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Sunday, October 21, 2007
A brief ray of light, then Leftwich hurt
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
New Orleans — The metaphor for the Falcons’ season was a sullen-faced Byron Leftwich using crutches to ease into a back room of the Superdome on Sunday. He wore a boot on his right leg nearly the size of the gap between where his team is now and where it has to go just to become decent.
This was indecent. We’re talking about the Falcons’ plunge to 1-6 after their winnable game against the New Orleans Saints evolved into a 22-16 loss. Mostly, with Leftwich owning a damaged right ankle that could be worse than that, we’re talking about the continuation of the Falcons’ wretched quarterback situation, and much of it was self-inflicted.
In case you’re among the few who suddenly haven’t heard of something called PETA, here’s a quick review of the Falcons’ last eight months: They turned backup Matt Schaub into an starter by shipping him to the Houston Texans. They acquired Joey Harrington to back up No. 7, even though Harrington was a two-time loser as an NFL starter with a career record of 23-43. They joined the rest of the world in watching No. 7 fall into dogfighting infamy.
Then, despite Leftwich’s reputation as the anti-Brett Favre when it comes to staying healthy, they acquired Leftwich anyway.
That said, there was Leftwich, looking strong, inspired and even mobile against the Saints during his first start since joining the Falcons four weeks ago. Once, in the second quarter, he ignored the charging and snarling Saints to step forward, avoid danger and deliver a perfect 23-yard pass to Laurent Robinson. On the next play, Leftwich drilled Michael Jenkins for another nice strike of 19 yards.
There also was that pretty throw of 20 yards from Leftwich to Jenkins on another drive, and Leftwich zipping a low pass into the end zone that only a sliding Roddy White could grab for a touchdown. There was even that moment when the normally slow-footed Leftwich rambled 7 yards to help set up one of Morten Andersen’s three field goals.
Never mind that Leftwich’s goofy throwing motion nearly contributed to bad things when he got popped by New Orleans defenders on a couple of passes. This was quickly becoming his coming-out party with the Falcons, but then Will Smith turned out the lights on Leftwich during the third quarter. That’s when Smith used every ounce of his 282 pounds to slam Leftwich into the artificial surface. Before then, Leftwich had completed 15 of 23 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown. Before then, the Falcons had a splendid chance of overcoming a 14-13 deficit to their dreaded rivals.
Before then, Leftwich was a long way from having another ankle injury end his flirtation with giving the Falcons a rare burst this season of efficient play at quarterback along the way to victory.
“Right now, I’ll just say I’ll know more tomorrow,” said Leftwich, delivering the status of his damaged leg in nearly a whisper. Just this summer, he was discarded near the end of training camp in Jacksonville as the statue and (ahem) injury-prone starter of the Jaguars.
Nobody wanted Leftwich until the Falcons came along. He was a bust in relief against the Tennessee Titans about two losses ago for his new team, but then came hope. Here was Leftwich looking rejuvenated, with the Falcons trailing just 14-13 at the time of Smith’s mighty charge across the line of scrimmage, and with Leftwich shaking his head in despair later. “I just don’t know. I really just don’t know,” Leftwich said, his voice becoming softer with each word. “It’s really, really frustrating out there right now, man.”
That’s when Leftwich put one crutch in front of the other and left for the exit. He added, while dropping his head to the floor, “I’m sorry, but I just can’t do this, y’all.”
He tried, though. For the rapidly sinking Falcons, that’s all you can ask from players these days.
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