We Now Return You To Football Related Matters

One last salvo in Bobby Petrino's production of Hamlet before we move on. His agent and Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long are now returning fire against the Falcons, despite the fact that their fire seems to run contrary to reality. Is Blank an interfering owner? I'm sure he is, and I'm sure that's one part of the job Petrino was justifiably unhappy about.

I still can't shake the feeling that a guy who signs a 5 year, $20 million plus contract with a pro team still doesn't have any right to bolt partway through his first NFL season with no warning because he's "miserable". As a matter of fact, I think that's the one facet of this that provokes the angriest response from me. Why can't Bobby Petrino just admit he's a jerk who wasn't up to snuff in the NFL and that he took a lame route to get back to college? This will all fade into the background when he starts having success at Arkansas, anyways. Instead, he has to have other people fight his public battles for him.

I sure hope he's happy, because he definitely ensured a whole lot of us in Atlanta aren't.

Bucs Game!

Holy crap, we're talking about a football game!

Realistically, the Falcons probably have virtually no shot at winning this game. The coaching staff is jumbled, the Bucs handled their business the last time and Chris Redman isn't the antidote for all that ails us. Still, I do believe football is a game where you can argue that emotion helps. The Falcons are going to be extremely pissed off coming out of the gate and are going to want to show Petrino that it was his coaching that failed them. An angry team is a focused one, and I still remain unconvinced that the Bucs are a good football team. It just so happens that every other team in the division happens to be spectacularly bad.

With apologies to JScott from Buc 'Em, the Bucs don't have the world's greatest passing game or running game. Their defense is markedly better, I'll grant you. I think they're a good bet to make the playoffs and get absolutely flattened in the first round by a superior squad. So it isn't out of the question for the Falcons--who I believe have just as much or more raw talent--to come storming back.

It's just not very likely. I give the Falcons a maybe 30% chance at winning if Norwood plays more than Dunn, Redman is effective and the defense clamps down. As much as I love this team, I don't like those odds.