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Marshall plan Rams' running back plans to play Monday night
Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King spoke with CNN anchor Bob Lorenz on Sunday about Week 12's storylines on NFL Preview: Bob Lorenz: Marshall Faulk is back for the Rams' Monday nighter against the Redskins just two weeks after having his knee scoped. How much of a factor will he be? Peter King: [Sunday] morning I talked to Mike Martz, the head coach of the Rams, and one of the things he said was that over the last two days Faulk has practiced just like any other week; just 13 days after he had a large particular and several soft particles removed from his knee. The Rams plan to give him a full load Monday night against the Redskins. But the bigger news out of St. Louis is I talked to Kurt Warner about 20 minutes ago and he is getting pins removed from his broken right pinky [Monday] and he expects to throw the football [Monday]. I asked him if he'd be back in two weeks and Warner said he'd be back next Sunday. So look for Warner to try very hard to play against the Saints in that very big NFC West game next Sunday. Lorenz: Jets at their AFC rivals Dolphins [on Sunday], and Vinny [Testaverde] gets the vote of confidence from his head coach, but is Testaverde teetering on the brink? King: On Wednesday of this week I went to NFL Films and looked at tape of both Testaverde and Jay Fiedler, and I found quarterbacks going in opposite directions. In Testaverde, you have a guy who is just myopically concerned with getting the ball to Wayne Chrebet. He is forcing the ball to Chrebet far too much. He needs to develop a second receiver who, in my mind, no question is Laveranues Coles. On Fiedler's side, the interesting thing with him is that he has played mistake-free the last three weeks, and the Dolphins not coincidentally are 3-0 in those three weeks. The big thing that Fiedler is doing, and he told me this [Saturday], is that the offense and offensive coordinator Chan Gailey are telling Fiedler to make the decisions, they trust him. Fiedler said, "I have gone into the perfect situation, I have an offense that totally trusts me." And that is why the first play last week in San Diego he opened up with a 61-yard bomb to Oronde Gadsen right in his hands. Jay Fiedler, right now, is the hot quarterback entering this game. Lorenz: Lots of quarterback changes this week, and in Kansas City, Rob Johnson starts today for the Bills. Peter, do you agree with Wade Phillips' choice to sit [Doug] Flutie and start Johnson? King: Well, I don't agree with it, but I can't be as vociferous as I thought I would be giving the job back to Johnson. First of all, Johnson was playing poorly when he got replaced four weeks ago -- because of injury -- by Flutie. Flutie goes 3-1 and in the fourth game, the loss, he's got a lead in the fourth quarter at Minnesota that the defense blows. But I would be a lot more sympathetic and empathetic with Flutie if he hadn't in the last 22 drives only engineered one touchdown out of that. So I think it is not fair to Flutie but I also think there's no question that Phillips is a Johnson-guy and he's going with his guy. Lorenz: Peter, is it fair to say that the Rams have answered some questions about their defense lately? King: No question about it, with the Rams bringing Bud Carson back. A month ago, Carson is my neighbor down here, he's on the beach, a month ago Trent Green is on the bench and these two guys have shown how important good depth is in the NFL today. Green now is probably one of the best 10 quarterbacks in football, and the Rams don't miss a beat even though Warner is out. On the other side, I think Carson has brought to this defense the aggressiveness and the killer instinct that it lacked. Last week, after the Giants game, London Fletcher told me Carson knows the buttons to push on this team, he knows that we want to attack the ball, that we are a bunch or piranhas. So Carson has let the guys that are good at attacking the ball, attack the ball. And that is why Fletcher and Dexter McCleon, who are really good instinctive players, are playing great for this defense right now. Lorenz: Quarterback Trent Dilfer has the wheels turning for the Baltimore Ravens with 525 yards passing, five touchdowns and two consecutive wins. Peter, you talked to Dilfer this week, does he seem like a different quarterback from the past? King: Well, what's happened to Dilfer is that he has gotten a big dose of maturity. When he was in Tampa, I always found that when talking to Trent it was always somebody else's fault; somebody else ran the wrong route and he wasn't necessarily blaming guys, but that he thought he was doing the right thing. But now, in this Ravens' offense, he shrugs off the criticism, he can let things wash off his back and this happened because he got fired. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers told him, 'We don't want you anymore.' Dilfer had to go out on the street and realized it was the best thing that happened for his career and it has been good. It humbled him, and now he is humble. Lorenz: Chargers quarterback Ryan Leaf's career numbers -- four TDs and 23 interceptions and lots of boos last week, even from the Chargers broadcast booth. This has to be it for Leaf and the Chargers, right? King: Leaf has burned his bridges and there is no question that the Chargers will release him for cap reasons on June 2, 2001. The last straw with Leaf was when he went to play golf, even though he was out with a wrist injury. Veterans on this team do not respect him. Leaf is history. Lorenz: Everyone feared the worst when Jimmy Johnson left but now the Dolphins sit on top of the AFC East. What's in the future for J.J., might he return to football? King: Johnson told me this week the only sure thing in his life these days is that every Sunday at five minutes to 1 he is sitting in his big easy chair with lots of food, and he's got three TVs to watch NFL Sunday Ticket and he watches all the games. But he told me he would consider after this season being a consultant for another team. The one thing that surprised me was Johnson told me he is not under contract with the Dolphins; he severed his relationship with the Dolphins not for any particular reason, so he is free to do whatever he wants. And if some owner wants to pay him 'x' amount of dollars to tell him how to realign his front office, his scouting staff and his coaching staff, he would do that this off-season. Lorenz: Butch Davis at the University of Miami is the hot name right now in the NFL. What's the latest? King: Davis basically has three choices. He can stay at the University of Miami, which one of his old mentors, Johnson, thinks is the smartest idea. In fact, Davis this week asked Barry Alvarez, the head coach of Wisconsin, about the new president of the University of Miami, Donna Shalala, who used to work with Alvarez in Wisconsin. Alvarez gave Davis a very good review of Shalala, who loves athletics. Davis will also have choices with the expansion Houston Texans, or with one of the openings this postseason, perhaps in Washington. Lorenz: Dick LeBeau has pulled the plug on Akili Smith and goes with Scott Mitchell. The Bengals' season is a loss; why not keep the kid in there? King: Because the longer you keep this kid in, the worst it is going to be for him. Smith needs to take a breath; he can't run an NFL offense right now. Smith needs to sit there with offensive coordinator Kenny Anderson and ask, 'What am I supposed to be doing here.' It is a wise move by LeBeau but I think it comes a week or two late. Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL and appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN's NFL Preview.
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