SportsXchange: Shanahan exits Falcons after deflating defeat

February 06, 2017 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
SportsXchange

HOUSTON -- It was nearly a perfect ending for Kyle Shanahan. The offense that he developed as coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons couldn't be stopped, and the defense was no less impressive.

Shanahan's final game with the Falcons, Super Bowl LI on Sunday night before he stepped away to become the presumptive head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, was everything the Falcons and their fans -- and the Niners -- could have wanted.

Read the full story here.

Newsday (N.Y.): Super Bowl LI: Falcons defense left reeling from late collapse

February 06, 2017 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

HOUSTON — He came from Seattle with a well-earned reputation. Dan Quinn was the defensive coordinator of the Seahawks, curator of the so-called “Legion of Boom.” Seattle won one Super Bowl and almost won another.

The Atlanta Falcons made Quinn their head coach before the 2015 season, and with his strategy and tactics — and draft picks — he made them the 2016 NFC champion.

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Newsday (N.Y.): Super Bowl LI: Don’t expect confrontation if Patriots win

February 05, 2017 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

HOUSTON — The question is what will happen if the New England Patriots win Super Bowl LI on Sunday and — a laugh is permitted — quarterback Tom Brady and team owner Robert Kraft receive the trophy from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

Nothing out of the ordinary, if history means much. It would be an old production with new performers.

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SportsXchange: Politics seeps into Super Bowl week

February 03, 2017 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
SportsXchange

HOUSTON — Has the prelude to the Super Bowl gone off the rails? Hasn't the prelude to every Super Bowl?

Of course, rarely was there such a mixture of, pardon the reference, politics and Patriots. However, that is to be expected given current events.

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SportsXchange: Goodell dishes on Raiders' situation in press conference

February 01, 2017 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
SportsXchange.com

HOUSTON — The Raiders still are in Oakland and may be for a while despite attempts to move to Las Vegas, San Diego or Los Angeles. That is one way to interpret the words of the man in charge, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, at his annual Super Bowl news conference.

Goodell, for the first time tieless but certainly not clueless, at a session held on Wednesday instead the traditional Friday, said there is work to be done before the Raiders plan to shift from the East Bay to Vegas could become a reality.

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SportsXchange: Belichick too focused on winning to worry about legacy

January 31, 2017 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
SportsXchange.com

HOUSTON — Was Paul Brown like this? Vince Lombardi?

Bill Walsh had his moments, times when he could be stern, rough, but mostly he chose to be less stringent, even friendly. Remember that 1982 Super Bowl when Walsh dressed as bellman to handle the bags of the team.

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Newsday (N.Y.): Super Bowl LI: Sportswriter didn’t mean to take Kyle Shanahan’s backpack

January 31, 2017 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

HOUSTON — You’ve seen the signs at luggage carousels in airports that say “Many bags look alike. Make sure the one you have is yours.” Well, this wasn’t an airport, although with the noise and chaos it seemed like one, and the bag I had, a backpack, it turned out wasn’t mine.

It belonged to Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. And it held his Super Bowl game plan.

Read the full story here.

S.F. Examiner: Kyle Shanahan’s missing playbook saga from the columnist who took it

January 31, 2017 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner

HOUSTON — The Niners have their guys now, Kyle Shanahan as coach — that was a given — and John Lynch as GM. The latter was a surprise, to us if not to Shanahan who developed a relationship with Lynch.

Long contracts, reportedly, six years, big salaries. This we know.

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SportsXchange: Opening Night madness: Shanahan nearly loses game plan

January 31, 2017 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
SportsXchange.com

HOUSTON -- The man heavily responsible for this quasi-madness, the late NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, who was there at the creation, used to preach that the Super Bowl was nothing more than entertainment. Of course, and so is camel racing.
It is not easy to describe the annual Opening Night, nee Media Day, as entertaining. Not in the sporting sense, that is. Unless you get a few laughs out of athletes sitting in booths and advising that Super Bowl LI (thank heavens we are back to the Roman numerals) "is just another football game."

Media Day used to be on Tuesday, in the morning at the place the game will be held, in this instance NRG Stadium. Now, in the Super Bowl's second half-century, it takes place on Monday and at night, prime time, if you will, with fans paying to watch and listen.

Read the full story here.