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Have thick skin tonight, Mr. Belichick
Week 2 Awards | Factoid ... Click here to send a question to Peter King's NFL Mailbag. PHOENIX -- With the Patriots-Jets Monday nighter a few hours away, I thought I'd tell you about one of the strangest stories of 2000 in the NFL: the Bill Belichick -quitting-the-Jets-and-moving-to-the-Patriots story. I've known the parties involved, Belichick and Bill Parcells, since covering the Giants for Newsday in the mid-'80s. I got to know Parcells better over the years while my relationship with Belichick was fairly superficial. Though he tried to convince me otherwise at training camp this year, I still believe to this day that Belichick jobbed the Jets by walking out on them. Most people would assume I come down on that side of the argument because I have a closer relationship with Parcells than I do with Belichick. Untrue. It's because Belichick had a contract with the Jets that said he would be the coach of the team as soon as Parcells quit, whenever that was. And a few months before the 1999 season -- not long before owner Leon Hess died -- Hess gave Belichick a $1 million bonus. Parcells told me it was to reinforce the terms of the contract and to thank Belichick for not taking any other head coaching jobs (in Chicago, Oakland or Kansas City). Belichick told me it was for a job well done and for not taking any of the three aforementioned jobs; thus, after the Jets' ownership change, he was free to take the New England job.
Therein lies the heart of this sordid story, which has been dredged up in Megalopolis a few more times this past week. Did the $1 million bonus Hess paid Belichick bind him to the Jets no matter who owned the team? I know people in both organizations, and there is great division on whether Belichick was contractually bound to stay in New York. My problem with the story is this: Whether Belichick was contractually bound is irrelevant. He was morally bound. He signed with the Jets to take over the day Parcells left. Walking out on the Jets was wrong. Now, were there good reasons for him to walk? Tangentially, yes. Parcells was probably going to be around the office for at least a year and Belichick knew what a long shadow the Tuna would cast. (And sometimes it could be an unpleasant shadow. One former Jets player told me Parcells had no qualms with belittling Belichick in front of the team if it served Parcells' purposes, sometimes bringing up how Belichick had failed in his previous head-coaching run in Cleveland.) Belichick wanted to make more money than his Jets head-coaching contract called for. Belichick worried about the transition, working with a new owner he didn't know. But we all have worked for overbearing bosses, most of us think we should be paid more for what we do (although personally I think I'm stealing in this job), and if Sports Illustrated was sold tomorrow, I would come to work the next day and keep working as I always had until the new guy told me something different. The court of public opinion will be in session Monday night at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, 10 miles down Route 3 from my house. The Giants and Jets fans have loved the little genius over the years. But tonight around 9, Belichick might want to wear a helmet and some ear plugs when he strides out of the tunnel with the dreaded-enemy Patriots. Week 2 AwardsOFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Baltimore QB Tony Banks. Banks' numbers (23-40, 262 yards, five touchdowns, two picks) were good, but tell only part of the story. In the final minute of the Ravens' statement game against Jacksonville (Raves were 0-8 lifetime against Jax), Baltimore trailed 36-32, the final Jags' points coming on a fluky deflected touchdown catch by Jimmy Smith. So the stadium's deflated, the team's deflated, and for all anyone knew, Banks wouldn't be able to rally a dead team. He never had before. Why would this time be different? Only this time it was. Banks drove the Ravens to the winning score, throwing the decisive touchdown pass, a needle-threader, to Shannon Sharpe. That's what clutch players do. DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Tampa Bay CB Ronde Barber. What an incredible first half of football Barber played against the Bears. Twice he came on corner blitzes against Cade McNown, Chicago's quick, not-easy-to-sack running quarterback, and twice Barber sacked McNown, who was unable to move from Barber's line of sight. Late in the half, Barber picked up a Chicago fumble at the Bears 24 and ran it in for a touchdown, giving Tampa Bay a 20-0 lead at halftime. No team in our lifetime can come back against this defense down 20 at the half. Barber, by the way, had one sack, no fumble recoveries and no touchdowns in all of 1999. SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Green Bay LB Na'il Diggs. Some rookies, making the transition from college to pro football, don't play special teams well. Some don't even try. No college star ever sits in his dorm on Sunday watching NFL games and says: "Can't wait to to get drafted and cover those punts." But Diggs showed yesterday at Buffalo how to play punt coverage with abandon. Late in the first quarter, the Packers tried to pin Bills deep in their territory. Punter Josh Bidwill skied a punt down to Bills return man Chris Watson at the Buffalo 12. Watson moved left, trying to escape the coverage. The relentless Diggs moved with him. Diggs chased, chased and chased some more, forcing Watson into the cardinal sin of all return men -- running backward to find a running lane. And just before Watson got to the sideline, Diggs nailed him (no pun intended) for a two-yard loss. The Bills didn't get out of their own territory on the drive and punted away to Green Bay. Great play by Diggs. COACH OF THE WEEK: Buffalo defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell. On Friday, Cottrell told me he wasn't buying any of the Brett Favre-is-hurt stuff. "I'm telling my defense the Packers are a wounded animal," Cottrell said. "Wounded animals are almost the most dangerous." They were for a while, but the Bills just wear offenses down. Cottrell does a good job of mixing his personnel, moving backup nose tackle Pat Williams (a future star) and pass-rusher Shawn Price in and out of the lineup effectively, and he has schemed his front seven into a ferocious where-are-they-coming-from-next unit. In two games, Buffalo has allowed two playoff contenders (well, that may be a stretch with Green Bay) 93 rushing yards and 31 points. Factoid of the Week That May Interest Only MeThe average temperature at kickoff for the first two Dallas games this year has been 104°. [Disclaimer: Editorial comment follows] It was insanely hot here for the game. The forecast calls for it to be 111° when the Cards have their first practice of the week Wednesday. That's Death Valley hot. How do people live here? The 10 Things I Think I Think1a. I think Favre's performance Sunday in Buffalo was pretty incredible. Playing with sharp pain from right elbow tendinitis, Favre was 14-of-14 for 134 yards, one touchdown and no picks in the first 43 minutes of the loss to Buffalo. And if it weren't for a fumble by Allen Rossum on a punt-return late in the third quarter, the Pack would have had a heck of a chance to steal a game. 1b. I think this tells you what you need to know about Favre's first decade in the NFL: He's 30 now and he's thrown more touchdown passes (237) than Jim Kelly did (236) in his career. He's 35 behind Joe Montana. The man could pass Montana on the TD list by age 31. 2. I think the more I watch Eric Moulds the more I think he plays in Randy Moss' league. 3. I think this is why coffee is so important to the human race: You know, if you read my Web ramblings, that I've spent thousands of dollars on grande hazelnut lattes over the years, and I should be on the Starbucks Board of Directors because of my nit-picky critiques to 1-800-STARBUC over the years. (Sorry, but if you're going to pay $3.60 for a cup of coffee, the espresso ought to be strong and the milk hot and the syrup not overwhelming, and lately they've been screwing that up, so I've called them on it.) So I'm flying home from Minneapolis last Monday morning, and the person in front of me at the airport terminal Starbucks, a middle-aged woman, says to the cashier: "Grande breve triple no-foam double-cupped 120-degree latte." I thought I was in an offensive-line meeting for a minute -- I spent some time with Redskins offensive line coach Russ Grimm this offseason for a Chris Samuels story, and I hear all those weird terms like "rip" and "liz" and "Bob 360 F motion left" in my sleep. I could see the cashier translating. A grande drink is 16 ounces, which usually takes two shots of espresso, but the woman wanted three, as in "triple." Fine. "Breve" is Seattle-speak for making the latte with half-and-half instead of milk. Double-cupped, I guessed, meant she didn't want her hands getting hot, but here's the mystery: 120 degrees is just barely above warm. Why double-cup a 120-degree latte? And why get one? It'll be tepid by the time it's on the bar. So the barista gets the order and looks at the woman. "You want it extra hot?" he asks. "No," the woman said, an edge to her voice, like everyone should know exactly what a grande breve triple no-foam double-cupped 120-degree latte is. "You normally serve lattes between 150 and 170 degrees. I want it warm. Look at the thermometer, and when it gets to 120, stop frothing the milk." I said to her: "Wow. Do you have to go through this every time you order one of those?" "Sometimes," she said. "But I'm from Seattle. These people ought to know how to make that without me telling them." See the experiences you miss when you don't travel with me? 4a. I think Dennis Miller's Monday night experiment is absolutely doomed unless everyone on the program, Miller included, vows not to read a single critique of the show all season. Because everything I've read, while making some good points, tries to micro-manage what Miller should say and how he should act. Unless he just says, "Screw it," and does the thing his way, he doesn't have a chance. To me, he's trying to please too many constituencies, which is making him sound homogenized, which is getting away from the ranting and preachy style which has made him such a hot-button guy in TV -- and which leads me to think he and the Ohlmeyerfolks are reading every review of Miller that comes off sportspages.com. Do I care if he infuriated Bud Adams by referring to his bad toupee as "artificial turf?" Heck no! That's what I want from Miller. 4b. I think, speaking of the game Monday night, that the Patriots will be reminded early and often of their biggest free-agent whiff of the offseason -- their never-got-serious chase of tackle Jon Runyan, whom I consider the best run-blocker in football. New England wanted Runyan, but couldn't afford him because of a tight cap fit. Drew Bledsoe got knocked down and/or tackled 28 times last week in the loss to Tampa Bay. They need a widebody at right tackle. 5. I think it's a shame Mike Sherman has gotten off to an 0-2 start in Green Bay because those players really like him and want to play well for him. Safety LeRoy Butler told me the Packers might have the best players' lounge known to man, and it's because Sherman fortified it, hoping to draw players to stay together and bond long after practice ends. Butler said: "Remember in 'Field of Dreams' when they said, 'If you build it, they will come?' Same thing here. If you build a great players' lounge, they will stay." 6. I think that is one huge Achilles heel the Colts showed us with their defensive meltdown yesterday. I just don't see the pressure on the passer (I saw none of it in this game, and Rich Gannon is hardly Steve Young out there) that a great team must have to go far into the playoffs. 7. I think I cannot figure out how Jon Kitna got the start Sunday in Seattle. Since last November, Kitna has thrown a five-pick game (against Tampa Bay) and a four-pick game (against Miami), lost a home playoff game to the Dolphins, had an 8-to-16 touchdown-to-interception ratio in his last eight starts, and has generally stunk up the joint. But Kitna played a strong, decisive game. So much for logic. 8. I think Daunte Culpepper showed America much against Miami. A 355-yard game against a premier defense with very good (Sam Madison, Patrick Surtain) corners? Wow. The man's not just a runner. 9a. I think John Madden hit the nail on the head in the Seattle-St. Louis game when Pat Summerall mentioned that Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren was thinking about giving up the play-calling duties on offense because of the demands of coaching and being the GM. Madden scoffed, sort of. "I'd give up some of that general manager stuff instead," Madden said. "They hired him to be the head coach, and he's a heck of a coach." Madden's right. It's easier to find a good waiver-wire guy than it is to find someone as good as Holmgren in offensive play-calling. 9b. I think the Rams showed how incredibly deep they are late in the third quarter on a mucky field in Seattle. The Seahawks were leading 17-13. Kurt Warner had the Rams rolling deep in Seattle territory. They came out of the huddle and ... what's this? Third tight end Jeff Robinson -- on the team because of his long-snapping ability -- was split right. Warner surveyed the scene, took the snap and fired the ball into his new flanker's gut. Robinson brought the ball to the Seattle 1. Amazing. Game on the line, and here comes someone who never catches the ball, and Warner goes to him trying for the go-ahead score. By the end of the third quarter, nine different Rams had been Warner targets. And the way Warner won it at the end ... That guy (35 of 47, ho-hum) is a player. 10. I think the brilliance of Mike Shanahan, circa 2000, can be summed up in two words: Mike Anderson. Click here to send a question to Peter
King's NFL Mailbag.
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