How can anyone not root for Atlanta Falcons linebacker Brian Banks?
His story has been told frequently since a little more than a year ago when he became a free man following 10 nightmare years after falsely being accused of rape.
An outstanding high-school prospect in the Los Angeles area, Banks was headed for Southern Cal when the dreaded story began. Now he’s a 28-year-old man trying to win a job as a backup with the Falcons.
Thursday night, he made his NFL debut in the fourth quarter of a preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals, and not surprisingly, it was quite emotional.
Prior to the game, he told ESPN, “I feel completely relaxed. I thought I might be nervous, maybe a little giddy, maybe it hasn’t hit me yet.” He then added, “Why should I be nervous? This is just football. Nervous … is when I was walking into a courtroom and waiting to see if I was going to be sentenced to go to prison.”
After the game, Banks told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “It was out of control. Just running out there — the flames, the cheers, the crowd. I wasn’t nervous at all, but just the emotion of running through the tunnel, the adrenaline that comes with it, is better than any roller-coaster ride you could get on.”
Banks was credited with one tackle, and was asked if he had to make the roster for it to be thought of as successful.
He said, “Do I have to make it? I don’t feel like I have to, but I want to — not just for myself but for my family, for the people who’ve supported me and believed in me. For people who’ve lost hope in their own (life). If I can be some kind of vessel, to show people that no matter the hard time you experienced, you can still succeed, I want to put out that positive energy, to never quit and never give up.”
With 90 players currently on rosters, those numbers will be reduced drastically when mandatory cuts begin Aug. 27. After that day, rosters will be at 75 and four days later is the cut to 53. Of course, teams can then begin signing eight players to the practice squad, which could be realistic for Banks.
This year, minimum pay for those on the practice squad has increased to $6,000 a week, which means a $102,000 annual salary for a player on the squad for all 17 weeks.
You’re OK J.J.
Sometimes it seems no matter how often rules are explained to NFL players, they don’t get it. That was the case with the crackdown on helmet-to-helmet hits that started a few years ago. Often, players would complain about rules being changed after the season started.
Never mind that no rules was actually changed. There was added emphasis placed on the officials for those plays, and fines were increased. But the rule remained the same.
Now, there has been some pushback on the NFL’s enforcement of illegal celebrations, with specific wording detected at spinning the ball as well as military salutes.
The latter resulted in this reaction from Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, who does the military salute after sacks.
Said Watt, “I do my salute as a sign of respect and appreciation to the military. When I was in Afghanistan (for a USO tour), I had soldiers tell me they appreciated me showing them respect. That’s what it’s for.”
Watt added that it would be a “a bad deal if they’re going to take away something I’m trying to show respect to the people who protect this country.”
Not to worry, J.J. The rule would only be enforced in the case of taunting where the action is directed to an opposing player.
A Confident Miller
Broncos linebacker Von Miller is scheduled to have his appeal heard Thursday (Aug. 15) on a potential four-game suspension that no one is saying what it is for.
Miller has claimed he will explain the situation after the appeal is decided, but he continues to talk optimistically that he won’t be suspended.
Following the preseason opener against San Francisco, Miller said, “I’m confident about it. Everybody is confident about it. I think my situation is different. I’m just looking forward to getting a resolution and getting it out of the way. It’s tough enough to play football as it is, let alone when you have all this other stuff going on.”
Speaking of the Broncos
In that game against the 49ers, quarterback Peyton Manning lined up in the pistol formation used often by the 49ers and Colin Kaepernick last season.
In the pistol, the quarterback is in a shorter shotgun formation that normal and the running back is directly behind him.
Chris Ault, who operated the pistol at Nevada when Kaepernick was there and is now working as an offensive consultant for the Kansas City Chiefs, has often said the formation can be successful even with a quarterback that isn’t a runner and the read-option doesn’t have to be part of it.
Ault recently told NFL Network, “(Teams) don’t need to run the ‘read’ part of it. When we first put the pistol in, in 2005 and 2006, that’s all we ran. We ran the power, the gap, the counters, the zones, the outside stuff. We did not run the ‘read’ at that time. So the pistol offense, the most important thing there is you can run any offense you’ve been running.
“It’s not just the ‘read’ play itself. It’s also the play-action pass off of it. When that back sits behind the quarterback, the linebackers do not have a clear view of what he’s doing. You can run downhill power games, counters, gaps and all that from the pistol.”
THE QUOTE
Redskins tight end Fred Davis after being penalized for excessive celebration against Tennessee when he scored a touchdown, began crazily shaking, went to the ground and shook even more: “It was spontaneous. I don’t know what I was doing, actually. I’ve got to put more thought into it. I cost my team a penalty, so it wasn’t a good celebration. … I just spazzed out. It was dumb. … I’m definitely going to come up with a better plan next time.”