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Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Falcons face losing more than an end
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
The NFL’s Nip/Tuck season begins Friday with the opening of free agency. Potential Super Bowl teams will try to add a player and subtract a chin. The Falcons shouldn’t be so deluded. Their issues extend far beyond the need for implants and liposuction.
When Patrick Kerney voided the final two years of his contract to become a free agent, the Falcons potentially lost far more than just a defensive end. They lost one of the few ticking heartbeats in the locker room.
What happened to the Falcons last season — another second-half collapse, punctuated by getting slapped by Philadelphia’s backups to close the season — wasn’t the mere residual of flawed schemes and a distracted head coach. They had a locker room with issues — issues that remain today, issues beyond a dead dog and a trick water bottle.
Players didn’t seem to care about each other. Or about their head coach. Or about anything of substance that generally goes with direct deposit. That became clear to most of us who watched the team. It’s logical to assume it also became clear to Kerney.
Kerney is too classy an individual to publicly ridicule anybody. But it’s worth noting that he said his decision on where to sign will be based on more than just guaranteed dollars.
“I look at the whole picture,” he said Tuesday. “Your performance on the field on Sunday is just a byproduct of a year-round commitment. How do you treat your body? How do you handle yourself in the offseason? What’s your devotion to your teammates, even away from the locker room? When you talk about team chemistry, that’s how it’s developed. You pull for that guy next to you.”
This is the poster boy for what Falcons coach Bobby Petrino — or any head coach — should want. But Kerney reaffirmed he likely will be elsewhere. While Petrino publicly maintains that the team could re-sign Kerney, the numbers don’t add up. More importantly, neither does the logic.
Kerney wants to win a Super Bowl. If he looked around and believed that could happen soon in Flowery Branch, don’t you think this would be playing out differently?
Tell me if this sounds like a player who really wants to stay here: “I’m looking forward to free agency. It’s a whole new experience. I’m excited to explore my options. I want to see the way other clubs operate.”
The Falcons are only $10 million under the salary cap. That space probably won’t satisfy Kerney’s market value. On Monday, Buffalo re-signed end Chris Kelsay for $23 million over four years ($14.5 million guaranteed). Last year in free agency, Philadelphia signed end Darren Howard for $30 million over six years ($10.5 million guaranteed).
From the business side, it’s understandable why the Falcons would balk at jumping into a bidding war (with potentially Tampa Bay, Seattle, Denver and others). Kerney is 30. He missed the final seven games last season with a torn pectoral muscle. The Falcons have too many other needs to risk a huge financial commitment. That’s the way they will spin it.
But please note that Kerney began bench-pressing almost two weeks ago. That’s two months ahead of his rehab schedule. His arm hasn’t fallen off. He can still play. And think, and feel, and try.
Anybody who knows Kerney, the pride he has and the passion he plays with, knows how the Falcons’ pathetic finish must have grated on him.
But when Kerney was asked about the season-ending 24-17 loss to the Eagles — who rested their starters after learning their playoff-seeding was secure — this was as close as he came to passing judgment: “That was disappointing. That was the hardest game to watch. It was clear as day who was on the other side of the ball [for Philadelphia]. I didn’t study the game film. Watching that game and the Baltimore game [an earlier 24-10 loss] on TV, it’s hard to get a true evaluation. But all the evidence you needed was the final score. It was tough to swallow.”
Two months later, and Kerney just showed more emotion about a loss than any present-day Falcon did after that game.
That should tell you something.
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Johnson NFL’s next great star?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
THE TUESDAY COUNTDOWN….
10: I feel asleep. Did Ellen DeGeneres ever make a funny?
9: And when did Al Gore swallow Jabba The Hut?
8: Gary Sheffield says he won’t cooperate with baseball’s steroid investigation because it’s a “witch hunt,” commenting: “If this was legitimate and they did it the right way, it would be different.” Um, legitimate?
7: Hey, Gary, I’m sure baseball is open to suggestions on how to run a drug investigation. My guess: Sheffield - like Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Jason Giambi, Rafael Palmeiro, et. al - would like completely immunity. Then maybe they’ll talk. And actually, that wouldn’t be a bad idea.
6: Melissa Etheridge, backstage while clutching Oscar: “This is the only naked man that will ever be in my bedroom.” Now THAT’S funny.
5: Dale Murphy, one of the nicest guys in the world, generally steers clear of controversial topics. That wasn’t the case on an XM radio interview, when Murphy said he believed Bonds, McGwire and Sosa used steroids (those were the players he was asked about) and, when asked about Hank Aaron’s home run record probably falling, added: “Well, I’m not that excited about it. Let me put it this way, when Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s record, I pulled my kids into the living room, and said, ‘You gotta see this.’ This is not going to happen with Barry. It doesn’t mean anything to me, ya know, Barry is a great talent, and would have been a great talent without getting involved in this kind of stuff, in steroids, and all the stuff like that. People have said, ‘Dale, he hasn’t failed a drug test.’ That doesn’t matter to me anymore. It’s what I see, what I’ve read, what I’ve heard, and what I can see with my eyes. That’s my opinion, and a lot other people have that opinion as well. You get back to the record: He’s a Hall of Fame player and would have hit a lot of home runs without it, and now that he’s breaking the record, I don’t think he went about it the right way.”
4: By the way, Gary: The witches didn’t have a union.
3: So Calvin Johnson weighed 239 pounds at the scouting combine (12 heavier than expected) but ran a 4.35-second 40-yard dash in a pair of borrowed shoes. It’s dangerous to predict greatness for an NFL draft pick. But if this kid isn’t the next great star, I’ll be stunned.
2: If the Thrashers don’t make the playoffs, my guess is Don Waddell gets fired. But after the acquisitions Keith Tkachuk and Alexei Zhitnik, this team should be a lock. And if it misses the playoffs, look at the coach (Bob Hartley) before the GM.
1: And then there’s the Hawks, who might have made a significant move to move into the playoff picture, if only Billy Knight were alive today.
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