Cardiac Birds

No wonder this year’s edition of the Atlanta Falcons are keeping me on the edge of my seat; their propensity for late game heroics keeps putting gray hair on my poor old chin. According to the ESPN NFC South Blog

They’ve had six games where they have either trailed or been tied in the fourth quarter and won, including Sunday at Tampa Bay.

Tied/Trailed Winning Score
at Buccaneers, 24-14, 4:31 left
vs. Packers, 17-17, 0:09 left
vs. Ravens, 21-20, 0:20 left
vs. Bengals, 25-24, 13:02 left
vs. 49ers, 14-13, 0:02 left
at Saints, 21-17, 1:55 left in overtime

Of course you can also look at this statistic, especially the home games, and say the Falcons are not doing a good job of putting teams away. Believe it or not, Ravens, Bengals, and to some extent the Packers games should not have been close. I think this is good news because it means that the Falcons still have room to improve going into the playoffs.

Share

3 thoughts on “Cardiac Birds”

  1. I saw Inside the NFL of their Bucs game. Looks like they wouldn’t have pulled it out if not for the KR TD and maybe the final int. as well.

    Either they’re a team of destiny or the ball may stop bouncing their way in the playoffs. But Ryan has been money in the clutch and Roddy White has given me some huge games in FF.

    BTW, more and more reports of PSP2 but Michael Pachter has already pronounced it DOA. Same for the PSP Android phone.

    I’ve already said similar things, that smart phones are inundating the space for portable/mobile gaming and entertainment. The experience isn’t as good without physical controls but it’s good enough and people who really want to game can do so at home, while using the phone to game or watch videos when they have some free time during the day.

    But not only that, iPod Touch and probably tablets will encroach on the handheld market for children. Parents are used to giving them Nintendo handhelds since Mario and other Nintendo characters are almost like Disney characters.

    Yet it seems more and more parents are buying children under 10 their own iPod Touches after their kids liked playing with their iPhones. By next Christmas, there should be decent Android tablets in the $200 range too (in fact people say the Nook Color could be that at $250 this year, after it’s rooted and people install newer versions of Android).

    Android isn’t near what iOS is for games but with the sheer number of devices shipping with Android, there will be games developed for it.

    Dedicated handhelds are going to become a niche, if they aren’t already.

  2. Spot on with the Falcons comments – this is a team that is finding a way to somehow gut things out when they are not playing their best.

    Great post on the portable/handheld gaming markets. The PSP does have some amazing games – GoW titles and Ratchet & Clank games – but I am not sure what percentage of PSP owners will flock to a PSP2. You know some will, just because they “support” Sony, but the overall percentage may not be close enough for Sony to risk new hardware right now.

    I think Nintendo will always have a place in handheld gaming – my oldest son has already started saving money towards a 3DS.

    I could see me getting an iPod Touch or iPad at some point in the next 6-18 months, but I would miss games like GoW and decent sports titles for on the go play.

  3. Actually all the EA Sports games are there for iPhone/iPad, including HD versions.

    There are a number of other sports games, including soccer titles and other NFL games. There’s actually more choice, though obviously the controls aren’t going to be good. I hear in Madden, you can trace hot routes on the screen.

    They just released Infinity Blade for $6, using Unreal Engine 3. People think it’s comparable to an Xbox game graphically. It’s not long though, not a fleshed out game, though they promise more levels and maybe multiplayer, possibly as free upgrades or more likely as in-game purchases.

Leave a Reply