PHILADELPHIA — There are disappointing 5-5 teams in the league, and the Atlanta Falcons are one of them. At .500 after 10 games and with the New Orleans Saints coming to town today, the Falcons are hanging on a precipice that might cost their coach, Jim Mora Jr., his job.

And that's just the tip of it.

Mora must pin his job security on a quarterback still seething over comments Mora's father, former NFL coach Jim Mora Sr., made during a radio interview. Going .500 the rest of the way might not be enough.

Last week, the elder Mora agreed with Fox Sports Radio host Craig Shermon when Shermon called Falcons quarterback Michael Vick a "coach-killer."

"I think you're correct," the elder Mora said, "and it worries me a little bit because my son is the head coach down there, you know. But he's a great athlete. My son likes him a lot. He's a good kid. But he's not a passer. And you need a passer at quarterback to be successful consistently in the National Football League. And he ain't getting it done in that category. I agree with you."

Vick's strengths aren't in throwing the football. This season, he has completed 52.4 percent of his passes, and his 74.3 passer rating — which includes 13 passing touchdowns and nine interceptions — is worse than the ratings for 24 other quarterbacks in the league.

The Falcons rank ninth in total offense, but they are 31st in passing (150.3 yards per game) and first in rushing (189.4 yards per game), in part because Vick has gained 704 yards on the ground, the most of any quarterback.

"Honestly, I really don't know what to say," Vick told reporters in Atlanta. "I can't even respond to that. He's a commentator. He's going to say what he wants to say. I think it was inappropriate, but he's a commentator, and he has every right to say what he wants to say. I'm just going to keep playing football. At the same time, it's crazy."

A conversation with his coach apparently didn't appease Vick.

"Yeah, he came to me and talked to me about it, but when I've got to answer every phone call — I've got 50 people calling my number, asking me did I hear that comment — it starts to burn on you a little bit," Vick said. "I just ended up cutting my phone off and try to block it out and come play football."

As if the younger Mora doesn't have enough problems.

On Friday, Falcons owner Arthur Blank told Steve Wyche of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that if his team doesn't make the playoffs and finishes the season .500 or worse, that "is definitely not good enough, from any perspective."

Blank would not say whether Mora or anyone on his staff was in jeopardy, but he also wouldn't offer a vote of confidence. Since starting the 2005 season 6-2, Atlanta has lost 11 of its last 18 games.

"Our team, since the middle of last year, has not played with the type of consistency that it needs to," Blank told the newspaper. "There's no question about that. All of our fans know that. Everybody in our building knows that. What we have to do is figure out why and what we can do about that."

veceras philly i indy...peyton ce tu uredovat.

coito, jel mozes gledat PHI @ IND?

fala na analizi. a komesaru cu ja osobno uruciti zalbu zbog ovakvih propusta.