Tt Boi Posts

The story that won't go away just took another interesting turn. Police in South Florida have erased the videotape of Mike Vick involved in a Jan. 17 altercation at the Miami-Dade International Airport.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution filed an open-records request the following day and were told to wait while the investigation was pending. When the State's Attorney's office announced on Jan. 22 that no charges would be filed, the AJC renewed its request for the video.

"Oops," the cops replied. "We erased it. Our bad. Sorry 'bout that."

Needless to say, the whole thing stinks. First Miami cops say this thing is going to take weeks -- they're busy chasing murderers and rapists. Then the whole thing is adjudicated within four days and material evidence is sent to the shredder.

If I'm living in Miami, I'm checking to see if police cruisers are sporting new tires next week.

The inevitable happened just moments ago, as Jim Mora, Jr. was fired as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons after the team ended its season 7-9.

In his departing press conference, Mora actually thanked his players, which is probably the last group of people he should have thanked. While Mora certainly had his issues, and his firing was best for the Falcons organization, the players all acted like a bunch of chumps in recent weeks when it came to Mora. This is especially true of Michael Vick who, after the teams loss against the Eagles Sunday, said this when asked what he would say if team owner Arthur Blank solicited his opinion on Mora being let go:

"Honestly, I really couldn't tell you what I'd say right now. I'd have to give it some thought and really evaluate what went down and what happened."

Then, if that wasn't bad enough, Vick had the audacity to talk about his personal accomplishments this season, saying:

"I've accomplished a lot of good things this season and I feel like I've had one of my best seasons," he said. "Exactly where things went wrong, I really don't know."

The week before that, Vick was just "Keeping it Real" when criticizing the coaching staff.

Talk about a great leader we have here in Atlanta. Too bad we can't send him packing along with Mora.

I'm going to be rooting for four teams to win their final games of the regular season: the Eagles, the Panthers, the Packers and the Giants. Why, as a Falcons' fan would I be rooting for these teams? Because if they all lose, the Falcons back into the playoffs, which is not a place they deserve to be.

Go ahead, call me a fair-weather fan. I don't really care. Next year, I'll be just as excited about the team, I'll believe in them, and probably even proclaim they are Super Bowl bound. I will do this, not until they start losing but, until they stop trying. They can go 0-16, and I will still be there, supporting them, as long as they leave everything they have on the field during those 16 losses.

Too many times this season, the Falcons have played soft, and that, as a fan, is unacceptable. We don't need Super Bowl titles every year, or even to be in the playoffs, although it would be nice. No, as fans, we just need to feel our team played as hard as they could. We need to feel like a loss hurt them as much as it did us, as we try to make it through the rest of our Sunday afternoons deflated.

Even though people are going to continue to scream that Michael Vick is the reason the Falcons failed this season, the problems are bigger than one guy. They are bigger than Jim Mora, Jr., and bigger than Greg Knapp, both of whom will likely be fired in the off-season. There are 53 players that wear the Falcons uniform, and until each of them decides to play each game like it's their last, and appreciate the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity they've been given, Atlanta will not be among the elite teams in the league. All they will do is continue to disappoint with their half-hearted performances and empty excuses. Falcons' fans and the NFL deserve better.

On a day when the Houston Texans were playing for pride and the Atlanta Falcons were playing for a playoff spot, who do you think played harder? If you guessed the Texans, you're correct, as they beat the Colts 27-24. If you guessed the Falcons, you haven't been paying attention, as they couldn't beat the Carolina Panthers, despite the fact that Panthers quarterback Chris Weinke only threw seven passes and wasn't even on the field during many plays, when Carolina ran the ball down the Falcons throat.

There's not much you can say about this game, except that it was pathetic. The Falcons players claimed last week that they love coach Jim Mora, Jr., but they didn't play like it. They didn't play like a team trying to save their coaches job. They didn't play like a team playing for pride. They didn't play like a team wanting to win. What's worse is that, with the Giants loss today, a win would have put the Falcons in the playoffs. Maybe it's better they didn't win, though, because the playoffs would have just been one more game for the team to insult the fans.

Thanks guys. Great effort. And now, for the phrase all too familiar in Atlanta: We'll get em next year.

Forget about his blind, and I mean blind allegiance to offensive-discoordinator Greg Knapp. Forget about his stupid comments about leaving the Falcons during a playoff run to take another job. The real reason Jim Mora, Jr. should not return to coach the Atlanta Falcons next year is he's a friend of the players.

DeAngelo Hall told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Mora is basically their cute little buddy. "We are behind him. We love him. He's a player's coach. He looks out for us."

If you're a football player in the NFL, the head coach is not supposed to be your friend. He can be friendly, sure, but he is not there to hold your hand, tell you how great you are and give you a reach around after a night out at the movies. He's supposed to get your prepared each week to play your ass off. If you are a receiver and you drop ball after ball, he's supposed to do whatever it takes to make sure you don't drop another. If you're a defensive back who can't seem to shut up, but continually gets burned on Sunday, he's supposed to tell you to stop yapping and start making plays.

I always thought Dan Reeves needed to be fired, and I'm not sure that it still wasn't the right move to get rid of him. However, as much as Dan loved Michael Vick, he was more of a father figure than a friend, which is something that both Vick and the entire Falcons team could use right now. Someone to say:

"Stop whining. Start winning. Or I'll be on your back forever more. Cause that's what coaches are for."

Naturally, the easiest road for Atlanta is to win both games. Then, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, who is in charge of tracking all of the possibilities, one of three things must happen:

1. Dallas beats Philadelphia on Christmas Day, or
2. Dallas beats Detroit in Week 17, or
3. New York loses one of its remaining games (New Orleans, at Washington).

In other words, two Falcons victories combined with one Cowboys victory OR one Giants loss in the next two weeks puts Atlanta into the tournament. (Side note: anyone else notice that 'tournament' is becoming the preferred term in the NFL?)

According to Elias, a loss alone on Sunday does not eliminate the Falcons from postseason play - but it gets really convoluted at that point.

[No reason for a picture of Keith Brooking except that we don't say it often enough: the guy is an absolute beast.]

So here's the situation: you're a third-year coach who has a short week to prepare for a nationally-televised game that will define your team's season and, to a lesser extent, your coaching ability. What do you do?

(a) lock yourself in the practice facility and study game film
(b) curl up in a fetal position and crap your pants
(c) go on a radio program and say you want a different job

How dumb is Jim Mora Jr.? Given the stakes, he has no business acting as if he's part of some zany Morning Zoo crew in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Now he has to spend even more time going on all the local radio and television stations, backing away from his earlier claim. More distractions an already unfocused team doesn't need.

Maybe it's for the best. Let both Mora and Greg Knapp go muck around in the Pac-10, continuing its proud history of mediocre football. And anyway, I think deep down most fans would agree that if the Falcons do win against Dallas on Saturday, it won't be because of the coaching staff but in spite of them. Given the leadership, we've come to understand sometimes you've got to overcome coaching.

You can listen to the interview here. Tell us if you think he's kidding.

Sometimes you just wake up to great news in your local sports section. Such is the case today, as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that Falcons offensive coordinator has been contacted about another job.

According to the report, a Stanford University search committee has contacted Knapp to gauge his interest in becoming the school's head football coach. Yes, you read that right; someone wants to hire Greg Knapp. Instead of asking the obvious question of why, it's probably better for Falcons' fans to ask "how can we help get him hired?"

That little nugget drew some chuckling from the media attending the post-game press conference after the Falcons beat the Redskins Sunday.

Who said it? Yep, ol' number 7, getting in what was (we assume) a good-natured dig at maligned offensive coordinator Greg Knapp. After quickly falling behind 14-0, Atlanta was able to scratch out a 24-14 victory at FedEx Field. A key play came in the third-quarter, when Chauncey Davis's interception return gave Atlanta the ball on the Washington 25-yard-line. Two plays later, Vick hits WR Michael Jenkins on a post pattern.

Woot! Falcons lead 17-14.

Vick, who completed 8 of 16 passes for 122 yards (a 115.1 QB rating), was asked about the call.

"[Jenkins] actually wasn't even in the read. Sometimes you've got to overcome coaching. I told him before the play to make sure he ran his route to win, and he did. Nobody on the field knew what I was going to do but me and him, so it kind of works out that way."

Zing! Strangely, though, that line didn't make it into the papers, or even in the team's official post-game quotes.

By finally winning a game they should have won, the Atlanta Falcons have extended their season -- and Jim Mora's job -- by at least one week. It's sad, however, that the team is in a position where today's 24-14 win against the Redskins is not all that exciting.

The Falcons winning one game is not exciting because they also have to win next week against Tampa Bay. Then, if they win that game, it won't be that exciting because they have to play and beat the Cowboys the next week. The Falcons have put themeselves in a hole where one more loss could mean the end of any playoff hopes. So, while it's great the Falcons won today, especially given how they have been playing lately, us Falcons fans should not be fooled into thinking today's win really means anything. Yet.