The backup MVP
Cunningham doing all he can to get Vikes into Super Bowl
Posted: Friday November 20, 1998 03:03 PM
If you're going to pick an MVP this year, you'd be flat-out wrong if you
took anyone other than Denver's Terrell Davis.
But the backup MVP this year is every bit as valuable -- and way more
unlikely. He's a one-time star who was relegated to understudy last season
but who has now re-emerged in a starring role. He's a 35 year old working
on gimpy knees who still has his team -- and make no mistake, this is his
team now -- pointed straight toward the Super Bowl in Miami.
The amazing Randall
Cunningham has reinvented himself as the quintessential team player on
maybe the NFL's prototypical team. He has resurrected a career even he
couldn't stand and stands now as the best passer in the game.
Better this season than Brett Favre, better than
John Elway or Dan Marino or Steve Young ... better,
even, than Bubby
Brister.
The Minnesota Vikings
are 9-1, and Cunningham is the biggest reason why. True, the Vikings have
the best offensive talent in the league. But Cunningham is using that
talent -- especially the Vikings' lethal set of wide receivers -- and
getting the most of it.
And, unlike his time in Philadelphia when he would take off at the hint of
a heavy rush, the NFL's all-time rushing leader among quarterbacks is not
taking too much of the burden on himself.
"I think it comes from maturity, a lot of maturity that has set in with
me," Cunningham said the other day. "I'm not the jumpy little young
quarterback that I used to be. I'm a guy willing to be patient."
The patience paid off this season when Cunningham came in for injured
starter Brad Johnson in
the second week of the season. He's started every game since and is now the
league's best-rated passer. He's third in touchdown passes (behind Young
and Favre), but he's thrown only five interceptions and is first in the
league in yards per attempt.
It's a long way from 1996.
Cunningham sat out in '96 after a bitter 11-year stay with the Philadelphia Eagles in
which he was often vilified on his way to three Pro Bowl appearances. By
the time his stay ended in Philly, he clearly had enough of professional
football.
"At 33 years old, I had retired. It was different for me, at such an early
age, retiring," he said. "I just got to a point where I didn't like the
game anymore and didn't want to go out on the field."
Randall Cunningham stands now as the best passer in the game for the Vikings AP | |
Now, Cunningham is facing a new challenge, not only being successful as an
older quarterback on a new team, but doing it while hurt. He was injured in
a win over the New Orleans
Saints in Week 10, underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee the next
day and, six days later, started as the Vikings beat the Cincinnati Bengals 24-3.
It's been that type of year for Cunningham, who cites his strong faith --
along with his coaches and teammates -- as the reason behind his amazing
comeback.
"To have such great guys and a great coaching staff, people who are really
pumping you up and trying to get you to play the best you can play ..." he
said, "We don't pressure players. But there is a lot expected."
Sunday, he again makes his bid for MVP backup when the Vikings host the Green Bay Packers. The
last time the two teams met, Cunningham lit up the Packers for 442 yards
and four touchdown passes in a 37-24 win at Green Bay.
Don't be surprised if he again rips apart the Pack. Around the AFC
EAST : Bill Parcells, coach of the New York Jets, is toying
with the idea of finally getting former Nebraska quarterback Scott Frost into a game.
The Jets have been grooming the 220-pound Frost, a third-round pick, as a
safety and may use him this week against the Tennessee Oilers, even
though he hasn't even been activated for a game in the past two weeks ...
Indianapolis Colts
tackle Tony McCoy will
miss at least Sunday's game against the Buffalo Bills after
undergoing surgery on Wednesday to repair a torn retina. It's believed he
hurt the eye last week in practice ... Miami Dolphins
quarterback Dan Marino has one touchdown pass and 11 interceptions in his
last six games against the New England Patriots.
CENTRAL : Everyone runs against the Cincinnati Bengals -- they're
giving up better than 167 rushing yards a game, worst in the league -- and
you can bet the Baltimore
Ravens will give it their best Sunday. Last time, Ravens rookie Priest Holmes rung up the
Bengals for 173 yards. The Bengals have been playing with a four-man
defensive line to try to slow down the run ... Scheduling quirks: The Jacksonville Jaguars have
yet to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in
Three Rivers Stadium in three tries. If they can do so Sunday, they'll all
but salt away the AFC Central title. That would all but ensure them of a
home game against the Denver Broncos -- who
they've faced four times but never at home. If both Jacksonville and Denver
win their divisions, the Broncos will travel to Jacksonville in '99 ...
Bengals coach Bruce Coslet may have another reason for starting Paul Justin on Sunday
against the Ravens: Justin played for Ravens coach Ted Marchibroda, and
behind Ravens quarterback Jim Harbaugh, in
Indianapolis.
WEST : Rookie Greg Favors will start for released linebacker Wayne Simmons this week
for the Kansas City
Chiefs, a sure sign that K.C. already is looking to next season. Favors
hasn't played a defensive down this season ... The Chiefs play the San Diego Chargers on
Sunday, a team they beat 23-7 on September 20. But that was when Chargers
rookie quarterback Ryan
Leaf went 1-for-15 for four yards and five turnovers. Leaf's on the
bench, now, and Craig
Whelihan is starting ... The Seattle Seahawks could
be taking a long look to see whether 42-year-old QB Warren Moon is worth the
approximately $5 million worth of cap room he'll take up next year. He's
thrown only nine touchdown passes this season and has seven interceptions.
"I don't know if he has slipped," coach Dennis Erickson told The Seattle
Times, "but I feel like I'm 60 today." Around the NFC
EAST : Dallas
Cowboys guard Nate
Newton, who checks in around 320 pounds when he's in optimum shape, had
a fake edition of People magazine made up, with him on the cover -- as The
Sexiest Man Alive. In the bottom corner of the magazine cover, which was
plastered all around the team's locker room, were the guys he beat out for
the honor -- Antonio Banderas, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio ... There
are rumors floating around the City of Brotherly Love that Philadelphia
Eagles head coach Ray Rhodes -- almost certainly to be fired at the end of
the season -- could end up as defensive coordinator for the Cleveland
Browns. Especially if friend Mike Holmgren leaves the Green Bay Packers to
take the Browns' job ... There are at least four groups lining up to try to
buy the Washington
Redskins, including groups led by Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos
and a group headed by Redskins president John Kent Cooke, son of the late
owner of the franchise.
CENTRAL : Scalpers may be getting somewhere around $375 for the
best tickets to Sunday's game between the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay
Packers. The highest face value on the tickets is $45 ... The injury
situation is so bad with the Chicago Bears that
offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh, a former quarterback, had to run the
scout team this week. The Bears were going to start former No. 3 Omar
Moreno, but might be able to go with former backup Steve Stenstrom ... The Tampa Bay Buccaneers'
leading receiver, Reidel
Anthony, sprained his foot in practice on Wednesday and now is listed
as questionable for Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions.
WEST : One of the biggest reasons for the Atlanta Falcons' surge
this year is running back Jamal Anderson. But he has
a bad ankle and was held out of practice this week, though he's expected to
be ready for Sunday's game against the Bears at the Georgia Dome. After
their first sellout in nearly three years last week against the San Francisco 49ers, the
Falcons failed to sell out the Dome for the Bears ... Dick Vermeil, 8-18 as
coach of the 3-7 St. Louis
Rams, told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he has not
considered resigning or retiring. Vermeil, 62, is in the second year of a
five-year, $9 million contract ... The Carolina Panthers are
averaging 71.1 rushing yards per game, last in the NFL and on pace to
become the second-worst rushing team of the 1990s. The 1992 Indianapolis
Colts averaged 68.9 yards a game. ``I guess we're really bad,'' offensive
lineman Frank Garcia
told The Charlotte Observer. Around the NFL appears every
Friday on CNNSI.com.
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