Power of Caring
  presented by Cigna

A New York state of mind

Send a question to Peter King

Posted: Thu October 30, 1997

Pardon me for being provincial. But I live in New Jersey and as November dawns, I've got to take a moment and talk about the two New York-area teams. It's past the midpoint and the Giants and the Jets are in first place.

I'm awfully tempted to say the Giants are a fluke, sitting there at 6-3 with a 1 1/2-game lead in the NFC East. And I still think there's a good chance they could be this year's version of the 1996 Washington Redskins. Remember? The Skins started 7-1 last year and finished 9-7, out of the playoffs. But there are two things about the Giants that I really, really like:

1. The defense. Although it's ranked only 18th in the league, the Giants' D scares every offensive coordinator in the NFL. New York has a terrific secondary and a front seven that plays great as a team.

2. Charles Way. The FB with legs like pistons has burst onto the NFL scene like Mike Alstott did late last year; they've become the best two fullbacks in the game.

The Jets, in a three-way tie atop the AFC East at 5-3, also are probably playing over their heads a bit. But it just goes to show you how important coaching is in the NFL and why pro football coaches make more money than their counterparts in any other sport except basketball. Bill Parcells has grabbed this team by the throat and shaken it. He has threatened the jobs of first-round draft picks and he has yanked a $5-million-a-year QB in the middle of an early-season game. See what happens when an organization has no laurels to rest on?

By the way, here's my midseason Coach of the Year ballot:

1. Parcells
   
2. Tony Dungy, Tampa Bay
   
3. Jim Fassel, Giants
   
4. Bill Cowher, Pittsburgh
   
5. Steve Mariucci, S.F.

I look forward to your feedback.

Has there been any movement between the Redskins and Sean Gilbert?
—Jonathan Paulett, Chesterfield, Va.

Norv Turner told me recently that nothing has happened with Gilbert. "We're not closing the door," Turner said. "Who knows? He could come in and we'd welcome him. But I'm not expecting anything." How incredible is that? I mean, here's a guy who's the seventh- or eighth-best defensive tackle in the league. He gets an offer in August that would have made him the highest-paid DT in the game and he turns it down. By rejecting the Redskins' $3.6 million offer, Gilbert has lost $1.8 million so far—$225,000 per week.

Who gets your vote for defensive player of the year?
—Kevin Breen, St. John's, Newfoundland

He's been hurt the last couple of weeks, but if I'm picking somebody right now for his value to the team and his overall performance, it's got to be Dallas safety Darren Woodson. You might be surprised at this but I think the most impressive thing about Woodson is how selflessly and aggressively and wonderfully he plays special teams for the Cowboys. He's an impact player there, just as he is in stopping the run and in patrolling centerfield with a Ronnie Lott-type toughness. Right now, I think he's the best player on the field for the NFL's franchise of the '90s.

I think I've come up with an interesting strategy. The Monday night Bills-Colts game a few weeks ago would have been a classic time to use it. With score tied, the Colts out of timeouts, the clock ticking and the Bills virtually assured of kicking the winning field goal, why wouldn't the Colts simply let the Bills score a TD? The Colts could have gotten the ball back with about 1:45 left instead of praying for an unlikely botched snap or missed field goal. It's risky, but I think it would have given the Colts enough time to tie the game. What do you think?
—Isaac Starr, Philadelphia

Isaac, I think I'm going to award you my Doctorate of Football-ology. There's no question that what you suggest would have been infinitely smarter than what the Colts allowed Buffalo to do. The issue here is: Do you want to hand a good kicker like Steve Christie a chip shot and almost certainly give the Bills a 9-6 lead with just seconds to go and no timeouts? Or do you want to give yourself the chance to drive 70 yards or so and try to score a TD with 1:45 left in the game? Isaac, I like your suggestion, and I think if you gave Lindy Infante sodium pentothol, he'd tell you he liked it, too.

I've never heard of this happening before and I'm sure the NFL would be upset about it. But there's no question that this would have given Indy a better chance to win the game.

What's your opinion of Pittsburgh operations man Tom Donahoe and coach Bill Cowher? Despite losing many talented free agents, the Steelers still somehow manage to produce playoff teams.
—Michael Molinaro, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

I think Donahoe deserves a big-money job somewhere in the NFL next year—with the Seahawks or the Giants or whatever team has a GM opening. I think he's done a terrific job working within the constraints of a Steelers budget that doesn't allow the team to spend wildly over the cap the way many teams do. Cowher is the emotional lynchpin of that team and just proves that if you're not emotional playing this game, then, in most cases, you're not going to be great. Especially on defense, he has shown great ability to take lesser players and plug them in and continue to win in double-digits every year.

Does Phil Simms make the Hall of Fame?
—Jeff Schackner, New York

I doubt it, but as one of the voters, I will be strident in arguing Simms's case. Phil's career is not a career built on numbers. We have become such a stat-crazy business that that I'm afraid somebody like Simms, who was all about winning, gets lost. As a young kid, he had a 4,044-yard passing season in 1984 and clearly could have been that productive every year, even with the mediocre receiving corps he consistently played with. I mean, the best receivers he ever had were probably Earnest Gray, Lionel Manuel and Mark Ingram. He never had a single receiver who was All-Pro and, other than Tony Galbreath, never had a great receiver out of the backfield. So the Giants basically Scotch-taped their passing attack together every year and had to have a smart, accurate and selfless trigger man to make it work.

We in the media are so impressed by gaudy numbers that Simms won't get the support he deserves. But here's a guy who was always at his best in big games. I'm going to give it my best shot when he comes up for nomination next year.

There's been raging debate the past few weeks about your list of the best QBs ever. Who, in your opinion, is the best player ever?
—Alex Ellendson, Minneapolis

Green Bay receiver Don Hutson. Hutson and the Packers brought passing to the NFL. I think the only way you can judge a player is by comparing him to his peers. Hutson caught approximately three times as many balls for three times as many TDs as any player in his prime from 1935 to 1945. The only player in the history of sports who similarly dominated his game for that length of time is Babe Ruth. One other thing: the guy would've been a great player today, too.

Which team is the worst in the NFL right now?
—Mike Stoner, Orefield, Pa.

New Orleans. The Saints have won two games because their defense is pretty good, but they might have the worst offense of any team in the 1990s. Even teams with worse records such as Indy and Chicago would be favored to beat New Orleans.

The end of the millenium is fast approaching. What's the best team in NFL history and the most successful franchise?
—Jack Andersen, Santa Barbara, Calif.

I assume for best team you don't mean for a single season. I assume you mean a team over several years that stayed together, that had more than one great year. With those parameters, I will say the Cleveland Browns, from their inception in 1946, to 1955. The Browns played in a league championship game for 10 straight years and won seven titles. Granted, the first four years of their reign occurred in the All-America Football Conference, where Cleveland won all four title games by an average of 18 points. Then, in 1950, the Browns entered the NFL and wasted little time in showing their dominance. Cleveland played its first NFL game at defending NFL champion Philadelphia and won 35-10. The Browns beat the Lions by 46 to win the NFL title in 1954, and beat the Rams by 24 to win again in '55.

Believe it or not, the best franchise is tougher to pick. I think I'm going to go with the Packers. Green Bay has had three glory eras in the NFL's 78-year history. The Packers of Curly Lambeau, Vince Lombardi and now Mike Holmgren have been preeminent at three distinctly different times.

I'm sure some people won't agree. You may fire when ready.

Previous editions of Peter King's Mailbag

Send a question to Peter King