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Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Dogs still grasping to make their case
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Athens — The fact that one injury has swung Georgia from a certain favorite to five-point underdogs against Florida this week screams at least two perceptions of the Bulldogs:
1) They’re not overpowering on offense or defense, or even terribly resilient.
2) Vito the Bookie is not moved by Joe Tereshinski’s lineage or the fact he has been really, really good as punter protector.
But in a strange way, the knee injury that will keep D.J. Shockley out of Saturday’s game against the Gators could be the best thing that ever happened to the Dogs.
Assuming they win.
“Quite frankly, we’ve gotten more attention this week nationally than we have all year, just because D.J. is hurt,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said Tuesday, moments after his weekly news conference. “It’s gonna be big, just because [ESPN’s] GameDay is there.
“I’m sure if we win without D.J., people will be [more impressed]. But I don’t want it to seem like I’m really thinking about all that stuff. I hate to even be quoted on the national picture because I don’t care much about it right now.”
Actually, it goes without saying that the coach of a 7-0 college football team can’t help but think about rankings because, like, duh.
Georgia is unbeaten but ranked only fourth, and the reality is that the team is in no position to complain. In general, the Dogs have won without wowing. Their best win came at Tennessee. That may have been impressive at the time, but it’s now late October and the aforementioned best win came over a team that currently sits at 3-3 (2-3 in conference).
In short, Georgia lacks something that Auburn had a year ago: an argument. Auburn was better last season than any SEC team is this year. The conference is down. Last year the Tigers went 13-0 with a tougher schedule. They smacked Georgia after Georgia smacked LSU, dumped Tennessee twice (at Knoxville and in the SEC title game) and beat Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl.
When Auburn was held out of the BCS’ national championship game, it had an argument.
Shockley’s injury presumably dents Georgia’s chances for a win in Jacksonville. But it also presents an opportunity for an argument that otherwise wouldn’t be there. The Bulldogs would have been favored over Florida with Shockley, and a win, therefore, would not have had the same impact. But defeating the Gators with Joe I, Joe II or Joe III at quarterback is one in the plus column.
Standing alone, beating Florida with a backup quarterback making his first start would not be enough to launch Georgia over Southern Cal, Texas or Virginia Tech in the rankings. But if any of those three lose — and the bet is, one will — or even stumble in a win, the debate suddenly grows hair.
“I think it would shock the country if we win this week,” defensive tackle Ray Gant said. “Maybe then, people would finally realize that there’s more to our team than a great quarterback.”
Funny how quickly perceptions change. Last year, some wondered if Shockley could ably fill in for David Greene. This year, he has yet to lose a start and the belief suddenly is that the Dogs can’t win without him.
“It’s people who don’t know anything about football,” Gant said when asked about the swing in the pointspread. “When one star player goes down, people just start talking. I actually think that’s real funny. We lost David Pollack, too, and now we’re 7-0 — I’m sure a lot of people didn’t think that could happen. It’s fun to prove people wrong when they doubt you.”
Richt was completely honest this week about his starting quarterback being too injured to play. That could get him thrown out of the coaching fraternity. At the least, it disqualifies him from ever coaching in the NFL.
But he made up for it by building up the Gators as Godzilla, gushing about Florida’s defensive rankings, turnover ratio and, my personal favorite: “Chris Leak has never thrown an interception against Georgia.” It almost made you forget Georgia won last year’s meeting for only the second time in 15 years.
Lose this week and few outside of Athens would be surprised.
Win and everybody outside of Athens will take notice.
Sometimes, negative perceptions aren’t a bad thing.
Permalink | Comments (82) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, UGA / SEC
Tuesday Countdown: Selig hits the roof
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
10: Four hours before the first pitch, Major League baseball ordered the Houston Astros to open the roof for Game 3 of the World Series. No word on whether commissioner Bud Selig also will approve or veto roster moves in spring training next season.
9: And if you were the commissioner of baseball, wouldn’t opening the roof be the highest priority for you — especially in the wake of this likely going down as the lowest-rated World Series in history?
8: The man is one clear-thinking, rational thought short of being a sock pocket.
7: For the record, Dick Cheney first leaked the news about the Astros’ stadium roof. But he blamed it on the New York Times.
6: News: Rocky Balboa makes a comeback at 59. Comment: Great. Now we’ll never get rid of Evander Holyfield (only 43).
5: Bud Selig just announced that Rocky VI is on hold.
4: One sportsbook lists the Hawks’ over-under at 21.5 wins. Well, so much for that feel-good roster makeover.
3: Flaws notwithstanding, the fact that the Falcons are 5-2 after a difficult part of the schedule is impressive. But we’ll know more about the NFC’s pecking order after the bye, when they have four games against Tampa Bay and Carolina.
2: I’m not saying this just because the national bashing of Michael Vick was ratcheted up after Monday night. But quarterback efficiency rating might be the most worthless NFL stat since time of possession.
1: Bud Selig has scheduled a 2 p.m. press conference for Thursday, during which Michael Vick’s efficiency rating and mandates on what Americans should eat for breakfast will be addressed.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Quick Hit
Flaws and all, Falcons keep winning
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Whether or not the Falcons finally have solved all of their ugly flaws despite a pretty start when it comes to wins and losses still isn’t known. I mean, they just spent their Monday night inside the Georgia Dome hammering the New York Jets.
Whatever that means.
No way the Falcons should lose to the New York Jets. No way anybody should lose to this crippled and wretched bunch. No way any game involving the Jets should end without their opponent thinking about how to celebrate an inevitable victory soon after the ancient Vinny Testaverde does something to show that he should return to his couch and chips on Long Island.
So it was in this one, with the Falcons threatening early and often to do exactly what they needed to before their typically wired home gathering and a national television audience. They needed to smack away what little youth was left in Testaverde’s 41-year-old bones, and they did so enough for a 20-0 lead. They had enough momentum to eventually move their record to 5-2 with a 27-14 blowout.
The thing is, given the ineptness of Vinny and his teammates, that initial lead and that final score should have been more lopsided. Did I mention something about flaws for the Falcons? Yep. Among the biggest is that the Falcons haven’t a clue in the passing game. And, in case you didn’t know before, Dez White never was the problem. He was just a symptom, especially since he wasn’t in uniform after his demotion this week. The Falcons’ other wide receivers proved they could drop passes as easily as White. When Michael Vick found Michael Jenkins with a pass midway through the third quarter, it was only the second catch by a Falcons wide receiver.
Not good. Not if the Falcons expect to beat a real NFL team someday. Vick destroyed the Jets with his always magnificent legs, but his arm did little.
It was this bad: The bumbling, stumbling Testaverde finished with an absolutely brutal passer rating of 62.3. Even so, that was 46 points higher than his Falcons’ counterpart who only was in the first grade when Testaverde made his NFL debut. Vick threw three interceptions. Is it the receivers? The play-calling? The offensive line? Is it Vick? Likely, it’s a combination of everything. Whatever it is, the Falcons must find the answer.
“I don’t know if we can win too many more games throwing the ball for how many yards we threw it for,� said Falcons wide receiver Brian Finneran, referring to his team’s 105 passing yards. He started for White and caught zero passes. “I really don’t know what it is. Every game, something happens. We’ve got open guys. Sometimes there is pressure. Missed throws. Dropped balls. We’ve got to rectify it shortly.�
As for those flaws on defense, well, we’ll have to wait. How can you tell whether your defense finally can stop the run when the other guys’ quarterback can’t even handle a snap from center? Testaverde also was pounded into two fumbles that led to Falcons scores, and he threw the silliest of interceptions.
This also was a Jets team that had a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown called back after a penalty. Then there was horrible time management by Jets coach Herman Edwards near the end of the first half that cost his team momentum.
The bottom line for the Falcons is the bottom line, though. They won, and they did so on a Monday night after entering the season having lost 11 of 12 such outings previously.
But they started this season with a Monday night victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. Now you have this one. Falcons general manager Rich McKay said he could see these prime-time victories for the Falcons coming during the preseason, when they survived the Indianapolis Colts and a trip to Tokyo. “I thought our players and coaches did a great job of handling all of the difficult things associated with that,� McKay said, referring to everything from the long plane ride to the disruption of their training camp in Flowery Branch. “Now, after that [Tokyo trip], when you start adding Monday night games and the Thanksgiving Day game, where you might have only one practice, there is more of that to overcome. In our case, all of this is really new.�
It also can get really old, but only if you’re in prime time, and you lose. The Falcons haven’t had that problem.
Despite those flaws.
Permalink | Comments (104) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Terence Moore
