Vermeil losing grip on Rams
Posted: Tuesday October 27, 1998 01:18 PM
Dick Vermeil was supposed to restore some discipline in St. Louis. But look
at his track record after a year-and-a-half: his effort to reform Lawrence
Phillips was a total disaster; he agreed to ease up on his practices; the
Rams are one of the NFL's most penalized teams; and last week, quarterback
Tony Banks blew off the
team plane and practice on Monday without telling the club just so he could
stay behind in Miami and celebrate his girlfriend's birthday.
Vermeil still allowed him to play on Sunday. And to show his gratitude
Banks turned the ball over four times as the Rams lost to the 49ers, and
Vermeil lost what was left of his credibility. Not so fast
Certainly the Cowboys will be happy to welcome back Troy Aikman, who missed
five games with a broken collarbone. But during his career Aikman has
struggled in comeback games. In fact, since 1989, Aikman has never won a
game after missing two or more starts because of an injury. D, as in
Dolphins
There has been a lot of talk about the Miami Dolphins switching
from a passing to a running game, but the more startling development has to
do with the team's defense. Miami has given up only one touchdown at home
this year while holding all opponents to an NFL low 79 points.
Safety Brock Marion
told me that for the first time the Dolphins feel like they can rely on
their defense to win games. "It's gotten to the point that we don't expect
to see anyone in our end zone anymore," he said. Quick milestone
On Sunday, in his 83rd game, New England's Drew Bledsoe reached
20,000 yards in career passing yardage. Only Dan Marino, who reached
20,000 after only 74 starts, hit that mark sooner than Bledsoe. So is
Bledsoe headed for the hall of fame? Not necessarily. Bledsoe has also
thrown 3,116 passes, the most over six seasons in NFL history. Good
kind of loss
The biggest field goal in recent Broncos history was not Jason Elam's record-tying
63-yarder on Sunday. Last year Kansas City's Pete Stoyanovich hit a
54-yarder to beat Denver in week 11 as the Chiefs went on to win the AFC
West title.
As a result, the Super Bowl champion Broncos are playing a second-place
team schedule this year. While the Chiefs lost to New England and
Jacksonville on the road, the Broncos faced both those AFC powers at home
and that's a big reason why Denver is still undefeated.
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