While you all enjoy the final round of the AFL home-and-away season, I'm enjoying the NFL's Australian Dream matchup between New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles featuring Ben Graham and Sav Rocca. Rocca is apparently in big trouble trying to win a spot on the Eagles final roster...not so much because of his kicking prowess, but his struggles holding the ball for placement kicks. Twice this season he's failed to turn the laces away from the kicker, causing misses from David Akers. The question for the Eagles is do they take a chance on a "work in progress"?
That answer is "yes". Sav Rocca will begin the season as the Eagles' punter, joining Ben Graham as former AFL legends on NFL rosters. http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/news/Story.asp?story_id=13835
I reckon it's fantastic to see the Aussies starting to make a real impact over in the NFL. I'm a New York Jets convert because of Ben Graham, but will watch with interest to see how the big Sav goes as well.
And a photo... Were the Jets wearing a change-strip, at home?? Maybe that's just a throwback uniform...
It was a throwback to honor the original 1960 New York Titans. Why they'd want to "honor" a laughable era in their history is beyond me. Then again, others say they're living a laughable era right now...
Fair point. The honoring of the N.Y. Titans is what I thought, actually. But all in all, I still believe that Ben Graham's New York Jets will still win more games than Sav Rocca's Philadelphia Eagles, and still play in the playoffs. After all, Benny's got to make up for that sure-fire Premiership that he missed out on.
And I'll keep winning, too. By the way, last weekend might have proved to be a scant amount of revenge for Sav Rocca, as one of his old AFL teams lost to Ben Graham's old AFL team twice this past season.
Bumping this old thread, for a news update... Ben Graham stands to be off the New York Jets' active gameday roster for the second week running this week, while (to a lesser extent) Sav Rocca's future with the Philadelphia Eagles isn't exactly guaranteed for next season, as well.
IIRC, Graham was active in the Jets OT win over Kansas City (he pinned the winning FG for Mike Nugent). And Rocca was featured in a number of highlight packages for an open field bulldogging of Buffalo punt returner Roscoe Parrish. In OZ he would have been whistled down for a high tackle...but all's fair in love and the NFL!