AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2006 > October > 07
Saturday, October 7, 2006
Talented Jackets find their way, could go far
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
So there went Darrius Heyward-Bey, shaking a tackle along the sideline and fleeing downfield. And now, with Georgia Tech’s skinny lead subject to imminent override, what were the Jackets thinking?
“I can’t say what I was thinking,” linebacker KaMichael Hall said. “I looked up and all I saw was field in front of [Heyward-Bey], and I’m sure that’s all he saw, too.”
“I was just thinking, ‘Cover down,’ ” defensive end Michael Johnson said. “Everyone chase the ball.”
“I wasn’t even thinking,” safety Avery Roberson said. “I was running. You can’t stop running.”
A year ago Tech lost almost this exact game to North Carolina State, missing two point-blank field goals, falling behind on a long catch-and-run and being ultimately undone when Calvin Johnson, of all people, turned a game-winning touchdown into a game-losing interception. A year ago the Jackets were a different team, a lesser team, a team that half-expected something bad to happen.
Here’s what happened Saturday: Roberson kept running, kept running, finally dragging Heyward-Bey to ground at the 7. The 57-yard-gain left Maryland with first-and-goal and a minute to play, but for the Terps the moment had come and gone. Two runs — two runs, you’re saying? Me, too — netted 3 yards. On third down Johnson induced quarterback Sam Hollenbach to ground the ball. On fourth down Johnson wrestled Hollenbach to the ground. Tech won a game it could easily have lost, yet another indication that this year and this team are different from their predecessors.
The Jackets messed up every which way against the Terps, missing two field goals and falling victim to two strange Chan Gailey choices involving kicking (faking a field goal on fourth-and-inches, going for two with a four-point lead) and allowing the plodding Terps a galvanizing kickoff-return touchdown. And they won anyway. They won because Avery Roberson kept running. They won because Michael Johnson played the last two defensive downs like a man trying to outrun an egregious error, which was in fact the case.
“I take the blame [for the kickoff return],” Johnson said. “I was all out of my lane. … It hurt me tremendously. … For me to cause them to score, that was on my heart all day. I wanted to get that back.”
He got it back. He blew up the esteemed Ralph Friedgen’s schemes with the game on the line. The Jackets made a day going wrong go right at the end. And when a team stacks a breathless victory back to back with that clinical dissection of Virginia Tech … well, that’s a team capable of going a long way. Maybe to Jacksonville for the ACC championship game. Maybe all the way to the Orange Bowl.
This is a gifted team that has always known how to play defense and is learning to play offense. This is a gifted team that has always been adept at winning big games and is figuring out how to handle the little ones. This is one of the 10 best teams in the land, and it is looking more and more like a blessed one to boot. Yeah, Tech was a little lucky Saturday, but all championship teams require a little luck en route.
“The harder you play,” Johnson said, “the more good things happen to you. When people say, ‘They’ve been lucky,’ I say, ‘Thank you.’ “
For the first four seasons under Gailey, the Jackets reacted to any good fortune by acting as if they didn’t deserve it. That halting approach kept Tech from truly consolidating any gains, but these Jackets feel they’re as deserving as anybody. They won a game Saturday that they lost last October. They could win a half-dozen more games before they’re through.
Permalink | Comments (45) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Tech / ACC
Open collapse sent Lefty’s game reeling
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Whoever can block out that depressing picture of him bent over, head in hands, saying for the world to hear, “I’m such an idiot”?
Later, Peter Oosterhuis, the television fellow, saying, “What would Phil’s life be right now if he had parred the 18th hole at Winged Foot?”
This was to have been Phil Mickelson’s year, and Lefty got off to that kind of start. He swept through Georgia like Sherman, won the BellSouth — again — and then the Masters – again. He was leading the world in earnings by a ton, then playing the 72nd hole of the U.S. Open with a one-stroke lead. He had the world’s No. 1 in his gun-sight. Tiger had already missed the cut. Now came Lefty’s crash. It would have been his fourth major but for his tee ball over there among some trees near a pavilion.
The same old Phil hasn’t been there since. He had socked away $4,046,893 in the bank at the time, and since then has made only $209,612, about good enough to finish fifth at Greater Hartford or 84 Lumber. He could belch and make that much. He lost his second position in the world rankings to Jim Furyk.
Playing for the Stars and Stripes, he failed to star. No points in the Ryder Cup is about as bad as not being there. Then he took early retirement, no more tournaments this year, see you in mid-January at the Bob Hope. No Tour Championship, and you can feel East Lake’s pain for the second year in a row. Is this all because of the crashing finish at Winged Foot? Has he lost his game, his confidence? Where has it all gone? Is he trying to run and hide?
He had said of that wretched day at Winged Foot, “I’m not going to let one bad hole ruin the rest of my life.” But it had put a huge dent in his psyche.
“Typically, he tapers off this time of the year,” said T.R. Reinman, the public relations director for Gaylord Sports, Mickelson’s managing firm, “though not usually this early.” What that amounts to is nearly four months of no golf. Is he working on his game? In consultation with Rick Smith? Surely he can’t let it go to pot.
“Oh, he’s playing. He has corporate outings. He has done a photo shoot with Golf Digest. More corporate outings. He plays regularly when he’s in town. But he has been traveling and taking time for family things. He went to Byron Nelson’s funeral. It’s his and Amy’s 16th wedding anniversary, and they celebrated with a trip to Italy,” T.R. said.
“He was not going to win the Vardon Trophy, nor the money title, nor golfer of the year, so he’s not passing up anything. He hasn’t been playing the champions tournament at Kapalua, a course he doesn’t like and greens he doesn’t like. He passes up those three weeks in Hawaii and waits until the tour comes back to California. If you check the record, you’ll find that 12 of his 29 wins have come on the West Coast.”
But did the finish at Winged Foot take away his lust for the game? “I can’t say you’re right,” T.R. said, “but you’re close. It’s not like he’s quitting. He just hasn’t been able to find his game. It’s not like 2003. [That was an un-Mickelson kind of year, never won and finished 38th on the tour.] He came back strong from that.”
For one thing, this removes him from the constant bore of repetitive questions in the interview room. “Everywhere he goes, it’s the same. Same questions, same answers, same old routine. Then he comes out and he’ll sign autographs until he develops writer’s cramp. That’s just the way he is. Other guys walk right by; Phil stands and signs.
“So now he gets to be husband and father. He’s a Christmas and New Year’s family kind of guy.” So you can count on Lefty being back and at the top of his game, the 18th hole at Winged Foot behind him. In other words, southpaws of the world don’t have to look to Eric Axley to take Phil Mickelson’s place in their planet.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: Furman Bisher
