Calm down, Cowboys fans
Send a question to Peter
King
Posted: Thu September 18,
1997
I've received a number of questions about the
Cowboys and their sputtering offense. Many of you seem to
feel that offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese is the prime
suspect.
Uh-uh.
I can sum up the Cowboys' problems in four
words: Anthony Miller's poor
health. I don't buy the simplistic theory that Zampese has gone
brain-dead and is running a high school offense. Look back
three years: The offense was Emmitt left, Emmitt middle and
Emmitt right. That was pretty simplistic too, but
I didn't hear anyone
complaining about Zampese
then.
When the Cowboys signed Miller, they thought they were
buying a legitimate threat to take
1 1/2
defensive players toward his side of the field on every
passing down. (By
1 1/2
I mean the corner who has primary coverage responsibility
plus a nickelback or safety who must be ready to help if
and when Miller beats the
corner.)
But Dallas hasn't had that advantage because Miller was
slow coming back from arthroscopic knee surgery. Now he has
a strained hamstring. If you watched Monday night's
fiasco/win over the Eagles, you saw how the Eagles treated
Miller: like he was just
another guy. If the pressure on Michael Irvin isn't reduced,
the Dallas offense looks inefficient and
ineffective.
My solution? Put Miller in the whirlpool for the next three
weeks. The Cowboys have an open date this week, and then
they face the lowly Bears and Giants. Give Miller until
Oct. 13 to get fully healthy for a brutal stretch of
games—Washington,
Jacksonville, Philly and San
Francisco.
Do the Cardinals have a shot at the playoffs? The win over
Dallas was big, but was it enough to turn this club
around?
—Terry Mullins, Ozark,
Ala.
Are you serious? The Cardinals have as much chance of
making the playoffs this year as the Boston Red Sox do. The
Cardinals have played three very competitive games so far,
but they are still woefully inconsistent on offense and
will need to win a bunch
of 13-10 games to see .500. Now, if Kent Graham can become
a better, more efficient quarterback than he's shown in the
first three weeks—he's completed just 51% of his
throws—then I will amend my remarks. But I don't think
he's much better than he's
shown.
Do you think the Bengals' Carl Pickens will become one of the league's
elite
receivers?
—Paul Riccobene,
Cincinnati
Pickens is one of the elite receivers
now. The man has 199 catches for 2,400 yards and 29 touchdowns
over the last couple of years. Anybody who puts up those
kinds of numbers—especially for a team that has had a
horrible running game—earns a spot among the top receivers
in the
NFL.
Which coaches are likely to get the boot this
season?
—Jeff Carlson, Hallandale,
Fla.
It's relatively rare for a coach to get fired in
midseason—it usually happens only if there's a decent
interim candidate on the staff. Which coaches are in the
most danger of getting fired
after the season? This is my list:
1) Dave Wannstedt, Chicago. He has three years left on his
contract and owner Mike McCaskey is loath to pay off big
settlements, but the Bears are looking like a 4-12 outfit
to me and that would put Wannstedt eight games below .500
after
five years on
the job. I think it would be hard to sell Wannstedt to a city
that is rapidly turning off to
him.
2) Dennis Erickson, Seattle. I think the Seahawks have to win
at least eight games and maybe even earn a wild-card berth
for Erickson to keep his job. Erickson should certainly be
able to win nine with the talent he has.
3) Ted Marchibroda, Baltimore.
I have no inside knowledge of any dissatisfaction with
Marchibroda, who is very well liked by owner Art Modell.
But, if Marchibroda pulls, say, a 5-11 record, that makes
him 9-23 after two years, and that's not the kind of
résumé that Art Modell wants to bring into a
new stadium next
year.
The other two coaching situations that bear watching are
Philadelphia and Dallas. I think Eagles coach Ray Rhodes
would love to get a divorce from owner Jeff Lurie, and
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told me he seriously considered
firing coach Barry Switzer
after the July gun-in-the-airport
incident.
Last year SI was highly critical of the current crop of
young quarterbacks in the NFL, Trent Dilfer in particular.
Has your opinion
changed?
—Chris Stearman,
Tampa
I think Dilfer has gotten more help from his team than any
quarterback in the league the past two off-seasons. You
surround a guy with good players, and he's going to play
better. Dilfer doesn't have to be great for the Bucs to
win, he only has to be
efficient. Look at the top of the NFC
quarterback leader board right now, and there's Dilfer at 100.4.
I've never really felt like the young quarterbacks were
hopeless. What I have felt is that too many teams were
giving up on young quarterbacks too quickly. I truly
believe that for a quarterback to be at his best, his team
has to give him the
opportunity to develop at a reasonable pace.
I want you to look in your newspaper at the quarterback
rankings this week. In the NFC, for example, Dilfer is No.
1. Tampa Bay stuck with him through incredibly bad times.
Minnesota's Brad Johnson is No. 2. He apprenticed in Denny
Green's offense for
4 1/2
years before getting his chance. Now he's got the best
completion percentage in football. Troy Aikman is No. 3.
Obviously a team is going to stick with a guy who was the
first overall pick in the draft, but even Troy Aikman had a
few dismal years before
becoming
Troy
Aikman.
What is the origin of Bill Parcells' nickname,
"Tuna"?
—Fillmore Wood, Buena Park,
Calif.
Parcells got the nickname when he was a coach with the
Patriots about 17 years ago. Some of his defensive players
claimed that he looked like Charlie the Tuna in the old
StarKist commercials. The rest is history.
As a longtime Redskins fan, I am beginning to lose faith in
Gus Frerotte. Will he ever be a top-of-the-line
quarterback?
—Dave Stout, Poolesville,
Md.
First of all, the Washington hype machine turned Frerotte
into a borderline savior
way too quickly. Before this year, all he had done in
2 1/2
years was beat out Heath Shuler. Think about it. In 36
games, his TD-to-interception ratio was 30 to 29, his
quarterback rating a very average 73.7 and the Redskins had a 13-18
record in games he
started.
That isn't to say
I don't like him. I do. He's 26, he has terrific potential
and is totally fearless under the gun—as he showed in his
big-time touchdown pass to Michael Westbrook in
OT on Sunday. But Dave, you and everyone else inside and
outside the
Beltway got far too excited about a player who has a
chance to be very good but who is not very good yet.
That's why you're feeling a little let down right
now.
Which has been the bigger adjustment for the Steelers, the
loss of key players or the loss of Dick
LeBeau?
—Jason Palmer, Kinmundy,
Ill.
Losing 11 defensive starters in the four years since the
advent of free agency would paralyze almost any team. It's
kind of amazing that the Steelers are still highly
competitive.
It's too early to say whether the Steelers will be hurt by
the loss of defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau to the
Bengals. I talked to former Pittsburgh linebacker Chad
Brown on Sunday after Seattle's win. He said schemes are
often overrated. The team
that has the best players will make the plays. If linebacker
Greg Lloyd can dominate again, and Chad Scott can play
beyond his years at corner, I think you'll see the Steelers
rebound nicely on
defense.
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