The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

[Richard-cNILE]

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Strange Days Indeed

By: RichardC-Nile

Standing at a local Quick Trip filling my car with gasoline on Friday evening, I commented to the lady on the opposite side of the pump "seems strange that just a week ago you couldn't get gasoline in Atlanta, today it's about a dollar a gallon cheaper and you and I are the only ones here buying gas."

From $150 barrels of oil to $80 a barrel, record high stock prices erased in a week panic selling, the center of capitalism transformed to socialism, banks giving pre-approved credit cards to children, dogs and dead people and now banks won't even lend to other banks. In these strange days isn't it great that we have a QB who is as consistent as Matt Ryan?

From losing by one point to winning by two points over a time span of about 18 seconds. Everything seems to move in extremes these days and so it is that the Atlanta Falcons who endured so much last year are tied with 5 other teams for second place in the NFC. Strange days and extreme changes can be good, bad and sometimes ugly so here's my GBU for week 6. Let me know yours.

The Good:

8 - There were only eight passes thrown by Matt Ryan on Sunday that were not caught for completions. Finneran dropped one that hit both of his hands, Jenkins let a TD slide through his fingers and there were a few others that should have been caught. 22 of 30 against the Bears defense is good. What that number doesn't tell you is the down and distance when each pass was completed. On the second series of the game, 3rd and 16, Ryan rainbows a pass over a retreating Linebacker to Harry Douglass who ran about a 17 yard out (down the field and out toward the sideline). From my seats the ball was coming right toward me and even though the bears LB was not facing me, I could tell his eyes were the size of saucers. That ball was an INT waiting to happen, the LB jumped but it was just out of his reach and Douglass plucked it from the air for a first down. Ryan had about 20 other very nice passes all of which paled in comparison to his last pass which had no chance of being blown off course due to the fact that the remaining 60,000 people in the stadium, both Falcons and Bears fans were all holding their breath.

Halloween already? Roddy White is turning into a beast (did I spell that right?). Not since Terrence Mathis and Tony Martin have we seen a bona-fide number one wide receiver on the Falcons roster.

Mr. Hester, meet Jerious: Hester has earned his respect, but on Sunday, Jerious Norwood showed Hester why NFL stands for Not For Long.

O-Line: The offensive line gave up zero sacks against a great Bear Defense.

Solo Sack: Give it up for JA98! He finally got a sack and had two batted balls. Nice work!

The Bad:

Bears Run D – You have to give credit where it's due. These guys know how to play some defense.

Chip Shot – I played golf Saturday for the first time in about 10 years. Surprisingly I hit the ball well, but my short game was terrible. Jason Elam missing that chip shot in the fourth quarter was just as terrible. Yes, he kicked the 48 yarder to win, but if he had made that chip shot, it would have been a two score game and Bears only had one timeout left.

Officials – The officials weren’t terrible, but there were some odd calls. The illegal snap call against Todd McClure was strange. I watched that play 10 times on my DVR and couldn't see anything. Then there was the call against the Bear's defense for delay of game. Then offensive pass interference against Roddy White when he was going for the football and the DB was impeding his route.

The Ugly:

Steven: If you look at the box score, this game was so even steven that it was funny. Both teams were 3-2, both losses for both teams were to the Panthers and Bucs. After three quarters 14 minutes and 49 seconds, the scoreboard showed 1 point difference

NFL.Com Box Score

Bearhug: With three Bears fans sitting in front of us, I felt I should be a good sport and congratulate them after they kicked their extra point to take the lead with 11 seconds remaining. I put my hand on the guys shoulder and said, “Good game dude, congrat’s.” He turned around, still excited from the extra point and hugged me. Then apologized and said “Sorry, this is my first game ever and I just can’t believe this.” I laughed and said “no worries.”

Little did he or I know that in these strange days, things would change quickly.

Go Falcons!

[uga2006]

nice dude,nice!

[Dedsquirl]

Good read.

As for the Delay of Game on the Dlineman.

The only time I have ever seen that called is when the D yells things that could be construed as a snap indicator.

ie: HUT! HIKE! HUP! HOT! etc, etc,.....

[Tandy]

Wow - that box score is pretty spooky

[Richard-cNILE]

nice dude,nice!

Thanks. I could have written a ton of stuff on this game... The last game that was this good was the Falcon/Panther game on Saturday night when MV7 levitated into the endzone to force overtime.

[Richard-cNILE]

Just wanted to say, I love these writes ups. Kudos and well done!

Thanks, I always appreciate hearing that people like it.

[SwaG FactorY EnT]

Nice read, a few grammatical errors I noticed while reading through but who cares :P

[Big Zee]

Excellent GBU

[Richard-cNILE]

Nice read, a few grammatical errors I noticed while reading through but who cares :P

Thanks! I wrote it over lunch and just wanted to get it posted, but thanks for pointing that out.

[putnam6]

I always enjoy reading The Good the Bad and The Ugly,but even more so after a "W".

[uga2006]

Yea man keep these coming!!

[theProf]

RichardC excellent creative recap. To mesh the current financial turmoil into a Falcons game write-up hits the top of the charts in creativity.

I really enjoy your writing style!

[Sho'Nuff]

Props to you for this write-up. Good read. What a great game it was.

I was sitting at a bar with a couple friends on my side and about 6 people in Chicago Jersey's on the other side. All I had was my hat sitting neatly on the bar pointed towards them. They were so quiet the entire game until they scored the TD at the end and they all started cheering and yelling. At this point the entire management staff, bar staff, and half of the kitchen staff were all inside the bar watching it. Then it happened and complete silence fell...well that is until I realized we were in field goal range and still had 1 second left and then I started yelling and cheering and even managed to dump my beer all over my pool sheets and the bar. But when all was said and done everyone was talking about what an awesome game it was. It didn't really matter who had won at that point it was about the experience.

I lied. It mattered to me.

HOW BOUT THEM FALCONS?

[Richard-cNILE]

RichardC excellent creative recap. To mesh the current financial turmoil into a Falcons game write-up hits the top of the charts in creativity.

I really enjoy your writing style!

Thanks man. BTW, I love the new screen name. Very fitting for you.

Have you been writing your stuff? I thought I read one or two this year. Get to writing.

[Richard-cNILE]

Props to you for this write-up. Good read. What a great game it was.

I was sitting at a bar with a couple friends on my side and about 6 people in Chicago Jersey's on the other side. All I had was my hat sitting neatly on the bar pointed towards them. They were so quiet the entire game until they scored the TD at the end and they all started cheering and yelling. At this point the entire management staff, bar staff, and half of the kitchen staff were all inside the bar watching it. Then it happened and complete silence fell...well that is until I realized we were in field goal range and still had 1 second left and then I started yelling and cheering and even managed to dump my beer all over my pool sheets and the bar. But when all was said and done everyone was talking about what an awesome game it was. It didn't really matter who had won at that point it was about the experience.

I lied. It mattered to me.

HOW BOUT THEM FALCONS?

A good game brings it out. BTW, what are pool sheets?

[erica_bender]

Hester has earned his respect, but on Sunday, Jerious Norwood showed Hester why NFL stands for Not For Long.

Thanks Norwood !!

[Ranger]

Don't ever stop writing. Awsome read

[Rockford]

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Strange Days Indeed

By: RichardC-Nile

Standing at a local Quick Trip filling my car with gasoline on Friday evening, I commented to the lady on the opposite side of the pump "seems strange that just a week ago you couldn't get gasoline in Atlanta, today it's about a dollar a gallon cheaper and you and I are the only ones here buying gas."

From $150 barrels of oil to $80 a barrel, record high stock prices erased in a week panic selling, the center of capitalism transformed to socialism, banks giving pre-approved credit cards to children, dogs and dead people and now banks won't even lend to other banks. In these strange days isn't it great that we have a QB who is as consistent as Matt Ryan?

From losing by one point to winning by two points over a time span of about 18 seconds. Everything seems to move in extremes these days and so it is that the Atlanta Falcons who endured so much last year are tied with 5 other teams for second place in the NFC. Strange days and extreme changes can be good, bad and sometimes ugly so here's my GBU for week 6. Let me know yours.

The Good:

8 - There were only eight passes thrown by Matt Ryan on Sunday that were not caught for completions. Finneran dropped one that hit both of his hands, Jenkins let a TD slide through his fingers and there were a few others that should have been caught. 22 of 30 against the Bears defense is good. What that number doesn't tell you is the down and distance when each pass was completed. On the second series of the game, 3rd and 16, Ryan rainbows a pass over a retreating Linebacker to Harry Douglass who ran about a 17 yard out (down the field and out toward the sideline). From my seats the ball was coming right toward me and even though the bears LB was not facing me, I could tell his eyes were the size of saucers. That ball was an INT waiting to happen, the LB jumped but it was just out of his reach and Douglass plucked it from the air for a first down. Ryan had about 20 other very nice passes all of which paled in comparison to his last pass which had no chance of being blown off course due to the fact that the remaining 60,000 people in the stadium, both Falcons and Bears fans were all holding their breath.

Halloween already? Roddy White is turning into a beast (did I spell that right?). Not since Terrence Mathis and Tony Martin have we seen a bona-fide number one wide receiver on the Falcons roster.

Mr. Hester, meet Jerious: Hester has earned his respect, but on Sunday, Jerious Norwood showed Hester why NFL stands for Not For Long.

O-Line: The offensive line gave up zero sacks against a great Bear Defense.

Solo Sack: Give it up for JA98! He finally got a sack and had two batted balls. Nice work!

The Bad:

Bears Run D – You have to give credit where it's due. These guys know how to play some defense.

Chip Shot – I played golf Saturday for the first time in about 10 years. Surprisingly I hit the ball well, but my short game was terrible. Jason Elam missing that chip shot in the fourth quarter was just as terrible. Yes, he kicked the 48 yarder to win, but if he had made that chip shot, it would have been a two score game and Bears only had one timeout left.

Officials – The officials weren’t terrible, but there were some odd calls. The illegal snap call against Todd McClure was strange. I watched that play 10 times on my DVR and couldn't see anything. Then there was the call against the Bear's defense for delay of game. Then offensive pass interference against Roddy White when he was going for the football and the DB was impeding his route.

The Ugly:

Steven: If you look at the box score, this game was so even steven that it was funny. Both teams were 3-2, both losses for both teams were to the Panthers and Bucs. After three quarters 14 minutes and 49 seconds, the scoreboard showed 1 point difference

NFL.Com Box Score

Bearhug: With three Bears fans sitting in front of us, I felt I should be a good sport and congratulate them after they kicked their extra point to take the lead with 11 seconds remaining. I put my hand on the guys shoulder and said, “Good game dude, congrat’s.” He turned around, still excited from the extra point and hugged me. Then apologized and said “Sorry, this is my first game ever and I just can’t believe this.” I laughed and said “no worries.”

Little did he or I know that in these strange days, things would change quickly.

Go Falcons!

WIthout Elam, we wouldn't have been in position to miss a clinching chip shot in the first place.

[Vicious]

Why haven't you gotten a job at the AJC yet man? This would be so much better than their crap. I know we ask you this every year, but have you at least applied yet? Nice write-up as usual.

[Magic Man]

Great Write up

[mozzie71]

sensationally well written.... if you wrote a book i would read it

[nobkowski]

Wonderful write up as always Richard. I wonder what happened to SuperFan? If the two of you got together and did a cartoon/write up, it could go national.

[ancient raptor]

Richard, if you wrote for the AJC, I might even consider reading their rag once a week.

[mozzie71]

Wonderful write up as always Richard. I wonder what happened to SuperFan? If the two of you got together and did a cartoon/write up, it could go national.

i was just wondering about Superfan today myself... seems to me he'd have a lot of positive cartoons to do for a change

[MoeS]

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Strange Days Indeed

Halloween already? Roddy White is turning into a beast (did I spell that right?). Not since Terrence Mathis and Tony Martin have we seen a bona-fide number one wide receiver on the Falcons roster.

Love the inside joke.

Keep up the good work.