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The eyes had it in Tennessee
Posted: Monday January 10, 2000 12:29 PM
Awards | The Top 10 Teams
| Click here to send a question to Peter King's NFL Mailbag. KIRKLAND, Wash. -- It's Saturday, 12:45 p.m. Pacific time. I'm in the lobby of the Seahawks' training complex, waiting for Mike Holmgren. But I know where he is. He's back in his office, watching the most incredible play I've seen in a football game in a long time. I'm in the lobby because Seattle owner Paul Allen, bless him, has put an HDTV set there, and I'm watching the second half of the Bills-Titans game. It's here that I watch the weirdest play of the season.
Finally, after the 17th replay of the Frank Wycheck
lateral-turned-winning-touchdown- "Officials made the right call, didn't they?'' I say to Holmgren. "Nope,'' Holmgren says. "That was a forward pass.'' I press on. Of course, the call looked bad at first blush, as if Wycheck threw the ball a couple of yards forward to Kevin Dyson, who then ran downfield 75 yards for the winning touchdown. But then, replay after replay began to show more and more doubt. The camera near the 25 seemed to show Wycheck, with his body on the 25 or maybe the 24.5, throwing a perfect spiral laterally to Dyson. I point this out to Holmgren, even enlisting the aid of a chair as yard-marker in the deserted lobby to help me, but he doesn't buy it. The referee, luckless Phil Luckett, should have overturned the call, Holmgren says. "That's the problem,'' I say. "He couldn't overturn the play, because the evidence has to be indisputable, and it wasn't indisputable.'' Now for my point: Two thinking human beings watch the same replay over and over. One, Holmgren, thinks the call should be overturned. The other, me, thinks it shouldn't be. Remember: The hallmark of the replay system is that there has to be indisputable visual evidence to overturn a call. There was none here. That's exactly why they made the right decision. After the game, Luckett said: "The line judge's initial ruling was that it was not a forward pass. We went to the instant replay. Taking from where the pass left the passer's hand right on that yard line, the receiver catches it right there on that yard line. It did not appear to be a forward pass. Therefore, there is not a foul. We have nothing to prove it was a forward pass.'' Great call by the line judge. Great re-affirmation of the call by Luckett. So I'm walking to my car in the Seahawks' parking lot, and I hear Holmgren. "HEY!'' he yells. "THAT WAS A FORWARD PASS!'' "NO IT WASN'T!'' I yell back. Two more thoughts: Buffalo owner Ralph Wilson helped lead the replay-haters back into the replay fold for a one-year trial this season, and as Holmgren told me, you can bet Wilson won't vote for replay next time around. It's doomed. And kudos to Wade Phillips for putting the blame where it lies: His coverage team abandoned the side of the field where four Titans were setting up a return. So, Bills fans, blame your coverage team for doing a bad job. "The guys on that other side broke down,'' said Phillips. OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Miami quarterback Dan Marino. Did you see the drive? The Drive, I mean? Nine plays, 92 yards, starting with a third-and-17 laser to Tony Martin. Thanks for the memory, Dan. DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: The Metrodome. I've never seen a home-field advantage like it, even at Mile High, Arrowhead or the Kingdome. While the Vikings' great offensive players stumbled around for much of the first half and their defense allowed big play after big play, the noise kept Minnesota in the game. The Dallas offense was confused into three first-quarter timeouts and two early false starts. SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Tennessee tight end Frank Wycheck. He's not just my Special Teams Player of the Week. His lateral-turned-75-yard-touchdown makes him my Special Teams Player of the Year. COACH OF THE WEEK: Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher. With his two preferred wing men hurt, Fisher pulled wideout Kevin Dyson off the bench before the fateful kickoff, instructed him for 15 seconds on what to do, and watched in amazement as his best-laid plans did not turn to waste. "Sometimes you've got to believe in destiny,'' Fisher said. And in good coaching, too. 1. St. Louis (13-3). A day off in the easy chair yesterday soothed Ike Bruce's hammies for the stretch run. 2. Indianapolis (13-3). On the seventh day, Peyton rested. 3. Tennessee (14-3). Boy, are the Titans lucky. And boy, does Steve McNair worry me. 4. Jacksonville (14-2). No Boselli, no Super Bowl. 5. Tampa Bay (11-5). Killer D readies to eat some 'Skins. 6. Buffalo (11-6). Blame special-teams play as the Bills clean out their lockers today. 7. Minnesota (11-6). Hardly impressive, but I still think that passing game will give the Rams trouble. 8. New York Jets (8-8). One of these two men will coach the team in 2000: Bill Parcells or Al Groh. 9. Oakland (8-8). Is Tim Brown on the Cowboys' roster next fall? I think there's a very good chance. 10. Washington (11-6). If they'd played a playoff team Saturday, I might be impressed with that win. The 10 Things I Think I Think This Week 1. I think that whatever the ulterior motives of Bill Belichick may be -- and none may exist -- the bottom line in his departure from the Jets' head coaching job is this: What he did last week, pure and simple, was break a contract he had no business breaking. 2. I think that Phil Luckett's fate is to have an intergalactic controversy in every game he ever officiates. 3. I think that Steve McNair worries me if I'm a Titans fan. He's looking more and more like a mobile Trent Dilfer. 4. I think that my CNN "NFL Preview'' buddy Trev Alberts, who took some major bonus money out of his injury-plagued NFL days, had a great line the other day when he said this about the $4-million-plus settlement New Orleans gave the canned Mike Ditka (15-33 in three unSaintly years): "I finally found somebody who stole more money from the NFL than me.'' 5. I think that was a swell performance by Saints owner Tom Benson last week. Here's a guy who wonders why his fans stay away in droves at the first sign of mediocrity. And when he wastes his entire organization -- all the coaches, the GM/architect, the guy doing his stadium deal for him -- Benson hides out and won't explain himself to the local media. There are days you have to stand up. This was one of them. A big one. And Benson sat down. 6. I think that the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to have some changes to announce in either their coaching staff or front office -- or both -- this week. Bill Cowher meets with Dan Rooney and I hear things aren't kosher on either side. 7. I think that if Robert Smith were healthy for three years in a row, he'd put up Hall of Fame numbers. Unfortunately, most of the time, Smith can't stay upright for a single year. 8. I think that I have never seen a network promote a show more than ABC promoted "Sports Night'' this weekend. Gang, either people are going to watch or they're not. They know when it's on. You can't chain them to the couch for the darn show. 9. I think that Troy Aikman wastes more timeouts than any quarterback in football. Did you see his three timeouts in the first 10 minutes of the first quarter Sunday? 10. I think Miami has a chance Saturday at Jacksonville, a real chance. Click here to send a question to Peter
King's NFL Mailbag.
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