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Home > Jeff Schultz > Archives > 2008 > December > 02
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Falcons have formula of playoff team
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
They had a young quarterback as a first-year starter. They didn’t talk about the season before. They didn’t care about the gloomy projections. Or they fed off them.
The 2008 Falcons? No. The 2001 New England Patriots.
“A lot of similarities,” said Lawyer Milloy, the Falcons’ safety and a starter on that Patriots’ surprising 2001 Super Bowl team. “The teams are similar because of the bond the players had with each other. There were low expectations. But we just focused on getting stronger every week. Nobody ever saw us getting some place. But at the end there we were against the Rams in the Super Bowl, getting it done. That was the best. That’s the way you’re supposed to win games.”
This doesn’t mean Matt Ryan is Tom Brady. It doesn’t mean Mike Smith is Bill Belichick, or Lawyer Milloy at 35 is Lawyer Milloy at 28, or the Falcons of ‘08 are the Patriots of ‘01 and they’re going to the Super Bowl.
But if any team in the middle of a December jumble had the look of a playoff team, it’s the Falcons. At this point, the surprise would be if they didn’t get in.
They are 8-4. They have a quarterback, Ryan, who isn’t prone to rookie meltdowns. They have a team that already has won road games at Green Bay and San Diego. They have beaten two of the NFC’s most physical teams, Carolina and Chicago. Their running game is second only to the New York Giants’. The defense gives up plays but is improving and opportunistic. Overall, the team is healthy at key positions and has steadily improved from game one to 12 — which differentiates them from almost everybody in the NFC.
In four weeks, we’ll find out for sure. But right now, the feeling here is that they’re a playoff team.
Milloy is not the type of person to say he is surprised. To acknowledge surprise would be to acknowledge doubt. Leaders don’t do that.
But when asked about his satisfaction level, he admitted the obvious.
“At age 35, in year 13, this is the kind of year I needed,” he said. “Last year took a toll on me. Kurt Warner said it best: Seasons like this make you feel young again.”
It’s easy to get spoiled. Milloy made the playoffs in his first three NFL seasons. He started in a Super Bowl as a rookie in 1996. He won a ring in his sixth season in 2001.
He hasn’t been on a playoff team since.
Last year was a train wreck. From Michael Vick to Bobby Petrino to all the morass in between, the Falcons’ season ranked as arguably the worst for any franchise in pro sports history.
So imagine how an 8-4 season is being received by Milloy.
“We have a group of guys who were willing to work,” he said. “From the beginning, there was never any talk about last year, even from the college guys who knew what had happened. If anything, that kind of galvanized our individual relationships. You build your foundations through tough times. We brought in the right guys, whether off the street or free agents or in the draft. Then Smitty had a fresh new attitude. In that first meeting with us, he said there were going to be hiccups, but we would get through it. Everybody just went from there.”
Asked about the difference between a playoff team and a non-playoff team, Milloy listed talent, health and leadership. But the most important factor?
“Chemistry,” he said. “In this league, teams are changing players every year. The teams that can build relationships and find their identity the fastest are the ones that succeed.”
He saw this happen once before.
That story ended well.
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Overrated UGA also underachieved
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
And now for the Tuesday Countdown:
10 - I am having a hard time getting worked up over Mike Hampton taking less money to sign with Houston than he would’ve received from the Braves. I’m just wondering if his old locker is going to be renovated, or they’ll keep the gurney and nurses call button there as museum pieces.
9 - Mark Richt is a very good football coach who probably understands that even national championship coaches in the SEC have limited honeymoon periods (Tommy Tuberville, Les Miles, Phil Fulmer). If he wants to remain loyal to Willie Martinez, that’s fine. But understand that if things don’t get fixed, eventually the piano falls on his head - and understand exactly what just happened.
8 - Even with the hindsight acknowledgement that Georgia was overrated coming into the season, the Bulldogs underachieved. Excluding wins over Georgia Southern and Central Michigan, the Bulldogs’ other seven victories came over teams that sit: 7-5, 5-6, 5-7, 6-6, 7-5, 6-6 and 5-7. They beat a bunch of mediocre teams. Georgia’s “signature” wins came at Arizona State and LSU - who finished the year as a chalk line outlines on the sidewalk.
7 - The problems aren’t limited to Martinez and the defense. The biggest problem is overall attitude. This team lost the edge it had down the stretch in 2007. It had little resolve. It was that four-letter word dreaded by football players: soft. One smackdown by Alabama revealed it. Another smackdown by Florida confirmed it. A little more fire-breathing in Athens would help.
6 - Meanwhile, on The Flats: Paul Johnson’s nine wins is the most of any of the 18 first-year Division I coaches, just ahead of Houston Nutt (8-4 with Mississippi) and Nebraska’s Bo Pelini. And how does Johnson’s salary compare to Rich Rodriguez’s 3-9 with Michigan and Arkansas’ Bobby Petrino at 5-7?
5 - It was fixed by the time I checked this morning, but for a while Monday Martinez’ Wikipedia bio read: “Willie Martinez (born February 21, 1963) is the soon to be fired defensive coordinator and secondary coach of the Georgia Bulldogs football team. Martinez has been the defensive secondary coach at Georgia since 2001, head coach Mark Richt’s first season at Georgia, and was promoted to defensive coordinator before the 2005 season. His defensive scheme is widely considered to be weak and lacks any of fundamental tools to be a defensive coordinator in the SEC.”
4 - Plaxico Burress’s defense lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, argued for no bail, saying: “He has 35 million reasons to come back to court,” referring to the player’s contract with the Giants. He’s making a lot of assumptions there. My guess: Burress has played his last game for the team — and he’ll never see most of that $35 million. Doofus.
3 - After seeing this picture of Brafman, I’m just wondering if he also represents the Corleone family.
2 - So, the Thrashers now have Ilya Kovalchuk on a line with Marty Reasoner and Chris Thorburn. Would this be to entice him to re-sign here?
1 - Welcome to the Capital One Bowl’s biggest nightmare: Inviting a university (Georgia) with a fervent but irate fan base that may not want to travel to a bowl game.
Permalink | Comments (179) | Post your comment | Categories: UGA/SEC
