“I have no idea what Bobby Petrino is doing. Or Rich McKay,” writes the Macon Telegraph’s Michael A. Lough of the Falcons’ embattled head coach and general manager. You might say the former is putting his own stamp on things. While the latter is probably preparing to offer the former a buyout in January. |
The cutting by the Atlanta Falcons of defensive tackle Grady Jackson (above) on Tuesday was from beyond left field and will increase the debate of whether Petrino is a one-year guy waiting to see what shakes down in the college football coaching bloodletting that we’re two months away from.
Jackson was the team’s top tackler up front, and it’s not like the Atlanta defense was shaking up the world.
Worse, Petrino apparently did it quietly and with no explanation for a full day, letting his team fester. Apparently, Petrino has bought some discount shovels at Home Depot, because he’s digging a hole.
And suddenly what some of us blew off as a surprising bout of whining from Alge Crumpler is much easier to believe.
From this spot, changing quarterbacks made little sense, since Joey Harrington had played well enough for the Falcons to be at .500, and he was one of the few who qualified for that statement.
Grady Jackson qualified for that statement.
The initial thought here is that Petrino was a gamble hire because he moved around so much, and thus hadn’t built anything long-term. Then his decision to go with a pocket-oriented passing game with a non-pocket quarterback was odd.
Still, some of us eventually warmed to the move and predicted, even in the middle of the Vick mess, some positive surprises. One of us actually said that a run at the postseason wouldn’t be so shocking.
More and more, one wonders what’s going on and if we completely missed something.