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Krause: Bam Childress? Sounds good for this promising Pats newcomer
By Steve Krause
Monday, August 21, 2006
His first name is really Brandon, but come on. How seriously can you take a football player whose first name is Brandon?
Bam's better. It's one syllable. It's certainly got a nice football sound to it. It almost sounds like "Boom," which is John Madden's favorite expression when a player gets pancaked.
And it has a pedigree to it. Sam "Bam" Cunningham was one of the more punishing runners the New England Patriots ever had. And, of course, there's Bam Morris, late of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who -- before he ran afoul of the law -- was a nifty runner in his own right.
"Hmmm," says Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, "Maybe that's NOT such a good legacy. (Morris) was all right for a while ... before (his legal troubles) happened."
But perhaps the NFL has a new "Bam" -- Bam Childress, who, with regular wide receiver Deion Branch still holding out for a contract extension, got his turn to shine Saturday night in New England's 30-3 pre-season win over the Arizona Cardinals.
Childress comes from humble origins -- at least where football is concerned. He was an undrafted free agent rookie (usually that means practice squad fodder) who caught three passes last season -- all of them in New England's meaningless regular-season finale against Miami. He spent most of last season on the practice squad, and was even cut once.
But if Saturday night is any indication, he may see the field more this time.
His first real introduction to New England fans came with 2:40 to go in the first quarter, when Brady threw a 29-yard sideline pass to him.
He was neck and neck with Arizona's Adrian Wilson, but managed to outleap him, catch the ball off his fingertips (a skill that was featured prominently in on-line scouting reports), and reel it in.
"I picked it up late," said Childress. "I was looking over my shoulder, and all of a sudden I heard the crowd cheer, and I knew it was coming my way. I just saw it right before I caught it."
Childress caught two more passes -- one more from Brady and one from backup Matt Cassell. The fact that he was out there with the first team meant a little more to Childress, but he says he can't put too much stock in it.
"I just want to stay humble," he says. "I'm not perfect. The object here is not to play well one day. The objective is to keep playing well ... keep getting better ... keep moving on."
Childress' second and third receptions helped set up touchdowns, and both featured nice runs after the catch -- something he says is very important to him.
"My job is to catch the ball," he said, "but it's also to make the first person afterward miss, and get some yards out of it. So yeah, it's real important to me."
Earlier in the week, coach Bill Belichick talked about the value of keeping players who are works in progress around, even if they don't play much early in their careers. It would appear that Childress is one of those players.
"That's me," Childress said, "a work in progress."
With Branch still out of camp, this would be a golden opportunity for Childress.
"It's an opportunity for everybody," he said. "But yeah, it's an opportunity for them to put me in ...and for me to show them what I can do."
Perhaps it's too early to make a final determination of just how valuable Childress will be this season. But the undrafted Ohio State product could prove to be a very valuable guy to have around if he has more games like the one he had Saturday.
Steve Krause is sports editor of The Item.
http://www.thedailyitemoflynn.com/news/view.bg?articleid=12915
By Steve Krause
Monday, August 21, 2006
His first name is really Brandon, but come on. How seriously can you take a football player whose first name is Brandon?
Bam's better. It's one syllable. It's certainly got a nice football sound to it. It almost sounds like "Boom," which is John Madden's favorite expression when a player gets pancaked.
And it has a pedigree to it. Sam "Bam" Cunningham was one of the more punishing runners the New England Patriots ever had. And, of course, there's Bam Morris, late of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who -- before he ran afoul of the law -- was a nifty runner in his own right.
"Hmmm," says Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, "Maybe that's NOT such a good legacy. (Morris) was all right for a while ... before (his legal troubles) happened."
But perhaps the NFL has a new "Bam" -- Bam Childress, who, with regular wide receiver Deion Branch still holding out for a contract extension, got his turn to shine Saturday night in New England's 30-3 pre-season win over the Arizona Cardinals.
Childress comes from humble origins -- at least where football is concerned. He was an undrafted free agent rookie (usually that means practice squad fodder) who caught three passes last season -- all of them in New England's meaningless regular-season finale against Miami. He spent most of last season on the practice squad, and was even cut once.
But if Saturday night is any indication, he may see the field more this time.
His first real introduction to New England fans came with 2:40 to go in the first quarter, when Brady threw a 29-yard sideline pass to him.
He was neck and neck with Arizona's Adrian Wilson, but managed to outleap him, catch the ball off his fingertips (a skill that was featured prominently in on-line scouting reports), and reel it in.
"I picked it up late," said Childress. "I was looking over my shoulder, and all of a sudden I heard the crowd cheer, and I knew it was coming my way. I just saw it right before I caught it."
Childress caught two more passes -- one more from Brady and one from backup Matt Cassell. The fact that he was out there with the first team meant a little more to Childress, but he says he can't put too much stock in it.
"I just want to stay humble," he says. "I'm not perfect. The object here is not to play well one day. The objective is to keep playing well ... keep getting better ... keep moving on."
Childress' second and third receptions helped set up touchdowns, and both featured nice runs after the catch -- something he says is very important to him.
"My job is to catch the ball," he said, "but it's also to make the first person afterward miss, and get some yards out of it. So yeah, it's real important to me."
Earlier in the week, coach Bill Belichick talked about the value of keeping players who are works in progress around, even if they don't play much early in their careers. It would appear that Childress is one of those players.
"That's me," Childress said, "a work in progress."
With Branch still out of camp, this would be a golden opportunity for Childress.
"It's an opportunity for everybody," he said. "But yeah, it's an opportunity for them to put me in ...and for me to show them what I can do."
Perhaps it's too early to make a final determination of just how valuable Childress will be this season. But the undrafted Ohio State product could prove to be a very valuable guy to have around if he has more games like the one he had Saturday.
Steve Krause is sports editor of The Item.
http://www.thedailyitemoflynn.com/news/view.bg?articleid=12915
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