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Playoff implications NFL will scrap wild-card games for Jan. 5-6
Sports Illustrated's Peter King gave Bob Lorenz on Sunday the latest rundown on the NFL's plans following the cancellation of this week's slate of games: Bob Lorenz: A decision about the schedule will come from the NFL on Tuesday. What do you think will happen? Peter King: I know exactly what's going to happen. On Tuesday morning, the NFL will announce that the league will play Week 2 in full on what now will be Week 18 of the season, Jan. 5-6. There won't be a Monday night game -- that Minnesota-Baltimore game will probably be played Saturday night, Jan. 5. The rest of the games will be played Sunday. A couple of factors went into this decision. No. 1, the NFL office really wants the integrity of the 16-game schedule, just like Bud Selig wants the integrity of a 162-game schedule in baseball. A more overriding concern: the imbalance in the schedule would have been great, not only in a competitive sense but in a monetary sense. There would have been 15 teams with one fewer home game that would have lost an awful lot of money. So, instead they'll lose a couple of wild-card home games on the weekend of Jan. 5-6. I know it's a crude and crass time to talk about money, but in terms of ownership in the NFL, this did have an impact. So, they will play the complete 16-game season, with this Sunday's games being played Jan. 5-6. Lorenz: But without those extra wild-card games, won't there be less excitement to the season? Did the NFL take that into consideration? King: I think there was going to be controversy no matter which way they went. The owners in general wanted to keep every team with eight home games. You can argue that we'll be missing some great wild-card games, especially in the AFC where, with just one wild-card berth, a very good team like Oakland, Tennessee, Miami or Baltimore isn't going to make the playoffs. But I think the majority of owners is going to rule and the majority are telling Paul Tagliabue that they want 16 games. Lorenz: Is the NFL able to look ahead at all -- is there a possibility they may not play next week? King: Clearly they want to play next week, but how do you know what's going to happen in the next five, six, seven days? The world could be an entirely different place seven days from now than it is today. One thing is very clear: as unpleasant as it is, the NFL and most sporting leagues have played through wars before. The NFL will play through this war unless our lives have interrupted on home soil. Lorenz: You were in the Giants' locker room this week -- what was that experience like? King: I walked out of the Giants' practice facility with veteran offensive line coach Jim McNally on Friday. He sort of pointed to the commuter parking lot that's adjacent to the team parking lot and said, "See that? There's a bunch of cars in there that have been there for a couple of days. They belong to people who didn't come back." That commuter lot was used by a lot of people who worked in the World Trade Center. The players saw that, and they saw that the towers weren't there anymore. That's why Jason Sehorn and Michael Strahan were so eloquent on Gene Upshaw's conference call Wednesday night which decided whether the players would go ahead or urge Tagliabue not to play. Even though that vote was only 17-11 in favor of not playing, it would have been much, much closer -- and maybe would have gone the other way -- if Kevin Mawae of the Jets and the two Giants hadn't spoken so eloquently. Lorenz: A lot of NFL teams are trying to help. What are the Giants doing to help the cause? King: In the Giants' locker room Friday, there was this desperate sense of how all the players wanted to do something, anything. On Saturday morning, at 7:45 a.m., backup quarterback Jason Garrett called me and he said he was on his way to a Home Depot with receiver Joe Jurevicius. They were going to collect a list of items -- the defense, in turn, was on its way to a Wal-Mart or Target to pick up clothes, toiletries and supplies. They were going to meet at Giants Stadium and go into Manhattan as far as they could. They ended up being brought by police boat to the crash site to hug and give hope to some of the volunteers doing work there. Lorenz: The Bucs, Saints and Steelers all have byes in Week 3 -- they'll go 21 days without playing a game. They also all played on the road in Week 1 so they won't have home games until Week 5. How do you think those teams are going to be affected by this long layoff? King: Well, the Steelers with their brand shiny new stadium won't play a home game until October 5 -- that's a disappointment to the team and its fans. But as far as teams go, I talked to Saints center Jerry Fontenot on Friday and he said that a lot of guys in the locker room didn't realize the scheduling situation until Jim Haslett got up and said, "We basically have 21 days off -- here's how we're going to treat it." To them, it's going to be like a mini training camp. They'll try and get their minds right first, adjusting to the devastating effects of the week, and then they'll try and keep everyone healthy until they hit the field again later this month. Lorenz: During the Gulf War, security at Super Bowl XXV was very tight in January 1991 -- you were there in Tampa, what stood out for you? King: I remember that it took us 45 minutes to get into the stadium and I was there four hours before game time. They physically hand checked everybody with wands to make sure you didn't have any unwanted items with you. The other thing I remember is that I don't remember very much and that's sort of a sign of good security. I was told there were SWAT teams ringing the roof at the stadium but you couldn't see them. After the game none of the players were talking about security, either. So, while I know the place was very secure, the league did a good job of making it unobtrusive. Lorenz: Security is obviously going to be heightened. How big a difference will there be and what's the mindset of the NFL? King: That's going to be the predominant thing that occupies their mind -- forget the schedule. Over the next six days you're going to see meetings with every franchise, conference calls, and Tagliabue will form a task force with several security directors. Browns director of security Lew Merletti, the former director of the Secret Service, will definitely be part of that task force. I think you'll see that it'll take an awful lot longer to get into stadiums. And whether it be checkpoint outside the stadium or bomb-sniffing dogs, there'll be some real heightening of security, without any question. Lorenz: The stadiums are all silent now. If and when the games resume next week, what will the face of the NFL look like? King: It'll be very interesting to see how many people come to the games. In some stadiums, in some cities, it will be viewed as a cathartic experience. People with flags, singing patriotic songs. I know in talking to Packers president Bob Harlan that if they had played this week, he was going to have a flag for every person in the stadium and he was going to have two anthems sung, the national anthem and America the Beautiful. I think we'll see things that will make it much more than a football game. Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and appears each Sunday on CNN's NFL Preview.
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