| |
Lewis likely to rise at Carolina
Posted: Monday August 30, 1999 10:27 AM
Sports Illustrated NFL writer Peter King chatted Sunday with CNN/SI’s Bob Lorenz on CNN's NFL Preview. Bob Lorenz: There are still some quarterback decisions to be made for the Panthers and the Ravens. What’s going to happen there? Peter King: Well, in Carolina, George Seifert doesn’t like any of his options at quarterback right now. He eventually wants to play Jeff Lewis and I think that on about October 1, Lewis will take the job away from Steve Beuerlein. I talked to Baltimore coach Brian Billick this week. One of the things Billick said was, “Nobody here wants to play Scott Mitchell. But he’s our best guy right now.” Mitchell’s going to play over Tony Banks, there’s no question about it. Banks will come in as a relief pitcher, I think, by midseason because Mitchell’s just not strong enough. BL: A lot of people thought that in Detroit, too. Speaking of the Lions, they open the season in two weeks without Barry Sanders. Is there such a thing as a running back rebate? They still want some of that bonus money back, right? PK: The Lions have instituted proceedings to try and get the bonus back from Barry Sanders. I’ve been told that there is explicit language in Sanders’ contract that says if he defaults by not reporting to a training camp or not reporting for the opening of the regular season in any of the six years of the deal, he has to give a prorated portion of the signing bonus back. I talked to NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue about this on Friday. The commissioner told me there’s no question about it -- there is a prorated portion of that bonus that’s owed back. Why is this important? Because next year on the salary cap, if they get the money back, the Lions would be $7.3 million better on their budget. That’s why it’s vital that Detroit get this money back from Barry Sanders. BL: How does Trent Green’s knee injury sit with the rest of the Rams players? Isaac Bruce doesn’t sound too happy about it. PK: Not only are the Rams unhappy with Chargers safety Rodney Harrison because they felt he took a cheap shot at Green -- there were some players who tried to get after Harrison both during and after the game in the tunnel Saturday night -- but also they’re upset that coach Dick Vermeil came out after the game and said he thought it was a legal hit from what he saw. I think when you’re upset as a team, you don’t want to hear your coach saying things like that. Georgia Frontiere, the owner of the Rams, made $800,000 Saturday night with the preseason game. Do you think she’d give that $800,000 back to have their quarterback of the future back because he’s definitely out for the year. One other note to make here: before the year, the Rams were very seriously talking to Jeff Hostetler, who was coming back off a knee injury from last year. Hostetler has been taking care of his ailing son in Morgantown, West Va. The Rams will now call Hostetler to see if he’s in shape to come back. BL: At one point the Bears’ Cade McNown seemed to be a given to start on Opening Day while the Browns’ Tim Couch was a question mark. How have those situations changed now? PK: I think the Bears are still leaning toward starting McNown early for a very simple reason. When he stepped on the practice field the first day of training camp -- I talked to him about this -- he said it felt just like college, nothing different at all, whereas Couch, whose playbook at the University of Kentucky was practically non-existent -- they had about 15 pass plays a game -- now has a playbook the size of the Manhattan phone book because Chris Palmer’s offense is very complicated. Ty Detmer will start the Cleveland opener against Pittsburgh; they’ll try to get Couch in the lineup as soon as possible. I look for McNown to start for the Bears, Detmer for the Browns. BL: Despite Doug Flutie’s amazing success last season, Saturday night’s game against Cincinnati was a big one for him. Why? PK: Because Bills coach Wade Phillips is auditioning Rob Johnson as though he’s going to play him a lot early in the season. He’s given Johnson the final start of the preseason, playing the majority of the game against Pittsburgh next Saturday. Now reading between the lines, when I spoke with Phillips on Saturday, I think what he’s trying to do is tell Johnson, “Look Rob, we’re giving you a fair shot. We’re giving you a chance to win this job. If you’re extraordinary, I’m going to play you.” But in all likelihood, this is Doug Flutie’s team. Wade Phillips knows that he can’t enter the season not playing Doug Flutie. BL: You were at Saturday night’s Jets-Giants game. Any word as to when cornerback Jason Sehorn will step on the field again? PK: I talked to Sehorn Saturday night and one of the things he told me is that he’s being undergoing some unconventional medical therapy now on his torn hamstring. He had acupuncture this past week and will have another round of acupuncture this week to try to heal the muscle. The other thing he did: a fan told him in training camp that he had to try magnets. So he took the magnets, it’s a magnetized sleeve -- he let me feel it on his leg -- it’s a hard-as-rocks magnet system that he has attached to his leg now 24 hours day. As Sehorn told me, “I’ll try anything to get ready for the opener.” BL: Last we heard, Deion Sanders was hoping to return by Week 4. Any update on that? PK: I think this week was the first time the Dallas Cowboys saw Deion Sanders as a possibility to play in the opener. He ran and cut at about 85 percent speed midweek and the Cowboys now think he might be ready. A more realistic goal, though, is still early October against Arizona.
| |||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||
