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Friday, September 15, 2006
Falcons-Bucs: No spin required
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nice spin on the Tampa Bay Bucs’ official website previewing Sunday’s clash at the Dome:
“… neither team puts too much stock in past results.”
Ahem.
This is the same official Bucs site that last season featured a sassy little animated slide show of Ronde Barber knocking on Vick’s door — “Can Michael come out to play?” — only to find No. 7 shrieking in horror, given his misery in previous games against Tampa Bay.
As the King of Cable Blowhards likes to bellow: “I’m not buying it!”
I’m not buying this downplaying of history now. It’s a convenient ruse to sidestep the present: The Bucs’ lousy start to the season and the Falcons’ most impressive one.
T.B. has won the last three encounters between the two, and six of the eight games since both teams were put in the NFC South in 2002. The Bucs have won nine of the last 11 meetings since 1997, predating the Blank Era.
The above story even goes so far as to quote Vick and Mora saying the past is behind them.
AHEM.
Those are talking points, of course; you hear them every week. If last Sunday’s win over Carolina was satisfying to the Falcons — and it was — imagine what topping Tampa would be in the home season opener this Sunday.
It’s been a while since the Bucs were sputtering like this and the Birds were flying rather high, no matter Abraham’s status.
Taking most of the heat in Tampa this week has been Bucs QB Chris Simms, who has been making Jon Gruden a most unhappy coach.
Simms offers his own thoughts after that 27-0 spanking by the Ravens, and takes a lot of the blame.
He is the second lowest-rated passer in NFL, and this account points the finger at him for the fact that wide receiver Joey Galloway did not touch the ball Sunday and running back Carnell Williams only touched the ball 13 times (eight rushes, five receptions).
Some teammates naturally stood up for the guy, as good teammates should.
Bucs fans yak about which Falcon has hurt them the most in recent years, and they cite a variety of names.
As usual, the out-of-town press flew in this week to do another take on Michael Vick. This time, the headline reads: ‘Same flash, new glow.’
Great Mora quote from the same story:
“He’s like the Lindsay Lohan of the NFL,” Mora said of No. 7. “He’s always in the news.”
This story is about the Falcons’ prowess running the ball, with a clever header tied to the state of our lives stuck in gruesome traffic: “It’s always rush hour in Atlanta.”
The NFL’s formidable site leads its Week 2 preview analysis with the Falcons vs. Bucs.
That site’s leading numbers-cruncher has the Falcons at the top of his power poll after the first week of the season.
Another pundit places the Birds at No. 7, and the Bucs at No. 28.
Given the rivalry and the very important early-season stakes, this one’s is going to be a brawl. What great games to start the season! There’s no other way to spin that.
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