'Tis more valuable to give ...

MONTCLAIR, N.J. -- I had a neat idea for a Christmas Eve column: Ask a few players and coaches for the best Christmas present they ever got. Then, late last Thursday, a fax came to the office on the second floor of my home here. And, well, I always write this thing pretty seat-of-the-pantsish, so I decided to change my mind. Sort of.

The fax was from Mike Martz of the St. Louis Rams. It was headlined, "2001 NFL MVP Candidates." The stat lines of seven players -- quarterbacks Rich Gannon, Brett Favre, Kurt Warner, Jeff Garcia and Kordell Stewart, and running backs Jerome Bettis and Marshall Faulk -- were listed. The numbers that led the league were in boldface type. Warner, the fax said, led the league in completion percentage (.667), passing yards (3,974), touchdown passes (28), 300-yard games (seven) and 400-yard games (one). And below, written in Martz’s printing, was this message:

"Peter:

"Is anyone more deserving of the MVP than Kurt?"

"Mike"

1. St. Louis (12-2). Now that’s a smart offensive plan on a crummy day. Run Marshall Faulk 30 times, dominate the clock, win (38-32) any way you can on the road.  2. Pittsburgh (12-2). Averaging 31 points a game in the three missed by Bettis. Depth city.  3. San Francisco (11-3). Last four games: 0, 27, 0 and 3 points allowed. The 27 were scored by the Rams. This team’s trouble for someone come January.   4. Oakland (10-4). Two weeks ago, Raiders were fighting for home field through the playoffs. This morning, they’re fighting to be any good in the playoffs.   5. Chicago (11-3). Is there anything Brian Urlacher can’t do?   6. New England (10-5). What a nice week to have a bye. Christmas with the family, followed by egg nog for 53 at Bill Belichick’s house, and a special screening of Christmas Vacation at Drew Bledsoe’s house Tuesday night.   7. Green Bay (10-4). I must be sick. I was watching the Packers-Browns game longingly, thinking how much I’d love to be at a game in the snow.   8. Philadelphia (9-5). I thought they paid Jon Runyan to be a difference-maker on the goal line.  9. Baltimore (9-5). Could well have to win out (at Tampa Bay, Minnesota at home) to get a wild-card game at home.   10. New York Jets (9-5). Free Vinny.   11. Tampa Bay (8-6). I demand that the real Bucs stand up. Are they the guys who smash the Rams on the road and score a thousand against the Saints at home? Or are they the guys who need overtime to beat the Bengals, who need some desperate plays to beat the Lions?   12. Miami (9-5). Who kidnaped Lamar Smith? I mean, ‘fess up.

I laughed out loud. That’s Martz. He feels so passionate about Warner and the job he’s doing that he’ll take time out from a short week (Rams played Monday and had to travel to Charlotte for Sunday's game) to pump up one of his own guys to a guy in the business he knows, and a guy he knows has an MVP vote in The Associated Press balloting. Last year, I remember how passionate he was about Faulk deserving the award, which he did.

So I picked up the phone and called Martz. "Got your fax," I said. "And I’ll tell you where I am with this voting. Until a couple of weeks ago, I was pretty solid on Gannon over Garcia and Favre, because Kurt hadn’t played that well in your losses, and he was throwing more interceptions than a great player should throw. But now it’s a horse race. After your game in New Orleans, it’s tight between Gannon and Kurt. The last three weeks will tell the winner."

"Let me just say a few things," Martz said. "When Kurt struggled, there’s no question it was because of his thumb. I went to him after the [Nov. 11] Carolina game and asked him about it, because his deep balls were just sailing. They didn’t have the regular zip on them. He said, ‘My thumb -- I just can’t grip with it.’ So he took a [painkilling] shot, and the last three weeks, all must games for us, he’s been unbelievable ... a 130-something rating, two on the road, all in our division, all against playoff contenders."

I did the math for the three games -- 68.0 percent completions, 974 yards, 10 touchdowns, one interception.

"You know, I’ve been hearing all these things about the MVP. I’ve heard Kordell Stewart’s name mentioned. Obviously anyone who gets mentioned is having a great year. But just look at the categories on that fax. He’s so far ahead on yards [through Week 15, Warner has 4,191 passing yards, 752 more than than the next guy on the list, Favre] that he’s got a chance to threaten [Dan] Marino’s all-time record for yards in one season. Other than interceptions, which he’s way up in because of his thumb, he’s dominating all the numbers."

What intrigues me about Warner is his amazing accuracy. Last Monday at New Orleans, Dan Fouts made an excellent point about how well Warner hits his receivers in stride, allowing them to make so many yards after the catch. It’s something I wrote after five weeks in 2000 in the magazine, and something I believe that will distinguish him from every quarterback of this era.

"We’re watching the prime of what’s going to be one of the great careers of all-time," Martz said.

I agree. Now let’s see how the last two weeks shake out before we put our votes on the line, coach.

It’s still Christmas Eve, so I’m going to give you my favorite gift. I thought it’d be Ray Buchanan’s. "I got a Bentley last Christmas," he told me. "I always wanted one. I would talk about it and how beautiful it was, but it was always so much money. Bentleys cost $365,000. But I got the big contract last year and my wife decided to surprise me. It was in the garage on Christmas morning. My wife said, ‘Honey, I forgot my purse in the car. Would you go get it?’ I went, and there was the car, and I almost fainted. My legs got weak. I almost passed out. There was a big bow on it. I said: ‘This is not for me! This is not for me!’ The dealer knocked off $60,000 from the price, and she traded in her Jaguar. That was nice."

I also liked the 10-speed bike Jim Fassel when he was 11 or 12 in Anaheim. "The great thing about that gift," he said, "was that we had a black-and-white TV. My uncle, who lived 10 or 15 miles away in Santa Ana, had color TV. So I pedaled over to his house on New Year’s Day morning and watched all the bowl games -- Cotton, Rose and Orange. What a great day."

But I thought Miami cornerback Sam Madison’s gesture of giving 100 unfortunate kids from the Fort Lauderdale area each a $150 mall gift certificate was fantastic. "That’s the best gift I could ever get -- to see the smiles on those kids’ faces," Madison told me.

And with that, I wish you all the happiest of holidays.

Kevin Harlan to former NFL back Craig James in the booth during Sunday’s Seahawks-Giants game, after a Matt Hasselbeck incompletion: "When you used to play for the Patriots, Matt Hasselbeck mowed your grass." True story. Hasselbeck’s dad, Don, played for the Patriots, and so the Hasselbeck family lived near Foxboro, and so Matt and his brothers worked for spare dough.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: New England RB Antowain Smith, whose 156-yard rushing day against one of the best defenses in football -- Miami’s -- spurred the Patriots to a 20-13 win against the Dolphins in the last regular-season game at Foxboro Stadium and gives him the award over Marshall Faulk this week. "Antowain’s bigger and faster than I remember him in Buffalo," Phil Simms said on the CBS telecast, and I couldn’t agree with him more. Case in point: With a right leg contusion causing him to limp noticeably, Smith took his first carry of the second half around right end and sprinted around a couple of Dolphins to an easy first down. For the year, Smith has 1,076 yards in 15 games. He’s been exactly the big back Bill Belichick wants for his offense late in the season.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: San Francisco LB Derek Smith. With his Niners clinging to a 6-3 lead midway through the fourth quarter, Smith made a terrific tackle near the goal line to prevent one touchdown, then intercepted a Donovan McNabb pass in the end zone. That led to a seven-play, 80-yard drive and the 49ers’ clinching touchdown in a 13-3 win. Smith finished with nine tackles and a sack, as well as his interception, and he stands as a great example of this up-and-coming defense that America really doesn’t know yet. “We’re growing up real fast on defense," Mariucci said.

SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Seattle WR Fabian Bownes, who flies down the field in punt coverage in the mold of Steve Tasker. On his first coverage assignment of the day against the Giants yesterday, he gashed Tiki Barber in the open field after a two-yard gain, forcing the Giants to start their first drive at their nine. And if you know the Giants, they’re not driving 91 yards for much, unless it’s to the mall to do some last-minute Christmas shopping. In all, Seattle forced the Giants to start seven drives inside their 13, the last two Bownes’ doing. He downed the last two Jeff Feagles punts at the Giant 1- and 3-yard lines, respectively. What a performance.

COACH OF THE WEEK: New England offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, who continues to have a very strong year in using the talents of his players rather than dictating his own offensive philosophy where it might not be a good fit. He’s called the offbeat play all year without trepidation, and Saturday was no exception. With the game scoreless late in the first quarter, he had scatback Kevin Faulk pull a Nebraska play, with Faulk throwing an option pass to quarterback Tom "Eric Crouch" Brady for 23 yards. That led to the first Patriot touchdown, and New England never trailed thereafter. It’s something like that every week out of Weis’ playbook.

GOAT OF THE WEEK: Oakland K Sebastian Janikowski, who personally lost the Raiders’ 13-10 decision to the Titans with his three missed field goals (and chippies -- 40, 33 and 42 yards) after missing two in the first 13 weeks of the season. Unless the Raiders choke big time in the last two weeks, Janikowski’s misses ensure Oakland’s second spot in the playoff seedings.

Steve Mariucci likes to be loved. He loves to be loved, in fact. He is mildly loved by his 49ers front office, which believes a lot of coaches could be coaching this team to greatness. This is wrong. This is also bad. Mariucci was never going to get involved in the Notre Dame job anyway, because his family loves San Francisco and he loves his family.

One other thing about Notre Dame: Athletic director Kevin White called Mike Shanahan in Denver last Monday. They talked for 15 minutes. White let it be known he could go north of $3 million for the right coach -- Shanahan, Jon Gruden, Mariucci -- but Shanahan told him, in essence: I don’t want to lead you on. I’m signed with Denver for four more years, and I’m here with Pat Bowlen for the long haul. [Money’s not an object anyway with Shanahan, who’s working on a seven-year, $30-million deal to run everything in Denver. Plus, he just moved into his $8-million-or-so dream house in Denver this year. Not a good fit for the moving van, if you know what I mean.]

Bottom line: Pro coaches weren’t a very good fit for Notre Dame with this coaching search.

1. I think, after talking to NFL director of officiating Mike Pereira over the weekend, it seems likely the league will move to put something visual in stadiums before next season so there won’t be any question if or when a replay is requested by a coach or the replay official upstairs. Something like a light above the play clock in both end zones. So the millisecond a replay is requested, the light would go on -- and the vibrating pager on the belts of the referee and the umpire would go off.

Until this happens, Pereira will have to take the word of the five men he interviewed after the Cleveland controversy last week. When Pereira talked with the referee (Terry McAulay), the umpire, the replay official, the replay communicator and the video operator, all said the replay was requested before the snap of the next play, the infamous Tim Couch spike. "McAulay said it was really close," Pereira said, "but he thought the call came before the snap of the ball." Here’s my question: If the ref and umpire both feel the vibrator on their belt, why in the world don’t they immediately signal a stoppage of play? Why do you let another play get run before waving for a replay timeout? That’s where this crew blew it. And that’s why a light above the play clock in each end zone is an excellent idea.

2. I think it’s 70-30 Bill Parcells coaches next year, and, if he does, 75-25 that it’s in Tampa.

3. I think these are my thoughts of the day, after being a couch potato in front of the Mitsubishi big-screen:

a. One of the most underrated players in this game is Seattle linebacker Anthony Simmons. He ranges from sideline to sideline well, covers the hot back out of the backfield step-for-step, and hits like a cement truck. Yesterday, he came within a millisecond of sacking Kerry Collins for a safety and, in general, tormented the Giants for four quarters. He caught Barber running laterally across the field in the fourth quarter. Why haven’t we heard of this guy more?

b. Even in the wake of another shaky game I’m still a Hasselbeck guy, but if I’m Mike Holmgren, I’m starting to wonder if he’s more Collins than Favre. Mechanics, Matt, mechanics.

c. Priest Holmes is eight good quarters from winning the NFL rushing title. Holmes is at 1,347 yards. Curtis Martin of the Jets is at 1,340. The Chiefs are at six-win Jacksonville and at seven-win Seattle to close the season. The Jets have Buffalo this week before closing at Oakland. My money’s on Holmes. I think Dick Vermeil will really try to get him the title if he can.

d. Coffeenerdness: When I did break away at halftime of the first game for coffee, it was not for my hazelnut latte staple. I’m in full eggnog latte mode now. And loving it.

e. I don’t know how to put this elegantly, so I won’t try. I live 10 miles west of Giants Stadium, and I can smell the Giants special teams from here.

f. Biggest surprise of the weekend: Steelers and Leos combine for 41 points in the first half.

g. Assuming the Rams hang onto home-field over the Bears, they will not play a game outside the rest of the year. Home with Indy and Atlanta to close the season, then a bye week in the first round of the playoffs, then home for the divisional playoff round and possibly the NFC title game. The Super Bowl is in New Orleans. There could not be a much heavier Super Bowl favorite right now.

h. Seattle ball, third quarter, third and a long four at its 30. The call: Shaun Alexander up the gut. Two yards. I mean, what kind of play call is that?

i. Jon Kitna Memorial Note of the Week: The Bengals have lost seven in a row. The Bengals have scored 14 points or fewer in every one of those games.

j. The Saints have given up 82 points in the last eight quarters. For a prideful defense, that’s an abomination, even when Aaron Brooks is throwing picks at an alarming rate.

k. Favre is 32. I find this amazing: Favre threw his 283rd, 284th and 285th touchdown passes against Cleveland on Sunday. He now stands five behind Johnny Unitas, with games remaining against Minnesota at home and the Giants away. To think he could pass Unitas in touchdowns -- Unitas was Mr. Touchdown Pass, and now is fifth all-time -- at age 32 is a pretty incredible feat.

l. Beautiful call by Cleveland offensive coordinator Bruce Arians on the goal line in the second quarter, motioning into an empty backfield to confuse the Packers, then having Couch throw a shovel pass to a sprinting Jamel White, who slithered into the end zone. Loved it.

m. Sorry, Jerry. I just couldn’t bring myself to watch Dallas-Arizona.

n. Strangest Career of This Era: Chris Chandler’s. He threw for 431 yards yesterday. Anyone notice?

4. I think Indianapolis GM Bill Polian will not be hired by the NFL to replace the late George Young, which increases the chances of coach Jim Mora to keep his job because Polian’s a big Mora fan. If Polian does decide to look around, I could see him taking a look at a quiet, hard-nosed defensive coach highly respected by his peers -- Philadelphia defensive coordinator Jim Johnson.

5. I think I wonder this about referees: Why is it that, when they announce a false start penalty, most of them say, “Prior to the snap, false start ... " How can a false start come after the snap?

6. I think they talk about the woes of Monday Night Football, and how the NFL needs to make the matchups more enticing. True. But here’s the biggest problem: The first play from scrimmage in the third quarter in last Monday’s game between the Rams and Saints was run at 11:08 p.m. EST. I wish someone at ABC or in the NFL office could give me a logical reason why the games can’t start at 8:30. I understand why they want to get the games to the West Coast audience, and why they need to start at 6:05 or so Pacific time. But don’t you lose more viewers in the fourth quarter in Eastern time -- when any sane person who has to work the next morning is in bed -- than you gain first-quarter viewers in Pacific time? That game last week ended at 12:49 on the East Coast.

7. I think no team is beating the Patriots in a first-round playoff game at Foxboro.

8. I think the Rams are trying very hard to get middle linebacker London Fletcher signed before he hits the free-agent market. And they are learning that they can live without Az Hakim, who simply fumbles too much for an expensive receiver. Hakim will be playing for another team, quite possibly the Chiefs and his old pal Vermeil, in 2002.

9. I think these are my media thoughts of the week:

a. I think if they ran one more commerical on FOX’s Saturday pregame show, the FCC would shut down the network. That’s how obscene all those stoppages were.

b. I think sideline reporter Ron Pitts did an excellent job in the first quarter of the Eagles-49ers game explaining how San Francisco quarterback Jeff Garcia was protecting his torn rib cartilage -- with a painkilling injection, with a bubble pad on the rib itself, and with a thick flak jacket. And John Madden followed up by nothing how hard it was for Garcia to get in and out of his chair when he talked to the FOX crew during the week.

c. Speaking of Madden, he said on FOX radio Sunday morning that the Packers’ offensive line isn’t as good as it thinks it is, and Green Bay would probably be an early out in the playoffs.

d. Deion Sanders has a chance to be pretty good at this media business, because, unlike most of the former players in the business, he’s not afraid to knock a guy. Last Monday he guested on the national radio broadcast of the Rams-Saints. Of New Orleans quarterback Brooks, Sanders said: "One play he looks like Brett Favre. One play he looks like Don Ho." Talking about his Super Bowl rings to Boomer Esiason, he said: "I got a couple of ‘em. You got one? I didn’t think so."

10. I think I could see this headline in the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville two days after the regular season ends:

JAGS EXTEND COUGHLIN’S DEAL
Weaver Gives Coach Three More Years To Rebuild Team Strapped By Cap; Veterans Curse Under Breath

I really think that’s going to happen if the Jags rally to finish 8-8.

I like that Claus guy. He always has a good Monday-nighter in him this time of year.

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 NFL Mailbag.

Related information
Stories
CNNSI.com's NFL Week 15 Recap Grid CNNSI.com's NFL Week 15 Top Performers Peter King's Insider Archive
Multimedia
Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.