Lions respond to Ross with victory
Posted: Tuesday November 17, 1998 02:05 PM
One week after Lions coach Bobby Ross went off on a postgame tirade in
which he said he shouldn't get the blame for his team's poor record,
Detroit responded with a dominating 26-3 win over the Chicago Bears.
Perhaps his players simply understand Ross better than most people. Many
so-called experts had said this was a head coach selling out his players,
passing the buck and pointing fingers elsewhere.
I take the opposite stance. Ross is a meticulous, organized, disciplined
coach who preaches fundamental football with no mistakes. This is what is
destroying him -- all year, his team has made mistakes that are so atypical
of a Ross team. His comments were out of line, but his team had lost to the
Eagles, and his frustrations got the best of him.
But his players knew he was on their side. He's there with them, staying in
the office until 2 a.m., working tirelessly to find ways to win. If
anything, they share his frustration and feel the same embarrassment.
Going into the year, the Lions certainly looked like a good team. At 3-7,
they may be the NFL's biggest disappointment this year. But they're better
than their record and can still turn some heads this season.
Sunday's victory over Chicago was a complete, methodical win -- a wakeup
call for the Lions. Their next five games are at Tampa Bay, home against
Pittsburgh, at Jacksonville and San Francisco, home against Atlanta. None
of these playoff-caliber teams should take the Lions lightly. When to
bench a rookie
Having completed the awkward transition from franchise savior to backup
quarterback, San Diego rookie Ryan Leaf will benefit
much from his time on the bench.
The Chargers eked out a 14-13 victory over the Ravens with Craig Whelihan taking all
the snaps -- if it wasn't educational for Leaf, it certainly was humbling,
which is something he sorely needs.
June Jones made a wise decision to sit Leaf, and he'll keep him on the
bench as long as Whelihan is effective. His team still has a chance to win,
and his franchise's future has a chance to learn by observing without any
pressure.
Leaf's situation reminds me of another former Washington State quarterback
taken in the first round -- Jack Thompson, "The Throwin' Samoan." He
struggled in his first four seasons with the Bengals, and I was a scout
with the Buccaneers in 1983 when we traded a first-rounder to get Thompson.
He was immediately asked to be the franchise savior, but he was hit so much
in his first year in Tampa Bay, he got gunshy, got happy feet, and was out
of the league in two years. He never recovered. Leaf isn't Thompson, but he
could be compared to worse right now.
His rookie season has been a disaster, and time on the bench will go a long
way to helping the rookie mature. He looks to be a distant third behind
rookies Charlie Batch
and top pick Peyton
Manning, but that's only Round 1. NFL players make their biggest
improvements between their first and second seasons, after their first full
off-season with coaches. Win now, worry later
Vikings coach Dennis Green has been second-guessed for throwing quarterback
Randall Cunningham back
on the field this weekend just six days after knee surgery, but Green made
the right call.
Some suggest he should have saved Cunningham so he'd have a healthy
quarterback for the playoffs, but Green can't look that far ahead right
now. I talked with him Saturday and he said first that team doctors had
cleared Cunningham to play, and more importantly, what kind of message does
it send if you can play someone, but save him instead? What if John Randle wants to sit
one out, too, just to be safe?
Green has a coach's mentality -- every game you can win, you win, until
everything's wrapped up. If Cunningham sits and the Vikings lose to the
Bengals, then they're down and he's rusty with the Packers and Cowboys
next. Soon momentum's gone and the division lead is up for grabs. Instead,
he plays, and wins again. The Vikings haven't missed a beat.
Green has the right attitude -- win this game, now, and don't think about
anything else. With that in mind, he's playing everyone who can help him
win -- every week. There will be plenty of rest time in the off-season.
Gary Horton is a former NFL scout and college coach who now heads up The
War Room, a publication offering an insider's perspective into the NFL. His
weekly column appears on Tuesdays throughout the season.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
| 
