Petrino called a "cancer" by Falcons players

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By STEVE WYCHE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/13/07

Flowery Branch — Falcons rookie defensive end Jamaal Anderson, the team's first-round draft pick from the University of Arkansas, has gotten non-stop calls from players, friends and associates with the Razorbacks football program. They all want to know what type of guy their new coach, Bobby Petrino, is.

"Disloyal," said Anderson, Petrino's first pick as an NFL coach. "If he can leave players here, what makes you think he won't leave the players he's going to coach? I'm just afraid to see what happens if he does bad at Arkansas. Is he going to leave those kids?"

Players and owner Arthur Blank vilified Petrino Wednesday, a day after he failed to notify them in person of his decision to resign as the Falcons' coach.

The venom was widespread. An organization that has fought controversy and criticism all season let it rain Wednesday.

It was a deluge.

Veteran safety Lawyer Milloy taped the "insensitive" farewell letter Petrino sent to players to his locker. Petrino's copied signature was crossed out in red ink.

"Coward!" was put in its place.

"Everything he preached over the past eight months was a lie," Milloy said. "Everything he said he stood for was a lie. He came in and messed with a lot of people's lives — he wasted a year of my life. It was a cowardly act. A selfish act.

"One thing I'm really [mad] at was while he was having a half-hearted approach to games, he was putting us all at risk. His mind wasn't in it. That explains why he threw a challenge flag a play after he was allowed to. Why we went for it on fourth-and-9 and punted on fourth-and-1. Maybe he was on the phone at Arkansas to the AD at that point.

"The cancer was diagnosed. Never would you want it to be your head coach, your general, to be that cancer, but in our case, it was."

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