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One fine day Some Sundays are made for a dish and a quick clickerPosted: Monday December 02, 2002 10:18 AM
PHILADELPHIA -- Sometimes, you just wish you could have one day off from the greatest job in the world, so you could sit in the big yellow room in your house, in the Naugahyde easy chair that flips way back. With the remote in your hand, of course. Because there are such interesting things happening on some Sundays, and the only way you get to see said interesting things is on the highlights.
Sunday was one of those days. As I sat in a press box -- the chilly Veterans Stadium one -- between two big football writers (Rick Gosselin from Dallas and Ken Murray from Baltimore) I kept hearing snippets of what was going on around the league. Ricky Williams has 200 yards rushing? What?! Some Steelers kicker has converted six straight field goals? Who? Michael Vick ran for 173 today? No way! Way. It was a day of magnificent performances I wish I'd seen. From afar, here's the order of historical perspective I'd put them in: 1. Vick rushes for 173 yards, including the winning touchdown in overtime. It's official: We are seeing the Next Big Thing in sports right here, right now. Vick ran for 173 and threw for 173 -- you couldn't make that up -- and his 46-yard touchdown run in overtime won the game. "I've never seen anyone fly on the football field like that before," said coach Dan Reeves. 2. Steve McNair showing such guts in winning it for the Titans. McNair was playing with a rib cage shot up with painkillers, thanks to an injury that forced him to miss a week of practice ... Tennessee down 26-14 ... early fourth quarter ... McNair leads the Titans on a 14-play, 72-yard drive to make it 26-21 ... Giants answer with a field goal to make it 29-21 ... Titans get it at their 19 with two minutes left ... McNair leads them 81 yards, capped off by a nine-yard strike to Frank Wycheck ... 29-27 ... Two-point conversion attempt ... Crowd on its feet ... But wait, what's this? McNair audibles on the two-point play ... Turns out he's calling a quarterback draw! What brass knuckles, or something, this man has! ... And he makes it! ... Tie, 29-29 ... Overtime ... G-men win the toss. Advance to the Tennessee 46 but have to punt ... From his 20, McNair completes four key passes, moving the ball to the Giants' 20 ... Joe Nedney's 38-yard field goal seals it ... Titans, 32-29. ... "This ranks with his best games," said Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher. I should hope so, Jeff. 3. LaDainian Tomlinson gashes a good D for 220. Cris Collinsworth says Tomlinson's the best rookie of the past five years. That would make him better than Vick, his draft-mate a year and a half ago. I don't buy that, but I understand how people might. Against Denver, Tomlinson went off -- 37 carries, 220 yards, and 11 catches for 51 more yards in arguably the best day a running back has had in the NFL in a long time. Chargers 30, Horses 27. 4. But wait: Then there's Ricky Williams' day in Buffalo. From the highlights, it looked like snow was falling sideways, for crying out loud, and it was the first game Williams had ever played in the white stuff. All he did was set franchise rushing records for both a game (228 yards) and a single season (1,284). "I was a little nervous about it," Williams said. "But we did a good job up front and it made my job easy." On the Dolphins' first play from scrimmage, Williams torched the Bills for 45 yards and a touchdown, and that's the kind of day it was. 5. Let's hand it to a defensive guy now: Philadelphia's N.D. Kalu. You have a game like this once a career, if you're lucky. Kalu's a career situation pass-rusher who hit the gold mine Sunday; franchise tackle Orlando Pace's injury forced Andy King, a rookie tackle fresh off the practice squad, into trying to block the cat-quick Kalu. And here's what happened: Kalu had four sacks for 24 yards lost, two forced fumbles, six tackles and one special teams-mauling tackle. "Put an asterisk next to my sacks," he said humbly, "because the DBs were covering so well and Kurt Warner had to hold the ball so long." If you say so. 6. Dee Brown's big day broke a very weird Carolina schneid. This is what we know about Dee Brown: second-year back, about 5-foot-9, sort of scatbackish, hadn't started a game, sixth-round pick from Syracuse in '01. When Lamar Smith went out and got arrested on charges of drunken driving Thursday night and prematurely ended his season (you need to know Smith's troubled history with Seattle to understand why the Panthers took this so seriously and put him on leave for the rest of the year), Brown got his chance. The Panthers had lost 20 straight games in October, November and December -- until Brown personally did something about it in Cleveland. Twenty-seven carries and 122 yards led to a 13-6 win over the Browns. 7. A scrap-heap kicker saves the Steelers. Fourteen years ago, Gary Anderson set a team record with six field goals in a game. On Sunday in Jacksonville, someone named Jeff Reed converted from 24, 29, 30, 46 and 33 to give the Steelers an apparently safe 22-10 lead with 11 minutes left. But back came Jacksonville, cutting the lead to 22-17. And with just over four minutes left, the Steelers stalled at the Jags' 33. In trotted Reed. His 50-yard winner was as right as rain. You could see Tom Coughlin mouth this incredulous word on the sidelines as the kick went through: "WHAT?!!!!" 8. Matt Hasselbeck might finally be getting it. You almost have to triple Jeff Garcia's passing yards at 3Com (164) to reach Hasselbeck's (427). The kid who had previously let Mike Holmgren down mightily in Seattle went 30-of-55 with three touchdowns and two very costly early picks. "If I played better, we could have gotten it done," Hasselbeck said. At least he's playing respectably, and Holmgren knows he has a chance in a shootout. Not that it does him much good now, probably. 9. Travis Henry was no Ricky in the snow, but he was damn good, and against a much tougher run defense. Miami's run D was rated third in the league entering the game in Buffalo, and what Henry did was nearly Tomlinsonesque: 35 carries, 151 yards. Funny. All anyone was talking about after the game was Williams' big day and Drew Bledsoe passing up a storm in the storm. Hellooooo! Ball possession was vital in this game, and Henry, by being such a big horse, allowed the Bills to keep it for almost 33 minutes. 10. We can't forget Clinton Portis. On any other non-Tomlinson day, what the shifty, speedy rookie from Miami (now a lock for offensive rookie honors, I would think) carved up a good run defense for 23 carries, 159 yards and two touchdowns. I must admit I thought Mike Shanahan was nuts for taking a running back so high in last year's draft, but now I think I'm nuts for thinking he was nuts. What a great day it was for the Sunday NFL Ticket subscribers. Someday, if I'm really good, maybe I can be one of them.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK Dallas RB Emmitt Smith, with apologies to McNair, Vick, Bledsoe and Ricky Williams, all of whom played heroically for their teams. This very well could have been the last great game of Smith's tremendous career. On the FOX pregame show Thursday, owner Jerry Jones said pretty clearly this will be Smith's last month with the Cowboys. "It's time to move on," Jones said, not so cryptically. Then Smith went out and steamrolled the Redskins with a season-high 144 yards on 23 carries in the 27-20 win over Washington -- the 76th 100-yard game of his career. Now, I don't blame Jones for not wanting to start 2003 with a 34-year-old, 14th-year running back making jillions against the cap. But there is no question Smith -- now just 166 yards from another 1,000-yard season -- still has some game left in the old tank. I see him as a Cardinal or Raider in 2003, though Smith won't want to be a circus attraction, which is what he'd be in Arizona if Bill Bidwill dusted off the wallet for him, a drawing card playing for a bad team. It's more likely Al Davis would make him the latest old-star trophy (Ronnie Lott, Jerry Rice) in the Raiders' stable. DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK Philadelphia DE Hugh Douglas, for his two-sack job on Warner at the Vet. Didn't matter how many times Douglas was chipped and bothered and slapped around by every available Ram, as they came over to help out on the slippery defensive end. He still got his quarry twice, giving him 10 for the year. Another double-digit sack year for a guy who still has lots of football left and just might make a bundle in free agency this offseason. SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK Chicago TE Dustin Lyman. The third-year backup tight end from Wake Forest caught a 12-yard fake field goal touchdown from punter/holder Brad Maynard, and, in inclement conditions in Green Bay, provided a huge edge in a game when you just knew points would be scarce. (Lyman would also go on to catch an eight-yard touchdown pass from Jim Miller to give the Bears a 14-3 lead.) The fake field goal was a great plan by special teams coach Mike Sweatman, a former Bill Parcells disciple. Last week, Maynard threw a special-teams touchdown pass to Brian Urlacher. This week, on a chippy Paul Edinger field goal attempt early in the first quarter, the Bears put Urlacher in motion from left to right across the formation, causing the Packers to account for Urlacher on the left side. Maynard took the snap and Lyman broke behind center and turned to scoop a low pass off the ground. Lyman battered through the line and scored fairly easily. COACH OF THE WEEK Baltimore head coach Brian Billick. His team, playing with the youngest defense in recent history, and almost every week without Ray Lewis, has won six of 10. Billick challenged his coaching staff before the season to be the best teachers they could be. It has paid off. Who'd have ever thought this team would win six games, never mind have the sixth win with four games left to play? GOAT OF THE WEEK Washington RB Kenny Watson, for his cavalier approach to pass-receiving that cost his team seven points in the seven-point loss to Dallas. Danny Wuerffel's easily catchable pass bounced off Watson's pads at the Washington 4, and the ball popped into the air. Cowboys safety Roy Williams caught the ricocheted pass and rumbled into the end zone for a touchdown. QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"If you took tapes of both these offenses and sent 'em to Don Coryell to watch, he'd be sick. He'd throw up."
QUOTE OF THE WEEK II
"Can we let him get one banner up in the gym before we put him in Canton, please?"
When Charlie Weis lay comatose in a hospital bed in Boston last summer, the victim of a stomach-stapling surgery gone horribly wrong, wife Maura had a Catholic priest perform last rites twice on him. (The Weises are devout Catholics; Charlie went to Notre Dame.) When the Archdiocese of Boston heard about Weis' plight, it offered to send Cardinal Bernard Law to Weis' bedside to pray for him. Law was, and still is, dealing with the priest sex-abuse scandal, and has been accused of being too lenient with repeat offenders. Maura sent a message to the Archdiocese that said, in effect: Thanks, but no thanks.
Thanks for the support on all things field hockey. I'd say the letters ran 4-to-1 this week to keep field hockey and my selfish high school sports coverage in MMQB, so in the column it will stay. Also got some support in that vein from buddy Bob Costas this week. MMQB "is a football Travels With Charley," he said. Hmm. Wonder if Steinbeck liked the Niners or Raiders? A couple of thoughts on those teams -- and a couple on my rankings -- get space this week. YOU SLIGHT THE REDSKINS. From Bruce of Washington, D.C.: "I don't get it. On Sunday, the Redskins thoroughly spanked the Rams. Yet on Monday you have the Rams tied for 12th (with the same record as the Redskins) and you talk about the Rams' wild-card chances. The only way the Rams are a wild-card team is if they pull ahead of Philly, headed for second in the NFC East to Washington. I hope you have some time this week to reflect on the Redskins-Rams game and you get the story right next Monday." Bruce, Bruce, Bruce. You know, there's an old saying: "Never write a letter you'll regret when the Redskins have a Thursday game in Dallas before the next column goes to bed." Tsk, tsk. YOU GOT SUCKED IN BY BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE. From Chris of Tampa: "Let a manipulative hack like Michael Moore interview you sometime and see how you look. Can't believe you were suckered by that B.S.-laden 'documentary.' Almost makes me wish for more field hockey drivel." God help this country if a 6-year-old boy can pick up a loaded gun in his uncle's home, go to school and shoot a classmate to death -- and then we all just sit back and say, "The gun issue is too big for us to do anything about." It's fine to hate a guy like Moore, but in a free country isn't the message that we have to do something about guns worth hearing? FIRE MORNHINWEG. From Jeff of Vancouver, B.C.: "Big fan of MMQB. Is there a coach in the NFL who consistently blows at least one crucial decision a game the way Marty Mornhinweg does for the Lions? I mean, has he been instructed to try to get the highest draft choice next year? Will he be around next year, or will the Lions take a step forward with someone new, like Marvin Lewis?" What, 5-23 isn't good enough for you? A couple of points: Now that Bill Ford Sr., an infinitely more patient man than his auto-company-running son, is back with decision-making authority over the Lions, I think it's far from a sure thing that he will blow this team up and start over again. First of all, I don't think he's inclined to fire Matt Millen. But I do think that if Millen stays for the third year of his five-year deal, Millen could choose to can Mornhinweg and start over on the coaching side. They're not joined at the hip forever. As for Lewis, Millen had the chance to hire him last time and waited till after the Super Bowl to interview him. So I doubt it. DON'T GO CHANGIN'. From Charles Ro of Seattle: "I just read something by Peter Gammons quoting Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi about the Red Sox being afraid of the public reaction to hiring such a young general manager (Theo Epstein). Ricciardi said, 'I wanted to remind them of what Bobby Knight used to say: If you listen to the guys up in the stands, pretty soon you'll be sitting up there with them.' To hell with your detractors. Write what you want. Also, how can my beloved Seahawks get respectable on the defensive side of the ball?" Thanks. As for the 'Hawks, my two messages: Draft better, and don't pay fading stars big money (i.e. defensive tackle John Randle, $27 million) in free agency. Throwing huge money at free agents cripples you more often than it fixes you. A 'SPORTS GUY' FAN CHECKS IN. From Jeff Smith of Merrimack, N.H.: "Please don't listen to the boo-birds. You have the second-best column going (I have to give 'The Sports Guy' his props). What makes MMQB a good column is the human touch. I love the travel stories, the coffeenerdness, and most of all the Montclair updates! I openly wept while reading about the death of your dog, Woody, last winter. People come and go, but dogs stay with you forever. Every Monday morning, I feel as if I just got a letter from an old friend." Thanks, Jeff. Woody was a good dog, wasn't he? HAPPY HANUKKAH! From Zeev Avrahmi of Tel Aviv: "Shalom! Do you think Denver, and Brian Griese in particular, is overrated? His TD-to-interception ratio is not impressive and the Broncos' record without him is just as good. Do they fail because they don't have a megastar to lead them?" Shalom to you, Zeev. I like the Broncos. For a while I thought they were football's best team. But their defense was awfully vulnerable to the dink-and-dunk passing game of the Raiders. I'd like to see Griese be more consistent, but he's a 66 percent passer with a pretty good yards-per-attempt average (7.27). That's a key stat, and Brett Favre, for instance, is only at 7.24. Griese does get zinged for his lack of leadership, and deservedly so. Star power doesn't matter, but leadership does. THIS MAN DOES NOT LIKE WARREN SAPP. From Scott Spier of Tyler, Texas: "Please do not give any more column space to that overweight, semi-productive horse's ass, Warren Sapp. Bravo to Mike Sherman for standing up to that oversized sack of crap." My question: Where were the Packers players when Sherman's stand took place?
MANCHESTER, Conn. -- Thanksgiving morning. Running the great 4.748-mile Manchester Road Race (www.manchesterroadrace.com for results) through the streets of this central Connecticut town with 12,500 of my closest friends -- and up one very long hill in the process. I'm there with high school junior daughter Mary Beth King, who has been mostly dormant since the end of the field hockey season. And I'm cocky enough to think I'm going to have more wind in me that she does. (Well, I do, but that's a different kind of wind than I'm talking about.) Insanely cold, about 23 degrees at the start of the race. A five-inch snowfall has been pushed to sides of the roads. I haven't run a race since the Polar Bear Five-Miler in Asbury Park, N.J., last year. But this one's a must, even if I have to walk some. Two years ago I ran with eldest daughter Laura, and I had to stop to walk twice. "This time, no walking," I say to Mary Beth at the start line. This is a quirky, slice-of-Americana road race, 66 years old, the most popular road race in New England after the Boston Marathon. People run in costumes, as high school teams, in family units with kids, parents and younger grandparents, while crowds gather along the side of the road to cheer you on. Cheer, I think, would be a relative term. Much heavy drinking goes on. We don't pass the start line for 4 minutes and 17 seconds because of congestion, and so, nearing the one-mile mark, a sarcastic drunk yells out: "Congratulations! You can run a 15-minute mile! What an accomplishment!" A polka band with an accordion player serenades us up the hill, which rises from mile 1.0 to about mile 2.2. Halfway up, I'm laboring pretty good when -- I kid you not -- a man in a bunny costume and with a microphone (I guess he was a silly radio station prankster) jogs alongside me and says, "Tell me, sir! Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?" Quick-witted guy that I am, I reply: "No comment." All the while, Mary Beth is not even breathing hard. She keeps looking back a few steps at me, hoping I don't need the EMS people. Near the three-mile mark, a guy from a pack of partiers yells out to me (I'm wearing a Notre Dame T-shirt), "Hey Irish! How about a Marlboro Light!" Still running, and a half-mile from the finish, Mary Beth says: "Come on, Dad! Let's sprint it in! You can do it!" She takes off. I follow, fast. I make it about 200 yards at such a speed, then realize my chest will explode if I keep it up. Mary Beth is 150 yards ahead of me before she realizes I'm not there. So she jogs almost in place waiting for me, and we cruise in. Now, my brother Bob is the runner in the family. He finishes a half an hour ahead of us in 31:32, a marvelous 402nd overall. Mary Beth and I come in at just about an hour -- 63:59 for her, officially, and 64:08 for me, but that includes the delay at the start, which, of course, I will gladly take. She finishes No. 8,170, and I am 8,185. Wonderful, wonderful experience. "Great job, Dad! That's pretty impressive!" she says. Well, finishing 7,700 spots behind my brother, who is two years older than I am, does qualify as a moral victory in my reporter's notebook.
1. I think the craziest stat/story in football right now is this: Miami imported Ricky Williams to make itself better than it was the past couple of years, and this was already a good team. The Dolphins were the only team to win 11 games in 2000 and 2001. They lost five games apiece in 2000 and 2001. They've already lost five in 2002 -- in spite of the fact that Williams has succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. In 12 games, Williams has already broken the Dolphins' single-season rushing record. What more can the guy do? Not much. Which goes to show you how valuable Jay Fiedler has become to this team. 2. I think these are my quick-hit football thoughts of the weekend: a. This Warren Sapp/Mike Sherman thing isn't over. Sapp was confrontational in his interview with Cris Carter on HBO the other day, then he told ESPN's Suzy Kolber over the weekend, in reference to Sherman: "Don't talk to me unless you've been in the trenches. Please. He violated me. He violated me personally." b. Weird category, but no player in the league has been better than I thought he'd be this year more than Green Bay receiver Donald Driver. c. Sign of the Times: "Daniel Snyder purchased the Redskins but the Cowboys own them." Seen at Texas Stadium Thursday. d. Vick had 173 yards rushing at Minnesota. I am officially speechless. e. Funny. Drew Bledsoe told me the other day, "We need to be more patient on offense. We've got to let drives develop. We can't get greedy." Their touchdown drives vs. Miami: eight, four, two, one and seven plays. Patience is a virtue, except when Eric Moulds is open deep. f. Attention, Tim Couch: I know nothing about your game Sunday except this: You can't lose to the Panthers at home. You just can't. g. If I have my choice of any kicker in football right now, my guy is David Akers. To have an 84 percent kicker (82-of-98 lifetime) in the tricky weather of the Northeast is a tremendous asset. Every ball comes off his foot like a laser. i. So nice to see you berate your quarterback on the highlights Sunday night, Terrell Owens. What a great teammate you must be. 3. I think I have to hand it to Simeon Rice, who most of the league left for dead after his disappointing years in Arizona. Give the man a good supporting cast and a defensive coordinator (Monte Kiffin) who trusts Rice enough to turn him loose within the confines of the Tampa Bay defensive system, and he dominates. On Sunday night Rice had three sacks and became the first man to have multiple sacks in five straight NFL games. On that defensive front, Rice becomes a legitimate candidate for 20 sacks some year. Maybe even this year. He needs 5.5 in his last four games to hit 20. His schedule could be tougher (Atlanta, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Chicago), so maybe he'll make a run at it. 4. I think the MVP race, this morning, comes down to five players: Rich Gannon, Vick, Favre, Priest Holmes, Ricky Williams (if Miami gets hot). And I think Gannon wins it if he averages 313 passing yards a game in his last five. Why 313? Because that would break Dan Marino's all-time record of 5,084 passing yards in a season. I can't see not voting for Gannon if he breaks it, unless he's doing it in three or four blowout losses in December. Which I don't see happening to the Raiders. 5. I think these are my personal thoughts of the week: a. Missed The Sopranos. But I know the ending of next week's finale, because some HBO folks have clued me in. My lips are sealed. Don't test me. But let me just say this: Next Sunday's going to have some fireworks, folks. b. Enjoyable dinner with the Rams' media party Saturday night at the Palm in Philadelphia. Sal Paolantonio and I guested. What a big man he is in that city. The whole place knew him from his City Hall beat days with the Inquirer. Good to hear Rams radio voice Jack Snow tell some stories about the old days. c. Coffeenerdness: I have given the eggnog latte a second chance, and I'm glad I did. The Starbucks across the street from the Philadelphia Westin made it perfectly over the weekend twice -- once on Saturday and once on Sunday. d. I have one thing to say about the new Rob Schneider movie, The Hot Chick. If that movie does well, I quit the human race. e. Montclair (N.J.) High Field Hockey Note of the Week: The idols were idle. Banquet Tuesday night, though. f. There is no better holiday than Thanksgiving. 6. I think it looks as if the old fire-and-brimstone stuff isn't working for Dave McGinnis. What a dive his players have taken. Since starting 4-2, Arizona has lost six straight, by an average of 23 points a game. 7. I think you have to look out for Indianapolis capturing the AFC's home-field advantage, as incredible as that seems. The Colts close with the Giants and Jags at home, and both opponents should be mathematically out of it when those games are played. I could see the Colts going 3-1 with that reborn defense and fighting out home-field with someone in the tiebreakers. 8. I think these are my college football thoughts of the week: a. Beano Cook, I'm positive, dresses in the dark. b. If I were an NFL scout, and I had to say whether Byron Leftwich or Carson Palmer should be the No. 1 pick next April, I would have this quandary: How do I compare Palmer shredding Notre Dame for more than 400 yards with Leftwich doing the same to Ball State? Leftwich, it seems to me, has basically been bequeathed to the Bengals with the top pick in next April's draft. (Poor him.) I don't know how Carolina, if it has the chance, could pass on Palmer. c. How can Notre Dame be in a BCS game? d. I'd take USC in a neutral-site game over Ohio State right now. 9a. I think, as you probably know, I'm a big fan of ESPN's Edge NFL Matchup, and I hand it to Merril Hoge for being a gutsy, true-to-his-convictions TV guy. But Hoge said something Sunday for which he should be drug-tested. He called Cincinnati's Jon Kitna "an outstanding quarterback." And he said, as if talking to Bengals management: "You'd have been in the playoffs if you'd started him all year." This is a 57 percent passer over the past two years, with a 23-to-32 touchdown-to-interception ratio. 9b. I think I almost forgive Hoge. His message to the Vikings on a quitting Randy Moss from last week's Minnesota-New England game: "Get rid of this bum. If you want to save your franchise, you've got to cut this guy." 10. I think Deuce McAllister led the league in guts in week 13.
Hot team meets hotter team. I like the way the Jets are playing right now, and I wouldn't be surprised one bit if they won this game by 10 points. Chad Pennington is accurate enough, and Curtis Martin gritty enough to make that happen, what with the ankle that won't be right all year. But there is just no stopping the Oakland offense right now. Jerry Porter (eight touchdowns) has as many as Tim Brown and Jerry Rice combined, and nobody even talks about him. Porter's a future star, I think. Might even be one by the end of this year. In the Oakland offense, anybody can be a star, in any game. It's like the St. Louis offense of 1999-2001. You didn't know if Az Hakim or Ernie Conwell or Marshall Faulk or Isaac Bruce or Torry Holt would be the gasher in a given week. Raiders, 33-24. Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Monday Morning Quarterback appears in this space -- no kidding -- on Monday mornings. Click here to send him a comment.
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