Dec 12 2007
This T-Shirt Was the Last Straw
Bobby Petrino couldn’t read the writing on the wall until that writing showed up on Roddy White’s T-shirt. Who celebrates a touchdown by sending a message to federal authorities that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with breeding dogs to fight to the death, wagering on them, and electrocuting the losers?
It was already bad enough that Petrino — who, up until yesterday, was the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons — had all but lost control of this doomed team. He treated grown men like college kids. He openly feuded with star players. He cut guys who were popular in the locker room. He was probably ordered by management to start Warrick Dunn over Jerious Norwood, because there’s no other explanation for why an aging running back averaging 2.5 yards less per carry would get the nod, except to allow him to break 10,000 yards. Through it all, he was saddled with second-rate quarterbacks, third-rate receivers, and a complete lack of talent on defense.
But it took Roddy White’s T-shirt to show Petrino just how doomed the Atlanta Falcons really were, didn’t it? This franchise gladly built itself around a freakishly talented athlete who wasn’t a great quarterback, but was always exciting to watch. He put fannies in the seats. He sold millions of replica jerseys. He inspired more debate than any NFL player in recent memory. And now he’s in a convicted felon.
Bobby Petrino’s stint as an NFL head coach was doomed from the moment the FBI raided said felon’s house in Virginia. He was just too buried in his work to notice — until Roddy White’s T-shirt finally woke him up. No American football has had a sideline revelation that profound since John Heisman saw the first accidental forward pass in 1895.
I don’t blame Bobby Petrino one bit for ditching this sunken boat and grabbing that Arkansas life raft the next day. Heisman himself couldn’t have saved the Atlanta Falcons, because these players don’t want to be saved. They just want their meal ticket back, and in the meantime, they’ll settle for self-pity.
Watch the skies, Falcons fans. A hard rain is gonna fall.
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Supposedly you learn more from your mistakes. ATL should be in Mensa at this point. I hope they don’t break the ‘fins streak; it just suits them so perfectly.
Yeah, that’s the problem. That former teammates would support their friend no matter what. There’s nothing wrong with a coach engaging in backdoor negotiations, quitting during the season, lying to everyone, and abandoning his entire staff.
perfectly reasonable.
I’ll bet vick never woke up and said “dude, I’m gonna go kill some dogs, send myself to jail and cost myself millions, and oh yeah, screw over the falcons”, but petrino pretty deliberately and knowingly screwed people who had put their trust in him. and you can’t blame him for that?
We’ll make a note of this for the next time anyone’s integrity comes into question.
Richard: No, I can’t. But if he screwed over a team I didn’t loathe, I might feel differently. Ha.
Im a Falcons fan and I was really amazed by that T-shirt. I dont mind players sticking up for Vick, asking for him to be pardoned for a serious crime is just ridiculous. At this point the Atlanta Falcons should start cutting away all the crap that they’ve accumulated over the years. Take a few years at the bottom and build from there.
While Vick was at QB there was never a good enough WR there to pull in his passes, because it would take an exceptional WR to consistantly hook up with Vick to have any effect. Irrespective, I believe that if your going to win the Superbowl you need a great pocket-passer and Vick wasnt that. And with the amount of salary he could wrangle im not sure if the Falcons could build a decent team around him anyway.
Any talent they had on Defense has jumped ship, and bringing in John Abraham wasnt a great move. Theres a lot of holes to be filled on this team and its going to take a long time to fill them. A new QB with a good WR corp, and a whole new defense.
oh and a new coach
Enda: Bringing in John Abraham wasn’t a great move? Tell that to Jake Delhomme and Travelle Wharton.
He-he!