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Robiskie takes over Skins' game
Week 14 Awards | Factoid
... Click here to send a question to Peter King's NFL Mailbag. You get some weird phone calls in this business. With those weird phone calls comes some weird information. I don't quite remember a weirder call, though, than the one that came to the desk in my home office this morning at 2:10. "Got the scoop for you," Deep Redskin said. "Got the new coach of the Redskins. You ready for this one? Pepper Rodgers." I call him Deep Redskin in keeping with the great tradition of Washington sources who know what's going on but must remain under the radar for self-preservation purposes. But I was close to being finished with a column about the sights and sounds of the last game I'll ever see in Three Rivers Stadium -- more about that later -- when this bizarre tidbit shattered my evening (er, early morning).
"Can you say that again?" I said. "Pepper Rodgers," Deep Redskin said. "That's what I said." Pepper Rodgers. Sixty-something recently appointed football adviser to Redskins owner Daniel Snyder. Appointed might be too formal a word. He works for Federal Express, and I'm told Rodgers has been the liaison between the Redskins and FedEx since the naming of FedEx Field, and he'd become chummy with Snyder since that $205 million deal got done. So chummy, in fact, that he's a member of Snyder's Kitchen Cabinet, and he was with Snyder as the owner anguished over what to do about his dreadful ballclub Sunday night. I'd been following the story much of the evening since returning to New Jersey from Pittsburgh. After the Redskins lost their second straight NFC East home game Sunday, 9-7 to the New York Giants, knocking them two games out of first place in the division with three to play, Snyder tried to decide what to do with Turner. He considered many options: 1) Keep Turner, who he considered a lifeless non-motivator, the rest of the season, then fire him the day after the season ends; 2) Fire Turner immediately and replace him with someone on staff like passing game coordinator Terry Robiskie or defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes; or 3) Fire Turner immediately and find a high-profile former coach -- Marty Schottenheimer, Dick Vermeil, Bill Parcells, Terry Donahue -- to coach out the season, then take over as general manager and lay the foundation for the new Redskins beginning in 2001; this person would either coach into the future or find someone to coach while remaining the personnel czar. There were problems with every scenario. He didn't want to keep Turner because he felt the team, rightfully so, had badly underachieved with the talent on board. Rhodes didn't want the headaches of being a head coach and didn't need them; the Packers still owed Rhodes two-plus years of head-coaching money, so he was getting paid like a head coach for being a coordinator, a job for which he was infinitely more suited. Robiskie was the perfect person for the job under these adverse circumstances, and I'm not quite sure why in the hours after the Giants debacle that Snyder didn't think so, too. Maybe it's because he didn't view Robiskie as the coach for the long haul, and if he got the team fired up, won three in a row, made the playoffs and even won a game or two there, perhaps Snyder felt it would be just too hard to fire Robiskie then. But the star search -- looking for Schottenheimer or Parcells, say -- created problems. How could one of these men (Parcells is under contract with Jets until the end of the season) drop everything to enter this disaster right now? And why would one of them want to? I called Turner at 10:20 p.m. Sunday. He said he planned to go to work Monday morning as normal. He said, "I don't know what's happening. But whatever happens, people who know football, people in the league, they'll know this coaching staff did a good job under some pretty unusual circumstances." He sounded good. "Good luck," I said. "What does that mean?" he asked, laughing. "'Good luck,' as in, 'I hope you keep the job?' Or, 'Good luck, I hope you get fired?'" "I don't know," I said. "I guess I hope you get fired, for your sake." And I kicked myself because on CNN's NFL Preview show Sunday morning, I had a gut feeling -- you get these things, covering the league for 16 years -- that if the Redskins lost Sunday Turner would be toast. I decided not to say it because it was only a gut feeling. I'd heard Snyder had told Robiskie he would be the coach if he fired Turner during the season, and couldn't confirm it Saturday. So I reported nothing. Back to the Pepper scenario. According to Deep Redskin, Rodgers was the logical choice to Snyder. But Robiskie didn't take it well. From what I hear, Robiskie told Snyder the players would laugh at that choice. And Robiskie told him, Deep Redskin said, that he wouldn't call the offensive plays if Rodgers got the job. Big problem. Rodgers is a charming rogue, the former UCLA and Georgia Tech head coach who most recently had worked hard to get an NFL expansion franchise for the city of Memphis and fell short. Paul Zimmerman tells me Rodgers once had a bit part in The Trial of Billy Jack, as the sheriff who gets in a gun battle with the righteous Mr. Jack. The phone rang again at 3:30 a.m. Deep Redskin. "Snyder's giving it to Robiskie," Deep Redskin said. "I guess he figured it'd be too much of a disaster to give it to Pepper." Monday morning, just before 8 o'clock, an NFL coach called. He'd heard the story last week that Robiskie would be the man to replace Turner if he got canned this month. "And that comes from a good friend of Turner," the coach said. Terry Robiskie's a good man. A very good man. A motivator and a good offensive mind. He is black, too, and a couple of weeks ago bravely spoke out to me about the plight of black coaching hires in the NFL; 38 of the last 39 hires have been white. Good luck, Terry. You'll need it. Week 14 AwardsOFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Denver RB Mike Anderson, for his 37-carry, 251-yard, four-touchdown day against one of the preeminent defenses in the league, at the Superdome, no less. Wow. The guy has 446 yards rushing in the last two weeks. What I love about him is his balance and powerful north-south style. Anderson is special, even if he was a sixth-round pick. DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: The New York Giants run defense. The Redskins' rushing stats Sunday: 13 carries, 29 yards. Keith Hamilton, Cornelius Griffin, Christian Peter and friends, you forced the Redskins out of their plan to run more by simply overruning the middle of their offensive line. SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Tennessee K Al Del Greco, for his five field goals, including the game-winning 50-yarder as time expired, as Tennessee beat Philadelphia 15-13. There's no question that one more missed biggie would have cost Del Greco his job. COACH OF THE WEEK: Jacksonville coach Tom Coughlin. A five-game losing streak left this team 2-6 and bickering at midseason. But Coughlin still knows what buttons to push on a proud team. They're 4-1 since, including a 48-0 pounding of the hapless Browns Sunday. GOAT OF THE WEEK: Oakland RB Tyrone Wheatley. Two lost fumbles on a day the Raiders needed every last scoring chance. Gotta be more clutch than that, Tyrone. Factoid of the Week That May Interest Only MeHistoric harmonic convergence in Denver on Dec. 23: Last game at Mile High Stadium, likely last game of Jerry Rice in a 49ers uniform.The 10 Things I Think I Think1. I think, sitting in the press box Sunday, watching the scores was surreal. Miami, never having won in Buffalo in December, up 24-zip in the second quarter. Seattle, which can't tie its shoes in the passing game, up 24-3 at Atlanta. Carolina 16-3 over the Rams. The Giants 9-0, and then a 9-7 final, at Washington. The Bengals ahead of Arizona 21-0; the Bengals ahead of anybody 21-0. I am not responsible for my knowledge of how any team will play anymore. 2. I think this is a collection of my favorite Myron Copisms (Cope's the legendary radio voice, the legendary Pittsburghese-speaking radio voice, of the Steelers) from the Steelers' 21-20 nudging of the Raiders: a. On running back Richard Huntley driving a Raider out of bounds on a special-teams play: "Huntley just give 'em that shoulder and bahnced him ottabahnz." b. On a second-consecutive long run by Jerome Bettis: "Gash 'em again, Bus! Gash 'em again!" c. Before a third-quarter station break: "The score: the hated Raiders 17, Steelers 7." d. On a touchdown by tight end Mark Bruener, on which Bruener carried safety Calvin Branch the final three yards into the end zone: "It's like we're at the rodeo and Bruener is the cow! The cow, Bruener, won't go down! That guy Branch can't pull the cow down! The Bruener rodeo!" e. On Oakland linebacker William Thomas: "Willie Thomas, nine years with the Philly Iggles. Good linebacker. But at the end of last year, they say, 'Well, we don't know about you.' Unemployed! So here he is." 3. I think Kordell Stewart has been reborn. 4. I think this is what you should know if you are an NFL owner who will likely make a coaching change in a month: I spent an hour on the phone with Saints offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy Friday, and you should do the same. 5. I think the coolest thing in December would be the Jaguars running the table and getting back in playoff contention. One problem. If they go 3-0 down the stretch -- and it's doable, with Arizona, Cincinnati and the Giants on the slate -- to finish 9-7, that would leave Jax 6-6 in division games. Not good enough, I'm afraid, to win tiebreakers with the five teams in contention for the final three playoff spots. Coughlinmen, I'm sorry. Thanks for the honor you've shown over the last month, playing hard when a majority of NFL also-rans wouldn't be. 6. I think I would like to have a conversation with the New York Times computer. This is what said conversation would be like: ME: Hello? Computer? COMPUTER: Yeah. It's me. ME: Question for you. I have no problem with you ranking 10-2 Oakland 11 places ahead of 8-4 Denver (prior to this weekend's games), even though the Broncos have beaten the Raiders twice this year. But you have the Giants ahead of the Colts and the Rams. COMPUTER: That is correct. ME: Well, the Rams and Giants are both 8-4. Less than a month ago, the Rams came to Giants Stadium and murdered the Giants. Fourteen-point margin. Could have been 30. The Giants haven't beaten a good team since the Allie Sherman Era. And you have the Giants three places ahead of the Rams. The Rams have scored 192 more points than the Giants. What's up? COMPUTER: This does not compute. ME: I figured. 7. I think I saw 10 girls, and their parents, cry Thursday night. Some background: In preparation for the Montclair (N.J.) High Field Hockey banquet -- you know this is my autumn team of choice, with progeny Laura King flying down right wing -- freshman team captains Sara Armour and Mary Beth King (yes, another King is on her way up the MHS athletic ladder) prepared a touching nine-minute video tribute to the 17-3-1 varsity team. And when they blended Everclear singing "Everything is Wonderful Now," over a varsity team huddle and cheer after their last game of the season, and when leading scorer Natalie Serock was seen wiping away a tear, well, the place lost it a bit. And the girls, who will now scatter to colleges from eastern Massachusetts to California, will take the King/Armour video with them, along with the reassurance that they have been a part of the most special team they will ever play on. That's a father talking there. By the way, if you're not doing anything next Sunday -- unfortunately, that's a pretty major work day for me -- please travel to the football stadium at Montclair State University. That's the day and site of the New Jersey all-star field hockey game, and you will see the final high school field hockey games of Nicki Cozzolino (a Division I star if I ever saw one), Natalie and Laura. Girls, I will be there in spirit. And Laura, thanks for the private video screening, just me and you getting choked up together, around 11 o'clock Thursday night. I won't forget that moment for the next 50 or 60 years. 8. I think these are my additional non-football thoughts: a. I must apologize to Al Gore. Seriously. Last week, I basically told Al to get a life and quit this silly charade of challenging the election. So Lions beatman and very good friend of mine and F.O.A. (Friend of Al) Mike O'Hara (who bunked with Al in Vietnam) e-mailed me and upbraided me in a very non-political way, wondering why there had to be a president on Nov. 26 when he wasn't going to take office until mid-January. Mike's point: Isn't it more important to count every ballot than to rush to judgment when the presidency is at stake? Mea cupla, Mike. You're right. Let's let the Supremes (isn't "Ruth and the Bader Ginsburgs" a D.C.-area band?) be the conscience for the country, and let's all settle down and let reason prevail. b. Apropos of nothing, I would like to own a minor-league baseball team. c. Apropos of the Mike Mussina signing, I will tell you a little story. Last summer, on my tour of training camps, I stopped in at County Stadium in Milwaukee for the last time and met a man with his family from Beloit. They used to go to a lot of Brewers games. "But now we go to see our local team most of the time if we're going to a baseball game," he told me, and he meant the Class A Midwest League's Beloit Snappers. I asked him why. "The Snappers are fun, and they're cheaper, and I know they have a chance every year. The Brewers aren't competing for any championship. They're happy if they get to .500." Baseball is sick. The Green Bay Packers are what's right with big-league sports today, small-town charm in a big-money sporting time. But if the Packers were in baseball, they'd have folded in the '50s. Baseball today is maddeningly influenced by local TV revenue. The Yankees will have about $60 million of it, and that may be conservative, in 2001. That's 10 times what the Milwaukees and Kansas Citys have. I am reminded of what Giants patriarch Wellington Mara told me once about the NFL's decision in the early '60s to eternally share TV revenue equally. "I figured it had better be set up where we'd always have someone competitive to play," he said. Even though I'm a Red Sox fan, I admire the Yankees. They have a classy manager and gutty, good players who represent their team and sport well. But they are taking a sledgehammer to the sport of baseball. What the Yankees have is a collection of exhibitions against Triple A teams from Kansas City, Minnesota and other annual American League weaklings who can't possibly keep up, along with a third of the games every year against competitive teams. I don't blame the Yankees for doing this. It's within the rules. But I blame the owners, including George Steinbrenner, and the commissioner and the union for allowing a great game to become terminally unequal. d. Coffeenerdness: Starbucks, you have the Egg Nog Latte down this holiday season. Good job. e. College coaching contracts make absolutely no sense. The University of Pittsburgh signed coach Walt Harris in March to a contract extension through 2006. Last week Alabama called to request permission to talk to Harris. It was granted. Huh? How possibly can this one-way contract benefit the university? Harris was never offered the job, but Pitt called a press conference Friday to announce Harris was staying. When asked how long that was for, Harris said: "Right now, at the time I look at the situation ... I realized this is my home." In other words, Harris will be there until the next bigger job comes up. 9. I think Robert Smith's 17-carry, 117-yard effort in the seven-point win over the Leos the other night wasn't the best of his career, but consider a couple of things: On a night the Lions clamped down on Randy Moss and Cris Carter -- holding them to 70 yards receiving on 10 catches -- Smith was the MVP of the Vikes' quite diversified offense. And Smith is averaging 5.9 yards per carry ON FIRST DOWN. THINK OF THIS. THE DEFENSE THINKS THE OFFENSE, FOR THE MOST PART, IS GOING TO RUN ON FIRST DOWN, AND SMITH IS GIVING THE VIKINGS SIX YARDS A POP ON FIRST DOWN! Can I go to lower case now? Have I made my point? I mean, those are Jim Brown -type numbers. 10. I think the Redskins won't be very good for a very long time. Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL and appears
regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN's NFL Preview. Join him Dec. 7 for his monthly NFL chat. To submit a question via his mailbag, here to send a
question to his NFL Mailbag.
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