Ovie's Block

Editor's Note: Atlanta Falcons fullback Ovie Mughelli, a former Porter-Gaud star, chronicles the NFL season each Sunday for The Post and Courier.

I spent most of bye week at the Atlanta Falcons training facility getting treatment on my injured hamstring.

Trust me, it wasn't how I envisioned spending my weekend. But I'm feeling better and I'm confident that I'll be able to play this afternoon against Tampa Bay.

This is a huge game. Tampa Bay is the most improved team in the NFL and right now we're both tied for the best record in the NFC at 5-2.

A couple of weeks ago after the Bucs beat St. Louis, 18-17, Tampa coach Raheem Morris said, "I like where we are. We're 4-2. We're the best team in the NFC. Yeah, I said it."

That's a bold statement. It's not like we needed any more motivation going into this game, but the coaches have let us know all week what coach Morris said. Not many coaches give other teams bulletin-board material, but he did.

They're coming to Georgia Dome today where we've been a tough team to beat in front of our fans. I guess we're going to find out who the best team in the NFC really is.

Randy Moss cut

In a normal week, most teams have a film session on Monday and then have an off day on Tuesday.

It wasn't until Wednesday morning that we all got together as a team and the major topic of discussion was that Vikings receiver Randy Moss had been cut.

Some guys know Randy. I have to admit I don't know him well at all. I've met him briefly a couple of times.

There's no arguing that he's a great receiver, so everyone was shocked he was cut by Minnesota after they traded with New England to get him. No one really knew what happened. For a player like Randy to get cut, he'd have to slap someone's mother or done something terrible like that.

Then the gossip started to get out that he'd complained about the food he'd gotten at a post-practice team get-together. I saw the so-called press conference he had after the game with New England and he basically threw the Vikings coaches under the bus. My guess was it wasn't just one thing, but a culmination of things that got Randy cut.

We had a player kind of like Randy a couple of years ago in cornerback DeAngelo Hall. DeAngelo was a good player, maybe not as good as he thought he was, and he had some blowups and eventually he moved on. One player can be a disruption especially when that player is a good player.

But no matter how good an individual player is, he's not bigger than the team. It's addition by subtraction.

No face time

I don't know how many of you have seen the latest television commercial for the NFL's Play 60 program.

Basically, it's a program to help kids get out there and get some exercise, at least 60 minutes every day. It's a great program and its goal is to get our kids more healthy by getting more exercise. We go into the schools and try to convince kids that getting out and playing for an hour will make them healthier.

So, the NFL shot a commercial and crammed a lot of us, and by us I mean the Falcons players, on a couple of school busses and shot a 30-second commercial. Coach Mike Smith and team owner Arthur Blank also took part in the commercial. You wouldn't believe how much equipment and preparation goes into a 30-second commercial.

We spent more than two hours shooting this thing on a hot bus without any air conditioning. I have no idea how much film they used, but it was a lot. Everything had to be just right and they played this song over and over again.

They must have spent 15 or 20 minutes shooting a close-up of me during the shoot. I was like, "Man I'm going to be in a national commercial.".

Well, the commercial aired last week and, as it turns out, James Island's Roddy White gets in a couple of shots. Coach Smith, Mr. Blank, Matt Ryan all made it. Me, well, there's about a half-second where you get a glimpse of me when I'm like in the third row.

Oh well, I guess my acting career will have to wait.