Is it the end for
Esiason?
Send a question to Peter
King
Posted: Fri December 12, 1997
Charles Avaunsaff of New York City wonders about Boomer
Esiason's renaissance as Cincinnati's starting quarterback:
Will the Bengals go with the Boomtowner next season ahead
of Jeff
Blake?
I first visited Boomer's Northern Kentucky home in 1988
when I wrote for Newsday. I was in town to do a story on
his MVP season. Over the years, it's amazing how little has
changed in his football life. His wife, Cheryl, always
cooks a big pasta meal at
his house the night before a game. Relatives come from Long
Island and Maryland, and friends come from all
over.
I've gone there maybe five or six Saturdays during the
years Boomer has been with the Bengals, including the
pre-Pittsburgh dinner this season when the guests included
Jim Kelly and former Cincinnati QB Mike Norseth. The
Miami-Boston College game was on
the big screen. Son Gunnar and daughter Sydney ran around
the place having a ball.
Esiason saw the horizon then. He knows this year might be
it. And he told me: "I'm really going to miss this
part of it, the Saturdays, whenever I go. I love football
Saturdays. So does Cheryl.'' He thought he'd wait and see
what happened with the NFL's
TV contract before deciding what he'd do in
1998.
Bruce Coslet would like Esiason to come back and duke it
out with Blake for the starter's job next summer. I think
Esiason would probably win, if he decides to play the
second year of his two-year Cincinnati contract. Blake is
unsure of himself, and his
once-accurate deep passing seems shaky. But I also think
Esiason is going to see what TV might hold in store for him
before making his decision. If CBS pries away one of the
five TV packages, the network might make him its lead
announcer. That might be
enough to take him away from the
game.
Now for the rest of the
questions:
As superb as Warren Moon has been for the seahawks, at 41,
he's obviously not their QB of the future. What are the
Hawks planning to do? Please don't tell me John Friesz is
part of the
equation.
—Johnny Hop, Portland,
Maine
I've been in Seattle a couple of times this year, and both
times I've found myself in conversations with Dennis
Erickson about Jon Kitna, the kid QB who's getting his
first start this weekend for Seattle at Oakland.
"There's something about this kid I
like,'' Erickson told me. "We saw it when we sent him to
the World League, and we saw it in the preseason. I think
he's definitely got a chance to be a starting quarterback
in this
league.''
The problem now is this: Who coaches Seattle in 1998? I'm
fairly certain it won't be Erickson. So will George
Seifert, say, like Kitna? The best guess now is that
they'll try to re-sign Moon, keep Kitna, and look for a
Kent Graham type to replace
Friesz.
What is the latest on the Vikings' ownership plan, and who
do you think will be coaching in Minnesota next
year?
—Mike Hegg, Fargo,
N.D.
The Vikings are having informal discussions to sell the
team to one of several groups. The most aggressive seems to
be San Antonio businessman Red McCombs, the former owner of
the San Antonio Spurs, who has tried to buy his way into
the league a couple
of times before. He and other suitors say they'd keep the
team in the Twin Cities, but I doubt that. Look for the
Vikings to be sold, and look for them to move when they
exhaust all efforts to build a new stadium in
Minnesota.
As far as Dennis Green goes, I think we have to wait and
see who the new owner might be. If the current ownership
group stays, I think Green leaves—perhaps to go to
Oakland. Al Davis has long fancied Green's good
relationship with his
players.
With Gilbert Brown's lack of fitness and Reggie White's bad
back, why doesn't an opponent use the no-huddle offense
against the Packers to force these guys to stay on or off
the
field?
—Steven Piers,
Ottawa
Excellent idea. You should call Dom Capers, the Carolina
coach, and suggest this. Just kidding, sort of. I think
what makes this an great idea is that Gilbert Brown is so
out of shape—he hasn't been able to work out hard all
season because of all his
ailments, the latest being a high ankle sprain. There's no
question it would also take advantage of Reggie White's bad
back. Even though he has 10 sacks this year, he's not the
Reggie of old, and keeping him huffing and puffing would be
a big advantage.
Steven, when I get my first coaching job, you'll be on my
staff.
You are an owner of NFL team. You are worth more than Bill
Gates. First, what are your five favorite stadiums? Now,
let's say you want to build one. Forget any financial
incentives—you don't need the money. What will it be
like?
—Bob Friend, Annapolis,
Md.
I'm a bad guy to ask about favorite stadiums, because
I loved Cleveland Stadium. I stood in the end zone one August
night a few years ago with the fog rolling in off the lake,
looked around at the cavernous place and thought: This is
what a classic
football environment is like. I loved RFK too. Having said that,
here are my five favorite NFL
settings:
- Lambeau, Green
Bay.
Love the smells and sights and
fans.
- Pro Player,
Miami.
Love the sight lines, and field's in good
shape.
- Arrowhead, Kansas
City.
Beautiful turf, and the fans are so
good.
- Three Rivers,
Pittsburgh.
The best tailgating in the world, tradition, Myron Cope in
the press box. I always think it's 1976 when I'm
there.
- RCA Dome,
Indianapolis.
I hate domes, I hate artificial turf. But I'm right on top
of the field in the press box, and they've got DirecTV with
all the games in the press box. What can I say? I love the
creature
comforts.
My perfect stadium would be a bowl, like Lambeau. It would
have wide concourses featuring four areas with DirectTV, so
fans could hang out and watch the other games before and
after the game and at halftime. It would have a
microbrewery, like Coors
Field in Denver. It would have grass. It would have 50,000 seats
close the field, unobstructed. My stadium would have the
amenities of Camden Yards and the tradition of Fenway Park.
Who cares how much it
costs?
What will the addition of Lawrence Phillips mean to Karim
Abdul-Jabbar's future in Miami? Could the two possibly
remain together to form a duo, or will one have to
go?
—Jeff Olson, Austin,
Texas
Whoa. Before you go too far with Phillips, remember that
Jimmy Johnson has no firm plans for him yet. If Phillips
stays on the straight and narrow and hasn't screwed up and
been cut by next July (I think he will screw up and get
cut, by the way), then
he'll be a real player in the Miami future. That's a
big if. Nothing is set in stone. Jimmy thinks Phillips is
probably a little better than Abdul-Jabbar. It's
conceivable that Phillips could be the No. 1 back by next
October—if he's still
around.
Barry Sanders rips off huge runs and puts up the big
numbers, but time and again he is substituted for on
critical short-yardage and goal-line plays. I believe Barry
is the best back in the NFL, but do you think he is a
liability on short-yardage and goal-line
situations?
—Yoobin Lee, Annandale,
Va.
I forget if it was two or three years ago, but Barry
Sanders led the NFL in negative carries with something like
61. Now, if you're going to lose yardage on 20 percent of
your carries, you're not going to be a good short-yardage
back. The Lions aren't
dissing Sanders by taking him out on short-yardage downs.
They're being realistic. Tommy Vardell or Cory Schlesinger
both have a better shot at getting a yard than Sanders does
against a nine-man
front.
I'd like to know your unbiased opinion of the officiating
in the NFL this year. I think it has been shoddy and
inconsistent at
best.
—John Ouilhon, Sutter Creek,
Calif.
The officiating is no different than in any other year. Go
back to any December and read the clips from papers in 10
or 12 NFL cities, and you'll see a few notes about calls
that were screwed up. That's the way it is. Instant replay
would fix 25 percent
of the blown calls, but people have to realize that
officials are going to make mistakes every Sunday. I can't
get too fired up about the ones they're making now. But I
will say
this: the officials are increasingly likely to throw flags every
time a
quarterback gets breathed
on.
Good questions. Talk to you next
week.
Previous
editions of Peter King's
Mailbag
Send a question to Peter
King
| 
