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Roddy White, DeAngelo Hall, Olindo Mare Named NFC Players Of The Week As Jim Mora Jr. Smiles From Heaven

The obvious: each of this week's NFC Players of the Week. Atlanta Falcons WR Roddy White rolled up over 200 yards and three scores (three), Washington Redskins CB DeAngelo Hall accepted four courteous passes from Jay "The Butler" Cutler (because he gives you stuff), and Seattle Seahawks kicker Olindo Mare went five-for-five against the Arizona Cardinals.

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The not-so-obvious: each of these players has a very specific Jim Mora Jr. connection. Mora was White's first NFL head coach, so there's that. But Mora also famously took White out to play catch for an hour after practice one day in an attempt to cure the young receiver of the dropsies, a buddy-coach move I actually liked. However, Mora was cool with letting White play ten pounds overweight, and it wasn't until Mora's staff left that White's career began to take off. He's credited Brian Finneran, Joe Horn, and even departed WR coach Paul Petrino with showing him the importance of hard work. Best Petrino ever!

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Mora was also Hall's first pro coach, though most would say the relationship was a little bit more special than that. Rumors of the courtship first flew when Mora rode to a team event in Hall's Lamborghini instead of getting on the team bus along with every Falcon besides Hall.

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Speaking of buses, Mora coached Mare in Seattle. After Mare only hit four of six field goals in a six-point loss to the Chicago Bears, Mora publicly and repeatedly blamed Mare for the loss. Nevermind Mora bro Greg Knapp's offense that had to ask its kicker to finish six drives, of course.

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The lesson this week is the same as it is every other week: we really love you, Mike Smith.

Photographs by coka_koehler used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.