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Sunday, September 16, 2007
FedEx reaches proper conclusion
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
There would be no “Georgia Quadruple” for Zach Johnson. There would be no victory for the size 54-XLs. There would be no repeat for the defending champion, Adam Scott, who turned his final round into a parade of bogeys. But there would be, at last, redemption on Sunday at East Lake for Tiger Woods, and how timely. And this time he left no doubts and took no prisoners. The margin was eight strokes, over Mark Calcavecchia and Johnson.
Tiger not only finally won the Tour Championship on this course, but the bonus that came with it was the first FedEx Cup, and as it will be recorded in the history of golf, it was as it should be. The leading golfer in the world, playing out the hottest season on the tour, dominated the field of 30 and in so doing, brought “the chase” to the proper conclusion, which nobody could deny. Though in Woods’ eye, it was not as much the inaugural cup as it was winning the tournament, which he had made clear earlier. He could have finished second and still won the Cup, but of the possibility of that, he said before, “If I lose the tournament and win the FedEx Cup, I don’t think I’m going to be happy that I lost the tournament.”
Not having that to deal with, there was the more pressing matter of his negative relationship with the East Lake course. Five times before he had played in the Tour finale here, and five times he had left empty-handed. He had finished second to Phil Mickelson one year, but on other occasions had been taken to the cleaners on Sunday. One year, leading Retief Goosen by four strokes, the South African crushed him by four. Another year, the rustic Texan, Bart Bryant, beat him for the championship by six strokes. Another he finished 20th, very un-Tiger-like.
This year he went out Sunday afternoon with a comfortable three-stroke lead, and who did he have to beat? A 47-year-old veteran, Calcavecchia, who ranks 54th in the world, and has a well-fed figure that stirs up memory of Porky Oliver. Porky was more than just corpulent, he was a gifted player, and one of the more classic pairings in Masters history was his head-to-head clash with Ben Hogan in Hogan’s dominant year of 1953.
As unlikely a pair as were they, Hogan trim as a sprinter, Porky quite befitting his nickname, so were Calcavecchia, the portly one, and Woods, as trim as a whippet, it was a final pairing that left little to imagination. It wasn’t as if Woods isn’t capable of falling victim to a Sunday slump, as previously suggested, but it seemed that some super force was driving him here. What he put together were rounds of 64-63-64-66, for a total of 257, tying the third lowest score in PGA Tour history held by Mike Souchak and set at a municipal course in the Texas Open of 1955 in San Antonio. The record is held by Tommy Armour III, 254 in the Texas Open of 2003, also in San Antonio, but at a different course. Second lowest, in case you wondered, is held by this same Calcavecchia, 256 set in the Phoenix Open of 2003.
Chasing rainbows has not been a plank in Woods’ golf campaigning. “You don’t start off the year chasing awards,” he said. “You know if you win golf tournaments, it takes care of everything else. That’s the way I’ve always looked at it.”
Sunday had not been an effective “closing” day for Woods in Tour Championships. His lowest Sunday score was a 68 in his first Championship at Southern Hills in 1996, but that only served to ease the pain of a 78 he’d shot on the second day. This round of 66, of course, was his lowest on closing day at East Lake and, truth to tell, the rain-soaked course was a sitting victim from start to finish. Tiger himself said earlier, “I can’t remember too many golf courses that have been easier.”
The money, ah, the money. Well, Tiger collects $1,260,000 on the spot for the Tour Championship. Then there’s the heralded sum of $10 million that comes in deferred payment and can’t be collected until he retires, or reaches the age of at least 45. Said to be the largest payout in sports history, which has been questioned in some quarters, but in the long run, what does it matter? Whatever it may be, it won’t be anything until it moves into his account. Or his grandchildren’s.
The finger points at McKay
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Jacksonville — It has been a relatively calm past few weeks for the Falcons, one free of indictments, pleas and late night dog jokes. But there’s an obvious drawback to that. Now we’re being subjected to the product, free of distractions.
The Falcons are 0-2. They have scored one touchdown in two games. The question isn’t: How many games will they win? The question is: Whom can they beat?
Don’t link all of this to the absence of Michael Vick. Even with Vick, a sub-.500 quarterback over the past two seasons, this isn’t a team built to succeed.
Joey Harrington already has been sacked 13 times. If he survives two more games, he’ll be honored with a new spleen.
The kicker, Matt Prater, blew a 44-yard field goal try last week in Minnesota. Turns out, that was a season highlight. He missed two more kicks Sunday, one from 26 yards, which is 5 yards longer than an extra point, which I suppose would matter if the Falcons scored more touchdowns.
Logic dictates Prater has played his final game. But given other personnel decisions, it’s clear that logic and the Falcons aren’t best buddies.
“Football players are the most optimistic people before kickoff,” tight end Alge Crumpler said. “No matter what’s going on, there is always a sense of optimism after that Star Spangled Banner, the flyover and the fireworks. But that ain’t gonna win the games for you.”
No. Talent wins games. Intelligence wins games. Athletes working toward a single purpose — that wins games. The Falcons fall short on all three. And that falls on the general manager, Rich McKay.
Mistakes in free agency and the draft have been addressed before. But the Falcons’ actions, or lack thereof, in dealing with the quarterback issue are particularly disturbing. It makes you wonder just how strong of an objective winning is this season.
There was speculation the team would make a trade with Washington for Mark Brunell, who played for Bobby Petrino in Jacksonville. Didn’t happen. There was talk the team would pursue Daunte Culpepper. They had two weeks from the time Vick was indicted (July 17) to when Culpepper signed with Oakland (July 31). Didn’t happen. Now there’s Byron Leftwich, who was cut loose by the Jaguars. So far: nothing.
Are we missing something?
Harrington isn’t the team’s only problem. He just isn’t the solution. He’ll make a nice pass but then fail to spot an open receiver. He continues to hold the ball too long, leading to sacks.
As Crumpler said, “We’ll make a big play, then turn around and have a third-and-forever.”
It took 16 possessions this season to score a touchdown. That starts with the quarterback.
McKay: “It’s something we’ll continue to look at, but it’s not as though we have a lot of options.”
Doing nothing — that shouldn’t be the option.
McKay said the team considered Leftwich. “We looked at where we were in terms of our first two guys and basically we all felt he wasn’t a good fit. It doesn’t mean we won’t talk about it downstream.”
Uh, downstream? At what point is a quarterback problem considered critical? There doesn’t seem to be a sense of urgency in the front office, and that generally doesn’t play well in the locker room.
Brunell, Culpepper, Leftwich — even the “retired” Jake Plummer — all have flaws. But wouldn’t any have been an upgrade over a depth chart of Harrington-Chris Redman-Casey Bramlet?
“We know it’s gonna be hard — we know it,” Petrino said. “We know it’s gonna be a game each week where we have to make plays in the fourth quarter to win games. But we haven’t been able to get it done yet.”
Petrino is a talented coach. Don’t pin this mess on him. It starts with the pieces he was given. It starts with decisions like signing an oft-released kicker like Prater instead of keeping Billy Cundiff because Prater is longer on kickoffs. As if this offense doesn’t really need three points.
McKay admitted that experiment has flopped. Well, that’s one admission.
“In my job, you always should and will be measured by wins and losses and the decisions you make,” McKay said. “You don’t try to run from that. You stand up to it.”
That’s a nice sentiment. But standing up to your shortcomings doesn’t really help if you’re wearing blinders.
Permalink | Comments (190) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz
Song remains the same for Tech
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
This was the game that was supposed to show how much the ACC has changed. It turned into the game that showed how much Georgia Tech hasn’t.
For as much good as Chan Gailey has wrought in his five-plus seasons here, his Jackets always, always, bump their heads on a ceiling. Whenever Tech folks get to thinking, “This year’s going to be different,” this year turns into more of the same. Having gotten people excited by beating Notre Dame by 30 points and by scoring 69 against Samford, the Jackets took the field at Bobby Dodd Stadium for a prime-time showdown and got themselves summarily smacked.
This doesn’t mean Tech turned into a bad team overnight., The Jackets are, as ever, a solid bunch. They’ll win a lot of games before they’re through. Still, what transpired Saturday night indicates this team has miles to go before it can think about its stated goal, which is to win the ACC title.
For one thing, Boston College is apt to be waiting should Tech happen to play its way to Jacksonville, and BC didn’t just beat the Jackets — it owned them. It stacked 512 dizzying yards on Jon Tenuta’s proud and seasoned defense, and quarterback Matt Ryan, whom Chan Gailey had likened to Philip Rivers and Brady Quinn, had a bigger night than either of those worthies ever had against this school on this field.
Ryan completed 30 passes for 435 yards, and from the first series it was apparent Tenuta’s blitzers couldn’t reach him. (Jeff Jagodzinski, the Boston College coach, used to be the Atlanta Falcons’ line coach in tandem with the weirdo Alex Gibbs, and clearly Jagodzinski knows something about protection.) It was 14-0 at the half and 21-0 after three quarters, and the only surprise was that it was still so close.
The first part of any plan against Tech is to blunt the blitz. The second is, and will be until he proves he can beat an opponent deep, to make Taylor Bennett throw. BC stacked the line to deny Tashard Choice, which is basic strategy, but not every team has the defenders to make it work. The Eagles do. Choice finished with 31 yards on 15 carries and left late in the third quarter with a hamstring injury. Bennett completed 20 of 39 passes, but only one of those went for longer than 17 yards.
Say what you will about Reggie Ball, but even on his wildest days he held out the potential of making a big play. Remember that night three years and five days ago when he and Calvin Johnson made a slew of them to undo Clemson? If Bennett isn’t as erratic as Ball - not many quarterbacks are, or have ever been - neither does he possess the same occasional upside. (And let’s not forget that Bennett’s one big game as a passer came in the Gator Bowl when Johnson, who has since departed, snagged nine of those 19 completions.)
Bennett didn’t have to throw to beat Notre Dame because the Irish couldn’t tackle Choice and because the defense yielded nothing. (And, as we’re learning weekly, Notre Dame really isn’t much of a measure.) But there will come times along the ACC trail when the quarterback has to pull his weight, and that didn’t happen Saturday. The Jackets managed six first downs and 78 yards in the first half, and that level of offense wasn’t about to overhaul Ryan on his night of nights.
Give BC its due. The Eagles saw this game as their moment of arrival, and they rose to that moment. But the Jackets, who had known their share of signature victories under this coach, cannot be happy having authored yet another crashing comedown. They were outgained by 260 yards on their home field. They were never really in a game they were favored to win. They’re 0-1 in a conference they aspire to conquer.
Reality can be a pain. Repeated reality stings even worse.
Permalink | Comments (69) | Categories: Mark Bradley
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