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An alliterative Super Bowl A Raiders-Rams final isn't so unlikelyPosted: Thursday November 29, 2001 1:59 PM
Erick Ranta of Memphis asks an interesting question and I have an interesting answer. The question/interrogative statement: Why do you say we'll see a Warner-Gannon Super Bowl (MMQB, Nov.
26)? If Oakland couldn't beat the Ravens at home last year in the AFC
Championship Game, why do you think they'll be able to handle the Steelers (who
may be hosting the AFC title matchup)? Especially since Oakland's Achilles' heel
is its run defense and, well, the Steelers aren't such a bad rushing team. This
isn't another case like the Bucs, where you just kind of root for a team, is it?
In the immortal words of Bill Parcells, you're never this year what you were last year. Oakland's inability to beat Baltimore last year has no bearing on how it will fare against the Steelers this year, if indeed the two teams were to meet. I would agree that as the teams are constituted now, Pittsburgh is a team that is good at almost everything, now that Kordell Stewart is playing like one of the 10 best quarterbacks in football. But let's not discount the good things that Oakland does -- and does better than it did a year ago. The passing game is better and more reliable, with the addition of Jerry Rice and the amazing consistency of Rich Gannon, who is the NFL's MVP right now. The Raiders have lost nothing in the running game, with the two-headed Wheatley-Garner monster. They defend the pass well. They have struggled, and can be dominated, when the opposition runs. That's a concern. But one thing I want you to remember, Eric, is this: You and I both have no idea where these teams will be in two months. Will two Steelers blockers get hurt? Will the Raiders get a rash of injuries and fall out of it? As it stands now, Pittsburgh would be a heck of a mountain to climb for the Raiders. I simply think right now that Oakland will win home-field and the AFC Super Bowl berth. But in this weird NFL season, I reserve the right to change my mind. I have a couple quick questions for you. Is Rob Johnson a No. 1 quarterback
in the NFL, and does he have even a prayer of staying in Buffalo beyond this
season? Also, is Gregg Williams a legitimate NFL head coach or is he simply a
good defensive coordinator who is in over his head?
This team entered the year with lots of salary-cap problems, obviously, and I believe the season turned for the worse in the opener when Sam Cowart went out for the year with his Achilles injury. I worry about their devotion to Johnson. I would stick with him, too, but that doesn't mean I'm convinced he's the long-term answer at quarterback. I don't want sound too simplistic here, but the reason I'd be most optimistic about the long-term future of this team is that Williams and Tom Donahoe are running it. I trust both men. I think you're in good hands. I stay awake at night pondering how to fix my Cowboys. Please help! You're
the GM for 2002. You have $15-$20 million under the cap and a top-5 draft pick.
Please, specifically, tell me which free agents you would sign and who you would
draft in the first three rounds. Name specific players when you can or at least
the positions? Fire Campo? Cut Emmitt?
Here are the five moves I'd make if I were Jerry Jones and had $13.8 million (which, the last time I checked, is what the Cowboys have to spend in free agency) to retool the team: 1. Sign an autonomous general manager. I'd interview Mike Lombardi of the Raiders, Bill Kuharich of the Chiefs, Billy Devaney (formerly of San Diego, now scouting for the Niners), and James Harris of the Ravens, and I'd hire the best guy to help me plot the long-term future. 2. Attack the midsection of free agency. Sign a restricted tackle like Oliver Ross, the underrated Steeler, and a couple of unrestricted middle-of-the-road players with a few years left -- St. Louis defensive end Chidi Ahanotu, maybe, and underrated Rams running back Justin Watson. The answer these days isn't in big-money free agency; it's in smart-money free agency. 3. You've got to keep Emmitt to get the rushing record. But you've got develop the next Emmitt. I think it's Watson, a cheap and low-risk guy. 4. Listen to Ernie Zampese about the quarterback of the future. He's a guy with a good history at the position. He's not a big Ryan Leaf guy, and he has major questions about Quincy Carter. If Zampese and my new GM think David Carr of Fresno State is worth trading up for in the draft, I'd do it. But I'd solve the quarterback problem. 5. I would stop raising expectations. This is not a quick fix. To that end, if I had a high first-round pick and didn't want Carr, I'd deal down as often as possible and try to get five or six extra picks. Your Goat of the Week was Peyton Manning. He threw three of four
interceptions after his team had forged a 21-20 lead, and a couple of them were
really bad, like the one deep down the middle and straight to an immobile free
safety. Is it time to consider that Manning is a choker? No playoff wins. Few
fourth-quarter comebacks. His interceptions don't seem to be randomly
distributed through a game, they occur late, when the game is on the line. Is
Manning thinking too hard when the game is up for grabs?
You can't call Manning a choker yet. There's not enough of a pattern of bad behavior to do that. Conversely, before we anoint him as the best of the game, or among the best three, he's going to have to win big games, as you say. It would help if he didn't think he needed to put up 31 points every week in order to feel he has a chance to win, though. Do you think that Denny Green's shortsightedness (offense first) will
ultimately be his downfall as coach of the Vikings? Every year it just seems
that Green is increasingly focused on adding more to the offense than to the
defense. I can appreciate his choosing Randy Moss over, say, the young defensive
end that Tennessee took. But he has passed on other opportunities, hasn't he?
What is your view?
I do think Green has done a poor job with the defense. He reached for Dimitrius Underwood and blundered; the Vikings don't have a shell of a pass rush. He hasn't improved his corner situation, either. I understand Green deserves to be rapped, and I've done my share of it. But let's remember that he's piloted the Vikings to the playoffs eight of his nine seasons, and he still has the team under his thumb -- except for Moss, who's too lackadaisical -- and there's no way he should be fired. I'm sure you've received nasty mail from the fans of Philadelphia, letting
you know in so many words that they are tired of being abused by reporters about
our passion for (and against) the local teams. This week you mentioned in your
column the fact that the fans booed the frisbee dogs at halftime of the Eagles
games. Much like British humor, people do not seem to quite understand the humor
in, or the reasons for booing. Booing is an art in Philadelphia. It is done not
just to let the opposing fans know we would prefer they pack their bags and
forfeit the game they are about to lose, but to let our own team know we care
about the product put on the field. There is comedy in booing, if you ever saw
the fan who opens each Eagles game chanting while wearing makeup and a green
wig, this guy is, and should be, booed for being and embarrassment to the city!
So I ask that you give it a try -- boo a ref, boo a player, boo the guy who cuts
you off -- and you may find it fun. It may also stir some real passion for the
things you love!
But what about my other point: The vulgarity is so prevalent and so nasty in the upper deck that it makes it almost irresponsible to take anyone under the age of 15 there. Why do we sit back and accept that in this society? It's wrong, and bad, and mob-rulish. Why do you have the 49ers ranked so low in your MMQB Top 12? They only have
two losses, both in close games and against good football teams. They lost to
the Rams by four, and to the Bears in OT (a game they threw away). They should
have a 9-1 record, best in the league.
I should be a male model, but I'm 45 pounds overweight. I like the 49ers. They're good. But, right now, I like other teams better because I think they play team defense better. I am wrong more than I'm right in this business, so I don't trust me on everything. I just know that my gut tells me San Francisco's defense needs one more draft. Why have the national media, yourself included, refused to acknowledge the
Cleveland Browns as a legit football team? No. 12 in your poll, behind the
Ravens? They smoked Baltimore twice and played the Steelers toe-to-toe over four
quarters before losing in overtime. What are you seeing that we don't see in
Cleveland?
"Refused to acknowledge the Cleveland Browns as a legit football team?" You're kidding, right? Have you read what I've written about the Browns this fall, in the magazine and on this site? I was acknowledging them as legit a month ago! Trev Alberts ripped me on CNN for calling them a playoff team the last week of October. Sheesh. You get ripped in this business for praising a team and then stand accused of not praising the team. And what's wrong with being 12th? There are 12 playoff teams. And my feeling is if they met in the postseason, Baltimore would beat Cleveland. That's why I have the Ravens ranked higher. I'm a huge Niners fan and have two questions for you: What about Steve
Mariucci for coach of the year? Will Terrell Owens ever grow up? He actually
makes it difficult to cheer when he does something good.
I have to vote Butch Davis for coach of the year. Slam dunk, though I like the job Mariucci has done. Like it a lot. I just think the Browns winning more games by Thanksgiving than they won in their first two seasons back in Cleveland locks up this year's coaching honors for Davis. Terrell Owens, I'm afraid, has a chip on his shoulder the size of Tennessee, and he will never admit he was wrong, no matter what he does. But as I told Mariucci a couple of weeks ago, he'd be loony to not do everything in his power to get along with this great, great talent. To Eric from Dayton, Robert from L.A. and Mike from Pittsburgh: There were many responses to my Monday Quarterback Mistake Quotient column, several about how it should be weighted and based on number of pass attempts. I agree. If I'd been a math major at Ohio University, maybe I'd have figured a way to weight the QMQ. But the basic premise of it was to show how some of the most underachieving teams this year are being led by some of the most underachieving quarterbacks, and I don't think that's a coincidence. And Mike, you're wrong about Stewart. Start looking on the bright side about the
guy ... 155 straight throws without an interceptions, excellent accuracy.
Kordell has changed and I think you should view him as a new quarterback because
he
is.
Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL for the magazine
and appears each Sunday on CNN's NFL Preview. To send a question to his mailbag,
which will next appear on Dec. 14, click here.
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