Broncos' future hinges on Tuesday vote
Posted: Monday November 02, 1998 10:18 AM
CNN/SI's Bob Lorenz spoke with Sports Illustrated's Peter King about
this week's NFL previews and news.
Bob Lorenz: The undefeated Denver Broncos take their
show on the road to Cincinnati to play the Bengals, and that's where we
find our Peter King. Good morning Peter.
Peter King: Hey, trick or treat, Bob. The latest Denver stadium
poll has the initiative picking up steam as fast as the Broncos pick up
wins. The vote to continue a 0.1 percent sales tax in a six-county region
and raise $266 million dollars for a new stadium is up 57 percent to 39
percent. Now, I talked to Coach Mike Shanahan last night. As we reported a
month ago on this show, he has an out in his contract if owner Pat Bowlen
sells the team. Shanahan told me he'll definitely weigh his options and
consider leaving in the unlikely event this vote loses, and Bowlen ends up
selling. It's a very unlikely event. Look for a Denver rout regardless of
the vote on Tuesday.
Lorenz: Peter, Jimmy Johnson doesn't want to see that Hail Mary
again, but he is always up for a challenge. What about his team?
King: Well, Jimmy Johnson isn't as concerned about Doug Flutie as he is about
his own team. I was in Miami on Thursday when Johnson, in the middle of an
inside run move -- kind of the hallmark of Jimmy's teams, you know, the
real physical inside running drill -- saw his offensive lineman
halfheartedly leaning on the defensive lineman. He stopped practice, reamed
his team out for lack of effort. Now, I think Johnson privately is very
concerned that his Dolphins aren't taking these upstart Bills seriously
enough.
Lorenz: Peter, Terrell Davis laid 215
yards on the Bengals last season. He must be like a racehorse ready to
break from the gate.
King: Well, Bob, retired NFL official Bama Glass is a frequent
visitor to Broncos games, and so some of the people around here said, "Hey,
how good is this offensive line, I mean we know Terrell Davis is a great
player, how good is this offensive line?" Now here's a guy who was a side
judge for three decades, and he told Bronco officials this is the best
offensive line he's ever seen. Now, how amazing is this? They lose Gary
Zimmerman. Elway misses about half the first half of the season and yet
they have enough to plug everybody into a great system. Now, you can
congratulate Terrell Davis on getting to 1,000 yards in seven games, but
you've got to give a pretty massive assist to those five guys in front of
him.
Lorenz: Well, they are talking about roles, but [Minnesota QB
Cunningham] Randall has been on a roll. Is Denny Green really going to pull
the plug on him?
King: Well, Bob, for the first time this week there was a little
bit of a crack in that Brad
Johnson-definitely-gets-his-job-back-when-healthy school of thought.
And no wonder. Cunningham has been near perfect -- 14 touchdowns, 2
interceptions, no losses. Offensive coordinator Brian Billick told me this
week, there is no definite textbook answer. Now, Bob, there is no question
in my mind that I still think that Brad Johnson is going to get his job
back, but another great performance by Randall in a tough, tough place to
play in Tampa, and I think Denny Green has got to give it some thought on
the plane ride back to Minnesota.
Lorenz: Peter, Niners-Packers is, as we know, always a big game,
but is it a little bit bigger for the Pack because of their recent
struggles?
King: You know, the thing with the Packers this week, they
wanted to see in their team that they were ready to play the 49ers. And I
think that Brett Favre
thinks this is going to be a signature game for his team, "How are we going
to respond." And what happened at practice on Thursday must have been
something in the air, because what Jimmy Johnson did in Miami, Mike
Holmgren did in Green Bay -- really yelled at his guys because he didn't
think they were practicing hard enough. And an observer who watched the
next two workouts said it was the sharpest the Packers have practiced all
year, I think they are really, really ready to play this very big game.
Lorenz: Time for Peter's notebook segment. What have you got for
us this week, Peter?
King: Well, in Green Bay this week, the big news was that Mark Chmura the tight end
signed a five-year, $15 million contract extension, but that's not the
really important thing that happened. What this means is that now the
Packers are free to use a franchise player tag next February on wide
receiver Antonio
Freeman, the leading receiver right now in the NFC. This is vital
because Freeman had visions of $6 million a year dancing in his head,
perhaps going to Cleveland.
Now let's move on to Cleveland with the Browns. This week, two very
important things happened. They started to get word through the NFL
grapevine that they would be able to interview coaches starting right after
the regular season even if their team was still in playoffs. The second
thing that happened is not good news. The NFL is playing hard ball on the
Browns' ability to go out and get a front-office guy like Dwight Clark of
San Francisco, and it looks like they are not going to be able to get a
front-office guy and general manager until right after the Super Bowl. That
would only give them nine days to prepare for the NFL expansion draft on
February 9. But as one general manager told me this week, I'm sick of
giving the Cleveland Browns more advantages, let them suffer with only nine
days to the expansion draft, Bob.
Lorenz: 49ers/Packers -- Peter, you say the Pack.
King: Bob, this is the day that all the questions about Brett
Favre stop. He is going to have a big day.
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