Jets zoom ahead of Dolphins,
Bucs
Send a question to Peter
King
Posted: Thu November 13, 1997
Glad everyone seems to be reading my
Monday Morning
Quarterback column. Judging by your e-mail, I need to defend something
I wrote this week. I ranked the Jets among the NFL's Top 10
teams—at No. 10. Many people want to know why the Jets are
on the list, while Tampa Bay and Miami are
not.
When I rank teams I always ask myself, Would the
higher-rated team beat the lower-rated team on a neutral
field? I think, right now, on a neutral field, the Jets would beat
Miami and Tampa. On the face of it, that's absurd because
Miami has beaten the
Jets twice this year and should therefore be viewed as the
better team. However, I think if they played tomorrow on a
neutral field the Jets would win. You're welcome to
disagree. Come to think of it, you
do.
Here's another thing that has everyone up in arms. In
last week's
Mailbag, I explained why I won't vote for Lynn Swann for the Hall
of Fame. Several e-mails have suggested that I'm a New York
homer for saying that Phil Simms belongs and Swann does
not.
My main point is that Swann simply doesn't have the
numbers, with 336 career catches, to merit induction, while
Simms, who has decent career numbers, belongs. I don't
think numbers ought to be a strict barometer for selection,
but you have to at least
look at them. Swann is 169th on the all-time receptions list.
Simms is 15th all-time, with 33,462 passing
yards.
I realize there's a good chance Simms will not make the
Hall. But I still think the guy deserves to be in for many
reasons, not the least of which is that he was very
productive for a long time—much more productive than
Swann.
How much of an effect do you think a new offensive
coordinator has on a team? Since Chris Palmer took over in
Jacksonville, the offense just hasn't clicked like it did
the latter part of last
season.
—Robert Currey,
Jacksonville
I'm going to Jacksonville this weekend so I'll have a
better read after the Jags play Tennessee. But my
preliminary thought is that Jacksonville has done
remarkably well on offense for a team that has had to
juggle QBs and offensive linemen. Hey, the
Jags are second in the league in scoring. But they're 15th in
third-down efficiency, 16th in passing yards per game and
20th in total
yardage.
I think Chris Palmer was the best choice that coach Tom
Coughlin could have made when Kevin Gilbride went to San
Diego. Robert, the expectations in your town shot up
dramatically after last January. I think 7-3 is a pretty
good place to be for a team
that last year at this time was
4-6.
What if the 49ers had kept Elvis Grbac and traded Steve
Young to K.C. or another team for a good player? Then they
wouldn't have needed to draft a QB in the first round. With
Elvis and two more good players the Niners would be much
better than with an old Steve
Young.
—Bob Bhakta, Los
Angeles
Interesting theory, but the salary cap would have made it
almost impossible to trade Steve Young anywhere but to a
team with a lot of cap room. Remember, Young is going to
cost you $5 or $6 million on the cap and there aren't many
teams that want to
trade a borderline premier player for a 36-year-old
quarterback who is going to cripple you
financially.
Through 10 games Steve Young is the top-rated
QB in the NFL. He has helped hold this team together in the
wake of a horrible first-week injury to Jerry Rice. Say
you're right, and we put Elvis and a pretty good Chiefs
player on the San Francisco roster
this year, I question whether the 49ers this year and next
would be a better
team.
Why aren't teams using their tight ends in the red zone as
much as they used
to?
—Edward Ortiz, Hallowell,
Maine
I have two
theories:
- Teams use the TE as a blocker more than they did three
or four years
ago. When the Cowboys bring in David LaFleur, their first-round
pick this year, they're not bringing him in to make a
clutch Novacek-type catch. They're bringing him in to
block. I
think the smallish, receiver-first tight ends are being
phased out. With the exception of Pete Mitchell in
Jacksonville and Shannon Sharpe in Denver,
I don't see many small guys
anymore.
- There just aren't many guys like New England's Ben
Coates out there. It's possible that some are in the
process of being grown—Atlanta's 267-pound O.J. Santiago
comes to mind, as does 250-pound Rickey Dudley in
Oakland—but they don't seem to be
coming into the league the way they used
to.
Do you see Elway, Marino and Moon all coming back next
season as starters? Elway seems certain but the Dolphins
and Seahawks have young QBs waiting to
start.
—Eric Rubenbauer, Lake Mills,
Wis.
Actually, each one is a question mark for 1998. If Elway
wins the Super Bowl, he might retire.
I don't think the Seahawks will pencil in the 41-year-old
Moon as the 1998 starter. Right now I think Jimmy Johnson
will stick with Marino at the start of the
year—but it depends on how Marino plays over the next six
weeks and how he feels in the off-season. Watching him
lately, I think Marino would be a lock to start next year
unless he gets hurt.
Since it seems that Corey Dillon has established himself
has the No. 1 back for the Bengals, do you think the
Bengals should take the cap hit this year and release
Ki-Jana
Carter?
—Jared Darlington, Lawrenceburg,
Indiana
If the Bengals cut Carter today, his signing bonus would
land on the 1998 cap, not this year's. Although Carter has
been a disappointment to the Bengals, he's not the guy I
would cut. I think cutting disappointing
DE Dan Wilkinson right now would send a
message that the team needs to hear. Namely, no one can get
away with playing without
passion.
Less a question than a thought: After a play in which a
penalty is called and accepted, why isn't the time spent on
that play put back on the clock? If the play didn't count,
why should the time
count?
—Robert Keiper, Oak Harbor,
Wash.
Excellent thought, Robert. If
I were you, I would write a thoughtful letter to New York
Giants GM George Young, the head of the NFL's competition
committee, and suggest this. It makes perfect sense to me.
Young's
address: Giants Stadium, East
Rutherford, N.J.
07073.
Does the Steelers' acquisition of Jerome Bettis from the
Rams rank among your all-time greatest trades (or
steals)?
—David Koh, Lexington,
Ky.
The Rams got rid of a guy who might be one of the most
positive-thinking team players I've met. Recently coach
Dick Vermeil told me the Rams have to stop running off
their stars, and he brought up Bettis as an
example.
It was a very good trade for the Steelers, but the Rams did
draft TE Ernie Conwell with the second-round pick they got
in return. Everyone in St. Louis loves Conwell, who has a
chance to be one of the tight-end weapons I discussed a few
questions north
of here. If the Rams hadn't gotten a potentially very good
player in return, this trade would have been an
abomination.
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