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Flutie could return to Canada
Posted: Sunday January 09, 2000 08:40 PM
Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King talked with CNNSI.com's Bob Lorenz both Saturday and Sunday before the NFL wild-card games: Bob Lorenz: Let's get to the map and locate Peter King this morning, and he joins us from Seattle where the Seahawks host the Dolphins on Sunday. And Peter, very interesting news as far as coaching goes this week particularly for the New York Jets. We have Bill Parcells out. Bill Belichick was in. Now he's out. What is going to happen there?Peter King: Well, over the next eight or nine days we are going to see this whole thing unfold. [NFL commissioner] Paul Tagliabue is going to hear an appeal on Monday or Tuesday from Bill Belichick's representative, then he is going to take two or three days to mull it over and give his decision. I think there is almost no chance he is going to side with Belichick, who has an iron-clad contract to coach the Jets for the next three years now that Parcells is gone. So, the obvious question now is where does that leave the Jets, and where does that leave the Patriots? The Patriots right now will not give a No. 1 draft choice in return to acquire Belichick. If that is the price that the Jets are going to be stuck on, then Belichick will sit. But I will tell you this, and I will bet the mortgage on this one. If somehow Belichick ends up with the New England Patriots as their head coach, you bet the ranch that Parcells will coach next year -- and he will get incredibly fired up twice to play the New England Patriots in what is becoming the blood feud of the NFL: the Jets and the Patriots. BL: About Bills quarterback Doug Flutie, on the upside he is a fan favorite. We know he can produce wins, but on the downside he is 37 years old. PK: Yeah, there is no question about his age being a problem and teams have learned how to defend him by scrunching him up in a box and putting their hands up. And they have played him more effectively this year. Now what does Flutie do? To me he does not take this lying down, and I think he starts yacking about this and I think he becomes a guy who is not going to accept this well, OK. If it happens that after June 1 because of cap reasons, the Buffalo Bills have to cut him -- and I think this is a possibility and I don't think it would be a shock. Flutie told me about three weeks ago that he would love to play in Canada again before the end of his career. His brother plays in Hamilton with the Tiger Cats. They won a Grey Cup this year and I wouldn't be surprised to see Flutie up there. He doesn't want to do it because of the money and because of the competitive aspect, but keep your eyes open on a Flutie return to Canada. BL: Time for the notebook, and under the heading three-and-out in that notebook, we find the name Mike Ditka. It didn't work out in New Orleans so who will the Saints turn to? PK: Well, in fact both the Saints and the Packers, and even New England, are all investigating the exact same guy -- Marty Schottenheimer, who is doing TV at ESPN and has two years left on his Kansas City contract. The reason I think he sits out in the year 2000 is very simple; Carl Peterson and the Chiefs are asking for a first-, second- and third-round draft choice as compensation for him. That leaves New Orleans probably looking at a new franchise architect, either Mark Hatley of the Bears or former Redskins guy Charley Casserly to come in and take the best coordinator available. I think that is Dom Capers. BL: And Peter, for Ray Rhodes it was just one-and-out, what's next for Green Bay? PK: Well I think if they pass on Schottenheimer, which I expect them to do, the guy they really like discipline-wise is University of Miami coach Butch Davis. They also have shown interest in 49ers coach Steve Maruicci. Now, they are also going to look into if Mariucci can get free from his San Francisco contract. I don't expect that to happen. I expect Mariucci to coach the next several years in San Francisco with a little more power in the front office. I think Davis ends up in Green Bay. BL: Peter, Mike Holmgren watched the Bills-Titans game yesterday. What did he have to say about the game? PK: Well, I was waiting for Holmgren, who formerly was the chairman of the competition committee along with then-Washington general manager Casserly. Both those guys are out. Both those guys spearheaded instant replay getting put back in the NFL. Holmgren walked out of his office last night after watching this play and said to me that replay is dead. I said what are you talking about. He said Ralph Wilson, the Buffalo Bills owner, was the guy who softened and came back and helped get replay back. He said there is no way in the world that Wilson now votes for replay, and he will lead this block of voters away from it. Now here's the other thing, Wilson after the game yesterday said he thought it was an awful call and shouldn't have been overturned. So I think there is very little chance, especially with Rich McKay, the Tampa Bay general manager, being one of the co-chairs of the competition committee. I think replay dies an ugly death in March at the league meetings. BL: Peter, you spoke to both Jimmy Johnson and Dan Marino Saturday night. What is the latest with them? PK: Well, I think the big question around the NFL right now is which one of these guys is going to retire. Who is going to get pushed out the door? You know Johnson said something very interesting to me yesterday. He won't talk about his future clearly until the end of the season. But I asked him if anything can happen in January that can change your mind about what is going to happen? And he says no, absolutely not. So I think it is fairly clear right now that Johnson could be coaching his last game with the Dolphins today. I also think it is fairly clear that Marino could be playing his last game with the Dolphins. Marino, too, is noncommittal about the future. His point is, let's talk about the future in the future. So I think what you are going to see with Marino, however, is Marino still wants to play football. I asked him about it last night, he said, "I love the game. I love the competition." I think what you are going to see is if Marino is pushed out the door with the Dolphins, he is going to end up with another team next year, maybe being a tutor to a young quarterback. The perfect situation for Dan Marino is Tampa Bay, where they probably will not re-sign Trent Dilfer and they will go to Shaun King. How about having Uncle Dan there to teach Shaun the ropes? BL: Peter, is there any motivating or revenge factor in the Dallas-Vikings game that we should talk about? PK: Well, one of the all-time video highlights I have ever seen in a football game is Duane Clemons punching Flozell Adams shall we say below the equator, and the officials who officiate this Sunday were told at a meeting Saturday in their hotel in Minneapolis, make sure you watch out for extra-curricular activity between Clemons and Adams. BL: It has been a wild week on the coaching front and it figures to be more twists and turns ahead, Peter fill us in. PK: Well, early this week, Steelers coach Bill Cowher is going to meet with club management, including owner Dan Rooney, and he is going to discuss his future in Pittsburgh. I think what Dan Rooney wants to see is a tougher, more rededicated Cowher -- like he was three or four years ago. Cowher was a pretty docile coach this year. He let some things slide, and wasn't tough on his players. Rooney wants to see him tougher. Now, let's say they get a divorce and Cowher is out on the open market. Ron Wolf, the general manager of the Green Bay Packers, is out there floating. He doesn't know who he wants to hire and I think if Cowher is out on the open market he becomes a very strong candidate with the Packers. BL: Peter, you have already mentioned that if it costs too much draft- wise that Bob Kraft, the Patriots owner, will walk away from Belichick and go in a different direction, right? PK: Well, there is no question about that. I think the key thing to look at with Belichick now, and you just mentioned who is out there right now, there is no hot name. There is no guy out there who everybody loves. I think right now if we are looking at what could happen with Belichick, if he doesn't go to New England I seriously question where he will go or if he'll go somewhere at all. To me, this is a marriage that almost has to happen. It is a marriage that is not going to do the Jets any good if Belichick is sitting out, because then they get no compensation. And if Belichick is just sitting out there they don't advance from there. So I think it is just going to be one of those things, to me anyway, that Belichick ends up in New England, that they find some way to make a marriage out of that. Within a week to 10 days, I think he is the coach and general manager of the Patriots. BL: Each year there is always a handful of assistants that become hot coaching commodities who is hot this year? PK: Well, St. Louis offensive coordinator Mike Martz is very hot, but the Rams are attempting to head him off at the pass. The Rams have begun negotiations with Martz to make him a Belichick-type contract offer. In other words, he would succeed Dick Vermeil whenever Vermeil steps down probably in a year or two. Will it happen? I talked to John Shaw, the club president, on Friday he said they are trying to get it done if somebody gives him a very good offer. BL: The Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl last year, didn't make the playoffs this year, but Broncos coach Mike Shanahan is thinking the future is pretty bright in Denver. PK: Well, I talked to Mike Shanahan on Friday and I asked him about Olandis Gary, the guy who had the great rushing season replacing Terrell Davis, and he said you know we have a couple of choices with Gary. One, we can turn him into a fullback and he might be the best blocker on our team, he'd be great in that role. Second thing is, if someone gives me enough I could trade Gary. I think it could take a high second- or low first-round pick, and you can have Gary. To me a perfect fit would be the New York Giants. BL: Sugar Bowl MVP Peter Warrick's next stop is the NFL. Lots of people think he is a sure-fire No. 1 pick of the Cleveland Browns. Peter, what do you think? PK: There is no way he is the sure-fire No. 1 pick of the Browns, because if the Browns have success in free agency this year, either with Corey Dillon or James Stewart at running back and perhaps a Shawn Jefferson at wide receiver, the Cleveland Browns will go defense and take Penn State defensive end Courtney Brown.
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