Yardbarker: Eric Taylor

Your Quincy Carter/IFL Update

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:01:18 -0500

((HT: Abilene Reporter-News/Greg Jaklewicz))

It's not every day that you hear about a field goal attempt hitting the ceiling...

It happened in Quincy Carter's IFL debut for the Abilene Ruff Riders in their 39-24 win over the Odessa Roughnecks...

Georgia grad Quincy Carter threw four touchdown passes, two each to former Abilene Christian wideouts Jerale Badon and Chris Morris, to lead the Abilene Ruff Riders to a 39-24 win over the Odessa Roughnecks before 3,982 at the Taylor County Coliseum.

It was the season-opening game for both teams and the first win in Abilene franchise history.

"We did some things good on offense," said Carter, who was 18-of-31 for 235 yards. "Early on we were stalling out a little bit but we came out in the second half and put points on the board."

Carter was 3-of-9 before going 37 yards to Badon for the first touchdown in the Abilene team's history. The Ruff Riders played last year in Katy. Abilene led 17-16 early in the second half when the Ruff Riders scored three straight touchdowns, two set up by big defensive plays.

"The defense played strong all night," coach Gerald Dockery said. "At halftime, I told them, 'Don't let up. Come out on fire.'"
An interception and a fumble recovery gave Abilene a chance to add to its 24-16 lead and Carter cashed in both times. Suddenly a one-point game was a 36-16 lead for the Riders. Abilene's lead grew to 39-16 on Nich Pertuit's second field goal of the game before Odessa scored its only second-half touchdown with 5:12 to play, but the Riders ran out the clock with their ensuing possession.

Morris caught six passes for 83 years and Badon four for 91. Badon only joined the team seven days earlier.

"We got into a rhythm tonight," he said of catching two TD passes from Carter.

The first was the bomb that Badon caught in stride crossing into the end zone.

"I always have the first one, every season since I've been playing," Badon said.

Abilene took a 17-13 lead at halftime when Carter faked a run into the line and kept around right end with 3 seconds remaining. His body never made it into the end zone but he held the ball ahead of him to break the plane.

Carter was 9-of-18 in the half for 113 yards, including the 37-yarder to Badon. The Riders had the edge in yards, 145-93. For the game, it was 292-154 in favor of Abilene. The game was slowed by 12 penalties in the half, one that wiped out a Riders touchdown on an interception return by Willis Hogan and another that negated a 25-yard scoring pass by Gile, who was 14-of-24 for 116 yards.

Odessa took the second-half kickoff and cut the Riders' lead to 17-16 on Zeke Arevalo's 19-yard field goal. That score stood for just three plays. Carter went deep to Morris for 22 yards and the Riders began to pull away.

Joey Longoria's interception and a personal foul on the Roughnecks put the ball at the Abilene 24 seconds later and Carter went to Badon again for the TD.

Longoria said the Riders defense stared to play the pass over the middle better. On his interception, linebacker Rico Brooks pressured Gile, who threw high to his receiver.

"The game seemed like it was lagging and something like that happens and everyone jumps up," Longoria said.

Conner fumbled the kickoff and Brandon Henry recovered at midfield for the Riders.

Three plays later, Carter hit Morris crossing left and Morris broke through arm tackles to score and give his team a three-TD lead.

The first Ruff Riders points of franchise history were scored by Pertuit, who hit a 24-yard field goal 10:09 into the season.

The game was marred by an injury to Odessa's Steven Kennedy one play into the second quarter. Kennedy was taken from the field on a stretcher with a right leg injury.

Ruff Riders 39, Roughnecks 24

Odessa 6 7 3 8--24

Abilene 3 14 19 3--39

SCORING

First Quarter
ABI- Nich Pertuit 24 FG 4:51
ODE-Jimmy Conner recovers fumble in end zone (kick failed) 0:37

Second Quarter
ABI Jerale Badon 37 pass from Quincy Carter (Pertuit kick) 14:06
ODE Tony Taylor 1 pass from Dennis Gile (Zeke Arevalo kick) 11:39
ABI-Carter 3 run (Pertuit kick) 0:03

Third Quarter
ODE-Arevalo 19 FG 9:00
ABI Chris Morris 22 pass from Carter (Pertuit kick) 7:01
ABI-Badon 26 pass from Carter (kick failed) 4:56
ABI-Morris 12 pass from Carter (kick failed) 2:33

Fourth Quarter
ABI Pertuit 23 FG 8:11
ODE Torrey Day 3 pass from Gile (Eric Taylor pass from Gile) 5

Key stat
0 Turnovers by the Ruff Riders; Odessa had three, two in the second half that led to Abilene scores.

Key number
1 The jersey number of quarterback Quincy Carter, who threw four touchdown passes in his IFL debut, and the number of wins in Abilene franchise history.

Key play
Joey Longoria's third-quarter interception allowed Abilene to march to a touchdown that gave the Rough Riders a two-score lead (30-16).

Here's your highlights courtesy of the Reporter-News and "96.1 The Wolf"

Who will be the next coach of the Detroit Lions?

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:24:40 -0500

Today, as after I woke from one of my too frequent naps, there was a note that had been slipped under my door. What did this note contain? William Clay Ford's short list of replacements for Rod Marinelli. No shit!

The names on the list, with my thoughts, follow.

Wayne Fontes: Why the Hell not? Playoffs every other year, then a high draft pick in the years the Lions miss the post season. The Big Buck was made of Teflon, a master scapegoater, players LOVED him and the media were hugely entertained by him. The fact we all pine for those days of of high drama, higher comedy and utter mediocrity says something. Not something good, but something all the same. Plus, he's available.

The bad old days...
Beefshower: In the comments to this post, Beefshower, aka Andrew of the Mickey Tettleton Memorial Overpass, threw his hat into the Lions coaching ring. Word must have reached WCF, as he's on the short list. I'll let Andrew's words speak for themselves.

"I'm throwing my hat into the ring for the coaching job. Let me run the same 8 plays from my tecmo super bowl playbook and I guarantee 50 points a game. I don't know what I'd do on defense though. Maybe I'll try to talk David Fulcher out of retirement."
Sounds like one of The Big Buck's run and shoot offenses, actually. Where's Mouse Davis these days? But I digress...

Beefshower or Steve Nash?
Not even their mothers can tell the difference...
For those of you who don't know who Fulcher is, he was only the best defender in Tecmo Super Bowl, if not all of football video gaming. Obviously, Andrew knows what he's talking about. You have to admire a man with a plan. The only question is, does Beefshower have the time, with his budding law career? Hell, we both know he'd take the running the Lions over becoming the next Matlock in a New York minute, though I'm sure Andrew looks dandy wearing a seersucker suit...

Lloyd Carr: When not hanging out with BFF Russell Crowe or plotting against Les Miles, Lllloyd doesn't have anything better to do right now. 4 loss seasons raised the hackles of Wolverine nation, but 4 loss seasons with the Lions would get Lllloyd his own statue in front of Ford Field.

This has to be a photoshop.As we all know, Lllloyd NEVER smiled.
Gary Moeller: Ditto...when he's not getting trashed in restaurants.

Then again, what's drunkenly bitching out a waitstaff when Fontes got busted with nose candy? For some reason I cannot fathom, WCF likes Moeller. It may be due to the fact Mo is one of the few head coaches in Lions' history with a winning record, a big time 4-3.

The reason behind Moeller's drunken tirade?The waiter made fun of the straight brim on his cap.
Bill Ford, Jr: As it appears the Fords are making plenty of personnel decisions from the owner's box (the drafting, then starting, of Joey Blue Skies being one of the more prominent examples), let's just cut out the middleman, and put a Ford on the sidelines. Considering Ford Motor Company is struggling to stay solvent, Junior may have plenty of time on his hands to run his father's meal ticket.

"I was this close to choking Millen out..."
Bobby Williams: Token minority interview.

The most famous quote from Williams' MSU tenure?"I don't know."
Eric Taylor, aka the coach running the Dillon Panthers on NBC's Friday Night Lights: Turns out WCF is a fan of of the show. Unfortunately, Ford believes he's watching a documentary.

Why interview a high school coach? WCF really wants to meet his HOT wife...
Matt Millen: When a Ford is paying you $5 million a season, he expects you to earn it. Also, you cannot deny WCF loves Matt Millen like a red headed stepson. I'd think Millen would be interested, as long as he could commute from Pennsylvania. Show up in the D Friday morning, fly out Sunday night, just like when he was president and GM. It'll be just like old times!

"You'll rue the day I was fired!
Uh, what's 'rue' mean?"
It's going to be a long, scary coaching search, sports fans!

Titans Dump 8 To Get Roster at 54

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:57:47 -0500

The Titans are down to 54 players on their roster after they let the following go today: S Calvin Lowry, WR Biren Ealy, and DT Antonio Johnson have been released. DE Sean Conover, TE Jamie Petrowski, FB Casey Cramer, DE Eric Taylor, and FB Jeremy Cain.? The team will need to make one more roster move to get the 53 required number of 53.