Matt Ryan: “What we did was set a standard for ourselves.”
They won’t always meet that standard. The competition will get tougher — it could hardly do otherwise — and the Falcons’ weaknesses will be brought to light. Ryan will have days when he plays like a rookie. The line will find that not every opponent buckles at the first sign of aggression. The young cornerbacks will get exploited the way young cornerbacks do.
Ryan again: “It’s still so early. To say we’ve proved anything is a little premature.”
Students of Falcon history are a fatalistic lot, and they can cite dire precedents of seasons that burned brightly for one Sunday. The rushing record Michael Turner eclipsed was set by Gerald Riggs in a powerful victory at New Orleans in Week 1 of 1984, and those Falcons finished 4-12. The huckster Jerry Glanville saw his first team beat Houston by 20 points in its opener, and those Falcons finished 5-11.
Said linebacker Michael Boley: “I don’t think we’ve proved a point at all. It’s a long season — 16 games.”
Maybe these Falcons, having surprised us once, will shock us utterly and win seven or eight. More likely it’ll be five or six. But at this nascent stage winning is less important than building, of proving that this franchise is at last in good hands. Speaking of Sunday’s victory, Boley said: “After the offseason we had, we kind of put out a statement — we’re not as bad as everyone thinks.”
We now have cause to believe these Falcons won’t be an embarrassment. They’ll play hard and sometimes well, and they’ll win some games — no 1-15 for this crew! — and they’ll leave us eager for 2009 to arrive, and we as an audience won’t have to drape shopping bags over our heads until then. We’ll be able to relish moments and deeds and even fly off on the wings of hyperbole.
Writing for SI.com, Jay Clemons called Ryan’s touchdown to Michael Jenkins “the greatest-ever first pass by a rookie.” Hearing, even the object of that accolade was moved to laugh.
“I don’t know how you quantify that,” Ryan said. “But I’ll take it.”
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Bradley’s Buzz: Matty Mania!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Official Matt Ryan hyperventilation index
Remember all those folks who wanted the Falcons to take Glenn Dorsey instead of Matt Ryan? Jay Clemons of SI.com says the Falcons took the right man even if Dorsey turns out to be Bob Lilly or Mean Joe Greene or Warren Sapp. And Clemons calls Ryan’s touchdown to Michael Jenkins “the greatest-ever first pass by a rookie.”
(Technically, Clint Longley’s bomb to Drew Pearson on Thanksgiving Day 1974 was the 20th pass of the quarterback’s first NFL game. But I only know that because I checked.)
Remember all those folks who said it was crazy to start a rookie quarterback? Don Banks, also of SI.com, praises the Falcons for their sagacity. So take that, Boomer Esiason!
And it was with great chagrin that local writers watched Boston College lose its home opener to Georgia Tech without Ryan. Steve Buckley of the Herald and Dan Shaughnessy of the Globe essentially wrote the same thing: That Chris Crane, who’s now the Eagle quarterback, is no Matty Ice. Here’s Buckley’s take, and here’s Shaughnessy’s.
Having spent the weekend in New England, I can attest that the BC community regards Ryan as irreplaceable. (There’s a life-size photo of him on the press box stairwell, for what that’s worth.) And Chris Cameron, the astute BC publicist, says the thing the Falcons liked most about Ryan — above his arm, his smarts and his toughness — was his ability to shrug off bad games.
That attribute might not seem like a big deal the morning after a bravura NFL debut. But it will become a big deal soon enough.
Then again, it was just Detroit
And those who follow the Lions are already in high dudgeon. Here’s Mitch Albom of the Free Press ripping the local team for getting ripped by the Falcons. And here’s Bob Wojnowski of the News doing the same.
You know, I’ve written one or two of those columns over the years while following the Falcons. It’s kind of refreshing when the vitriol flows the other way.
A Georgia team and its schedule, but not that one
We all know Georgia’s road looks difficult bordering on cruel, but Thomas Neumann of ESPN.com notes that Georgia Tech has had the nation’s third-toughest non-conference schedule over the past 10 years.
Yes, playing Georgia every year fluffed up that ranking some. But let’s not forget that the Jackets played Auburn and BYU and Notre Dame home-and-home, and they won four of those six games.
So does that mean Chan Gailey wasn’t so bad after all? Sorry, but you won’t find any takers for that argument this week. Not after the first big win of the Paul Johnson era.
Blank, Vick and The New York Times
Here’s a little parlor game: Read any profile of Arthur Blank and see how far down in the story Michael Vick is mentioned. Joe Nocera, a business columnist for The New York Times, waits until the sixth paragraph to drop Vick’s name, which signifies some restraint.
There are a few nuggets included — trying to distance himself from Vick, Blank notes that he “had dinner with him maybe once a year” — but there’s also an oversimplification. Nocera writes that “Blank turned a blind eye to Vick’s previous brushes with the law, choosing instead to re-sign him to a contract that included a $20 million signing bonus.” Not exactly.
On Dec. 23, 2004, the day Vick signed his famous contract, there was only one slight smudge on Vick’s record, and that was the strange case of the Rolex in the airport security line. (And that hadn’t yet come to light publicly, and no charges were ever brought.) The Ron Mexico lawsuit hadn’t been filed. The water-bottle thing wouldn’t happen until January 2007. The dogfighting allegations wouldn’t surface until April of that year.
Perhaps Blank should have known, somehow, that Vick wasn’t as a nice a guy as the Falcons had hoped. But, two days before Christmas in 2004, there was little to indicate as much.
Smoke goes racin’ and gets racy
Tony Stewart is my favorite NASCAR driver because he once drove me around Atlanta Motor Speedway for three laps with either making fun of my skittishness or crashing into the wall. And Mike Guy’s profile of Stewart in Rolling Stone didn’t make me like him any less.
A word of warning, though: Guy’s story includes R-rated language and imagery, so kids under 17 shouldn’t click on the link. (I’m reasonably confident this admonition will deter no one, but I offer it all the same.)
Oh, and Stewart makes it clear how much he hates Kurt Busch, which isn’t objectionable in the least. Because everyone hates Kurt Busch.
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Georgia Tech wills way to victory
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Chestnut Hill, Mass. — Paul Johnson the offensive schemer was in a foul mood. His signature option-based spread had managed only 235 yards and had functioned, Johnson said, almost laughing at the question, at “not a very high level.”
Paul Johnson the head coach was, however, ecstatic. Georgia Tech came to the home of the reigning ACC Atlantic Division champion and was leaving with a precious victory. This was a game the young and transitional Jackets weren’t supposed to win, and they won it almost in spite of themselves. How good might they be when they figure things out?
“I’m not real excited about the 235 yards,” Johnson said. “The thing I’m excited about is that 19 [points] is more than 16.”
Tech didn’t move the ball much and didn’t kick it any better, but such was its resolve — and such was its mighty front four — that the game was still afoot with 11 minutes left. Whereupon Vance Walker beat his blocker for a safety and a sack and Josh Nesbitt scrambled for a vital first down and Jonathan Dwyer was left uncovered on a pitch and went the distance. Slam, whoosh, whoosh.
From six points behind to three points ahead in five snaps. From frustration to bliss in 118 seconds. From a season of modest expectations to an autumn suddenly alive with promise … that’s how quickly it turned for Tech, and that, conveniently enough, is what Johnson coaches.
“The neat thing about our offense,” Johnson said, “is that it doesn’t take but one [big play].”
Take away Dwyer’s 43-yard touchdown and Tech netted 192 yards, which is pitiful. But that’s the thing: You can’t take away those 43. On the contrary, that’s the way the OBS works. An opponent can stop it all day, and then it misses one assignment and the scoreboard changes and maybe the game, too.
“It looked bleak at times,” said Brian Bohannon, who coaches quarterbacks and B-backs. “But we kept fighting.”
Three times in the third quarter Tech took possession off turnovers inside the Boston College 35. The Jackets, alas, banked only three points A lesser team might have shrugged its shoulders and written off the day. Instead Tech dug in deeper.
“If the offense isn’t getting it done,” Walker said, “you have to keep giving them opportunities.”
Walker’s safety begat the scramble that begat the game-winning option play, and now Tech is 1-0 in the ACC headed to Blacksburg and this nascent season has taken on a different look. If the Jackets can win at BC while the offense is still finding its feet, what damage might this team do a month from now? In a conference without a colossus, might the new-look Tech break upward the way Wake Forest did in 2006?
Said Dwyer: “The coach was saying to us all week, ‘You can’t get respect — you have to take it.’ “
And now? “Who knows what other people will say, but I think we took our respect,” Dwyer said. “We might have changed some people’s mindsets. I think we’re a very talented team, and we can make a lot of things happen and shock the world.”
On this winning day, believing seemed utterly appropriate. But Paul Johnson the pragmatist wasn’t willing to go into shock-the-world mode just yet. “We’ve got to get a lot better [offensively],” he said. “We can’t survive if we get whipped that badly up front.”
For Tech folks, that’s the best news of all. This coach will see to it that his team gets better, and what we learned Saturday is that there’s enough talent and grit already in the cupboard for coaching to matter. What promised to be an intriguing season just turned tantalizing.
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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.
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These Bulldogs are built to last
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A month from now, this early angst will be gone and forgotten. Come October, Georgia fans won’t care that Georgia Southern scored 21 points and won’t consider Trinton Sturdivant and Jeff Owens irreplaceable. By then, they’ll know - we’ll all know - that these Bulldogs are built to last.
This is the most talented team Mark Richt has had, and it’s also the deepest. As Tony Taylor, the former Bulldog who missed the 2004 season after getting hurt on G-Day, said last month: “If you go over there now, you see something totally different. They’ve got athletes all across the board.”
Injuries happen. That’s why there are 85 scholarships, and the way these 85 have been allotted is the reason this team is even stouter than Richt’s breakthrough bunch of 2002. By now, he and his staff have grown accustomed to stacking gifted recruiting classes end to end. As good as Owens is, is he appreciably better than Kade Weston and Corvey Irvin?
As for Sturdivant: There might not be another left tackle as good on this roster, but at least he was lost in August. Stacy Searels has ample time to scheme around Sturdivant’s absence, and Searels is good at what he does.
With the exception of Matthew Stafford, there’s no indispensable Bulldog. (Not even Geno Atkins. Not even Dannell Ellerbe. Not even Knowshon Moreno.) That’s the way the big-time programs operate: They have players, and they also have options. If Georgia fails, it won’t be because of two early injuries.
Georgia won’t fail anytime soon. It will be 5-0 come the Oct. 5 bye, 5-0 and ranked no worse than No. 2 in the land. (And if the Bulldogs are still No. 2, there’ll be a growing gap between them and the No. 3 team.) They’ll win at South Carolina and Arizona State and they’ll beat Alabama in Athens simply because they’re better than all of the above.
By then, those 21 Georgia Southern points will be revealed for what they were: A late-game aberration. Georgia led 38-0 before it relaxed, and why wouldn’t it? There’s no call for embarrassing an outmanned in-state opponent whose program was founded by one of the most revered figures in Bulldog annals. (And whose current coach is a famously good guy.)
Georgia Southern got 21 points when it didn’t matter. Against these Bulldogs, South Carolina and Arizona State might not get 21 between them. There’s one more tune-up to go, and then Georgia will get really interested. And then the march to Miami will really and truly begin.
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Make-or-bust season for sack-less DE Anderson
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Flowery Branch — This is a big season for Jamaal Anderson. Rich McKay, the man who made him the eighth overall pick of the 2007 draft, is no longer in charge of personnel, and the new administration isn’t yet sure what it inherited.
“It’s almost like I’m starting over,” Anderson said this week. “I still feel like a rookie.”
His actual rookie season is remembered most for a big fat zero — Anderson started 16 games at defensive end and finished with no sacks. That was taken as a fairly noisy alarm, but Ray Hamilton, the new defensive line coach and a terrific pass rusher in his day, believes Anderson has what it takes to start stacking sacks in bulk.
“Without a doubt, he’s a player,” Hamilton said. “I watched the film, and I saw five or six places where he really should have had sacks. He wasn’t a total bust. He had a decent year.”
Hamilton said he wants Anderson “to play more physical,” and that’s the sentiment you hear most regarding this angular player. He went to Arkansas as a walk-on wide receiver and, at 6-foot-6 and 282 pounds, he could still pass for a tight end. But a defender needs to be ornery, not just skilled, and there’s some question whether Anderson has the requisite temperament.
Already the new staff is trying to give him a leg up. Anderson played tackle on some preseason passing downs, a tack Hamilton has taken before. “When you put someone against the guards, guards don’t set up as deep as [offensive] tackles. I did that with Willie McGinest [in New England] and Hugh Douglas [with the Jets]. Hugh Douglas got his first sack playing inside.”
Said Anderson: “I do like playing inside. I get to use my quickness against guards. I’m not a very hard guy to coach.”
Was it any relief that, in the first exhibition of 2008, the guy who went without in 2007 registered a sack? “No,” he said, “because I got two against Cincinnati [last preseason]. Come talk to me after the Detroit game.”
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Falcons won’t be as bad as you think
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Numerical estimations have ranged from bad (four guys at NFL.com say 3-13) to worse (Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated says 2-14) to just about the worst record possible (Sporting News says 1-15). I’m saying the Falcons will be better than that, and it will happen this way …
Detroit, Sept. 7: Michael Turner goes for 120 yards. Matt Ryan looks pretty good. Brian VanGorder’s defense, which was terrific in preseason, looks even better. Falcons 20, Lions 14.
At Tampa Bay, Sept. 14: Ryan has his welcome-to-the-NFL moment in a place where the Falcons have had their share of crummy moments. He’s 9-for-22 with three interceptions. Bucs 21, Falcons 10.
Kansas City, Sept. 21: Showing the desired resilience, Ryan throws two touchdown passes. Chiefs rookie Glenn Dorsey, whom many wanted instead of Ryan, tweaks a hamstring. Falcons 20, Chiefs 14.
At Carolina, Sept. 28: The Panthers are annually the NFL’s most overrated bunch — Julius Peppers had 2 1/2 sacks last season — but they’ll slip past the Falcons at home. Panthers 20, Falcons 13.
At Green Bay, Oct. 5: Michael Vick nearly won in his first trip to Lambeau Field and did win in his second. But Vick, as you’ve doubtless heard, is otherwise occupied. Packers 24, Falcons 14.
Chicago, Oct. 12: Even if some Falcons fans aren’t sold on Ryan, the Bears would take him in a heartbeat. The Chicago defense is still among the best, and it has to be. Bears 10, Falcons 9.
At Philadelphia, Oct. 26: Not getting any easier, is it? The Falcons get handled in Philly, prompting a gut-check session from Mike Smith, who nearly busts a gut in the process. Eagles 27, Falcons 13.
At Oakland, Nov. 2: Lo and behold, Smith’s men respond. The thoughtful DeAngelo Hall aids and abets his old team by being flagged three times on a pivotal drive. Hee, hee. Falcons 20, Raiders 17.
New Orleans, Nov. 9: The Falcons haven’t beaten the Saints since Sean Payton and Drew Brees and Reggie Bush arrived in New Orleans, and nothing changes here. Saints 27, Falcons 20.
Denver, Nov. 16: Remember when Mike Shanahan was the Mastermind? He might, but everyone else has almost forgotten. Chance for an upset gets flubbed at the end. Broncos 19, Falcons 17.
Carolina, Nov. 23: You’ve lost six of seven. You face the choice all struggling teams must confront. Do you pack it in or fight on? Here’s the encouraging answer. Falcons 23, Panthers 14.
At San Diego, Nov. 30: A fighting spirit is no match for an elite team. LaDanian Tomlinson outgains his former backup by 50 yards. An overmatched team suffers its worst loss. Chargers 34, Falcons 10.
At New Orleans, Dec. 7: You have to score big to beat the Saints in the Superdome, and the Falcons aren’t yet capable. But they might be by 2009, which by now is the focus. Saints 31, Falcons 16.
Tampa Bay, Dec. 14: The Falcons shake off two deflating weeks and give a stout effort. As has been the case most Sundays, the talent imbalance is too much to override. Bucs 16, Falcons 13.
At Minnesota, Dec. 21: The scene of the most famous victory in Falcons annals becomes the scene of just another defeat in a season that has featured a slew of them. Vikings 24, Falcons 14.
St. Louis, Dec. 28: But here’s one to grow on. Ryan has his best statistical day, showing he’s not just tough but talented, and his team, all things considered, finishes a fairly honorable 5-11. Falcons 30, Rams 17.
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Bradley’s Buzz: Pats, Colts … and Falcons?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Call him a bald-faced optimist
If you read these blogs, you’ll know I’ve been accused of being kind to the Falcons. But I haven’t yet likened them to the Patriots or the Colts. Writing for Sporting News Today, that’s exactly what Brian Baldinger does.
He compares Matt Ryan to Peyton Manning. He writes that the Falcons have “a nice, fluid, well-functioning [offensive] line.” He avers that the local NFL team “could be building a Patriots-like, Colts-like offense for the long run. How’s that for a bold statement?”
Certainly it’s bolder than the prediction offered by the venerable Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated, who sees the Falcons going 2-14. Dr. Z’s colleague Don Banks is sunnier in his appraisal — he has them going 4-12. And four different voices for NFL.com arrive (separately, I assume) at the conclusion that the Falcons will go 3-13.
About here, I should note that I’m sticking with my 5-11 forecast. (And soon now I’ll delineate just how the Falcons will get there.) I should also point out that Baldinger, who works for Fox during the regular season, served as color commentator for WXIA’s coverage of the four exhibitions.
A confession: In those games I thought I saw a team that wasn’t half as bad as advertised, but not once did I leap to my feet and cry, “Pats reincarnate!” And maybe that’s why Baldinger is an “expert analyst” and I’m just a newspaper hack.
Destination for Dogs: Big D?
Esteemed former colleague Mark Schlabach keeps the faith and has Georgia headed for the BCS title game against Southern Cal in ESPN.com’s bowl projections. (I’m old enough to recall when bowl speculation commenced around Thanksgiving, not Labor Day.) Bruce Feldman is less enthused, ticketing the Bulldogs for the Cotton Bowl, which isn’t even an BCS game.
Rascal that he is, Schlabach serves up an intriguing postseason destination and opponent for Georgia Tech — the Congressional Bowl in Washington, D.C., against Navy, the school Paul Johnson just left. Not so scintillating is Feldman’s pairing for the Chick-fil-A Bowl. He has Clemson playing LSU, which would give the orange Tigers a chance to become the first collegiate team ever to lose inside the Georgia Dome three times in 367 days.
The SEC’s the greatest! Somebody tell UCLA!
I hesitate to post this one because I know — too well I know — how it feels to have one of your columns shot down before it takes flight. But Gregg Doyel of CBSsports kinda sorta picked the wrong day to crown the SEC the greatest conference ever.
He makes an interesting and fairly compelling argument — that two SEC teams should play for the BCS title — and runs down the list of SEC powers. And then Tennessee had to go out and lose to unranked UCLA in overtime. Reminds me — too well it reminds me — of the genius who said the Braves would be in first place on the Fourth of July.
So: What if the Stanford band had parachutes?
I’m sorry. I know I promised to keep this Buzz thing local, but I cannot resist posting the link, courtesy of YouTube, of a skydiver landing at Duke’s Wallace Wade Stadium, as opposed to the targeted North Carolina’s Kenan Stadium eight miles away.
Note that the parachutist — there were two, actually — lands amid James Madison players who are busy warming up. Note that he receives a smattering of applause for his feat. Note also that Mike Krzyzewski is in the corner of the frame, already yelling at the refs. (Little hoops joke.)
Vick speaks!
Because it wouldn’t be Bradley’s Buzz without a Michael Vick item, here’s Dave Forster’s story from The Virginian-Pilot recounting the quarterback’s participation — via speakerphone — in a hearing regarding his deteriorating finances. We’ve all heard a lot of strange things regarding Vick and his legal issues, but this latest chapter is particularly odd.
Vick claims a man named David Talbot, whom he’d apparently never met, visited him in prison and claimed he could expedite a release. Over the advice of his attorneys, Vick hired Talbot as a financial adviser. Subsequently (according to Forster’s account), $50,000 went missing from Vick’s bank account, as did a $20,000 chain Vick had given his brother Marcus.
Vick has since dismissed Talbot. And, according to Forster, Vick hinted in the hearing he would make claims of up to $2 million against Larry Woodward, his longtime lawyer. And Vick said his representatives, whoever they might be at the moment, are talking to the NFL about him being reinstated.
It’s the story that never goes away. And it never seems to get any prettier.
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Falcons will hit the ground running
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On the second day of training camp, Michael Turner spoke of his job description: “I know it’s going to be somewhere around 300 carries. … I know I’m getting my touches, guaranteed.”
Memo to Turner: It isn’t quite guaranteed.
Mike Mularkey is the Falcons’ offensive coordinator, and he learned early not to let numbers be his guide. “I caught myself once — in my second year in Pittsburgh — thinking, ‘How many balls has this guy had?’ ” Mularkey said. “I stopped right then. The idea is to defeat the opponent.”
As for Turner and his nice round number, Mularkey said: “We’ll see as we go. I’ve never said he’s going to get 300, and I probably never will.”
We can assume Turner is going to carry the ball most of the time. Mularkey’s scheme is based on power, and Turner is a power back. The imponderable, yet again, is Jerious Norwood.
This is the third Falcons regime that has looked on Norwood and declared, “We’ve got to get him the ball.” But in 29 games he has 202 carries and 40 receptions, which averages out to 8.3 touches. Given that Norwood is the most spectacular talent among Falcons, is that enough? And if not, how does Mularkey fit a speed back into a power scheme?
“I think it’s going to happen by force of habit,” Mularkey said. “Whether we design a set for him, we know his talents.
Working in Bobby Petrino’s pass-first offense, the Falcons rushed 385 times last season. They averaged 531 rushes under Jim Mora, but that’s skewed by Michael Vick’s average of 115 carries those three seasons. Figure this team will shoot for 450-plus rushes, a number that would satisfy Turner and better utilize Norwood and maybe even win a few games.
Said Mularkey, speaking of Norwood: “We’ll do our best to get him the ball.”
Yes, we’ve heard that before. Five years from now, there’s a chance we’ll be hearing it still. But under Mora and Petrino, the offensive focal point was never the running backs. This time it is.
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