Atlanta, GA

After Further Review: Denver Broncos vs Atlanta Falcons

Published

1 year ago

November 21, 2024

After Further Review: Denver Broncos vs Atlanta Falcons

In the Denver Broncos 38-6 demolition of the Atlanta Falcons, there were 10 accepted penalties and two reviews. These numbers show average official involvement, but the result from the field was more impressive. Here were some notable calls from the officials.

Personal Foul on Garett Bolles

Garett Bolles had a rare personal foul called on him for unnecessary roughness. In this case, I am fairly confident that the judgment of umpire Tab Slaughter was that Bolles threw his body into a player on the ground. This was a pretty borderline call if so, however, it both fit the letter of the rule and was a deescalating call. I was a bit surprised to see it in this matchup, but there were several parts of the game where tensions between the two teams got abnormally high. Calling something like this foul to the absolute letter of the rule is a good way to help both teams calm down.

Intentional Grounding

There were questions last week about a very questionable Patrick Mahomes call that easily could have been called intentional grounding. I wanted to explain intentional grounding a bit more this week because Bo Nix had a pass that very easily could have been called intentional grounding but was not. The standard for intentional grounding penalty is that the passer threw a ball, under imminent threat from the defense, with no realistic chance of completion. Intentional grounding is ignored when a quarterback outside the pocket throws a pass that reaches the line of scrimmage. This standard sucks to officiate, because there is enormous ambiguity in a realistic chance of completion. This term is defined “a pass thrown in the direction of and lands in the vicinity of an originally eligible receiver”, but the definition still does not provide us much help. Players in the NFL are so fast, and routes cross the field in such a way, that it is really impossible for officials to know what is realistic. Plus option route mistakes are relatively common, and we do not want to call the receiver making the wrong break a penalty. So officials call intentional grounding very generously. This is the type of standard that can change rapidly, because its not really a rule but rather a choice by the NFL officiating department on how the rule will be interpreted.

Replay Review

Early in the third quarter, there were two different replay reviews. The first was of a Lil’Jordan Humphrey incomplete pass that was reversed into a catch and fumble. Mike Periera expressed his astonishment that the call was overturned, believing it did not meet the elements of a catch. While I was thrilled for Denver that the call was overturned, I agreed with Periera. A catch requires two feet and something else, and I was comfortable with the notion that Humphrey had one foot and something else, or possibly two feet and nothing else, but he seemed significantly short of making a catch to me.

On the next drive, Denver challenged a spot that would have set up third and one on an Estime catch, and had the call overturned to a first down. This is an interesting situation. First, the replay was unambiguous, Estime had the first down. However, its not clear that he should have been awarded the first down. The spot that had him short was very consistent with the spotting of the ball during the game (the officials were consistently very strict and a bit stingy perhaps). That challenge made the ruling less consistent with how other similar plays were being spotted, so there is a strong argument that he should not have been awarded the first down.

These two reviews highlight one thing I continue to believe, which is that teams should be less afraid of challenging in impactful situations. Even if you think you are not going to succeed, a timeout is a relatively small price to pay and you can get surprising results that significantly break the normal expectation of the game.

Official Evaluation

This was a well-officiated game of football. There was one bad a call and a few questionable calls, but mostly it was very by the book. Line judge Derek Anderson and down judge Derick Bowers were very strict on spotting the ball, frequently making their own jobs harder than necessary to avoid the possibility of ever giving an extra foot of distance to either team. This was not my favorite kind of spotting, but it was profoundly consistent throughout the game. They were also very patient on offensive formations.

Probably the most indicative part of the game was a non-call. Referee Alan Eck described it this way “The man in motion went beyond the center, therefore there is no foul for crackback block.” This was a very confusing explanation. What happened on the play is Denver had a man in motion from left to right (Nate Adkins) who blocked downfield. At the snap, TE Adam Trautman also went from where he had bee on the left side and blocked the defensive end to the right of the formation (barely past the center). As he had gone past the center, his block was not towards the center, and therefore was legal. After seeing the replay many times, I could squint and understand what Eck meant, but live it was rather confusing. The good news is that while there was a long delay (surely replay was checking that Trautman had gone past the center), the result was a correct call. I called this non-call indicative, because like most of the work from Alan Eck and crew, it was not perfection, but it was a good day. They spotted a lot of tricky but correct penalties, and had the good judgment to leave some unnecessary things alone.

Feel free to ask questions in the comments or to send me an email. While I rarely make unsolicited comments on non-Broncos games, if you have any rules questions from other games I am happy to either reply in the comments or if the matter is of enough concern in next weeks column.

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Atlanta, GA

Luke Kornet calls on Atlanta Hawks to cancel ‘Magic City Monday’ promo

Published

8 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Luke Kornet calls on Atlanta Hawks to cancel ‘Magic City Monday’ promo

An NBA player from an opposing team has called on the Atlanta Hawks to cancel their upcoming game promotion that revolves around celebrating a well-known local gentleman’s club.

San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet asked the Hawks to reconsider their “Magic City Monday” plans for a March 16 game against the Orlando Magic in a letter posted to Medium on Monday, March 2. Atlanta’s ownership group and front office recently touted the one-night collaboration as an ode to an “iconic cultural institution,” citing Magic City’s role and impact in Atlanta’s Black communities and hip-hop culture in the announcement.

But Kornet wrote that “the Hawks failed to acknowledge that this place is, as the business itself boasts, ‘Atlanta’s premier strip club.’ “

“The NBA should desire to protect and esteem women, many of whom work diligently every day to make this the best basketball league in the world,” Kornet continued. “We should promote an atmosphere that is protective and respectful of the daughters, wives, sisters, mothers, and partners that we know and love.

“Allowing this night to go forward without protest would reflect poorly on us as an NBA community, specifically in being complicit in the potential objectification and mistreatment of women in our society.”

Magic City Kitchen is also slated to serve two versions of its “world famous” lemon pepper wings – Louwill Lemon Pepper BBQ – at the March 16 game. The flavor is named after three-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year-winner, Lou Williams. Rapper T.I. is scheduled to perform at halftime and limited edition Magic City merchandise will be available to purchase at the game.

Magic City celebrated 40 years with a five-part STARZ docuseries, ‘Magic City: An American Fantasy,’ that was produced by Hawks principal owner Jami Gertz and Atlanta native Jermaine Dupri. Magic City founder Michael “Mr. Magic” Barney and T.I. are scheduled to record a live podcast from inside Atlanta’s State Farm Arena before the game.

Kornet, 30, hopes the Hawks and NBA officials listen to him instead.

“I’d like to encourage the league, its owners, employees and fans to hold the Atlanta Hawks to a higher standard of what they find worthy of promoting,” Kornet wrote. “I and others throughout the league were surprised by and object to the Hawks’ decision. We desire to provide an environment where fans of all ages can safely come and enjoy the game of basketball and where we can celebrate the history and culture of communities in good conscience. The celebration of a strip club is not conduct aligned with that vision.”

Luke Kornet stats

Kornet is averaging a career-best 7.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists in his first season with the Spurs. This is the sixth team he’s played for in his nine NBA seasons, with his previous four years spent on the Boston Celtics.

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Atlanta, GA

Blazers Outclassed in Every Aspect By Atlanta

Published

20 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Blazers Outclassed in Every Aspect By Atlanta

The Portland Trail Blazers put up an absolute stinker on Sunday, getting destroyed by the .500 Atlanta Hawks, 135-101. It was a soul-destroying loss. Jrue Holiday and Donovan Clingan have at least some reason to hold their heads high, with Holiday putting up 23 points on 56.3% shooting and Clingan getting a 15 point/15 rebound double-double. Otherwise you have to squint pretty hard to take away anything positive for the Blazers.

Here are a few observations from the game:

First Quarter Disaster Class

Not a whole lot went right for the Blazers in the first quarter other than Jrue Holiday’s 14 points in the frame. No other Blazer could manage more than three points. At the other end of the court, the Hawks were getting to the free throw line with ease, taking 15 freebies against only two for the Blazers. Atlanta found it easy to get wide-open shots too. Simple penetrate-and-kick was the order of the day, and it was shockingly successful. Five turnovers for Portland didn’t help either. With everything going wrong, the refs added to the misery, ignoring some laughably physical play for a steal at one end, while whistling Vit Krejci for a block on a clear charge on the other. Poor whistles led to frustration, with Clingan losing the plot a bit and picking up his third foul in the quarter out of frustration. Finishing down 19 at the end of the first quarter is no way to win a basketball game, yet somehow it could have been worse. With a bit over a minute to go, the Blazers had been down 24. Credit for not giving up I guess, but… yeesh.

Okongwu was terrific. At one point in the 2nd quarter, he had 20 points on 77.8% shooting from the field and 75% shooting from deep. Not bad for a 6’10” center. He was always open in the corner. Every time down the court. If Atlanta had wanted to make feeding him a priority, Okongwu might have finished with 60. Instead, they ignored the obvious and gave every Hawk who took the court plenty of touches and shots. It’s hard to argue with a 34-point win, but it really should have been a 40-point lead at halftime if the Hawks had pressed their advantage.

Henderson’s Three-Point Shot

It’s still early days for Henderson’s 25-26 season, but he’s shown good things coming back from injury. His strength and first step are encouraging. His three-point shooting, however, has been a real problem. For a team that was already at or around the worst three-point percentage in the NBA before Henderson took the court, the last thing they needed was him to come in and shoot 24% for the season. In this game he attempted 4 of them, making one. Two of his misses were so ugly that Atlanta fans were embarrassed for him. Without a functional shot from range, he’s just not showing enough to win the starting job.

Three Quarters of Garbage Time

One way to look at this game is to give the Blazers credit for keeping it pretty even for most of the game after the soul-crushing first quarter. You could also give Portland credit for finding their way to the arena today. This game was decided early and nothing the Blazers did the rest of the way gave anybody a sense that they could mount a comeback. That’s pretty discouraging.

Nice Shooting Percentage From Krejci, But…

75% shooting from the field and 66% from three for Krejci? Yes, please! Three total shots from deep and five overall in a game when they needed points? No, no, no. Krejci seemed like a brilliant pickup for the Blazers, what with him shooting over 40% from three the last three season in Atlanta. He just hasn’t had the kind of impact we all imagined so far. It’s still early in his Blazer career, but the 31.7% that Krejci is shooting from beyond the arc for the Blazers isn’t what anyone had in mind. Today he made his first three shots, with two of them from deep. Would this be the game that could get him on track? Unfortunately he’d only take one more three-pointer the rest of the game. It’s incredible that they wouldn’t at least try to lean into him a bit more when he looked like he might be poised to break out of his Blazers’ shooting slump.

The Blazers will get two days off before taking on the apparently lottery-bound Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday. A Portland win would probably suit both clubs just fine.

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Atlanta, GA

Drama mars finish of half-marathon national championships in Atlanta

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Drama mars finish of half-marathon national championships in Atlanta

The 2026 Publix Atlanta Marathon, which served as the USA Track & Field Half Marathon Championships, met chaos Sunday in the women’s half marathon event.

Three runners — Jess McClain, Emma Grace Hurley and Ednah Kurgat — were led off course by an official race vehicle with less than 2 miles to go. The nearly-half-mile error, according to data from Hurley’s Strava account, cost the runners their top-three finishes.

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