Atlanta has Blank look
After watching the Atlanta Falcons lose their fourth consecutive game, owner Arthur Blank grabbed a front-row seat in the interview room to hear what coach Jim Mora Jr. and quarterback Michael Vick had to say.
Blank also pored over a stat sheet, whispering some thoughts to his top lieutenant while trying to figure out how another season that began with such promise has totally unraveled heading into the final month.
This owner demands immediate results. If things don’t turn around over the next five weeks, the Falcons are certainly headed for big changes – starting with several members of Mora’s staff and maybe extending all the way to the head coach.
“Ever since I’ve been here, we’ve had high expectations,” Blank said. “We did not build this team to be .500. We thought this team was capable of making a playoff run. Anytime you fall short of that, it’s disappointing.”
Technically, Atlanta (5-6) still has time to turn things around in the mediocre NFC, where 6-5 would be good enough for the wild card if the season ended today.
But after going 0-for-November, the Falcons are less than .500 for the first time in Mora’s three-year tenure and giving off few signs of being a team that can turn it around.
Three of the losses this month were by double-figure margins – the only exception being an inexcusable 17-13 home loss to woeful Cleveland (3-8). The Falcons were blown out 30-14 at Detroit, one of only two games the Lions have won this season. Last Sunday, Atlanta was all but eliminated from the NFC West race by a 31-13 loss to the Saints.
What makes this all the more troubling is just how familiar it seems.
A year ago, coming off a giddy run to the NFC championship game in Mora’s rookie season as a head coach, the Falcons started 6-2 and were thinking Super Bowl. They wound up losing six of their last eight, extending the 40-year-old franchise’s inglorious streak of never having back-to-back winning seasons.
Now, it’s happening all over again. In one short month, the Falcons have gone from 5-2 and angling for home-field advantage in the playoffs to showing all the telltale signs of a team in disarray.
Raiders sack coordinator
The Oakland Raiders (2-9) replaced offensive coordinator Tom Walsh, promoting tight ends coach John Shoop to take charge of the team’s struggling offense.
Walsh is a close friend of coach Art Shell, having served as his offensive coordinator during Shell’s first stint as Raiders coach. But he had been out of the NFL since being fired with Shell after the 1994 season and was the recipient of much of the blame for the NFL’s worst offense.
Shell stood by Walsh despite criticisms from players, the media and fans, before making the change with five games left in the season. Shell called it a “difficult decision” that had to be made for the good of the team.
Shoop, quarterbacks coach at Oakland last year, served as offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears from 2001-03, helping them to a 13-3 record and NFC Central title in 2001.
Holmes’ season ends
Running back Priest Holmes will not return to the Kansas City Chiefs this season.
General manager Carl Peterson said recent medical tests have been encouraging and Holmes hopes to return for the 2007 season.
“He does not, at this time, plan to give up football,” Peterson said. “We’re looking at another evaluation in January or February.”
The three-time Pro Bowler, who turned 33 last month, has not played since Oct. 30, 2005, when he was injured on a hit in a game at San Diego that left him with head and neck trauma.
He missed the last nine games of the season after skipping the last eight games of the 2004 season with a knee injury. He has appeared in all 16 games in a season only four times since breaking into the NFL in 1997.
McNabb has surgery
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb could be sidelined between eight and 12 months after having surgery to repair a torn knee ligament.
The five-time Pro Bowler tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in the second quarter of a loss to Tennessee last week. It was his third season-ending injury in mid-November in the last five years.
Bettis’ father dies
Johnnie Bettis, the father of retired NFL running back Jerome Bettis, died at a suburban Detroit hospital of an apparent heart attack, police said. He was 61.
Johnnie Bettis, of Detroit, was stricken while driving in a suburb north of the city around noon, police Lt. Carl Fuhs said.
Around the league
New York Jets offensive lineman Adrian Jones apologized to the team and his family three days after being charged with driving while intoxicated. He was fined $20,000 by the team and will be monitored by the NFL as a result of being a first-time offender of the substance abuse policy. … Pittsburgh All-Pro safety Troy Polamalu has a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee and will miss Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay. … Pro Bowl kick returner Jerome Mathis was moved to Houston’s active roster after missing the first 11 games recovering from a fractured foot. … Cincinnati placed running back Chris Perry on injured reserve, a day after he had a pin put in a broken bone in his lower right leg. … Cleveland right tackle Ryan Tucker will miss the rest of the season because of an undisclosed illness.