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Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Duckett could be star elsewhere
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Flowery Branch— Six weeks after they signed Warrick Dunn as a free agent, the Falcons made T.J. Duckett the first draftee of the Arthur Blank Era. At first it didn’t make sense — two running backs in one offseason? — but then it made perfect sense. Two years on, Duckett would supplant Dunn as the every-down back, or so went the thinking in 2002.
Here it is 2006, and Dunn, coming off the best season of his distinguished career, remains the featured runner. Duckett is in the final year of his contract, and there seems every chance he’ll play elsewhere — and maybe gain 1,500 yards — next fall.
T.J. Duckett is gifted enough to be a franchise back — just not for this franchise. He knows his scripted role here — “Short-yardage and goal-line, the guy who changes up the pace, who finishes games out,” he said Wednesday — but he dreams of the day when he’s an every-down back. “I would love to have something like that. You always want to have the ball.”
Understand: Duckett knows how the Falcons operate, and he knows he’s apt to be no better than the No. 3 running option so long as Dunn and Michael Vick are in place. “There’s only one football,” Duckett said, “and we have so many talented players. I want to be that [featured] guy; it just so happens I play behind a great running back.”
Were Duckett stationed in some other city, we might think of him as a great back. Said Gerald Riggs, who’s the leading rusher in Falcons history and who’s now a cable TV analyst: “In a different system, he’d be a guy you could hang your hat on.”
A big back himself, Riggs has developed a fondness for Duckett. “I feel his pain,” Riggs said. “I know he’s chomping at the bit. … [But] Dunn is more tailored to this offense.”
The Falcons will dispute this characterization, but under Jim Mora and Greg Knapp they’ve become a finesse offense. Yes, they’ve led the league in rushing two years running, but their yardage is more a function of speed and zone blocking than of leather-helmet football. Riggs played in Dan Henning’s power scheme and averaged 1,500 yards from 1984 through 1986. Put Duckett in a similar downhill-running system and give him an H-back to clear the way, and what would happen?
Riggs: “He’d terrorize people.”
Duckett in conversation isn’t anything approaching a terror. He’s upbeat and circumspect. He knows this is a big season for him, and toward that end he approached the offseason with even greater zeal. “I’m not going to lie,” he said. “I definitely looked at it differently. It’s a contract year, and I was disappointed in myself last year, and we went 8-8. It’s crazy all that stuff happened at the same time.”
He doesn’t, he said, sit around wondering where he’ll be next season: “I’m not walking on eggshells.” Even with the continuing excellence of Dunn and the addition of rookie Jerious Norwood, Duckett still sees opportunity here. Not that exhibition stats mean much, but he was the Falcons’ leading rusher — 59 yards on 10 carries — against New England last week.
His goal for the season? “There’s not any back who won’t say 1,000 yards.” The difference is, some backs operate in a setting where they’ll get the chance. Duckett has averaged 10.2 rushes a game as a Falcon, and at that rate he’d have to average 6.1 yards per attempt to break 1,000.
But forget sobering numbers. Let’s hear Duckett on 2006: “I’m looking for a big year with some breakout runs. I want to get it out there that I can be a feature back. … This is my fifth year. I don’t want to be thought of as a short-yardage guy who can’t catch and who can only play inside the 5.”
He wants to be more than that, and soon he probably will be. And whatever team pays Duckett’s salary in 2007 could well be getting a bonus. The shelf life on big backs tends to be brief because of the pounding they take. Having never been an every-down back, he hasn’t yet absorbed those blows. Said Riggs: “He doesn’t have that wear and tear. … If you’re a team looking for a featured back, he’s the hot commodity.”
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T.O., Moss: Moore trouble than they’re worth
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
This is scary: If many folks around the Falcons Nation had their way, Terrell Owens, Randy Moss or both would be at training camp in Flowery Branch right now.
They both spoke publicly about the Falcons’ needs at wide receiver. They both said they wanted to play in Atlanta. They both weren’t given the opportunity.
Good. No, great.
Moss is being Moss again. I mean, is he really pouting over not getting enough playing time in an exhibition game?
Not only that, T.O. hasn’t stopped being T.O. by spending most of his training camp riding a stationary bike instead of catching passes. Something about a supposedly aching hamstring that has Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells rolling his eyes.
They both are fabulous players, and they both aren’t worth it.
Permalink | Comments (15) | Categories: Quick Hit, Terence Moore
