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Proud to be a Lion Matt Millen is still Matt Millen, even at 0-11Posted: Monday December 03, 2001 9:23 AM
CHICAGO -- This is the kind of year it has been for the Lions: On Wednesday, a crummy weather day in Pontiac, Mich., head coach Marty Mornhinweg wanted to practice inside the Silverdome. The Lions and the Silverdome management were in the final stages of a contentious negotiation about breaking the club's lease at the white elephant of a stadium, and whenever the team tried to practice indoors, there would always be some excuse as to why they couldn't. The dome was empty that morning and Mornhinweg took the team inside. As they hit the field, loud music -- insanely loud, starting with the national anthem and continuing with Metallica -- played throughout practice. The trainer handed out cotton for ears. That's how loud it was. Then the Lions started feeling the carpet move under their feet. At the 'Dome, when the artificial turf is being moved out of the stadium, strong currents of air are blown under the rug to make it easier to move. Only now it wasn't being moved. The air was being blasted and the rug was bubbling up between players. A settlement was agreed upon later that day, the Lions paying $26 million to the Silverdome to break the lease so they can move downtown to Ford Field in 2005. But how 'bout that hometown hospitality? It's as if the 'Dome is saying to the Lions: Don't let the door slam you in the rear end on the way out.
That's the building in which Matt Millen is working, at least for now, in his rookie year as Lions president. I expected to see a subdued Millen when we met in the bowels of Soldier Field 90 minutes before kickoff of Lions-Bears. But he was not subdued, nor particularly down. He was Millenesque, excited about son Marcus' wrestling season back in Easton, Pa. (his family has not moved to Michigan and may not, ever, from the family estate a mile from the Delaware River in eastern Pennsylvania) and son Matt's freshman year at Princeton, and his two daughters' years in school. "Now that's hard," he said about the separation. He'd just flown in from Pennsylvania on Sunday morning, squeezing in a night at home before the game. "It's hard on my daughters. But it has been done before. It'll be done again. We're handling it." I know the family thing is harder than hard on Millen, because I've spent time with the Millens at home. But it can't be harder than 0-11. For Millen, nothing can be harder than 0-11. I do this thing in my Sports Illustrated "Inside the NFL" column called "Word Association," and I decided to do it with Millen before the game, back when the Lions were only 0-10. With a little twist. Call it the "10 Questions Every Angry and Frustrated and Justifiably Drunk Lions Fan Would Like to Ask" if they had 20 minutes with him. Me: Regrets about taking the job? Millen: None. I'm not a regrets person. This whole thing, you know, 0-10, all the problems we've had, makes me want to fight even harder. Me: Your biggest surprise? Millen: No wins. Me: What else? Millen: I knew this, but the job and the whole business has less to do with X's and O's and more to do with people than I thought. People management. Dealing with players in the locker room, people in the front office. Me: What's your take on Marty Mornhinweg as coach? Millen: I don't think too many people could have held this together like he has. All the things I thought he had when I hired him, he has. Smart. Handles the team well. Has stuck with the plan. Sees the big picture. Me: Why are you 0-10? Millen: The easy thing would be to say talent. But everyone has holes. Everyone has injuries. We're limited in some areas, and sometimes that gets us. But the big thing about this game is how you function under pressure. Sometimes, you've got maybe three seconds to make a decision on an adjustment we've gone over, and you have to do it out there when the pressure's on. Can you adjust, and communicate the adjustment, and do it all on the fly? All in two or three seconds? That's what makes the game fun, to work till that happens. It also makes it frustrating when it doesn't. Me: Why isn't Mike McMahon your quarterback right now, at 0-10, going nowhere? Millen: He doesn't know enough yet. You can't let him crash. If we put him in there and he burns, we've lost him. (An update here: With Charlie Batch down, perhaps for the season, with a separated shoulder he suffered Sunday, McMahon could start the rest of the way -- including that big one Jan. 6 against Dallas. What a game that should be -- Quincy Carter- Mike McMahon. NFL Fever! Catch it!) Me: What's it like waking up in the morning 0-10? Millen: It's like it's Christmas morning, and you're all excited because you know you're getting a bike. You want the bike, you want the bike. And you go open up the package, and all that's in there is handlebars and a tire. What do you do? You can sulk, or you can go find a way to get the rest of the bike. That's what I'm doing. You're disappointed, but that's not gonna get the job done. When I focus on the losses, it kills me. When I focus on building the team, it kills me. Me: Have you broken anything yet? Punched a wall? Millen: No, not yet. Other than a couple of blood vessels that almost burst a few times. Me: That's how it looks when they show you on TV in the fourth quarter. Did you know that? Millen: I know it! I keep telling the guys at FOX, my old friends: "Don't put me on! Stop putting me on!" Me: Do you still think you'll win a Super Bowl doing this job? At this point Bill Keenist, senior VP of p.r. and marketing for the Lions, butted in and added: "With the Lions." Millen: Yes. I really believe that. Then these Lions went out and did the following: And that, ladies and gentlemen, helps make a team 0-11.
There were 21 numbered jerseys in the three sections in front of the Soldier Field press box Sunday. Here's how they broke down: Brian Urlacher -- 14. Anthony Thomas -- 2. Barry Sanders -- 1. Cory Schlesinger -- 1. Jim McMahon -- 1. Dick Butkus -- 1. Lewis Tillman -- 1. Yes, Lewis Tillman. The guy wearing that jersey clearly hasn't had Christmas at his house in five or six years. *********
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: New Orleans WR Joe Horn, who didn't let a little joust with the back judge (see Goat of the Day) spoil a winning day. Thirteen catches, 150 yards and the winning touchdown, a 17-yard throw from Aaron Brooks with 1:31 left in a 27-23 comeback victory over Carolina. DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Chicago OLB Rosevelt Colvin, for his nine-tackle, 1.5-sack performance in the 13-10 win over the Lions. This is not because after meeting him Saturday night for a Perrier at the Bears' hotel Colvin is my new best friend on the surprising Butkuses. It's because he disrupted so much of what the Lions did -- he and safety Mike Brown -- and won a game when the offense didn't help. Rangy, quick and hard-hitting, Colvin's a guy the Bears need to sign long-term, along with fellow restricted free agent Warrick Holdman. Great linebackers. SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Tampa Bay CB Ronde Barber, whose blocked punt in Cincinnati was recovered for a Tampa Bay touchdown, the Bucs' only points of the first half. This in the continuation of an excellent all-around season for the less famous of the Barber twins. He also had 10 tackles on the day. COACH OF THE WEEK: Arizona head coach Dave McGinnis, who has silently driven the Cardinals into a race for the sixth playoff spot in the NFC with his 53-hearts-beating-as-one, corny-but-effective coaching style. I like it. And to beat Oakland at Oakland, with your season on the line, is a heck of an accomplishment. GOAT OF THE WEEK: Back judge Phil Luckett, in the Saints-Panthers game. Fifteen years ago, Bill Parcells was talking about opportunistic defensive end George Martin, who always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, when he said: "The ball just finds him." Well, controversy just finds Luckett. He was the Jerome Bettis coin-flip ref. And on Sunday the Saints, off a flea-flicker, threw a bomb aimed for the Carolina 5-yard line to a wide open Joe Horn. Well, he was wide open, except for Luckett being in his flight path. With the ball plummeting earthward, Horn smashed into Luckett, and the ball fell harmlessly to the field.
When Dick Jauron was a junior in high school in Massachusetts, he used to help the equipment guy by sweeping out the gym after games. Jauron was the star of the team. No one else helped. What a nice boy. And he's turned into a nice man.
1. I think the league has bent over too far to protect quarterbacks, and we see more of it every week. Chad Eaton's hit on Doug Flutie was brutal, but it was simply a football play, and Eaton got 15 yards for it. Ditto Buffalo's Erik Flowers for tackling Jeff Garcia near the sideline -- but not out of bounds -- in San Francisco. This just continues a trend that is admirable but has just gotten out of control. Everyone wants to see the quarterback stay upright, but no one wants to see him treated like a piece of china. 2. I think it's progress when two black quarterbacks meet, as Kordell Stewart and Daunte Culpepper did in Pittsburgh on Sunday, and no one dwells on the color of their skin. 3. I think I have heard, and read, so much about Drew Bledsoe's contract and what the Patriots might do with him next year that, as someone who has a copy of the 15-page contract he signed on March 14, 2001, I'd like to make a few points. The contract is basically a three-tiered deal. In the first tier, the Patriots agreed to pay Bledsoe an $8 million signing bonus ($4 million on Aug. 15 and $4 million on Dec. 15 of this year). Here's where it gets a bit complicated. In the second tier, the Patriots could exercise a clause activating the final six years of the deal -- 2005 through 2010 -- by Feb. 15, 2002 and pay Bledsoe another bonus of $7.2 million in two payments, in April 2002 or April 2003. But they could also choose to let the Feb. 15 date pass -- which they certainly will do -- and not make a decision on Bledsoe until Nov. 1, 2004. In this case, the Patriots, by informing Bledsoe on that day, would pay him a $7 million bonus plus salaries for the 2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons; the Patriots also had a buyout provision here, agreeing to pay Bledsoe $2 million on Nov. 15, 2004 if they did not exercise the next bonus clause and Bledsoe was still on the roster as of that day. Now, if the Patriots activate the clause paying Bledsoe $7 million and they keep him for 2005-'07, they'd then have the third-tier option on Feb. 15, 2008 of releasing Bledsoe or paying him a bonus of $8 million to activate the contract years 2008-'10. Of course, since the final three years of the contract total $39 million, the chances of that ever happening would be miniscule anyway. So what does the deal mean? It means that the Patriots, if they wish, won't take a huge hit by dumping Bledsoe in the next offseason. If he plays for them, his cap number on the Pats' payroll will be $6.33 million. If he's cut by them and they have to eat his prorated signing bonus, his cap number will be $6.67 million. 4. I think Alex Van Pelt made some of the dumbest throws I've seen a quarterback make in a long time in San Francisco. Rob Johnson, your job looks secure to me. 5. I think the Redskins can't stand prosperity. When you have to try to win every week in spite of your quarterback, as this team is trying to do, you're in trouble. 6. I think these are my non-football thoughts: a. Want to read a good column about holiday shopping excess? Check out Anna Quindlen's piece in this week's Newsweek. Right on the mark. b. I am more melancholy about the death of George Harrison than I ever thought I'd be. I think it's Here Comes the Sun. Had no idea he wrote that. It's truly one of the best songs and this is one of the all-time decent guys, from what everyone says. And it hit me again when, standing on Soldier Field for my CNN appearance Sunday morning just before 9 o'clock central time, under a cloudless sky, with the sun peeking over the east stands, the song came over the P.A. system ... And again at 11:49, as the Lions took the field for the game. What a body of work, too, the best of any Beatle once he left the group. c. There is nothing like a long walk down North Michigan Avenue. d. If you like good pizza, you should try the basil pie with mushroom and pepperoni -- my personal Friday night choice -- at Ken's Town Tavern in Little Falls, N.J. One heck of a pie, even if the wait is 35 minutes. e. Coffeenerdness: I might be changing, after all these years, to mochas. Not sure yet, but I had two of them this weekend, and they're pretty good. The mocha can hide a bad espresso shot, it seems to me, better than a hazelnut latte. And since so many of the espresso shots are awful, hiding them is not such a bad thing. f. Congratulations, Gap. Great commercials based on the Supertramp song Give a Little Bit with all those good singers whose names I don't know. Where's Mary Beth King when you need her? g. I had a tough decision to make as a parent a couple of weeks ago, along with my wife. Mary Beth's 16th birthday was coming up, and she was dying to see Britney Spears Dec. 2 at the Meadowlands. I mean, this kid wants to be Britney Spears when she grows up. (Strange thought. Aren't they just about the same age?) Do you pay a stupid sum of money and scalp tickets to the show? And do you make that her birthday gift? The whole gift, on such an important birthday? Or do you say, "I'm not paying a stupid sum of money for a two-hour event; Mary Beth will have to cope with watching some version of the concert on TV." You know what I did, old softy that I am. I sprung for the tickets. She went Sunday night. And when she got home, I quizzed her on the show. She loved it, of course. Her best lines: "I am Britney ... Britney equals life ... She is quirky, friendly and personable. She's from the south and says 'y'all.' It's so cute ... We had the most ANNOYING 12-year-old girls behind us! Girls screaming at the top of their lungs for the warmup band! I HATED them!" 7. I think Emmitt Smith basically broke Walter Payton's career rushing record Sunday with his 102-yard day in Washington. It puts him 972 yards away from owning the record, which means he must average 47 yards a game through the end of next season to get it done. He can do that, can't he? 8. I think these are my college football thoughts: a. If I had a Heisman vote, I'd vote for Miami left tackle Bryant McKinnie. Boy, is he good. "He's so young in the game," Butch Davis tells me. "He hasn't been playing as long as a lot of these kids." So, conceivably, he'll get better. Number two, with a bullet: Fresno State quarterback David Carr, who will be the first pick in the NFL draft. But McKinnie's my guy. b. Maybe that's why I don't have a Heisman vote. Or maybe that's why I should have one. c. Looks to me as if the first two picks of the 2003 draft will be Rex Grossman and Chris Simms, not necessarily in that order. Grossman will still have a year left, but I'm hearing he's already sniffing around about his NFL prospects. I really like Grossman's pocket presence, how he hangs in there against a heavy rush and makes good decisions. And it has been a while since I've seen anyone but Brett Favre make such a nice and heady underhanded toss for a late-first-half completion. Simms played horribly under pressure Saturday night, and he'll have to show he can handle those situations better. d. Nice shot by the normally vanilla Verne Lundquist on the Tennessee-Florida game, after the CBS cameras caught the Billickian Steve Spurrier talking after a delay-of-game. Said Lundquist: "I don't think Steve is saying, 'My fault.'" f. Ernest Wilford. A name that will live in infamy. 9. I think, assuming Kordell keeps playing this well, that it looks like a Rams-Steelers Super Bowl. 10. I think at some point we'll have to sit up and take notice of this Priest Holmes guy, with his 978 rushing yards and 50 catches. Those are Faulkian numbers for this stage of the season. Great signing by the Chiefs.
Get on the field early tonight, Dennis Miller. Favre's your kind of guy. Packers, 29-14. Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL and appears
regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN's NFL Preview. Click here to send a question to his
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