Things just keep getting worse for Jim Mora

By Darrell Laurant  |   Thursday, December 21, 2006  |  Comments( 1 )

Atlanta Falcons
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Mike Vick may be a "coach-killer," as Jim Mora Sr. famously said just before quitting his Fox Sports Radio gig in the resulting backlash. But this week, Mora Jr. came pretty close to killing himself.

While doing an interview with Seattle radio station KJR, the younger Mora told former University of Washington teammate Hugh Millen, now a sports show co-host, that if current Huskies coach Tyrone Willingham "ever decides to move on, and get in the NFL or you know, go back to Notre Dame or whatever, if that job's open you'll find me at the friggin' head of the line with my resume in my hand ready to take that job."

Oh, really? About 30 seconds after those words left his mouth, Mora was already thinking about damage control. What is it about the Moras and radio microphones, anyway?

It was just a joke, the Falcons' coach insisted. Only a joke.

"Despite my off-the-cuff intentions," he said the next day, backpedaling furiously, "what I said was not appropriate for my players, the Falcons organization and our fans, and Tyrone Willingham. I got too relaxed with the radio talk show host who is a former college roommate, and I got carried away with the banter."

Not surprisingly, Falcons owner Arthur Blank wasn't laughing. He did issue a lukewarm statement saying that Mora's "passion for the Falcons organization has never been questioned," but earlier called his coach's comments "boneheaded."

The thing is, it really didn't sound like a joke -- and either way, Mora loses. If he was serious, it doesn't say much for his commitment to his current job. If he was kidding, it sounds like he's making fun of the University of Washington.

So will Mora be around after this season? That's an open question at this point, and not just because of the recent debacle.

As a rookie coach in 2004, Mora took the Falcons to the NFC championship game before losing to the Eagles. The sky seemed to be the limit. After getting off to a strong start last season, however, Atlanta stumbled near the end of the line and wound up 8-8. This year, the Falcons started out 5-2 and are now 7-7, needing to win their last two games to have a shot at a wild-card spot. Even at that, if they stay tied with the Giants for that spot, New York wins head-to-head by virtue of an earlier victory over Mora's team.

It gets worse. Vick, who played tailback for a couple of plays in last week's loss to Dallas while Matt Schaub moved under center, has a sore groin and has practiced sparingly this week in preparation for Sunday's meeting with Carolina. (One of the disadvantages of being a professional athlete is that the whole world knows when you have a sore groin).

Meanwhile, someone -- perhaps a New York Jets fan skilled in the black arts -- has apparently been sticking pins in a John Abraham doll. Since leaving the Jets during the off-season, Abraham has suffered one setback after another. A groin injury (maybe it's catching) shelved him for much of the year, and last week he tore ligaments in his right thumb.

Still, on many of the Falcon-oriented blogs this week, the criticism of Mora has been that he's too nice to be a head coach. That stemmed, in part, from DeAngelo Hall's defense of Mora after the radio interview in which the Falcon DB called Mora "a player's coach."

Could be. Mora's low-key reaction to Vick's flipping off Atlanta fans earlier this year after the team's fourth straight loss was a case in point.

An assistant coach can sometimes develop a peer relationship with his position players, but that's a dangerous road for the head guy to travel. Pretty soon, you've got players accusing you of having favorites, and the locker room atmosphere gets poisonous.

If the Falcons really have that much affection for Mora, they can give him a much-needed holiday present by winning the last two games. If that doesn't happen, he's probably history -- and the next coach may not be so friendly.

Maybe Tyrone Willingham needs an assistant.
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