Before anyone wants to get cute and go with “Team Turmoil” or “Club Chaos” to describe the rotten, troubled team they are analyzing, be careful. Go down that road only after first taking a gander at the Atlanta Falcons.
Turmoil? Chaos? You ain’t seen nothing yet.
“We have to figure out a way, as a team, to overcome all the madness,” running back Warrick Dunn said yesterday.
The Falcons are an ugly 1-4, and if the Giants on Monday night inside the Georgia Dome don’t vanquish this wobbly and dispirited opponent, they surely will have fallen into a trap.
No team could rebound from a devastating and humiliating fall from grace of a franchise centerpiece the way the Falcons were, and they continue to be haunted by the banishment of quarterback Michael Vick. Prior to the season, Vick pleaded guilty to his involvement in a federal dogfighting case that rocked the nation. Vick signed a $130 million contract in 2004 and is awaiting sentencing Dec. 10; he’s expected to go to prison for at least one year. This week, an arbitrator ruled Vick should repay $19.9 million in bonus money he received.
This was all dumped on the lap of new coach Bobby Petrino.
“It certainly has been a challenge,” he said.
This perfect storm of badness came ashore to hit Petrino, who in late March signed off on the trade of backup quarterback Matt Schaub to Houston, a strong indicator the first-year NFL coach fully believed in Vick. Schaub is among the NFL’s passing leaders for the surprising Texans, while Vick’s replacement, Joey Harrington, is completing 67 percent of his passes but has not been able to generate much of anything with the offense.
Harrington was benched during last week’s 20-13 loss to the Titans, yanked in favor of Byron Leftwich.
“We got in a situation last week where we were getting a lot of pass rush,” Petrino said. “He (Harrington) got hit a few times, he usually completes the throws that in the third quarter he was not, and we were just trying to get a spark when we put Byron in there.”
There was no spark on the field but there was fire off it. Disgusted by the ineptness around him, veteran tight end Alge Crumpler sounded off.
“When we cross the 50, we’re the worst offense in the National Football League,” Crumpler said after seeing the Titans commit five turnovers and watching as the Falcons began possessions at the Tennessee 42-, 45-, 21- and 19-yard lines but came away with no points.
Crumpler ripped into Petrino for what he dubbed an agenda to de-emphasize the veterans and go with a youth movement.
“It’s just been taken out of the veterans’ hands,” Crumpler said.
Petrino, known as a no-nonsense coach who spent three years working under Tom Coughlin in Jacksonville before building a collegiate winner at Louisville, said he was bothered by the statements about the veterans.
“That’s completely untrue,” he said, adding he’s had a meeting with Crumpler about the remarks.
“Alge and I are just fine,” Petrino said.
The Vick affair rocked the team before the season ever got started and there’s been no relief since. The Falcons dropped to 0-3 with a 27-20 loss to the Panthers that featured three rapid-fire penalties (for 67 yards in losses) by two-time Pro Bowl cornerback DeAngelo Hall, who then engaged in a wild sideline tirade directed at Petrino. That cost Hall $100,000 in fines (the NFL Players Association is appealing) and his place last week in the starting lineup.
“Some guys are made for college,” Hall said to Atlanta reporters in a harsh critique of Petrino, “and some are made for the NFL.”
Harrington will start against the Giants.
“Joey is the guy, he is going to go out and lead this football team, hopefully to a victory,” Dunn said.
Hope is wearing thin, but it’s about all the Falcons have left.