LITTLE ROCK — McFadden has big fan in Carroll
Oakland Raiders running back Darren McFadden is certainly on the mind of Seattle Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll this week.
“I’ve been familiar with Darren for a long time and his style and the great explosive plays he has in him,” Carroll told The Oakland (Calif.) Tribune. “He’s just growing.”
McFadden (Pulaski Oak Grove, Arkansas Razorbacks) and the Raiders (3-4) host the NFC Westleading Seahawks (4-2) on Sunday at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
While at Southern California, Carroll’s Trojans defeated McFadden’s Razorbacks in 2005 (70-17) and 2006 (50-14).
McFadden was held to 88 and 42 yards, respectively, in the two games.
McFadden, who had a careerhigh 165 yards and 4 touchdowns last week in a 59-14 rout at Denver,has rushed for 557 yards, caught 18 passes for 193 yards and scored 6 touchdowns this season.
“As their whole team improves, he’s going to get better as they give him more chances and more opportunities to get in some space,” Carroll said. “He’s a killer in the open field.
“He just is so fast and can get through tackles. He’s not just aspeed guy, because he’s big and strong, too, and he can catch it and he can throw it. He’s an amazing athlete.
“No surprises to me at all. He’s always been really good, and I don’t think he’s improved that much.” Lil Ron
Listening to parents for Halloween costume advice can be embarrassing, sometimes, but for Liam Roybal, his parents had the right idea.
Roybal, 7, dressed up as Texas Rangers Manager Ron Washington for his family’s church fall festival Wednesday night.
“We all sat around the table and laughed about it. We said, ‘You might really look like Ron Washington when you shave your head,” Ami Roybal, Liam’s mother, told The Dallas Morning News.
Roybal, a second-grader at Keller (Texas) Elementary School, shaved his head and added a fake mustache and a new Rangers Tshirt to complete his costume, earning the nickname Lil Ron Washington.
Hopefully parents in the Metroplex are smart enough to not let their children dress up as Dallas Cowboys Coach Wade Phillips this year.
It’s for the best
Baylor sophomore quarterback Robert Griffin is being touted as a Heisman Trophy candidate by a man who didn’t believe he was good enough to play quarterback at Texas.
That man? Texas Coach Mack Brown.
“Texas did not recruit me as a quarterback,” Griffin told The Dallas Morning News. “They walked into my [high school] coach’s office and placed an offer on the table as an ‘athlete,’ then walked out, so I never saw them.”
Griffin leads the BCS No. 25 Bears (6-2, 3-1 Big 12) into Austin tonight to face the unranked Longhorns (4-3, 2-2). He ranks second nationally in passing yards behind only Hawaii’s Bryant Moniz, completing 180 of 270 passes for 2,373 yards with 18 touchdowns and 4 interceptions and has rushed 76 times for 384 yards and 6 touchdowns.
Despite his success at Baylor, Griffin hasn’t forgotten the slight.
“That’s Texas for you,” Griffin said. “But they get talent from anywhere they want. If they put an offer on the table and you don’t accept it, they’ll go find some other guy.”Quote of the day “There’s baseball left.
Two wins doesn’t get you anything.” San Francisco Giants Manager Bruce Bochy on his team’s 2-0 lead
over the Texas Rangers in the World Series
Sports, Pages 24 on 10/30/2010