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Wednesday, January 3, 2007
TV adds some weight to Bennett’s abilities
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
St. Simons Island — The truth is, America is overdosed on footbowl. And 10,000 of the most irritating commercials that ever invaded our privacy. “Remember, drink responsibly,” (but drink Grubheimer’s Select). That’s like telling a snake not to bite.
I wonder how many little boys have asked their dad, “Did you play in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, Daddy?” So many bowls, so many six-loss teams. Actually, my official bowl season began where my last season ended, at Ford Field in Detroit, Central Michigan and Middle Tennessee playing on the turf where the Super Bowl had trod, two smalltown teams gone to the city. From then on, it all became a jumble of good teams, sloppy teams, some of the ugliest uniforms I have ever seen, unfamiliar names breaking out of anonymity, stars having bad days, and one special comeback, when Georgia proved it is possible to win with a freshman quarterback.
Sixty-four teams, same as the NCAA basketball numbers, providing extracurricular exercise for 6,400 students, 12,900 band members, 1,200 cheerleaders and an inestimable number of alumni, with a $210 million pot on the table. Some of these so-called bowls have names as long as a movie script. Thank you, Rose Bowl, for sticking to the name you were born with. Why the need of a sponsor for the original? Imagine, if you can, UCLA and Florida State playing for nuts in San Francisco, home of Barry Bonds.
Enough of that. Now to the subject closest at hand, the Gator Bowl, Georgia Tech’s “10th annual bowl game,” press releases proudly proclaim, blithely lumping in such backyard scrums as the ill-fated Silicon Valley Bowl with the four original giants of bowling. The Gator Bowl was an event I glumly missed live and in person, suffering from a disorder that rearranged my innards. However, television brought to a head a mystery that has been puzzling Georgia Tech patrons for at least two seasons: Why has Taylor Bennett been chained to the sideline while Reggie Ball suffered through his pits of depression?
Even in this game Ball would have started had he not been flagged by academic zebras. So Bennett got his second start in two seasons, again not by choice but of necessity.
Left-handed, heroic build for a quarterback, 215 pounds on a 6-foot-3 frame. No Michael Vick but pocket savvy. Amazing patience, waiting for receivers to get open. West Virginia thought it was getting a backup quarterback. The Mountaineers weren’t expecting this kind of surprise.
It turned out to be Bennett’s finest hour. He completed 19 of 29 passes, nine to Calvin Johnson, who was enjoying his new working partner. Bennett’s 326 yards was a Georgia Tech bowl record, which was inconsequential in the long run. With Bennett in the box, Georgia Tech scored 35 points against a team that had allowed that many points in only two games during the season. This was a game lost by Jon Tenuta’s vaunted defense, not by a backup offense. This, now, summons Chan Gailey to the forefront. How much better might the past two seasons have been if Bennett had been called on, especially when Ball slipped into one of his occasional depressions?
How many more passes might Johnson have caught, yards and yards of receptions. Remember the Clemson game, when he never had a reception, and in the second half was never a target. He might have broken every receiving record in the ACC with such an accurate pocket passer as Bennett. And remember again, the importance of Bennett standing in the face of the charge, waiting for targets to shake loose.
For all that, Chan Gailey owes an explanation to his Georgia Tech constituency, especially the Old Guard, which watched and begged relief from Ball’s unraveling as the team sank into its annual malaise. Of course, Bennett has the quarterback job in his clutches now. This could open the door on a new day of offense out there.
You’ve read and seen replay after replay of Boise State’s incredible upset of the Oklahoma powerhouse. Well, let me take you back to Georgia’s opening day of 2005. Boise State was the guest, Jared Zabransky was the quarterback. Sanford Stadium was stuffed. Zabransky had never played before in such a scene. Poor fellow, he came completely unhinged on the first series, fumbled a number of times and had to be replaced before the half. One and the same Jared Zabransky who quarterbacked the most astonishing upset these many bowls have known in many a year. Fa-la-la and a happy new year.
Permalink | Comments (51) | Categories: Furman Bisher, Tech / ACC
Falcons coach needs owner at a distance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Flowery Branch — Unless Arthur Blank changes much of his ownership style, the Falcons will have a disastrous search for a new head coach. Nobody of significance will agree to work in an NFL environment where the guy writing the checks is as omnipresent as air.
Somebody of significance named Dan Reeves agreed on Wednesday from his Buckhead home, and then he chuckled before saying, “Having Arthur on the sideline all the time wasn’t something I asked him to do. That’s for sure. You look up and you go, ‘Oh, gosh. Arthur is down here,’ or something like that. This is not something that you’re used to.”
Added Reeves, now an NFL analyst for Westwood One radio, “I think the coach who eventually comes in there is going to know that here’s a guy who is going to be on the sideline, and I can’t imagine that coach ever telling Arthur, ‘I don’t want you on the sideline.’ The chances of that happening are few and far between.”
All of this is among the reasons why this suddenly reeling franchise went from the veteran Reeves three seasons ago to a career assistant such as Jim Mora who was just happy to be here. Well, until Mora became so miffed by something involving Blank or others in the Falcons organization that he began his shameless campaign for the University of Washington job in the middle of a playoff run.
Not surprisingly, Blank disagreed with my assessment of the Falcons’ plight from his office at team headquarters. “My style in relationship to the new head coach will be supportive and will reflect the wishes and the desire of that person,” said Blank, while leaning forward in the large chair behind his desk. “I’ll [honor the wishes of the new coach] as long as we’re keeping to our standards, keeping to our values.”
Thus this question: If your new head coach asked you to stop your five-season habit of roaming the Falcons sideline near the end of games, would you?
Blank said quickly, “Oh, absolutely. I wouldn’t be there [on the sideline]. I had those discussions with Jimmy [Mora] several times over the years. The guy who started me doing that was [former Falcons adviser] Bobby Beathard when he used to stand on the sideline with four or five minutes to go. And if I didn’t [do that], I would get caught in the elevator. So Bobby suggested that I come down with him. Of course, living in the media world that we do, the cameras wouldn’t tend to focus on [somebody else] on the sideline. They would focus on me.”
That’s because Blank is an oddity in NFL history. Except for zoom shots to their luxury boxes, owners usually aren’t seen or heard during games. The Cowboys’ Jerry Jones was the undisputed king of high visibility among owners until Blank came along. While Jones rarely interacts with players and coaches on the sideline, Blank regularly does — unless, as Blank suggested, our eyes are lying. “I actually make a point of not talking to coaches and not talking to players, etc.,” Blank said. “If I’m passing by, I might give them a pat on the behind. That’s about it.”
To which Reeves stifled another chuckle when told of Blank’s remarks. Reeves recalled, for instance, one of the most bizarre moments during his 23 years as an NFL head coach. It happened in 2002 when the Falcons could make the playoffs through a victory at Cleveland on the last game of the season or a loss by the Saints.
With the Falcons sprinting downfield in the final minutes, Reeves’ focus was interrupted. The visibly perturbed coach didn’t know it was his owner telling him in his ear that the Saints had lost and that the Falcons already were in the playoffs. “That bothered me, and it affected me,” Reeves said. “We got on the goal line, and we had about three plays with Mike Vick running the football, and I’m thinking, ‘Well, I’ve been told we’re in the playoffs. Should I run Mike Vick, or should I take a chance on getting him hurt?’ I didn’t run him. We ended up not scoring and not winning, because of [Blank’s message].”
Even so, Reeves said he never asked Blank to stay off the sideline. “He’s the owner, so he can do what he wants,” said Reeves, who did invite Blank to the Monday meetings of coaches to review games. “I thought that was a good thing — being in meetings, listening to personnel guys, learning why we played well or not — so he could see how good the coaches are.”
Nothing changed for Blank during the Mora regime. In fact, it expanded. Blank met with Falcons president Rich McKay, top coaches and Mora every Monday for a briefing on games. Blank said it was done at their insistence. So what if the new head coach doesn’t want those kinds of meetings with the owner?
“I would never feel comfortable with any head coach who would say to me that he wouldn’t want to review the game with me in some setting,” said Blank, who just narrowed his choices of possible candidates even more.
Permalink | Comments (138) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Terence Moore
Jackets can’t revise history
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Contrary to the perfect hindsight of those around the Jacket Nation, Georgia Tech football coach Chan Gailey didn’t blow it this season with his decision to play the historically erratic Reggie Ball at quarterback instead of the recently amazing Taylor Bennett.
If Bennett starts the opener against Notre Dame, does that mean Tech offensive gurus throw more passes (as opposed to virtually no passes) to the great Calvin Johnson in the second half of that loss?
If Bennett starts at Clemson, do the Jackets discover ways to keep from getting clobbered in Death Valley?
If Bennett starts against Georgia, does he turn the Yellow Jackets’ non-rivalry with the Bulldogs (sorry, but it isn’t a rivalry when you keep losing to the same team) into a rivalry again?
If Bennett starts in the ACC Championship Game, do the Jackets score more than a pitiful six points against Wake Forest?
If Bennett starts all season, does he play even better (19-for-26, 326 yards passing, three touchdowns and an interception) than he did in the Gator Bowl during the Jackets’ 38-35 loss to West Virginia?
Who knows the answer to any of those questions? Just like, who knows the following: If Bennett starts the Jackets’ opening six games this season, does he match Ball’s ability to put Tech on a five-game winning streak during that span to push the Jackets as high as 13th in the nation in the Associated Press, USA Today/Coaches and Harris polls?
For those in the Jacket Nation, here is the answer to all of the above: Just move on.
Permalink | Comments (101) | Categories: Quick Hit, Tech / ACC, Terence Moore
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