The following, a weekly feature of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, allows our reporters to open their notebooks and provide even more information from our local teams that we cover daily. We think you’ll find in informative, insightful and fun.
So you want to know football?
Georgia coach Kirby Smart was asked – with complete seriousness – how to become a smarter football observer. He took the opportunity to blast some Twitter and TV analysts.
“I’d join a staff of an SEC program,” Smart said. “If you want to be a better football coach, then go be around football coaches. If you want to understand football better, then get in the tunnels and the dark sports of the organizations and watch it and learn it. Football in general, I don’t think you can learn it on Twitter, and I don’t think you can learn it on TV. It’s scary what people think they know.”
We’ll take the ball
Smart explained what goes into the decision on a coin toss and why Georgia started with the ball last weekend against Ball State.
“The biggest thing is the weather,” he said. “There was a concern of rain (this past Saturday), so you want your possessions to be in non-inclement weather. So, if there is a chance, we have to make a decision based on that. Wind, sun, those are the biggest factors. You could say they are not a factor because you’re both going to have to play both directions. But it’s just a matter with which one you want to start out with. I think trying to get momentum and field position sometimes in a game can sometime impact the game.”
Ridder on injury to Rodgers
Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder was watching when New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers was injured four plays into the game against Buffalo on Monday.
“That’s tough,” Ridder said. “When you talk about quarterbacks and the (big picture) of the game of football, Aaron Rodgers is one of the guys who’s been in the league for a long time. You talk about star quarterbacks, that’s one of those things that the 7-, 8-year-old kids, that’s one of the first names that comes out of their mouths, Aaron Rodgers.”
Jets coach Robert Saleh announced that the injury was “not good” and that it was an Achilles injury during the postgame press conference. He did contend that he had to wait for the MRI. On Tuesday, the MRI confirmed the extent the injury.
“To lose a guy like him, that’s obviously tough,” Ridder said. “But the Jets for a way to get it done. It was tough to see him go out the way it happened.”
Veteran defensive end Calais Campbell of the Falcons also reacted to the Rodgers’ injury: “Heartbreaking. Aaron Rodgers is an incredible guy. One of the best football players of all time. A guy that I respect tremendously. I played against him quite a bit. You always had to bring you ‘A’ game every time you play against him. I love that as a football competitor, you love when guys are at their very best and can bring the best out of you. … I don’t know what that feels like. I’ve been very blessed throughout my career, and I hope I never get to experience that. It’s in God’s hands. I know that he has the right mindset and if wants to play football again, he will come back stronger. I think he’ll come back to being that great player.”
Campbell votes for grass over turf
Rodgers’ Achilles injury has ignited the debut over whether grass fields are safer than turf fields for professional football players.
Falcons defensive Calais Campbell, who’s in his 17th season in the NFL, is a grass supporter.
“Oh yeah, I like grass,” Campbell said. “I mean … most of my career I’ve played my home games on grass. This is the first time in my career that I’ve played on turf for my home games.”
Campbell believes that grass gives more and that you have fewer non-contact injuries.
“I think if he was on grass maybe his foot would have slipped out a little bit and gave him some protection there with the traction, but you just never know,” Campbell said.
The NFL’s Players Association released a statement Wednesday urging the NFL to remove all turf fields in favor of grass. The statement read: “Moving all stadium fields to high-quality natural-grass surfaces is the easiest decision the NFL can make.”
This has been an issue as the league contends its committed to player safety.
“You can go down a big rabbit hole of what could have been or what should have been,” Campbell said. “At the end of the day, I don’t think this particular thing is going to move the needle on why we want grass versus turf. But I do think that it is important.”
Campbell has looked at the data, but uses his personal experience as a testimony.
“Just playing on grass is statistically, you can see over the course 10 to 20 years that grass is safer,” Campbell said. “As a player I just feel better. When I play on turf, I just feel way sorer. When I play on grass, I feel better after games. If we can, I would love to have grass for every game.”
Don’t forget to celebrate
Eric Singleton Jr. has been one of the many pleasant surprises for the Georgia Tech offense.
A freshman from Alexander High, Singleton ranks third among Yellow Jackets with five receptions and is tied for the team lead in receiving touchdowns with two. The first of those scoring catches came in Singleton’s debut Sept. 1 against Louisville.
With 67 seconds left, Singleton caught a 5-yard throw from quarterback Haynes King to get the Jackets within 39-34, the eventual final score. Singleton was chastised after the fact in the following days for not celebrating his first career TD catch.
“For me, there’s really no celebration if we’re losing,” he said. “I only like celebrating if we’re winning.”
Fortunately for the freshman Singleton, he could celebrate plenty Saturday when he hauled in a 40-yard strike from King in the second quarter of a 48-13 win over South Carolina State.
Back-to-back 100-win seasons
The Braves are on the verge of a second consecutive 100-win season. The last time they did so? It was 2002 and 2003, when they won 101 games in each. They appear poised for back-to-back 100-win seasons for only the third time in franchise history. The team record is three consecutive such seasons from 1997-99.
The Braves’ record during each of their past six division-champion campaigns:
2018: 90-72
2019: 97-65
2020: 35-25 (truncated season because of the pandemic)
2021: 88-73 (won World Series)
2022: 101-61
2023: 96-50 (as of Thursday and counting)
By the way, the Braves clinched the National League East with a win over the Phillies in 2018, 2021 and 2023.
Andruw’s a fan
Braves legend Andruw Jones, who had his number retired last weekend, lauded the 2023 team. He’s rooting for first baseman Matt Olson to break his single-season home run record – Olson has tied it with 51 homers – and he loves watching NL MVP front-runner Ronald Acuña Jr., who’s trying to produce MLB’s first season with 40 homers and 60 stolen bases.
“Records are meant to be broken, but it’s going to be tough to hit 40 (home runs) and 60 stolen bases (again),” Jones said.
-Staff writers D. Orlando Ledbetter, Gabriel Burns and Chad Bishop contributed to this report.
