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By GEORGE HENRY, Associated Press Writer
December 25, 2005
ATLANTA (AP) -- Falcons general manager Rich McKay said Sunday it's too early to tell if the team will discipline coach Jim Mora for his antics following the team's overtime loss at Tampa Bay.
"Let me get through the weekend," said McKay, who also is the Falcons president. "Right now I just don't know."
The 27-24 defeat on Saturday eliminated Atlanta from playoff contention. After the game, in his regularly scheduled postgame chat with radio flagship analyst Dave Archer, Mora was asked to explain why the Falcons punted from their 24 when facing fourth-and-2 with 1:08 remaining in overtime.
Even though Michael Koenen's punt went 53 yards, Mark Jones' 28-yard return put the Buccaneers in position to win the game on Matt Bryant's field goal five plays later.
According to several team and radio station employees, Mora abruptly removed his headset after hearing Archer's question and threw it to the ground.
Three team employees and two with the radio station, all of whom requested anonymity because they said they feared alienating the coach, said Mora was so angry that he also threw a microphone -- which almost hit Nicole Watson, a sideline reporter with the radio station, in the head.
Watson had given Mora the microphone and headset so he could conduct his usual postgame interview with Archer, who was in the broadcast booth above the field.
Mora did not immediately return a call placed to his cell phone Sunday afternoon.
The Falcons have lost five of seven since a Week 9 victory at Miami left them 6-2 and tied for the NFC lead.
Atlanta, which advanced to the conference title game last season and beat defending NFC champion Philadelphia in the Sept. 12 season opener, blew a 24-17 lead against the Bucs when Carnell Williams ran for a touchdown on fourth-and-1 at the Falcons 6 with 25 seconds left in regulation.
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If you read the Tuesday Morning Quarterback in SI.com, you will hear quite a bit of a rant against coaches who punt rather than go for it on 4th and short. In my opinion, if you go for it on 4th and short, you are not really being risk-taking but being more risk-neutral. I think BB recognises that and he seems to go for 4th down situations when he needs to. and of course, it's great to have a QB who can deliver when we need that 1st down.
If you read the Tuesday Morning Quarterback in SI.com, you will hear quite a bit of a rant against coaches who punt rather than go for it on 4th and short. In my opinion, if you go for it on 4th and short, you are not really being risk-taking but being more risk-neutral. I think BB recognises that and he seems to go for 4th down situations when he needs to. and of course, it's great to have a QB who can deliver when we need that 1st down.
Completely apples and oranges, normal logic is irrelevent when missing the first down has a 90% chance of immediately eliminating you from the playoffs by allowing an easy field goal. There was only 1:08 left before the end of OT and a tie game, and he apparently believed a tie would still keep him alive for the playoffs. (Haven't heard if that was actually the case or not, but just before the punt he was on his cellphone trying to find that out).
That doesn't mean punting was necessarily the correct move, just that the percentages are different than in the situations TMQ usually covers. The question becomes which is more likely, failing to get the first down or Tampa Bay getting a field goal after the punt? Given there would be less than a minute to go after the punt and TB had only one TO left, the chances of them getting into position that quickly and then making a long FG weren't so obviously higher than the chances of turning the ball over on downs and giving up a quick FG from the 24. Maybe he trusted his defense more than his running game (which would seem odd) but didn't figure in a special teams failure. I am sure TMQ will weigh in on this.
A real professional, that Jr. Guess that apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I'm surprised he didn't launch into a tirade about the Falcons making the playoffs.
Completely apples and oranges, normal logic is irrelevent when missing the first down has a 90% chance of immediately eliminating you from the playoffs by allowing an easy field goal. There was only 1:08 left before the end of OT and a tie game, and he apparently believed a tie would still keep him alive for the playoffs. (Haven't heard if that was actually the case or not, but just before the punt he was on his cellphone trying to find that out).
That doesn't mean punting was necessarily the correct move, just that the percentages are different than in the situations TMQ usually covers. The question becomes which is more likely, failing to get the first down or Tampa Bay getting a field goal after the punt? Given there would be less than a minute to go after the punt and TB had only one TO left, the chances of them getting into position that quickly and then making a long FG weren't so obviously higher than the chances of turning the ball over on downs and giving up a quick FG from the 24. Maybe he trusted his defense more than his running game (which would seem odd) but didn't figure in a special teams failure. I am sure TMQ will weigh in on this.
Good points, I guess I have become used to thinking 1min is a whole lot of time for the offence to march down for a score. The way Williams was rushing and Simm's improved play, I would have trusted the Falcons offence to grind out 2 yards, but it is definitely easier said that done.
Given the perfectly reasonable explanation given by Alamo, why would Mora need to do a russell crowe and start throwing communication equipment around? Does he just hate being second-guessed?
and why on earth would he be trying to find out in the middle of a game if a tie would put the falcons through to the playoff. It strikes me that this is something a competent coach would have done a week in advance.
Good points, I guess I have become used to thinking 1min is a whole lot of time for the offence to march down for a score. The way Williams was rushing and Simm's improved play, I would have trusted the Falcons offence to grind out 2 yards, but it is definitely easier said that done.
Given the perfectly reasonable explanation given by Alamo, why would Mora need to do a russell crowe and start throwing communication equipment around? Does he just hate being second-guessed?
and why on earth would he be trying to find out in the middle of a game if a tie would put the falcons through to the playoff. It strikes me that this is something a competent coach would have done a week in advance.
The tie question was based on the outcome of an ongoing game, he'd done his homework and needed current results to update the situation. 4th and 2 within field goal range playing the number 2 ranked defense in the league (when we played them the week before anyway) and a division rival playing for all the marbles too, he made the right decision to play for OT, his STs killed him - which is why BB always talks about winning in all three phases of the game and is unhappy after our guys allowed two big returns in the past two games.
Regarding his temper, our own coach has been known to suggest some unnatural acts to reporters (Jackson of ESPN comes to mind), if the coach isn't competitive I don't want him - hopefully he wasn't aiming any equipment at the lady he narrowly missed, but he'll pay his fine to the team and league and learn to be less demonstrative after a gut wrenching loss.
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"Why didn't you go for it on fourth down from your own 24 in sudden death overtime?"
That's about as stupid a questin as I've heard.
I have to believe the reporter knew what he was asking and knew very well why you don't go for it on fourth down fromyour own 24 in OT, but was baiting Mora into a reaction when he'd just gotten burned and was highly emotional. The reporter sure got what he wanted
If I were Mora, I would apologize for my reaction, then never speak to that reporter again, and let players know that if they spoke to him they would be in his doghouse (meaning Michael Vick can still do whatever he wants but any player looking for more reps better not talk to him).
I've watched alot of Mora this year and must say...I am not impressed, at all.
This guy is utilizing TJ Duckett completely wrong, while getting Dunn and Vick beat all to hell. They must have lost a year each off their careers with the pounding they've taken. He's got that wide load Duckett on sweeps when he is clearly a north south runner. The run is this teams strength and they've done well with it...but on completely risky playcalls and alot of broken plays.
Remember when we played them. I said at that time that ATL would have beaten us had they not given up on a fresh TJ. He could have iced the game for them but his call was BS.
Keep it up Mora and you are back to coordinating.
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I know it's been a couple of days, but I thought I'd add TMQ's take (my emphasis added):
Quote:
All year, Tuesday Morning Quarterback has been crusading against fraidy-cat kicking, especially the supposedly "safe" punt that actually makes the team more likely to lose -- see last week's column for copious examples. But the big question of Christmas weekend, and you're forgiven if you were wrapping presents and missed it, involves a punt that backfired. And in this case, the punt was correct.
His point was that Atlanta was so far down in the tiebreaker order for 10-6 that they needed the Cowboys and Redskins to lose and go 9-7 anyway, so 9-6-1 was almost as good as 10-6.
OT: Mora's mad
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