AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > October > 10
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Petrino can win players with W’s
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Flowery Branch — Despite many around the locker room wishing to choke Bobby Petrino rather than hug him, maybe all isn’t lost for the Falcons this year.
OK, my bad. It’s just that the NFC South is evolving into the NFC Sorry, and then you have this other matter to consider: During the 87 years of the National Football League, it’s never been about whether or not you like your head coach.
Paul Brown wasn’t warm and cuddly. Norm Van Brocklin scorched more than a few egos with his sizzling tongue. Then you had Henry Jordan’s quote for the ages about Vince Lombardi: “He treats us all the same — like dogs.”
From Bill Walsh and his self-projected aura of superiority to the grumpy Bill Parcells to however you describe Tom Coughlin, not exactly a Mister Rogers clone, it has been more about whether you respect your NFL head coach. Whether enough Falcons players respect Petrino is the question. Nobody knows the answer, and that’s the problem for a 1-4 team searching to solve a slew of issues before the New York Giants come to town on Monday night.
For instance: The Falcons’ offensive line already was significantly flawed, but due to injuries, they’ll face the Giants’ monster defensive ends of Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora with two undrafted tackles. The Falcons also have no running game, and they barely have a kicking game. Plus, they have Michael Vick and his dogfighting mess to blame for an underwhelming quarterback situation that only gets worse.
This Petrino thing is the most potentially damaging thing for the Falcons, though. Such was the case before and after their 20-13 disaster on Sunday in Nashville against the Tennessee Titans. In fact, nothing changed on the Petrino love/hate/indifferent meter on Wednesday after a survey of the Falcons’ locker room. This was despite the fact that Petrino’s detractors and shruggers had time to adjust their opinions after a two-day break from practice.
“I mean, [Petrino] hasn’t given me no reason not to like him,” said Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jackson, choosing to ignore Petrino leaving his impressive stint at the University of Louisville after last season for an ugly start with the Falcons that has featured baffling coaching decisions and sniping from veterans.
Jackson isn’t among them, by the way. Added Jackson, in his 11th NFL season overall and second with the Falcons, “Me and him haven’t talked much, but we’ve talked sometime. Hate is nowhere around, and it’s just that he’s like [Steve] Spurrier and all them guys from college. They just got to get adjusted to it.”
That’s the problem. Such adjustments for college guys turned pros often don’t come before they are shoved out the NFL door, or they vanish on their own.
Sounds like a lot of Falcons players are going to have to hold their noses and do the adjusting to Petrino if they wish to salvage this season.
After all, NFL players often have done so before.
“A lot of times, I don’t think it’s a matter of players disliking a coach. It’s just change. You don’t care for changing,” said Falcons defensive end John Abraham, in his eighth NFL season, who joined the New York Jets in 2000 after the forgettable Al Groh replaced Parcells.
Then Abraham watched Herm Edwards follow Groh. Even during Abraham’s two seasons with the Falcons, he has gone from players-friendly Jim Mora to no-nonsense Petrino. “I think it’s just that when you’re not winning, you tend to find things you don’t like, and it happens everywhere around the league,” Abraham said. “If we were winning, and if everything went right like it should have in so many games, you wouldn’t have anybody saying anything about these things.”
The Falcons aren’t winning, and everything isn’t going right, and folks are saying these things, and Petrino isn’t showing signs of becoming Lombardi anytime soon.
Permalink | Comments (34) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Terence Moore
Don’t cry for Joe Torre
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Since Joe Torre is nearly going, going, gone after 12 years as manager of the New York Yankees, it’s time for some perspective. No question, he is the 21st century version of Miller Huggins, Joseph McCarthy and Casey Stengel, but that’s about it.
Simply put, Torre ranks among the greatest managers ever for the Yankees, but he doesn’t rank among the greatest managers ever, period.
Not even close.
Remember his stint in Atlanta?
Torre was an underachiever with the the Braves of Dale Murphy and Bob Horner. There was that needless roller-coaster ride to a division title in 1982 during Torre’s first season with the team. Then his Braves couldn’t close the deal the following year, and then they began their steady and lengthy slide toward mediocrity the year after that.
As Ted Turner later admitted, he never should have fired Torre’s predecessor.
Some guy named Bobby Cox.
Anyway, Torre wasn’t exactly a celebrated manager before he arrived with the Braves (the New York Mets), and the same goes for after he left (the St. Louis Cardinals). Then as soon as he took over the loaded Yankees in 1996, they won the world championship - well, with much help from Jim Leyritz and the Braves providing the greatest choke in the history of the World Series.
Torre grabbed three more world championships after that with the Yankees by ignoring the George Steinbrenner rants and allowing his overwhelmingly talented bunch to do their thing unmolested.
Which means Torre was the right man with the right team at the right time.
That’s all.
Permalink | Comments (96) | Categories: Quick Hit, Terence Moore
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
