Memo to the NFL: Set Dwight free
Posted: Monday November 16, 1998 05:41 PM
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The NFL is playing with fire in San Francisco. Even if 49ers vice president
of player personnel Dwight Clark is not a double-agent by now,
every indication is that he can't continue to be the only voice of
front-office authority in San Francisco, when he's got one foot in
Cleveland.
The 49ers are the most rudderless of NFL ships in recent history. The
owner, Denise DeBartolo York , is a caretaker; the would-be owner,
Eddie DeBartolo Jr. , is waiting to see if he can resume his
ownership duties after his conviction for misprision of a felony -- if he
can even buy the team from his estranged sister. The president, Carmen
Policy , left in July to be the part-owner and president of the new
Browns franchise. And he's trying to lure his former lieutenant, Clark, but
is being prevented from doing so because the league has a policy (no pun
intended) preventing front-office officials from changing teams in
midseason. That leaves coach Steve Mariucci and part-time retiree
John McVay to run this ship, even though Clark ostensibly is still
doing his job with the 49ers because he's been ordered to stay there.
"I called the 49ers last week to discuss a contract for one of my guys
there due to hit free-agency in the offseason,'' said one prominent agent.
"And I said to Dwight: I'm not sure if I'm talking to you as a 49er or
a Brown.''
From his hotel in Atlanta Saturday night, Clark told me that he's been
asked by the league not to comment on his situation. But he admitted to me:
"It's been tough on my integrity.''
The agent's tone was light, but the message is dark. How can the NFL let a
guy everyone knows will be working for the Browns in two months make
important decisions for the future of the 49ers? What if one of those vital
free-agents doesn't sign in San Francisco, and jets off to Cleveland come
February? Isn't the league compromising its integrity by allowing the 49ers
to hang onto a guy, honorable though he is, who is just punching the clock,
waiting to stock a competing team?
The league is quietly discussing ways to get Clark out. Interim 49ers
president Larry Thrailkill -- whose offices, befitting this zoo of
a situation, are in Tennessee -- has washed his hands of this and is
leaving the mess to commissioner Paul Tagliabue . The commish ought
to broker a deal and hand the 49ers a 1999 fourth- or fifth-round draft
pick from Cleveland in exchange for letting Clark go now.
The 49ers are running on autopilot. "It's been pretty tough,''
Mariucci told me this weekend. "I think we're nearing a resolution on
Dwight, but it isn't just him. Even the secretaries are leaving. We're
trying to hold things together.''
To that end, the 49ers have to finish negotiating a contract extension for
Mariucci, a prospect that was revealed a month ago. The deal should get
done this week. Other than the players, this little-engine-that-could coach
is the only piece of steel left in the organization, and the club should
sign him up right now for the next six or seven years, to give looming
free-agents and the outside football world the absolute knowledge that one
of the best franchises in sports has a quality anchor.
Now for this week's awards:
Offensive Player of the Week: Indianapolis QB Peyton Manning. He
led the Colts on two touchdown drives in the final 20 minutes against the
hottest defense in football. How about this 80-yard drive beginning with
three minutes left from the Colts' 20, trailing the Jets 23-17:
11-yard pass to Marvin Harrison, followed
by a 5-yard penalty on Harrison for illegal touching.
12-yard pass to Harrison.
Incomplete to Torrance Small.
Holding penalty on Adam Meadows, making it
first-and-20 from the Colts' 26.
10-yard pass to Harrison.
Incompletion.
Delay of game, forcing a fourth-and-15 at the two-minute
warning.
18-yard shotgun pass to Faulk. The RCA Dome crowd is
deafening now.
Incompletion.
9-yard completion to Jerome Pathon.
4-yard Manning sneak on third-and-1.
Spike to save the clock.
9-yard pass to Faulk.
3-yard sneak on third-and-1.
10-yard pass to Harrison.
14-yard pass to tight end Marcus Pollard. Touchdown,
with 24 seconds left.
Ballgame. And that's why Peyton Manning is the MMQB offensive player of the
week.
Defensive Player of the Week: Washington CB Cris Dishman. He'd
been buried deeper than the poison at Love Canal, justifiably, after a
horrible first two months of the season. In the NFC East Stinks Bowl in
Jonral -- or Raljon, or Cookeville, or whatever it's called -- Washington
stoned the Eagles 28-3, and Dishman was a huge factor. He had a redemptive
day: seven solo tackles, two interceptions and two passes knocked down.
Special Teams Player of the Week: Minnesota P/KO specialist Mitch Berger. Not
only did Berger add to his NFC-high touchback total by putting his 21st of
the season in the end zone against Cincinnati Sunday at the Metrodome, but
his first four punts went 66, 66, 47 yards (to the Bengal 8) and 45 yards
(to the Bengal 5). For the day, he punted four times for a 55.8-yard
average. Berger is one of the underappreciated players on a very good team.
Coach of the Week: Dallas coach Chan Gailey. Talk about having a
team ready to play. The Cowboys scored touchdowns on three of their first
four possessions in Arizona Sunday. It's the first time in three years I
watched a Dallas game and said, "Man, they're just toying with a
team." It's a tribute to a coach who has put organization back in this
organization.
Goat of the Week: The NFL policemen. Fining John Randle $10,000 for
wearing excessive eye black? You've got to be kidding. Did the Baptists
fine Tammy Faye Bakker -- whose head shot was ingeniously put next
to Randle's Sunday by Fox -- for excessive eye shadow?
Stat of the Week: Thirteen percent of the players on the field in
the Dallas-Arizona game (11 of 90) Sunday were named Smith, Brown or
Williams.
I-Love-My-Job Incident of the Week: Don't know his name, but some
guy pulled back the tarp covering the fence along the walkway from the
field at Sun Devil Stadium after the Dallas-Arizona game and screamed at me
and some media peers:
"YOU KILLED DIANA!''
Now for the 10 Things I Think I Think this week:
1. I think the Cowboys are back.
2. I think Arizona doesn't look like the same old Cardinals to me.
Not only was Jake
Plummer the bomb in the second half of the loss to Dallas, but this was
an angry, fighting team after the game, not the passive,
let-it-happen-to-us Cards the Valley of the Sun has gotten used to seeing
the last 11 years.
3. I think Saints quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver got
robbed, getting benched Sunday at the Superdome. There's no way he should
have been yanked, yielding the job to Kerry Collins. Collins
would have gotten a hard look in the last six weeks for a two- or
three-game stretch anyway. Tolliver played courageously and well for three
weeks. But now that Collins played well and the Saints beat the Rams
handily, the former Panthers QB will certainly play at San Francisco on
national TV Sunday night.
4. I think it sounds like if John Kent Cooke wins control
of ownership of the Washington Redskins over
Peter Angelos he'll fire coach Norv Turner but keep GM
Charley Casserly . "Charley's done an admirable job,'' Cooke
says, though legions of Redskins fans would disagree.
5. I think the Cardinals, with the high first-round pick they
obtained from San Diego for surrendering their No. 2 overall choice to the
Chargers last spring, are zeroing in on two players: Texas running back
Ricky Williams and gargantuan Wisconsin tackle Aaron Gibson .
6. I think Raiders coach Jon Gruden , the 35-year-old kid
doing a great job in Oakland right now, has done what older coaching
brethren Tom Flores , Art Shell , Mike White and
Joe Bugel found difficult in Raiderdom. Players are checking their
egos at the door. "I don't give a damn about anybody's incentive
clauses or 100-catch seasons or Pro Bowl spots,'' the gravel-voiced Gruden
told me. "Just win the damn game.'' Sounds Raider-familiar. But that's
not this team's mantra, Gruden said. "Here's our motto: No excuses,
shut up, have fun, and play.'' Hey, whatever works.
7. I think Marty Schottenheimer is only doing the logical
thing in benching Elvis
Grbac for tonight's game with Denver. What a crisis, really, in Kansas
City, where the Chiefs find themselves with a losing record (4-5) in
October, November or December for the first time in the '90s. Against a
tough remaining schedule -- Denver twice, Dallas at home and Oakland on the
road -- the Chiefs have to go 7-0 to ensure themselves a playoff spot;
anything less and their chances plummet. By almost any measure, Kansas
City's best chance to salvage a playoff spot from the depths of its
surprising hole is by giving Rich Gannon the quarterback
job for the rest of the season. Since the start of the 1997 season, the
Chiefs are 8-2 with Gannon as the starter and 8-7 with Grbac.
With Gannon a free-agent next offseason and a bumper crop of college
quarterbacks available, Schottenheimer not only has to do what's best for
this season -- he also has to think about this star-crossed team's quarterback
situation long-term. With every poor outing, Grbac is seeing his stock
plummet.
8. I think, with the tenuous situations good teams like San
Francisco and New England have at corner, it's amazing that Tim McKyer
is doing afternoon-drive sports-talk radio in Charlotte instead of
playing nickelback for someone this fall, big mouth and all.
9. I think I'm getting tired of the phrases "Hall of Fame''
and "Hall of Famer'' discussing every very good player. Saturday in
The Arizona Republic, a writer wondered in a story about the
Hall of Fame chances of cornerback Aeneas Williams, who is
mid-career. On TV Sunday, Kevin Harlan called Cris Carter "a future
Hall of Famer,'' and boothmate Sam Wyche said Bengals offensive
coordinator Ken Anderson "should be a Hall of Famer.'' I've
heard the same thing said about Marv Levy , Jim Kelly ,
Phil Simms , Lawrence Taylor , Jack Youngblood and
Eric Dickerson in the last couple of months -- I even heard Mark
Clayton politick for the honor a month ago -- and I just wish people
would realize they ain't all getting in. There are something like 68 men
nominated for the Hall of Fame this year, and probably four or five will
get in next January. But every last nominee has people in his corner
saying: "Oh, so-and-so's definitely a Hall of Famer.'' Can we please
have some appreciation about the exclusivity of Hall of Fame membership?
10. I think, if I didn't have an embargo on over-Hall-of-Faming,
that I'd declare right here in MMQB that Emmitt Smith, who passed
Walter Payton (125) and Jim Brown (126) on the all-time
touchdown list with his 125th, 126th and 127th touchdowns Sunday in the
desert, is a Hall of Fame lock.
Now for the MMQB Top 10:
1. Denver
Broncos (9-0)
2. Minnesota
Vikings (9-1)
3. Green Bay
Packers (7-3)
4. Jacksonville
Jaguars (8-2)
5. Atlanta Falcons
(8-2)
6. Dallas Cowboys
(7-3)
7. San Francisco
49ers (7-3)
8. Miami Dolphins
(7-3)
9. (tie) New York
Jets (6-4);
Tennessee Oilers
(6-4);
Oakland Raiders
(7-3)
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