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 > 2009 > January
January 2009
Like it or not, Hewitt is safe at Tech
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Tech isn’t going to fire Paul Hewitt. Even if these Jackets, who are 0-6 in ACC play, don’t win another game, Hewitt will coach them next season. There are two reasons why.
First, athletics director Dan Radakovich likes and believes in Hewitt. “I have no doubt he will return the program to a level of competitiveness and prominence that we have enjoyed previously under his watch,” Radakovich wrote this week in an e-mail.
How much of that faith is traceable to Tech’s heralded recruiting class? Wrote Radakovich: “I expect all of our programs to show a great sense of urgency, especially when things are not going so well. That means you keep working hard to improve not only this year but in the years ahead. You can’t look at this recruiting class and not realize that we have better days ahead.”
If that weren’t enough, there’s this: Hewitt’s contract renders him almost fireproof.
His deal was reworked in April 2004 after he led Tech to the NCAA title game. Dave Braine, the AD who hired Hewitt in 2000 and had seen his vision realized, rewarded his coach with a six-year contract that rolls over automatically and that provides a buyout in full for each of the five remaining seasons if he’s fired “without cause” (meaning, just for losing).
Hewitt is making $1.3 million this year. His total compensation will increase to $1.375 million next season and to $1.45 million in 2010-11. Were Tech to dismiss Hewitt today, it would have to pay him a total of $7.175 million.
By way of contrast, Tech was compelled to pay Chan Gailey $4 million when it fired him as football coach, and Georgia is on the hook for $1.5 million after canning Dennis Felton.
Georgia’s athletics department is flush with cash. Tech’s is not. Tech is paying Gailey through 2011 not to coach, and it just handed Paul Johnson a 50 percent raise — to $2.45 million per season. Bottom line: Nobody is rooting harder for Hewitt than Radakovich.
“Coaches’ contracts are always a factor in cases where you might contemplate making a change,” the AD wrote. “In Paul Hewitt’s case, as in all others, it is only one of many factors in our evaluation process. There are people factors, there are program factors and there are business factors.
“First, do you have a dedicated, hard-working coach who represents the program well? I feel we do.
“Second, if the program is in a down cycle, has the coach positioned it for clear-cut improvement in relatively short order? I think our incoming class shows that clear-cut improvement. Thirdly, if you were to make a change, could you reasonably assure yourself of being better off from a program sense and a business sense than you are now? In my judgment, given the economic times in which we live, I believe it is wise to stay the course.”
Asked if he still feels he’s the man to lead Tech forward, Hewitt said: “Oh, yeah. Absolutely.” Asked if he has felt pressure from his employers, he said, “Not at all.”
Hewitt was aware his renegotiated deal could well become a lifetime contract. “That’s what I wanted. I love coaching at Georgia Tech,” he said, and he would be obliged to pay a $3.5 million buyout were he to leave for another college job.
“The results speak for themselves … When I signed on at Georgia Tech, I signed on for a philosophy: These kids are going to get an education; there are no short cuts; we’re going to do this thing the right way. And I think that’s what we’ve tried to do.”
Five years ago, Hewitt seemed one of the finest coaches in the industry, but he’s 55-56 over the past 3 1/2 seasons. It was clear Felton had sailed past the point of diminishing returns at Georgia but, with Derrick Favors and the other recruits on the way, I’m not yet convinced Hewitt has done the same at Tech.
With $7.175 million on the table, I wouldn’t fire him, either. I’d cross my fingers and keep hoping for the best. Or, failing that, at least for better.
Permalink | Comments (179) | Post your comment | Categories: Tech/ACC
Felton: The right hire, but the wrong results
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dennis Felton was the right man to follow the disgraced Jim Harrick. He was tough and uncompromising, and having a coach who was willing to cut corners was what led the Bulldogs to jerk maybe the best team in school history clean out of the 2003 postseason. Under Felton, the same school wouldn’t fall into the same swamp.
Instead it fell into a different one. Harrick compromised, but he also won. Felton didn’t bend but didn’t win, There is, as we know, a happier medium. Perhaps the next man will strike that balance.
In the cold light of hindsight, winning the 2008 SEC tournament was an unfortunate event. It kept the Bulldogs from moving on when they seemed primed to move on, and it changed nothing for Felton and his program. This season Georgia has been almost as bad as it was in 2004-2005, the 8-20 season that was a direct consequence of the Harrick mess. The difference is, it’s 2009.
Felton is a good basketball man — he proved as much at Western Kentucky, winning with teams both big and small, and he proved it again over that dizzying weekend last March — but he had been given ample time to make the Georgia program his. Until Thursday, Felton was fourth among league coaches in seniority, and all he had to show for it was one four-game flurry.
It had become clear by New Year’s that those four games had only delayed the inevitable. Georgia couldn’t compete in the SEC, and the SEC in 2009 is no great shakes. Had Felton, over time, simply signed the senior classes of Norcross and Wheeler high schools, he’d have had a better team than the one he kept putting on the floor. Alas, he could never land that difference-making recruit — he came close with Louis Williams of South Gwinnett, who chose the NBA instead — and Derrick Favors’ selection of Tech over Georgia was the final blow.
And now the Bulldogs are seeking their sixth head coach in 15 years. Were I Damon Evans, I’d look first toward Virginia Commonwealth’s Anthony Grant, who was once a Florida assistant and who is believed to look favorably on the Georgia job, and then toward Brian Gregory of Dayton and Mike Davis of UAB. (As for the rampant speculation that Tubby Smith might deign to return to Athens … I’m sorry, but I don’t see that happening. It’s my belief he’s having too much fun at Minnesota.)
The next coach won’t have it easy. Except for that March blip, Georgia has been off the national radar since Harrick walked away. But the SEC is such flux that the right man in the right spot could have an outsize impact. (Look at Bruce Pearl in Knoxville.) There are too many gifted players growing up in this state for the flagship university to be a basketball embarrassment.
If nothing else, the embarrassments suffered under Felton should prove far less lasting those left by his predecessor. There are no NCAA sanctions looming. The new coach can make a clean start. Even as he departs, Felton is worthy of Georgia’s deepest thanks. He tried to do things the right way, and the only thing he got wrong was the part about winning.
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As an analyst, Sutton is a real Dandy Don
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s a Braves fan of my acquaintance who can’t bear the sound of Don Sutton’s voice. He talks too much, she believes, and as a measure of her displeasure she’d mute the sound when he was on TV. And to a degree I’d agree.
Yes, Sutton does rattle on. Yes, he can come across as smug. Yes, the pairing of Sutton and the late Skip Caray bore the worst attributes of two frat boys on an extended road trip. I’ll concede all of the above, and then I’ll sweep every quibble aside.
Because I consider Don Sutton the best baseball analyst I’ve ever heard.
Yes, I said “ever.” Yes, I meant it.
The man knows pitching like few know pitching, and pitching is 90 percent of baseball. The best description of Sutton I’ve ever heard came from the late Jeff Denberg, who covered the Hawks with great distinction for the AJC and was a TV writer — and therefore a fairly severe critic — in an earlier vocational manifestation. And here’s what Jeff said of Sutton: “I learn something new every time I listen to him.”
And so do I. Being the ancient age of 53, I grew up listening to ballgames on the trusty transistor, and through the magic of XM Radio I’ve tapped into most every broadcast crew there is. I’ve never heard anyone to match Sutton — not on radio, not on TV, nowhere no time.
As much as I like and admire Tom Glavine, I don’t much care if he throws another pitch for the Braves. But I’m pumped to the gills that Sutton is coming back to call Braves games and that, better still, he’s doing radio only. Because on radio it’s tough to talk too much. And even if Sutton tries — being a contrary cuss, he just might — I’ll forgive him. Because he’s the best there is.
The best, I said. And I mean it.
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Whose hoops program is worse, Tech’s or UGA’s?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Both are 9-10. Each is winless in conference play. The only game either has won in calendar 2009 came, fittingly enough, when one played the other. And now we ask: In a state suffused with stinky college basketball, which big-name program smells worse — Georgia or Georgia Tech?
Cold numbers: Georgia is ranked 218th among 343 Division I schools in the RPI, just behind Cal-Riverside. Tech is ranked 172nd, just behind Mercer. Each has lost to four teams outside the top 100.
Which is worse? Georgia, because it lost to Tech 67-62 on Jan. 6.
Use of resources: Georgia starts Corey Butler, a former walk-on, and has no player ranked among the SEC’s top 10 scorers or rebounders. Tech starts two McDonald’s All-Americans, including Gani Lawal, who leads the ACC in rebounding and is projected as a 2009 lottery pick by NBAdraft.net. Georgia ranks last among SEC teams in scoring and field-goal percentage. Tech ranks last among ACC teams in foul shooting and total turnovers.
Which is worse? Tech, because there’s a difference between being incapable and being sloppy.
Coaching: Dennis Felton is 84-90 in 5 1/2 seasons at Georgia, 26-58 in SEC regular-season games. He has two losing seasons and has led the Bulldogs to the NCAA tournament once, that coming when his bottom-seeded team won the 2008 SEC tournament. Paul Hewitt is 151-122 in 8 1/2 seasons at Tech, 58-76 in ACC regular-season games. He has had three losing seasons and has led the Jackets to the NCAA four times, most notably when Tech reached the national championship game in 2004.
Who’s worse? Felton, because he hasn’t had a 20-win season at Georgia and needed a flat-out miracle to save his job last March.
Homecourt: Georgia has lost five home games and played Kentucky before hundreds of empty seats. Tech has lost five home games and had tickets available when it played Duke. Georgia is 10th in the 12-team SEC in home attendance; Tech is ninth in the 12-team ACC.
Which is worse? Georgia, because Stegeman Coliseum never seems a first-class basketball environment.
Continuity: Under Felton, Georgia players have come and gone at a dizzying pace. Starters Mike Mercer, Takais Brown, Channing Toney and Billy Humphrey have left with eligibility remaining, and Louis Williams, the only McDonald’s All-American Felton has signed, never enrolled. Under Hewitt, four Tech players — Chris Bosh, Jarrett Jack, Javaris Crittenton and Thaddeus Young — have left early for the NBA, three after their freshman seasons, and starters Ed Nelson, Zam Fredrick and Ra’Sean Dickey have departed with eligibility remaining.
Which is worse? Georgia, but it’s a hairline call.
Trends: Georgia has lost 16 of its past 20 regular-season conference games and hasn’t signed any senior ranked in the nation’s top 150 by rivals.com. Tech is 55-56 since Jack left in 2005 but has assembled a top five recruiting class.
Which is worse? Georgia, because it has made nothing of its SEC championship.
Bottom line: Tech’s recruits offer hope, though Hewitt hasn’t exactly maximized one-and-done players, which Derrick Favors figures to be. Georgia remains unable to land first-tier talent and seems destined to be seeking yet another coach — it has had five over the past 14 years — come March. You wouldn’t want to be either program, but given this dire choice you’d rather be Tech.
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Bradley’s Buzz: The Braves, the NFL draft and … Junior Samples?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The future is … not now, but soon
Pitchers and catchers report to Lake Buena Vista on Valentine’s Day, and the young Braves pitcher to watch, according to Keith Law of Scouts Inc., is Tommy Hanson. Law rates Hanson the ninth-best prospect in all of baseball, which beats the heck out of being rated the 109th-best. But that doesn’t make Hanson the hottest guy in his own organization.
That would be outfielder Jason Heyward, whom Law considers the No. 3 prospect overall and the best up-and-coming corner outfielder. Writing for Baseball America, Bill Ballew regards Heyward as the Braves’ No. 2 prospect behind Hanson, but it’s noteworthy that, in the print edition of Baseball America, Heyward is now projected as the Braves’ starting right fielder in 2012, a year in which Jeff Francoeur turns the ripe old age of 28.
And what, you’re asking, happened to the heralded Jordan Schafer? He doesn’t crack Law’s list of the top 25 prospects — he shows up at No. 8 among all minor-league center fielders — and he has been downgraded to No. 3 among Braves on Ballew’s list. (Schafer was No. 1 a year ago.)
But that demotion might be due to the Braves’ strength as a farm system. Law rates Atlanta the fourth-best organization in the majors, which beats the heck out of being the 24th-best. He also gives high marks to scouting director Roy Clark, who obviously knows a lot about farms having sat out in the cornfield with Buck Owens on “Hee Haw” all those years.
Yes, yes. That was a different Roy Clark. I just made a dumb joke. I consider myself a latter-day Junior Samples. And did you know Mr. Samples was born and is buried in Cumming? I didn’t until I Googled his bio.
Speaking of which … here’s my favorite Junior Samples joke, arising from the aforementioned cornfield.
“Hee Haw” choruses: “Hey, Junior! What’s a grudge?”
Junior: “That’s somethin’ my pa keeps his car in.”
Back to sports, and more mock drafts!
A frequent contributor to the Buzz festivities, Don Banks of SI.com projects Matthew Stafford as the No. 3 pick in the April draft. Banks also guesses the Falcons will take Peria Jerry, a defensive tackle from Ole Miss, in Round 1, and that Knowshon Moreno will still be available when the Falcons exercise the draft’s 24th pick. Which isn’t, I feel sure, what Moreno had in mind.
And what, you’re asking, about the Junior Samples of ESPN — Mel Kiper Jr.? Well, ol’ Mel has Stafford going No. 1 and Moreno going 16th, and I don’t know what he foresees the Falcons doing because the Worldwide Leader only offers the first half of Kiper’s mock for free. And I bear an inherent garage — er, grudge — against any site that makes you pay.
Checking out Mel’s Big Board — no charge! — you’ll note that Stafford is rated the fourth-best overall prospect. Moreno is No. 15, and Jerry is 23rd.
This just in! Waddell on the hot seat!
In his second-half NHL predictions, Allan Muir of SI.com opines that the Thrashers will fire general manager Don Waddell. Me, I believe the NHL will fold before the Teflon Don gets dislodged. The man mightn’t be the keenest judge of talent, but he’s world-class at keeping his job.
Midterm exams for your Atlanta Hawks
On FoxSports.com, Charley Rosen awards the local NBA team a B for its first-half work but suggests it “still can’t play with the big boys.” On SI.com, former colleague Steve Aschburner gives the Hawks a B-plus, and in a roundtable discussion he calls the Hawks the team most likely to do as the Arizona Cardinals have done in the playoffs. Which would seem to mean that Aschburner believes the Hawks can indeed play with the big boys.
Come to think of it, Josh Smith does bear a slight resemblance to Larry Fitzgerald. Minus the hair.
Back to the Braves
In an essay that also runs in this week’s print Sports Illustrated, Phil Taylor of SI.com laments the Braves’ signing of Derek Lowe as a signal that the old-school franchise has lost its old-school charm.
Gee, and those of us around here figured it all went to pot when John Schuerholz handed $4 million to Ample Albie Lopez.
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Tech recruit Favors is the real deal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Derrick Favors had a stomachache. He’d thrown up earlier Saturday, and midway through the first quarter he required a bathroom break. Still, the best high school player in Georgia, if not these United States, managed to have what he called “a good day” — 32 points, 19 rebounds, six blocks, four steals and two assists in a 29-point defeat of Spalding.
“I didn’t think he was going to play, but he said he was OK,” said Michael Reddick, who coaches Favors and South Atlanta High. “Half of Derrick Favors is better than all of anybody else.”
Doubtless you’ve heard of Favors — ranked No. 1 among seniors by Scout.com, No. 2 by ESPN and No. 4 by rivals.com. Doubtless you know he has made an oral commitment to attend Georgia Tech. And doubtless you’re wondering: Is he as good as all that?
Answer: He is.
Two Georgians have been picked No. 1 overall in NBA drafts this decade - Kwame Brown in 2001 and Dwight Howard in 2004. Favors is better at age 17 than Brown has been at any time in his life, and a case can be made that he’s a prospect of the same caliber as Howard, who has become one of the world’s five best players.
Howard is bigger and stronger, a true center. Projected as a power forwarded, Favors — who’s 6-foot-9 and 220 pounds — is quicker and more versatile. There’s thought he’ll be able to swing to small forward over time.
Said Reddick: “He’s the total package. I know I’m a little biased, but he’s got great athletic ability and great competitive drive, and look at the way he handles himself — he’s not a hothead.”
Hearing this, a visitor noted that Favors had yelled a little something after blocking a second-quarter layup by a Spalding Jaguar. Said Reddick, smiling: “A rare display of emotion. I think he’s a combination of Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. He’s a great athlete like Kevin Garnett, and he has a demeanor like Tim Duncan.”
How long might Favors stay at Tech? “If he continues to improve, one year,” Reddick said. “If the NBA hadn’t made that rule about having to be 19 [to enter the draft], he’d possibly go now — he’d be a top 3 pick. … But I’d say he’s one-and-done.”
Favors has strong and sure hands and splendid footwork. His post moves are of professional quality and bear the clear imprint of tutoring. (A big man himself, Reddick played at Stetson and was drafted in the sixth round by Milwaukee in 1984.) Favors admits he needs work on his jump shot — there’s a tiny hesitation before he releases — but so did Dominique Wilkins way back when.
South Atlanta’s star doesn’t hog the ball — Favors scored his 32 points Saturday on only 17 shots. He works hard at both ends. That said, he labored through parts of the game, making you question his stamina. But, as Reddick said: “You saw him on a bad stomach.”
Befitting his status, Favors has developed a star’s quirk. He doesn’t don his game jersey until the game is set to start. He readies himself wearing a warmup jacket with a white tank top underneath. Just before the opening tip, he slips his game jersey over the tank top, and he does this in full view of his audience.
“Just a pregame ritual,” Favors said. “I’ve been doing it since ninth grade.”
Said Reddick: “I think he just wants to show off his newly developed body.”
And that’s OK. Big men are allowed their stylistic idiosyncrasies. Wilt Chamberlain had his headband, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar his goggles, Patrick Ewing his T-shirt. Derrick Favors doesn’t yet belong in that exalted fraternity, but he’s really good. He’s so good he might even make Paul Hewitt seem smart again.
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Frenchy wants money! The nerve of that guy!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some bloggers believe Jeff Francoeur should hand the Braves a refund for all the hits he didn’t deliver last season. We can recognize those folks rather easily today: They’re the ones plastered to the ceiling, incredulous that Francoeur wants an 850 percent raise after the worst season of his life.
To those bloggers, I say: Relax. It’s only a game.
Except that it isn’t. It’s a business. And Francoeur is doing what any businessperson would do. He’s asking for more ($3.95 million) than the Braves are offering ($2.8 million). Big deal. Kelly Johnson and Casey Kotchman are doing the same. Everybody asks for more come arbitration time. (Ryan Howard, who struck out 199 times in 2008, wants $18 million.)
Let’s be clear: Francoeur was wretched last season. He hit .239 and had to finish fast to do that. His on-base percentage was .294, which is as bad as you can do and stay in the big leagues. (Which Francoeur didn’t technically do — he had that weekend sojourn in Mississippi over the Fourth of July.) If he has another year like that, he won’t be an Atlanta Brave in 2010.
But what a guy requests in arbitration isn’t something we should begrudge. Arbitration is the worst mechanism ever created. A player picks a number. His team picks a different number. An arbitrator picks one or the other. There’s no compromise, no difference-splitting. Who among us would be so silly as to take the club’s offer if there’s a chance an independent party will say, “Nah, he’s worth a little more”?
And there’s a chance an independent party might — I said might — look on Francoeur’s four-year body of big-league work and say, “Hey, he’s not so bad.” He has had two 100-RBI seasons. He hit .300 as a rookie and .293 in 2007. He hit 29 homers in 2006. This time a year ago, you’d have called Jeff Francoeur a rising star.
He’s not that anymore, but he’s not yet a lost cause. And just because he wants almost $4 million for playing baseball one year after he played baseball badly doesn’t make him a jerk or a bum or an ingrate. It just makes him a professional athlete.
Permalink | Comments (224) | Post your comment | Categories: Braves/MLB
Dimitroff: Falcons in store for defensive upgrade
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Had they stopped the Cardinals on third-and-16 and then driven for the winning touchdown; had they gone to Carolina and done as Arizona did; had they played host to Philadelphia in the NFC title game and done as Arizona did …
The Falcons would be going to the Super Bowl.
The Falcons, who entered the playoffs as a road favorite — a first in their 43 seasons of operation — and not the Cardinals, recently considered the weakest of the 12 postseason qualifiers. Would’ves and should’ves are fool’s gold in such a bottom-line business, but the feeling remains:
It could’ve been them.
Couldn’t it?
“I was excited for some of the guys in Arizona,” said Thomas Dimitroff, the general manager, “but the competitive side of me found [the Cardinals winning the NFC championship] tough to stomach. The beauty of our league is that you never know from play to play, from series to series, from game to game.”
Understand: Dimitroff isn’t sitting around Mobile, Ala. — he spoke from the site of the Senior Bowl, where he’s doing his due scouting diligence — in a state of mourning. His team had the happiest season this franchise has ever known and lost fair and square on the road to an inspired opponent. Even so …
“It’s natural to recollect and reconsider many, many times,” Dimitroff said. “But we’re not wallowing in pity or remorse.”
On the contrary, Dimitroff and colleagues are eyeballing and interviewing players who might one day help stop a third-and-16. They’re looking for a rampaging safety — like Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu, whom Dimitroff loves — or a difference-making linebacker of their own.
“That would be the logical next step,” said Dimitroff, speaking of upgrading his defense. “We’ve analyzed our season over the last few days, and our goal will always be to continue to improve. … We want to be a formidable contender for years to come.”
In short, that means: More D is on the way. Should we deem it happenstance that the Falcons loaded up on offense last winter? Dimitroff, who’s a scout by trade and a big-picture guy by nature, had to know that the 2009 draft figured to be heavy on defenders. (Safeties and tackles especially.)
Did the loss in Phoenix change his thinking in any way? Dimitroff: “It confirmed some of the issues we may have been having. That said, we’re never ever going to evaluate off just one game.”
The Cardinals exposed the Falcons defense as one subsisting on schemes and willpower, as opposed to talent. Three huge plays — the touchdown passes to Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, on which Lawyer Milloy was culpable and the third-and-16 conversion, on which Keith Brooking was flummoxed — went unmade. If the Falcons are to go further next time, such lapses cannot reoccur.
The good news: Dimitroff believes 11-5 was indeed an accurate reflection of his team’s worth. “Certain games you feel like you were better than the result, and other times the ball may have bounced our way. … [But] I don’t believe [the record] was lucky in any way.”
The better news: This time Dimitroff arrived in Mobile with only one agenda. “It’s a lot more relaxed,” he said. “I can sit in the stands and evaluate talent instead of evaluating coaching candidates.”
A year ago, Dimitroff left for the Senior Bowl without a head coach but returned with Mike Smith, who was just named the NFL’s coach of the year. This GM does have an eye for talent. He’ll find his defenders. Next time the Falcons will blunt that third-and-16. Soon enough they’ll be the ones bound for the game bearing Roman numerals.
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Bradley’s Buzz: The lowdown on D-Lowe
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Reassessing the Braves
A week after Frank Wren became the Dumbest Man in Baseball, he got all smart. So writes Richard Justice for Sporting News. And does Wren’s acquisition of Derek Lowe mean the Braves can win the NL East? Writing for SI.com, Cliff Corcoran suggests a playoff berth is still unlikely.
On ESPN.com, Keith Law guesses the additions of Lowe and Kenshin Kawakami will enable the Braves to eat innings in bulk. (Question: If you eat innings in bulk, does that constitute a high-fiber diet?) Law also suggests Kawakami, whose fastball isn’t so fast, will have to use more off-speed pitches in the USA than he did in Japan.
According to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com, the Braves spending splurge might have already subsided. He writes that the Braves, having invested $83 million in Lowe and Kawakami, have slowed their search for that long-sought outfielder/bat. Indeed, Wren signaled as much in the second of last week’s two media briefings, saying the Braves intend to wait for the right hitter. Rosenthal believes they could wait as late as July.
File this under the heading of even-the-best-have-issues: Esteemed former colleague Gerry Fraley evaluates the reigning World Series champ for Sporting News and believes the the Phillies are bound for yet another slow start. Which wouldn’t be bad news for the Braves, who open their season in Philly.
Yet another college football Top 25 for 2009
And this one, from Dennis Dodd of CBSsports.com, would seem to carry a bit more weight, given that he actually waited until underclassmen stated their NFL draft intentions to compile it. Dodd has Georgia Tech No. 10 and Georgia No. 20, and I would be derelict in my duties if I didn’t point out that this correspondent suggested, back on Jan. 2, that Tech would be No. 9 to Georgia’s No. 21 in preseason if Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno left.
Speaking of which … Andy Staples of SI.com rates Georgia as only the fourth-biggest loser among teams touched by the draft deadline. Ohio State was No. 1, he writes, and Alabama No. 2.
Meeks shall inherit … a nice big award?
After scoring 54 points against Tennessee on ESPN, Kentucky’s Jodie Meeks has entered the national-player-of-the year discussion, writes esteemed former colleague John Clay of the Lexington Herald-Leader. And Jerry Tipton, another EFC, notes that the Meeks who returned to face Georgia on Sunday wasn’t the same guy who left Norcross three years ago. For one thing, Meeks wasn’t even considered the best guard prospect in Georgia — Javaris Crittenton, who spent one season at Tech, was.
All I can say is, “You’re welcome”
Many Cardinal fans have written to thank me for ripping their team prior to its first-round game against the Falcons. I’m told — I wasn’t actually there — that a quote from this little effort was flashed on the message board at University of Phoenix Stadium to incite the crowd that day, and afterward safety Adrian Wilson groused to reporters that the Falcons deemed it “a blessing” to be playing Arizona. (Which technically wasn’t true. That was dumb ol’ me saying it, not the Falcons.)
And now that team is in the Super Bowl. I say congratulations. I also say the Cardinals couldn’t have done it without me.
The strangest development in a strange story
This has nothing to do with Atlanta or Georgia or even Arizona, but what the heck. You probably remember that Ole Miss basketball coach was charged with misdemeanor assault in Cincinnati last month for allegedly punching and hurling racial insults at a cab driver. Beyond the legal charge, both Kennedy and the cabbie have filed civil suits against one another, and Kennedy’s suit was amended, reports WLWT to include his wife Kimber, who claims the incident has affected the couple’s sex life.
Full marks to the Cincinnati TV station for the headline on its Web-posted story. I’d print it here, but that would spoil the fun of clicking for y’all.
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Is it time for Felton to go?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Athens — Hailed as a breakthrough, it was just a blip. Georgia won the SEC basketball tournament on a tempest-tossed weekend, and 10 months later it’s as if it never happened. The Bulldogs are as pedestrian as ever.
On Sunday, they fell to 9-9 by losing to an unranked Kentucky team so emphatically that it seemed worse than it was. “We shouldn’t be losing by 30 points,” said forward Terrance Woodbury, speaking of a game that ended 68-45.
Stegeman Coliseum was only three-quarters full, and 35 percent of those in attendance wore Kentucky blue. Afterward, Dennis Felton levied the same criticism at his team he had 51 weeks earlier after a 26-point loss at Tennessee — “We did not compete with the kind of toughness we needed; it was a very soft effort,” he said Sunday. And the question arises: Just what will it take to change these moribund dynamics?
The answer, sad to say, is a new coach.
Hired in April 2003 to sweep up after Jim Harrick, Felton hasn’t yet had a 20-win season or a winning record in SEC play. (His record in regular-season conference games is 26-57.) He has made the NCAA tournament only once. And, if he hadn’t made it when he did, a different man would surely be coaching Georgia today.
It’s time now to give a different man — Dayton’s Brian Gregory, say — that chance. Felton has five seasons plus 18 games, and it just hasn’t worked. On Sunday, the Bulldogs made as many turnovers (19) as baskets, and they didn’t manage their 40th point until the game’s 37th minute. On the week, the Bulldogs managed 85 points in two games; Kentucky’s Jodie Meeks had 76 by himself.
And therein lies the greatest indictment of Felton: Meeks played at Norcross, same as Gani Lawal and Al-Farouq Aminu. Not one signed with Georgia’s flagship school. On Wednesday, Derrick Favors of South Atlanta, considered the nation’s No. 1 recruit, chose Tech over Georgia. This state produces a slew of big-time talent, and somehow little of it lands in Athens.
It was understandable that Felton would struggle to sign players in the post-Harrick years, but Harrick has been gone from Georgia longer than Bill Self has been coaching Kansas. Felton has had time, and now his sixth Bulldog team looks only slightly more polished than his second, which finished 8-20.
“We knew this team was going to be significantly different from last year’s,” Felton said. “That was apparent going in. We’re relying on new players as much as anybody in the country.”
Georgia lost three starters from the team that won the SEC title, but it wasn’t as if any of the three was a lottery pick. (Seniors Sundiata Gaines and Dave Bliss weren’t drafted.) The latest starting five includes Corey Butler, who arrived as a walk-on. Put bluntly, a coach on his sixth season shouldn’t still be relying on spare parts. But that, due to egregious attrition and a lack of recruiting success, has become a Felton trademark.
Asked if he felt his job was again in peril, Felton said: “I’m not having any discussion about my employment except when I talk with my employers.”
Said athletics director Damon Evans, asked to assess Felton’s program: “There’s still basketball left this season, and we’ll see how this plays out.”
That wouldn’t seem an endorsement. Ten months ago, Felton got the reprieve to end all reprieves, and that astonishing gain hasn’t been even slightly consolidated. As Woodbury said: “It’s like we’re kind of forgetting we are SEC champions.”
If the Bulldogs themselves can’t remember, why should anyone else?
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Braves quickly rebound as Wren spends
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Remember the Braves? The cheapskates who wouldn’t even look at a big-ticket free agent? The jaded organization that wasn’t willing to renew its commitment to winning?
Anybody seen those Braves in … oh, the past four days?
Didn’t think so.
This team might or might not win the 2009 World Series, but the old labels no longer adhere. The Braves just spent big on a free agent represented by the demon agent Scott Boras, and if that’s not a tectonic shift you need to brush up on tectonics.
“I don’t think it’s anything earth-shattering,” said Frank Wren, the general manager who gained 110 I.Q. points in the span of 96 hours. “We’ve had conversations [with Boras] all along. Things just haven’t materialized.”
But this time they did, and that’s a major thing. We’d come to regard the Braves as an indifferently motivated operation overseen by distant and corporate ownership, as an operation so devoid of new ideas it had been reduced to recycling ex-Braves. Yet here this organization was Friday morning, introducing its second starting pitcher of an overstuffed week and looking spiffier than it has this millennium.
“It’s not just for this year,” said Derek Lowe, the newest new pitcher and a Boras client. “It shows this organization is willing to make a huge commitment to players so it can get back to winning. It can open doors for years to come. You have to get the ball rolling in the right direction.”
Not since Brian Jordan in 1998 had the Braves signed a significant free agent. (Last winter’s re-acquisition of Tom Glavine fell under the heading of recycling.) Not since 1990 had the Braves required so much work in one offseason, and in the end the locally pilloried Wren has accomplished everything save finding one more bat.
On Sept. 29, Wren had said the Braves as then constituted “would finish somewhere in the middle of the pack.” Here’s what he said Friday: “I know we’ll be in the mix [for the NL East title].”
Said Lowe: “The division is very competitive, but we feel we have a right to win it.”
Recent years have seen the highest-priced talent take only outbound flights — Glavine and Maddux and Millwood and Sheffield and Furcal and Drew and A. Jones and Teixeira and finally Smoltz. The once-proud Braves had been reduced to clipping coupons. But they’ve made an outlay of $83 million ($60 mil for Lowe, $23 mil for Kenshin Kawakami) that arrives as a bracing slap upside the head. These guys can spend money after all!
“There are still players we can’t go after because of our market size and our payroll,” Wren said, “but when you can line up your starting rotation, it does change things. You know you’re going to have a chance to win, and that makes a huge difference with the players and a huge difference with fans.”
A week ago, Wren was seen as the maladroit who let John Smoltz walk away. Said Wren on Friday, claiming no vindication: “Over the last 10 days the offseason really turned around. It’s been very fruitful. Our players are excited about going to spring training, and I’m not sure that was true 10 days ago.”
We will never again see a run of 14 division titles, but current events indicate that we won’t soon see the Braves fail as completely as they did last summer. Last season’s rotation was based largely on hope and memory. The 2009 version is made of more tangible stuff.
Last season always seemed a last stand, and when it all collapsed it appeared the Braves were years from rising again. By spending handsomely and wisely, Wren has given lie to that and other dire notions. He has, as the Brits say, done the business.
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How good a pro will Stafford be?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sam Bradford’s decision to stay at Oklahoma means Matthew Stafford should be the first quarterback drafted in April and makes him the favorite to go No. 1 overall. (His chief competition: Offensive tackles Andre Smith of Alabama and Michael Oher of Ole Miss.) And here, from someone who covered Stafford’s first and last collegiate games — on Sept. 2, 2006, he entered as Georgia’s third quarterback against Western Kentucky and led a late touchdown drive, and on Jan. 1, 2009, he was named MVP of the Capital One Bowl — is a scouting report:
Strengths: Pro-type body, although the feeling persists he could stand to shed a few pounds; exceptional arm, an Elway-type arm; more elusive than you’d think; played in a pro-style offense at Georgia and proved he could deliver the ball to any and all receivers; played very well against tough teams on the road (see Auburn 2006, Alabama 2007 and LSU 2008); can shrug off a bad half (see Michigan State, New Year’s Day); completed a higher percentage of his passes every year.
Weaknesses: Given his arm, should have completed even a higher percentage; still given to the strange and deflating interception (see Florida and Georgia Tech 2008); can throw the deep ball with ease but doesn’t complete many deep throws; was never the best quarterback in the SEC East and never won a championship of any kind.
Intangibles: Likes playing and seems to be liked by his teammates; never played behind a strong offensive line but never complained; didn’t make excuses when Georgia struggled in 2006; works hard at saying little to the media; shows leadership in an understated way; seems to have had his career path mapped since high school.
Prognosis: Will start in the NFL very soon but must overcome his ingrained diffidence to become a winning NFL quarterback; might not be the guy around whom a franchise can rebuild.
Obvious point of reference: Is a better prospect physically than Matt Ryan but a greater risk overall.
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Wren proves he knows the game
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So how do you like your blue-eyed general manager now, Braves fans? Still think he’s incompetent? That he has wrecked the organization? That he should be tarred and feathered and fired forthwith?
The man who lost John Smoltz has just landed two starting pitchers healthier than John Smoltz. The man who supposedly doesn’t know a catcher’s mitt from a capacitor suddenly has a rotation that would seem a match for any in the NL East. Derek Lowe and Kenshin Kawakami and Javier Vazquez and Jair Jurrjens and Jorge Campillo or maybe Tommy Hanson — any reason to believe that bunch won’t sit up and work?
Frank Wren said he wanted to land two starting pitchers this offseason. In Lowe and Kawakami and Vazquez, he has imported three. Maybe none of them is quite as good as Jake Peavy, but none of them comes at the cost in prospects Peavy would have commanded. Wren has managed to rebuild a broken rotation without bankrupting the farm system, and that’s good news for 2009 and better news for 2011.
“He’s done as good as you can do,” said Bobby Cox, once a GM himself, speaking of Wren. “When you play the free-agent game, it’s tough. You might have six or seven teams after somebody, but only one gets the guy.”
Cox spoke after the official introduction of Kawakami at Turner Field on Tuesday. For legal reasons, the Braves couldn’t yet comment on Lowe, whose formal arrival could well come Wednesday. And still Cox, when asked if the Braves are better than they were on Oct. 1, said: “Oh, absolutely. It’s not even close.”
Said Wren: “I think we’re better off by a pretty good margin.”
Yes, they could still use another bat in the outfield, but there’s still a month before pitchers and catchers report. And even if Gregor Blanco is the Opening Day center fielder, the Braves have still upgraded significantly in the place that matters most. You can’t win if you don’t have starting pitcher. Once again, the Braves have it.
Earlier Tuesday, Smoltz had met the Boston media and had donned Red Sox regalia for the cameras, and at the 755 Club Kawakami faced the media from a dais not 10 feet from a framed picture of No. 29. Yes, the memory will linger. But, as Cox said, “The game moves on, and that’s what we’ve got to do.”
Smoltz or no Smoltz, the Braves now have reason to believe each of their starting pitchers will be healthy enough to take his assigned turn, which is in happy contrast to last season, when Mike Hampton didn’t pitch until July and Tim Hudson didn’t pitch after July and the Hall of Famers Smoltz and Tom Glavine worked four innings between them after June 10.
The 2009 Braves might or might not be good enough to overhaul the Phillies and Mets — those club are pretty good, and one of them is the reigning World Series champion — but the combination of Kawakami and Lowe again puts the Braves in any conversation. Said Cox: “I think we’re going to be competitive again.”
Three months ago the Braves seemed stuck between bad options: They could stand pat and lose big for the next couple of seasons, or they could bankrupt their farm system in the attempt to get better faster. Wren, to his credit, found a third way. Yes, he was outbid for Smoltz, but in the final analysis Wren has had a winning winter.
He addressed needs and bettered his team. Maybe this wasn’t the way John Schuerholz would have done it, and maybe it wasn’t the most seamless — a favorite Schuerholz word — of processes, but you can’t argue with the result. The Braves are players again, and their blue-eyed GM just proved he knows how to play.
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Bradley’s Buzz: Gators, Gators and more Gators
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Urban’s latest cry: “We’re set”
If you’re a Bulldog, it just gets worse and worse. The Florida Gators have won two of the past three BCS titles, and now Tim Tebow is staying while Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno are leaving. Here, from Robbie Andreu of the Gainesville Sun is Urban Meyer’s not-so-humble appraisal of his program, and here Eric Sorenson of CBSsports.com quotes the Urban Legend as saying a recruit has to be nuts not to want to play for the Gators.
Even before Tebow announced he wasn’t turning pro, writers had lined up to anoint Florida No. 1 for 2009. Esteemed former colleague Mark Schlabach does it for ESPN.com — Schlabach has Georgia Tech No. 14 and Georgia No. 15, you should know — and Rivals.com offers this list, which has Tech 11th and Georgia 18th. And Stewart Mandel performs a similar service for SI.com.
One caveat: Mandel says Florida will be the most overwhelming preseason favorite “in recent memory.” But Southern Cal received 60 of 65 preseason No. 1 votes in the 2005 Associated Press poll and 60 of 62 in the coaches’ poll, and in 2007 the Trojans received 62 of 65 preseason No. 1 votes in the AP poll. Can’t get much more overwhelming than that. (You’ll also recall that in neither of those seasons did the Trojans finish No. 1.)
I mention this because, according to SI.com, a site called BetOnline.com has levied odds at winning the 2009 BCS title, and the listed favorite wasn’t Florida. It was — you guessed it — Southern Cal.
U Kno Who loves the hated Gators
A Floridian named Jones — he has since relocated to Atlanta, where he plays third base — wrote of his affection for the Gators and the guy he calls “Urban” last week for Sporting News Today. This wouldn’t be the first time Mr. Jones, who goes by the nickname Chipper, has delved into the world of online journalism. Last February he posted on an AJC.com blog under the screen name “U Kno Who.”
Fox in the doghouse
The Fox telecast of the BCS title game apparently affected many folks in the way Tim McCarver affects me. It made them want to hurl a shoe at yonder TV. Thom Brennaman drew heat from Chris Burke on AOL Fanhouse, among other bloggers, for making Tim Tebow sound like a combination of Chip Hilton and Mohandas Gandhi. The same Brennaman was taken to task by Richard Sandomir of The New York Times for mistaking third-and-goal for fourth-and-goal.
Smoltzie and Beantown
You’d think that the Sox-crazy Boston papers would be going nuts over the acquisition of John Smoltz. Uh, not exactly. The Red Sox have signed so many guys — Brad Penny, Rocco Baldelli, Takashi Saito — that the Braves’ ex-pillar has been viewed as just another in the line. Here’s Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe on the newest Soxers and here’s Michael Silverman in the Boston Herald outlining GM Theo Epstein’s new strategy of spending less for damaged goods.
And that’s yet another different between the moneyed Sox and the beleaguered Braves. Frank Wren’s team got where it is by having so many damaged arms and can no longer afford such risks. The Red Sox have millions to burn and are concerned only about outrunning the Yankees, who’ve signed CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira this offseason.
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Optimistic Braves GM Wren refuses to admit team is in rebuilding mode
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Occasionally Frank Wren will check a message board. Friday wasn’t such an occasion. “I’m savvy enough to know this probably wouldn’t be a good day,” he said.
It wasn’t. According to some AJC.com bloggers, the Braves general manager deserves to be flogged, flayed and fricasseed for the sin of letting John Smoltz leave for Boston. “Fire Frank Wren,” wrote someone posting under the screen name Fire Frank Wren. “He is a disaster as a GM.”
Said Wren, speaking of the reason he strategically avoids such sites: “It’s not unlike talk radio, and I’ve stopped listening to talk radio. I don’t think the average sports fan calls talk radio, nor do I think he goes on the blogs. That’s a special group of fans — someone who wants the experience of making a call or typing a sentence. I don’t think that represents the masses. If you go by those, you get a somewhat distorted view.”
Fifteen months on the job, Wren has become a civic flashpoint. This from someone posting as Salmanator: “Another case of Frank Wren asleep at the switch. He got played by [free agent A.J.] Burnett, got played by [flip-flopping Rafael] Furcal and lost the face of the franchise by not making him a reasonable offer. Total, utter incompetence.”
Has the offseason indeed been a washout? Said Wren: “I don’t view it that way. I’m the eternal optimist. In this game, you have to be. Things change day to day.”
And maybe they do. On Saturday it was learned the Braves are on the verge of signing Japanese pitcher Kenshin Kawakami.
About Smoltz, Wren said: “We were the first team to make an offer. But after what we all suffered through last season with injuries to our starting pitching, it was incumbent on us to put a pitching staff together that we were relatively sure would stay healthy and answer the bell. We told Tommy [Glavine] and John we had to put a team together [separate from the two pitchers] — that we could not look at them as key parts.
“We saw John [throw in December] and he was making good progress, but by John’s own admission, he was six months from pitching. He initially told us he’d be ready opening day. That [date] slid in the last month. We made a very solid offer. All we asked is that he be healthy enough to pitch.”
Even without Smoltz, the Braves intend to field a team. “We’re very good in the infield and at catcher … as good there as any team in our league or in baseball,” Wren said. “We’ve said all along we’d like to have another bat in the outfield, but we’re hopeful Jeff [Francoeur] will have a good year and that we’ll have speed and defense in center field. Our starting pitching is starting to come together, and our bullpen will be outstanding. There are ingredients that give us hope.”
Why doesn’t Wren admit what seems increasingly apparent — that the Braves are in full rebuilding mode and are targeting 2010 or 2011 more than 2009? “Because you don’t know exactly when things are going to click. It might be this year or it might be next year. None of us knows that. It’s a hope-inspiring game. If you get off to a good start, if a couple of young ballplayers show something … That’s what you hope and plan for.”
Wren was asked if a major move — the signing of Derek Lowe, say — might persuade some who just claimed to have sworn off the Braves to reassess. “I don’t know. I would hope so. Our guiding principle is to put a winning team on the field. I know fans get attached to players — we all get attached to players. And we would love to have John Smoltz on our club. But our goal is to put together a winning team.”
Pitchers and catchers don’t report until Valentine’s Day, which means the GM still has time to work. His many critics will take that as a threat. The undaunted Wren sees only an opportunity. Really. Truly.
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Time for the Braves to look forward, not back
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Look at it this way. Even if John Smoltz does wind up with the Red Sox in 2009, the Braves can always bring him back for a farewell tour in 2010. Or 2020. Or in the year 2525.
Sad to say, that has become the Great Grand Organization’s modus operandi. No ex-Brave is ever finished until he gets to return to the GGO. The Braves brought back Tom Glavine. They tried to bring back Javy Lopez. They tried to bring back Rafael Furcal. They’re considering bringing back Andruw Jones.
Who’s next? Larvell (Sugar Bear) Blanks? Andy (Channel 17) Messersmith? Terry (Tub of Goo) Forster?
The trouble with becoming a Great Grand Organization — John Schuerholz’s immortal description — is that you’re forever tempted to take curtain calls. As heretical as this may sound, the Braves would be wise to take a tip from the Falcons, who have rarely been great or grand or even very good. Thomas Dimitroff arrived from New England and proceeded to lop four Pro Bowlers and his team was the better for it, and he’s about to dump more big names this winter
Put simply, the professional team that isn’t going forward is falling back. The Braves keep recycling old ideas, which is a sure sign they’re running out of new ones. Not coincidentally, they’ve also finished third, third, and fourth over the past three seasons.
As difficult as it would be to see Smoltz in a different uniform, it’s nothing the Braves couldn’t get over. (They got over seeing Glavine work for the hated Mets.) This is big-league baseball. These things happen. Better to let a 41-year-old pitcher take a guarantee of $5 million to play for the Red Sox, who toss millions around like pennies, than to risk $5 million of your own on his surgically altered shoulder.
By trying to repeat the past, the Braves are guaranteeing they won’t have much of a future. They need to learn how to say goodbye and mean it. If Smoltz wins 20 for the Sox, more power to him. But you can’t plan for tomorrow on the basis of what a 41-year-old might (or might not) do. You have to move on.
If he indeed leaves, fans will wring hands and gnash teeth, but in the end they’ll either have to get over it or find a new team. We on the periphery get all sentimental over sports, but we’re also reminded on a daily basis that these teams are businesses and these players are independent contractors. Yes, Smoltz has done meritorious service here for two decades. He was also handsomely compensated for so doing.
The trouble with being a Great Grand Organization is that you tend to view all paradigms from within. There are, believe it or not, good players out there who have never been Braves. It’s time — way past time, actually — to go find some of those.
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UGA loses its glitz, but may gain ferocity
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Athens — Mark Richt told reporters Monday his staff might have done its best coaching in the season just completed. We can debate that premise until Groundhog Day, but what’s beyond dispute is this: Somebody’s going to have coach awfully well if Georgia is to win 10 games next time. And both things could happen.
For two seasons the Bulldogs didn’t worry overmuch about precision, believing one of their two big-name skyhooks would do something breathtaking to save the day. Georgia will miss Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno, yes, but it won’t necessarily miss the let-them-do-it attitude that grew from having two such talents in the same backfield.
“I just don’t think we executed as well as we needed to,” said Joe Cox, the redshirt junior who’s now the No. 1 quarterback. “I felt as a team we weren’t as hungry as we needed to be. That’s something we need to work on.”
Then this: “It’s going to be a big help not being preseason No. 1.”
Talent is a wonderful commodity, but we’ve just seen that talent doesn’t necessarily yield championships. Stafford and Moreno won a lot of games but never even a division title, and it was significant that on the day of their announced departures Mark Richt was moved to say: “There are a lot of things we can improve on [in 2009] that might give us a chance to win the SEC East.”
It wasn’t that Stafford and Moreno didn’t work hard and play well. But the trouble with having terrifically gifted players is that such a team comes to see itself as terrifically gifted. Lest we forget, Tennessee won the national championship the year after Peyton Manning exited. And didn’t some team win the SEC in Year 1 after David Greene and David Pollack?
“In certain games it seemed like we were flat,” said Cox, speaking of the three seasons he mostly stood and watched Stafford work. “Hopefully I can bring some of the way I like to play [to bear], maybe bring some fire.”
About Joe Cox: He’s a redhead, and you know what they say about redheads and their temperament. He conceded he’d been penalized “a couple of times” in high school for emotional excess, and if you check the famous photos you’ll find No. 14 smack in the middle of the Gator Stomp.
Pointing to Cox’s apprenticeship, Richt likened him to D.J. Shockley, who waited four seasons behind Greene to become MVP of the 2005 SEC title game. “Joe’s become one of our leaders without being a starter,” Richt said, and that was likewise said of Shockley.
The 2005 Bulldogs might have been sixth-most talented team, but it maximized resources. The 2008 Bulldogs did not, and now the two most precious resources are bound for the NFL. This means Georgia, as Cox suggested, won’t be nearly as highly regarded in August, but seasons, as we well know, aren’t made in the heat of summer.
“I feel like we’re in very good shape,” Richt said. “We’ve got four [tail]backs in the program who have to be thinking, ‘My time to get more carries may be here.’ And Joe is a team guy all the way whose senior year has just taken on a whole new light.”
Then, casting a wistful eye both forward and back: “It would have been fun to see what [Stafford and Moreno] would do behind the [2009] offensive line … It would have been pretty to see.”
It would, sure. But there’s a prosaic beauty in seeing a team commit 40 percent fewer penalties, in seeing a bunch of guys strive to break into the Top 10, as opposed to being installed there. Much of the glitz is gone from Georgia football, but the ferocity might just be coming back.
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Falcons offseason needs to focus on defense
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Flowery Branch — Here we see the ancillary benefits of having signed a free-agent tailback who tied for second in the NFL’s MVP voting and having drafted a quarterback who was offensive rookie of the year. Give or take a tight end, that platoon is set. And now the general manager who aced his first offseason can muster all resources in the effort to fix his defense.
For 16 games the Falcons schemed around inherent liabilities, but they were exploited to the max in a playoff loss on a Saturday afternoon in Glendale, Ariz. The Falcons ranked No. 11 in a 32-team league in scoring defense, but that was a tribute to the brainpower of Brian VanGorder and the ball-control work of Michael Turner and Matt Ryan. In every other category they were substandard — 24th in total defense, 21st against the pass, 25th against the run.
To go further, the D must improve. And here’s the good news: Thomas Dimitroff nearly has a blank slate. He has unrestricted free agents he can discard, Keith Brooking and Lawyer Milloy and Michael Boley chief among them, and he has free agency and the draft to help him restock.
Regarding the latter, Dimitroff was asked Monday if he’s apt to draft even one offensive player come April. “Yes,” he said, smiling. “One-plus.”
Something to know: The Falcons are very happy with John Abraham, duh, and the rookie linebacker Curtis Lofton. Beyond that, there are no givens.
Milloy, who was elected one of the defensive captains Sunday, figures to want too much money and will wind up signing elsewhere. Boley could fit into the same category. If Brooking returns, it almost certainly won’t be as a starter. And Jamaal Anderson, who has had two sacks in two seasons as an end, could well become a full-time defensive tackle.
In his former life as a defensive coordinator, head coach Mike Smith regarded tackles as the core position. The Falcons see Jonathan Babineaux as a comer, and they like Trey Lewis, who missed the season due to knee surgery. And they could well bring back Grady Jackson, for another tour. Regarding defensive end, the rookie Kroy Biermann showed much late in the season — did Dimitroff have a great first draft or what? — and the sheer number of bodies up front available could mean that the Falcons won’t draft a D-linemen in Round 1.
If you’re betting, bet on them using their first pick — they have the 25th choice in Round 1 — on a cornerback. They’re prepared to try Chevis Jackson, another rookie who played nickel back, on the outside, but clearly the secondary is the area most in need of upgrading.
“We will make calculated decisions,” Dimitroff said. “They won’t be emotion-driven.”
We saw last spring that Dimitroff wasn’t shy about shedding big names: DeAngelo Hall, Warrick Dunn, Alge Crumpler. We’ll see it again soon. That’s the Patriots Way — lop a guy a year too soon, as opposed to a year too late — and Dimitroff learned it in New England.
As warm and fuzzy as the season just completed was, the months ahead are a time for the cold and clinical. As much as Brooking and Milloy have done for this franchise, they were still culpable in the three biggest plays made by the Cardinals. (Milloy was beaten on two touchdowns, and Brooking whiffed on the tight end on third-and-16 inside the final three minutes.)
The new regime has made the brightest start possible, and Dimitroff is just getting going. He has already reconfigured the offense, and now he gets to redo the D. And we, once again, get to stand back and watch the man work. Prepare, once again, to be impressed.
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Bradley’s Buzz: How high would Stafford go?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The clock ticks for Stafford (and Moreno)
He refused to drop even a hint after the Capital One Bowl, but a check of the latest mock drafts suggests Matthew Stafford is gone daddy gone. (Not to sound like Dave O’Brien, but that’s the title of a nice little ditty by the Violent Femmes.) He has until Jan. 15 to decide, and it would surely be hard to stay in school if you’re going to be taken in the top five, which most everybody believes he’d be.
Here’s a mock from Todd McShay of Scouts.Inc that has Stafford going No. 3 overall, behind Sam Bradford of Oklahoma and Andre Smith of Alabama. Here’s another from WalterFootball.com that has Stafford going No. 1, and another from Draft Countdown that does the same.
More mocks: Here’s one from DraftKing.com that has Stafford at No. 3, and one from Scout.com that has him at No. 4, while The Football Expert tabs Stafford No. 1. And here, from Russ Lande of Sporting News, is a breakdown of Stafford’s strengths and weaknesses. (Lande confesses he didn’t want to like Stafford as much he does, which would seem a compliment.)
If you’ll check ESPN’s draft home page, you’ll note that Scouts Inc. lists Stafford as only its No. 7 prospect and Moreno as No. 18. You’ll also note that Scouts Inc. doesn’t have Tech defensive end Michael Johnson in its top 32. Most of the mocks have Johnson, who was once considered a top 10 possibility, going in the middle of Round 1, and the consensus on Moreno seems to place him in the second half — from the 17th pick on — of Round 1.
One final note: McShay credits Stafford for making do without a great supporting cast around him at Georgia. My question: Moreno, A.J. Green and Mohamed Massaquoi are mediocrities? (I know, I know. McShay probably was referring to the offensive line. But that’s not what he wrote.)
The hated Gators again?
Under no circumstances should Georgia fans click on this link from NationalChamps.net. If they do, they’ll find all three teams that beat the Bulldogs in 2008 are rated ahead of Georgia in this early-bird Top 25 for 2009. The good news, sort of: Georgia is only one spot behind Tech.
This just in: The Falcons lost to Arizona
I tried to be a good sport about it last week, but I’m getting tired of being wrong. And I’m especially disgruntled at being wrong about the Falcons and the Cardinals. That seemed a no-brainer, although I’m starting to think I have no brain.
Toward that end, I checked the predictions from those mavens at ESPN, at CBSsports.com and at SI.com. And I was cheered, if only slightly, to find that 18 of 24 had picked Atlanta.
So I wasn’t flying Han Solo on this one. But, in light of my continuing run of misdiagnoses, I’m declaring a moratorium: I will make no predictions of any kind until the Final Four Fiasco, which is more than two months away.
Dan the Man says he still can
According to the New York Post, Dan Reeves said on Sirius XM Radio that he has hired an agent and wants to coach again in the NFL. Me, I’m not sure what he has left to prove — when you take the Falcons to the Super Bowl, you’ve pretty much done it all — but more power to him.
For the record, Reeves will turn 65 this month.
Good news for the consumer! Really!
Going highbrow here, I’m offering a link to a story by Darren Rovell in The New Republic, in which the author declares that 2009 will be a great year for the sports fan. Why? Because with corporate finances dwindling, teams cannot cater to businesses anymore. (Meaning: The luxury box as tax write-off.) They’ll have to attract the average fan, which can mean only one thing: Lower ticket prices.
(Found an interesting link? Send it to mbra14@gmail.com. Much gratitude and an online shout-out could be yours.)
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Could Dogs be preseason No. 1 again?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I think Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno will leave. Were they planning to stay, wouldn’t they have said so in the flush of emotion, such as it was, that followed the Capital One Bowl victory? And now they’re away from their teammates and surely huddling with family and friends, and any decisions won’t be made in the heat of a moment but in the colder light of economic reality.
So I’m betting they leave, both of them. But I have, as the world knows, been wrong a time or two. What if I’m wrong this time? What if they stay? Would the team that didn’t know how to handle being preseason No. 1 be preseason No. 1 again?
In a word, no. Too many better teams from 2008 should be strong again. Florida, Oklahoma, Texas and Southern Cal all have starting quarterbacks with eligibility remaining, although expectations are that the Sooners’ Sam Bradford will leave, and it wouldn’t be a shock if Tim Tebow did.
Alabama loses John Parker Wilson and surely Andre Smith but looks to have just gotten started. Ohio State could lose Beanie Wells but might have the 2009 Heisman winner in Terrelle Pryor. And don’t forget the North Avenue Trade School.
You could again make the argument that nobody would have a better quarterback/tailback tandem than Stafford/Moreno — and that this time they’d be working behind a more seasoned line — but that contention wouldn’t have the same oomph. We genius prognosticators don’t care to get burned by the same team twice.
Remember Auburn in 2003? Preseason No. 1 according to the Sporting News? Those Tigers wound up 8-5 and were a dud of megaton proportions. The next summer preseason, with Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown and Jason Campbell all returning, Auburn was only No. 17 in the preseason Associated Press poll. (This became a massive issue when those Tigers wound up undefeated but were barred from the BCS title game.)
Some back-of-the-envelope estimates: With Stafford and Moreno, Georgia would be preseason No. 5. With Stafford but without Moreno, they’d be No. 7. With Moreno but without Stafford, they’d be No. 13. Without both, they’d be No. 21.
Which would put them 12 spots behind those new lords of the ring, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
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UGA wins bowl game, just not one they wanted
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Orlando — It was a play befitting a postseason game in this state in the month of January. One Georgia star threw the ball and the other caught it for the clinching touchdown, and in that moment we were reminded how gifted Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno truly are.
Alas, it was the wrong bowl in the wrong city on the wrong date, and this game didn’t yield a BCS title but just another halting victory in a strangely indifferent season. And if it was the last big play either make as amateurs — the belief here is that it was — their valedictory wasn’t accompanied by a blare of trumpets but by one leather-lunged fan standing outside the interview area.
“Matty Stafford!” the man kept yelling. “You’re going to the Cincinnati Bengals, Matty!”
Seven NFL scouts representing five teams were credentialed for the Capital One Bowl, and they had to be impressed by some of what they saw. Stafford authored maybe his finest collegiate half just after one of his worst and exited as the MVP, and when he accepted his award the chant rose from the assembled Georgia fans: “One more year!”
But not once afterward did Stafford or Moreno say the words Bulldog Nation yearns to hear — that they’ll stay and play for Georgia next season. Here was Moreno’s response to the chants: “It was cool. It really meant a lot. At the same time, you’ve got to do what’s best for your family.”
Stafford: “I’m not sure yet, and that’s about it.”
The game itself tracked the season: The offense fooled around awhile, and only a spirited first-half effort from the defense — say hey, Willie Martinez! — kept the Bulldogs close. Yet again we witnessed that maddening scenario: A hugely talented team giving a pedestrian opponent reason to believe. As Mark Richt would say, “I told the offense [at halftime], ‘Just don’t make it any harder than it is.’ “
But that’s why Georgia was in Orange County on New Year’s Day, as opposed to Miami come Jan. 8. It simplified nothing. It committed so many penalties and stopped itself so often that it played to capacity only once or twice all season.
Credit the Bulldogs for this, though: When it came time to put Michigan State to sleep, they turned to their two best players. On third-and-10 from the Spartan 21, Moreno ran a wheel route down the right sideline. Stafford arched a lovely ball, and Moreno rose over linebacker Greg Jones, the Big Ten’s leading tackler, to snatch it.
“I didn’t do anything special,” said Moreno, being modest. “Matt put it right in the pocket, right where it needs to be.”
For those keeping score, that makes three bowl victories for Stafford and two for Moreno, but if they leave now those will be the only big trophies they’ve earned. “[We] still don’t have a national championship and stuff like that,” Moreno said, “but I’m happy to be a part of this team and happy with the victory.”
Happy, yes, but not nearly ecstatic. Put simply, the Capital One wasn’t a big enough stage for Stafford and Moreno. They were (are?) capable of more.
No kid grows up dreaming of hoisting a trophy on the floor of the rickety old Citrus Bowl. Indeed, Georgia nearly walked off without the one it just won. The Bulldogs had turned to leave the field when Casey Nickels, a backup tight end, looked over his shoulder.
“Hey,” he said. “Somebody get the trophy.”
And Chris Davis, the right guard, walked over and grabbed it and carried it to the locker room. It was a nice enough little ending. There was, however, a time when this season promised so much more.
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