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Quarterback quandary Why take the golden boy, when the scrap heap's so pretty?Posted: Monday November 18, 2002 10:08 AM
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- "Weird year for all these injuries," Michael Strahan was saying late Sunday by his locker. At this point Tommy Maddox was laying in a hospital regaining the feeling in his limbs, thank the Lord. Donovan McNabb was adjusting to life with a busted ankle, along with his new Jack Youngblood-esque legend for playing a great football game with a pretty darned important weight-bearing bone snapped right in half. "Have you ever seen a year when so many marquee players get hurt?" Strahan continued. The day was young. Brian Griese would go down in one of the late games with a sprained left knee. But, not to change the subject entirely, I say this: Weird year for quarterbacks. Very weird. Entering Week 11, only two of the league's 16 top-rated quarterbacks were classic franchise guys -- drafted in the first round by a team, still on that team. And after Sunday's games, when Maddox and McNabb entered the list, the number swelled all the way to four. Who's the best? Who knows? Here's what we do know, in the wake of the Marc Bulger/Tom Brady/Maddox impact on this season: There is no sense mortgaging the future and the franchise to take the golden-armed stud in the first round anymore; chances are you'll blow it. And chances are you'll find a Bulger or Maddox on some NFL street corner, or late in the draft, who, if coached well, will give you as good a chance to win as the cap-killing Ryan Leaf high in the first round. I mentioned the idea on this week's HBO show, Inside the NFL. Sunday morning, while walking through the tunnel on the way to the press box for Redskins-Giants, I stopped to chat with Washington assistant Ricky Hunley, an acquaintance from my old days of covering the Bengals. Steve Spurrier walked by. "Caught you on TV this morning," Spurrier said. (HBO re-runs the show Sunday mornings.) "Pretty interesting." I told him I didn't think he'd need to put this into practice; I think Patrick Ramsey is Spurrier's guy. But the point was the same: If you have another gaping need in the draft (who doesn't?), and you're sure you can fill it with another position player, do it. Proof follows. Keep in mind that the number in the "times cut" column also includes the number of times a player was made an unrestricted free agent by his team.
The other day I spent some time tape-watching with the Edge NFL Matchup crew at NFL Films' South Jersey headquarters in Mount Laurel. Always a rollicking good time. Merrill Hoge and Ron Jaworski go at each other like (somewhat) friendly dogs, and they've never met a football argument they didn't like. So I posed this question to Hoge, Jaws and the greatest tape maven of them all, Greg Cosell, the show's executive producer: Who are the 12 best quarterbacks in the game today? I mean, right now, if you had to pick the 12 quarterbacks playing the best this year, who would they be? "I have a feeling this will be just like four guys in a bar," I said. "Once we make our lists, no one will agree on anything." But we made the lists, and we did agree -- on several things. Brett Favre is king. Bulger hasn't played enough yet to be considered on this list (four games quarterbacked, 138 passes thrown), but Maddox (seven games at QB, 206 passes) has, just barely. Brady is all over the place. McNabb is surprisingly low. And everyone loves Jeff Garcia. Also, each one of us had either eight or nine of the guys who fit the modern mold: guys who weren't first-round picks but who were still with the team that drafted them. The lists:
Let the arguments begin. Jaworski to Hoge: "McNair? He's ninth in the AFC in quarterback rating! (Tenth, actually.) I get it. Jeff Fisher's your fishing buddy." Hoge to King: "McNair's become a complete quarterback. I don't care about the numbers. He does so many things well ..." Jaworski to anyone: "[McNair has] thrown more interceptions than anyone in the AFC." Hoge to Jaworski: "Were we talking? I don't think we were talking." Hoge to King: "McNair challenges the field like Favre does, like [Peyton] Manning does. He can make all the throws. He has really grown up." King to Jaworski: "You've got Brady the highest." Jaworski to King: "Brady's played terrific. No run game up there, and the guy's thrown 21 touchdown passes in nine games. Twenty-one! Impressive! I'm a huge Brady fan." Jaworski to Hoge: "And he exposed your Steeler defense, by the way." King to Cosell: "You really like Kerry Collins." Cosell to King: "We watch every Giants' game, and the more we see of Collins, the more we think he can make every throw. And he makes five throws a game where you say, 'Wow.'" Jaworski to all: "The quality of quarterbacking's gone up. The way some of the new guys are playing -- Maddox, [Michael] Vick, Bulger, [Drew] Brees -- is really good for the future of the league." Agreed. There's more dink-and-dunk going on -- more screens and flares than ever, I bet -- but there's also a new group of guys able to throw intermediate and deep with efficiency. There's no quarterback crisis in the league anymore. There's almost a quarterback embarrassment-of-riches out there.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK Philadelphia QB Donovan McNabb, for one of the most remarkable efforts a quarterback has even given on a football field, playing on an ankle broken on the first series of the game and completing 20-of-25 passes for 257 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. "I just blocked it out," said McNabb. I'm serious now: This is an incredible feat. Unmatched, to me, by any brave thing a quarterback has ever done. It shows, I suppose, how much adrenaline and desire can mask a bone broken all the way through, a bone you need to do the simple things a quarterback must do, like walk and run. I stand in awe. I also wonder how he could have been allowed to keep playing, and how it wasn't found in the first place. DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK Kansas City CB Eric Warfield. With 4:14 left and the Chiefs hanging on to a 17-16 lead over the Bills, Drew Bledsoe took aim for Peerless Price and the potential winning touchdown. Bledsoe threw a good ball. Price got ready to catch it. Warfield jumped and made the interception heard 'round the AFC playoff race. Chiefs win. SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK New York Giants K Matt Bryant. The former Texas pawnbroker -- who might have gone back to his old job with a bad day, instead went four-of-four in conditions fit for neither man nor Stenerud at the Meadowlands. Cold rain falling, breezy, field full of muck. Bryant hit a 43-yarder early, then, in the final 18 minutes, when the rain was pelting the field, hit from 34, 33 and 19 to beat Washington, 19-17, in one of the all-time ugly football games seen by human beings. COACH OF THE WEEK Tennessee head coach Jeff Fisher. The Titans have come all the way back from 1-4 to 6-4. Any day now, they'll have home-field through the AFC playoffs. Just kidding, sort of. But even when owner Bud Adams made the "we're being outcoached" remarks six weeks ago, Fisher and his staff did nothing but work this team the way they've always worked it. The guy's a damned good coach. Upsetting Pittsburgh 31-23 just put an exclamation point on that. GOAT OF THE WEEK A collective award, to the architects of the league policy that penalizes players more harshly for using illegal stimulants than for using street drugs. And let's not forget Gene Upshaw in this critique. In cases like this, the head of the players union has to stick up for his players versus the league. Let's consider the case of Carolina defensive end Julius Peppers, a rising star as a rookie and the NFL sack leader with 10. My understanding is that Peppers took one diet pill -- I suppose either to get more results from working out, or to be additionally fierce during a game. Then he tested positive for a substance banned under the NFL's new and tough policy encompassing stimulants. Let's say he smoked crack cocaine instead of testing positive for the diet pill. Which would be worse? In the eyes of the NFL, the diet pill. A first-time offense with cocaine would cause a player, in all likelihood, to be put in the league's substance-abuse-testing program; he'd be allowed to keep playing and earning. A first-time offense with the diet pill -- assuming Peppers loses his appeal in the case, which is a virtual certainty -- will cause him to be suspended without pay for four weeks. That could cost the team its best player for a month, and it could cost Peppers $1,335,294. (That's $235,294 for four game checks combined and two other potential costs. Peppers gets a $1 million bonus if he makes the Pro Bowl, and he gets $100,000 if he's voted defensive rookie of the year. Both were locks before the suspension. Now he might blow both, or either.) I understand two parts of the NFL's thinking here: The league doesn't want a player to gain a competitive advantage by using stimulants, to be able to work out harder and longer than a non-stimulant-using peer, and the league doesn't want to see a player die from abusing the stuff. Admirable thoughts. But how can the league say to its players that we'll warn you about hard street drugs and put you in a program to stop using them while we pay you your rich salary and you play football ... but if you use a stimulant, use it just once, and we catch you, we dock a quarter of your pay and suspend you for four weeks? There's not a more inequitable rule I can think of in this game, on or off the field. QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Hi. This is Mike Vick, quarterback of your Atlanta Falcons. As I'm sure you know, we've got a big game this Sunday against the New Orleans Saints. We've already beat them once in their house, and I'm sure my cousin, Aaron Brooks, is gonna be looking for some revenge. That's why we need the 12th man out there, making some noise at the Georgia Dome, cheering us on. You've made a huge difference this year, and we definitely appreciate it. So bring the same enthusiasm Sunday, and help cheer us to victory. Thank you."
I guess it worked. And you know what the Falcons did after the game? They put a message from Vick thanking the fans for being so vocal on their voice mails.
If Charlie Garner hadn't had one foot a few inches out of bounds while he made a catch from Rich Gannon last Monday night at Denver, Gannon would have opened the game with 30 straight completions.
The letters this week centered on love of Montclair sports (with the exception of one fellow who thinks I'm way overdoing the field hockey stuff), the rugby-football padding issue, and how much you all seem to like Brett Favre. WE LOVE THE HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS STUFF. From Jon Davis of Maple Grove, Minn.: "The reasons why we love the Montclair sports updates: You respect Montclair's opponents; you totally hyped Mary Beth's friend who pitched against you in the softball playoffs. You take us back to high school -- to a time when we were all living and dying with our team's fortune week to week. You support all the girls on the team. You make the girls sound like heroes." Wow. Maybe you can emcee the field hockey banquet instead of me in a couple of weeks. Thanks. YOU CAN'T GIVE US ENOUGH FAVRE. From Mitch Dengler of Raleigh, N.C.: "I can't believe people complain about an NFL columnist often covering Brett Favre. What's not to like about this guy except for the fact that he either misspells or mispronounces his name? He's a great athlete, great competitor, and a nice guy. I wish the Brett Favres of the league got more press time at the expense of the Terrell Owens/Ryan Leafs/Michael Irvins." You're preaching to the choir. STOP TELLING US RALPHIE GOT WHACKED. From Jim Longo of New York City: "Can you PLEASE cut the Sopranos references? There are those of us who prefer to watch football on Sunday nights, and tape Tony & Co. to watch during the week. At the very least, let us know when you're going to give away plot developments. Sounds like my head will be in a bowling bag if I don't comply. Good news for you. I missed the show last night because I was actually doing my job and writing something. But I heard there was an intervention, and they're trying to get Christopher off horse -- ooooops! I did it again! Darn! THE AUSSIES KNOW HOW TO PLAY AND NOT GET HURT. From Wayne Francis of Sydney, Australia: "John Baur (e-mailbag, last week) makes a good point. Although Australian Rules and the two Rugby codes (Union and League) feature many body-to-body contact incidents per game, there are surprisingly few injuries that result from these. The most injuries received tend to be structural, with knee and shoulder reconstructions and groin injuries being the result of the constant movement. Players' bodies are trained to absorb and deliver this kind of impact and the absence of helmets and other protective gear means that the impacting blow does not have a means to increase its power. Taking away the padding and protective gear would require a re-education for players but in a relatively short space of time their bodies would adjust and you would be left with your great game appearing even more gladiatorial in nature with body on body hits." Wayne, thanks a lot. That's a great point about the padding and helmets actually increasing the force and the magnitude of the football hits. WHEN IS THE HELMET RULE ENFORCED? From Flash in Findlay, Ohio: "Just wondering if you noticed this. The Rams' Dre' Bly recovered an onside kick against the Chargers. While still on the field, he takes his helmet off. No flag. From watching Dwayne Rudd take off his helmet (still the most bone-headed stunt I've seen to lose a game) and getting a flag, I would assume the same would hold true here. Is it me, or are the officials holding some teams to a different standard than others (i.e. former Super Bowl champions vs. expansion teams) or just screwing up again. Grab a latte and give me your thoughts." My thought is you're absolutely right. If it's a rule once, it should be a rule every time. You should drop a note to Mike Pereira, league officiating czar, at the NFL office in New York and voice your opinion.
On a recent visit to see Sam Wyche, the former Bengals and Bucs head coach, at his farm in South Carolina, I walked out into the paddock with him to see his two horses. I took the reins to one of his thoroughbreds and promptly stepped in a massive pile of dung. Sounding like a zoology professor, Wyche said that a horse this size will produce about 50 pounds of dung daily.
1a. I think Rich Gannon is turning into Dan Marino in terms of the commanding presence, the don't-screw-with-me glare he gives his guys. What a leader. 2. I think these are my quick-hit football thoughts of the weekend: a. Hmmm. McNabb. Detmer. McNabb, Detmer. Is it just me, or are the Eagles in big, big trouble? b. The Tommy Maddox injury shows how incredibly fragile good health is in this game. I still can't figure out how he went numb. There are 500 hits in an average weekend that look worse than that one did, which just points out how endangered these players are on every play, every game. c. This is how weird and unpredictable the NFL is today: On their Edge NFL Matchup show Sunday, Merrill Hoge and Ron Jaworski each picked their top NFL offenses. Hoge selected Pittsburgh, Jaws New Orleans. Through three quarters, Pittsburgh had seven points in Tennessee, New Orleans three in Atlanta. d. I honestly don't know how the Bengals can lose any uglier. Corey Dillon stopped twice on the same goal line at which the Titans halted him on Oct. 27? I mean, within an inch. A millimeter. Then, given one more chance, they fumble the punt! e. The Bengals don't need a quarterback. They don't need a GM. They need an exorcist. f. How admirable are the Chargers? Holding the 49ers scoreless for the last 34 minutes of a game is a pretty special thing. g. Can anyone explain how the Jets put 44 points on the Chargers? Could it be that Rodney Harrison is the most valuable player in the history of sports? Or did the Chargers just have an off day? Or are the Jets better than the '72 Dolphins? i. Word association: Dallas, offense. Pat Robertson, orgies. j. Daunte Culpepper, with his job on the line, played his best game of the season. That tells me something I like about the kid. k. Ray Lucas: no picks, no lost fumbles, no negative plays. Good thing. Sage Rosenfels was loosening up in the bullpen. l. Even on days Michael Vick isn't great, he is still the most important player in every game he plays. 3. I think this is shaping up to be the most fun, upset-filled playoff season we have ever seen. Look at the AFC. Fourteen of the 16 teams are legitimately still in it, all with between three and five losses. How in the world did Tennessee and Indianapolis, teams we all thought to be paper tigers a month ago, end up tied for the third-best record in the conference? The NFC is slightly easier to figure out. Slightly. The intriguing team is Atlanta. The Falcons are now, officially, dangerous. 4. I think the most apt story lead I've read in a while is the beginning of Buster Olney's piece about the Giants in Monday's New York Times. Perfect. In part, here is a chunk of the lead: "… They have embraced their own homeliness, like big-nosed comics. They chortle about their slightly nutty tight end, their special-teams adventures, their ludicrous rash of injuries. … They are a flawed team playing ugly games packed with mistakes that should wreck them, and yet their locker room fills with knowing smiles afterward because they are winning." Now that's an accurate way to describe a weird, but somehow charmed, team. With Houston next week. With McNabb out of the picture for the Eagles. With a one-game deficit on the Eagles to overcome. With a softer schedule than Philadelphia's. 5. I think these are my personal thoughts of the week: a. As you probably know if you read this column regularly, I'm not much of an NBA fan. But when a pro basketball game is good, it's really good. Saturday night, the 7-2 Nets met the 9-0 Mavs a few long spirals from my house. I caught the fourth quarter on TV, and it was a terrific back-and-forth contest of athleticism and sharpshoooting. Steve Nash, for those grid fans who pay scant attention to the rounder game, is absolutely the best basketball player without a big name. Long-haired guard, penetrates like Jason Kidd, great disher of the ball, and what a shot. He pulled a 28-footer at the shot-clock buzzer out of his shorts for three to put the Mavs up by three midway through the fourth, then swished a lightning-quick pullup jumper from 20 at the right elbow to put them up by six two minutes later. Then, on the next Nets possession, Nash drew a charge on the great Kidd. Maybe Nash thought he hadn't done enough. He then probed and penetrated and drew back and drove again and put a layup in high off the glass. What a player Nash is. He finished with 30 points and nine assists. Mavs, 96-88. b. I simply don't believe Ohio State is the best college football team in the country. The Buckeyes struggle to beat Purdue and need overtime to survive a bad Illinois team? That does not signify the best team in the land. This is what's wrong with the BCS system. Sometimes you see a team and know it's not as good as its record. Ohio State's one of those teams. I have no problem with OSU being No. 2, at 12-0. But you can't say with any sense that the Buckeyes are better than Miami. c. Navy leads Notre Dame midway through the fourth quarter one week, then loses to UConn 38-zip the next week. I need that explained to me. d. Greg Schiano really seems like a good man, and I'm glad he's the coach of My State's University. But his seniors have won one Big East game in four years. We New Jerseyans apparently are well below the level of Temple. We lost to Villanova and to Buffalo. Hope might be a nasty four-letter word at Rutgers. e. Coffeenerdness: The eggnog lattes at Starbucks, which are usually a late-fall staple for me, are off my list. A little bitter this year. The nog's not sweet enough, or something. Doesn't taste like eggnog. I bet you all really care about that. f. How is it possible that Willie Randolph did not get one of baseball's open managerial jobs? Absurd. g. Don't tell anyone, but Mary Beth King has gotten me into 7th Heaven, the TV show on the WB network with all these dumb plot twists that I don't believe. Eric Camden should not be flipping his wig. Give me something believable, please. Now I know why Mary Camden (Jessica Biel) went back to school at Tufts. h. Montclair (N.J.) High Field Hockey Note of the Week: It's over. And it hurts. A spirited, hard-playing, fired-up group of Randolph Rams came to Watchung Field last Thursday afternoon with seven losses, holding the fourth seed in the New Jersey Group IV, North I playoff section. Montclair, 18-1, was the top seed. There are times you can complain about the outcome of games. You can say your team got a bad break, or the ref jobbed you, or the other team got lucky. Not this day. No bad breaks. Equal officiating. No luck about this game whatsoever. Randolph, which had played a tough schedule, outplayed us. It was a chilly day and a partially muddy pitch; our assistant coach, Harold Ferguson, always does a good job on wet days by throwing pounds of kitty litter (as a drying agent, not a cat-attractor) around the goals. We had the better of play early, but we certainly weren't dominating. At the 10-minute mark of the first half, junior link Mary Beth King, your favorite Mountie, lined up at the top of the circle, lined a low, hard shot to the right corner of the cage. The goalie was late getting over, and the liner hit the back of the cage. Montclair, 1-0. Now we'd get revved up. Now we'd take over. Nothing doing. Randolph immediately got serious, playing us on even terms, and then some, for the final 50 minutes. In the last 15 minutes of the first half, the Rams had two corners and converted them both into scores. We still had 30 minutes, and we had a few good chances. So did Randolph. The Rams played clean, they played smart and they played hard, and the whistle blew far too soon. Randolph 2, Montclair 1. Our kids were in shock. Most of them cried, even the ones who didn't play much. Parents walked across the field to console them, and after half an hour or so, they got their heads off the ground. When I hugged Mary Beth, she said, "We worked soooooo hard," and buried her head in my shoulder. They did work hard. Great kids, practicing for two-and-a-half to three hours a day, trying to be great. I said: "Nothing to be ashamed of. That's a good team. You played as hard as you could. You left it all out on the field. When the other team is good, give them credit." Then we went out for pizza as a family, and Mary Beth had Mock Trial practice. No rest for the sad. i. Montclair Field Hockey E-mail of the Week: Co-captain Lyndsay Wilson, the plucky blonde link alongside Mary Beth, has been a rock for the Mounties, and I asked her to answer some questions as the curtain came down on this season -- and her high school career. MMQB: What a heartbreaking loss. How would you analyze the 2-1 loss to Randolph? Wilson: We were so pumped for the game. We all knew it would be tough, but that we could do it. Getting out onto the field, I was really anxious, but when we scored the first goal, I felt confident. As the time passed, they outplayed us. They are much better than their record states, and I was very impressed by their play. It is awful to lose to anyone, but if I had to lose, I'm glad that we lost to a good team that played honestly. MMQB: What went through your mind when the final whistle blew? Wilson: I've been playing this sport for the last four years, and I love it. I can't imagine who I would be if I had never played on this team or with these girls. They have helped make me who I am. MMQB: Can you gain anything positive from a loss that hurts this much? Wilson: I gained a lot from this loss. I realized even more how much I love my teammates and the coaches. Some people say that it is only a high school sport, and I know that, but I can also appreciate the role it has played in my life these last four years. MMQB: Many people who read this column have never seen a field hockey game. What is it about the game that makes it so much fun for you, and for the fans who watch your team? Wilson: I don't know if it is the sport itself -- there are a lot of whistles -- or whether it is the connection that I have with this team. I feel that there is something special, and intangible, about the way we are coached and the way Montclair plays. I only feel this during field hockey, not my other sports, swimming or lacrosse. We play with so much enthusiasm and desire, I love playing on this team. MMQB: Thanks for being such a good leader for Mary Beth to follow. Do you know how much she respects you? Wilson: Mary and I get along really well. She really helped me a lot during the season. When I thought I was going nuts, she always calmed me down. We also worked really well together on the field because we had good chemistry off the field. I'm really glad we got to play together as links. I feel like it really clicked. MMQB: Your team had a motto, "I'd rather be eating." What does that mean? Wilson: It means that whenever we get together, at pasta parties, restaurants, after practice, we always eat. It's like a bonding experience. The deli in town gave us a free four-foot sub for going 15-0 in our league! MMQB: For two-and-a-half months, your days must have been crazy -- practicing for three hours, doing homework, applying to colleges. Wilson: Well, some days were really crazy. I'd go to school for six hours, do college work during my study hall and on weekends only. I'd have somewhere around two hours of homework a night, and then I'd sleep. I never went online, never talked on the phone, and I went to the mall once during season, the day we didn't practice because it was raining. I'm one of those people who loves to have something always going on. MMQB: You and your fellow seniors have left quite a legacy -- an 18-2 record overall, a 15-0 record in your league. Do you feel some sense of pride knowing how high you've raised the bar for the program? Wilson: I am so proud to leave such a great program. When I came here in 1999, the varsity team was good, but I feel that during the last four years Coach [Mary Pat Mercuro] has done a lot of fine-tuning to our play, and we have prospered even more. Each year we take another step, and I am confident in the steps that the 2003 squad is destined to take. I'm looking forward to hearing about the great accomplishments they are going to make. j. Pretty special crop of kids, those senior Mounties. 6. I think I strongly recommend you check out the story former NFL defensive lineman Pat Toomay wrote for ESPN.com about John Madden. Boston radio talk-show host Dale Arnold turned me on to it, and he was absolutely right about what a tremendous piece it was. Very human, very insightful. It talks about how Madden handled the Darryl Stingley paralysis with such dignity and care. I e-mailed Toomay to tell him what a good job he did. He wrote back: "The instant I met Madden I knew he was different, someone special. I had been traded from Tampa to Oakland following our inglorious (but immortal) 0-14 inaugural season. I found out about the trade after driving 1,500 miles from Dallas, where I lived, to Tampa, for training camp. Found out upon arrival, so had to drive back, rest, fly cross-country, take a physical and drive another 60 miles to Raiders camp. 'I imagine you're exhausted from all the traveling you've had to do,' Madden said. 'So why don't you take the rest of the afternoon off?' In my experience, this was unprecedented in an NFL head coach. So I knew then he was special." 7. I think we should stop for a moment to appreciate the incredible season Marvin Harrison is having. He has averaged nine catches and 111 yards a game, for crying out loud, running after the catch and making every tough grab in the book. I was already wondering how I was going to cram two receivers onto my AP All-Pro ballot from among the group of Terrell Owens, Chris Chambers, Rod Smith, Eric Moulds and Harrison. Now I know it's going to be the toughest position to pick this season. And Harrison needs 39 catches in seven games to break the NFL record for receptions in a season. That would make one of the spots pretty easy to pick, wouldn't it? 8. I think the guy I'm rooting for most this morning is Ray Lewis. I'm hoping, for his sake, his partially dislocated shoulder didn't act up too much Sunday. On the third play of the game in Miami, the man who has missed half the Ravens' season drove into Ricky Williams after Williams caught a short swing pass and drove him into the turf with that hurt shoulder. Lewis led the Ravens with nine tackles. The guy's pretty good. 9. I think the Cardinals' season ended in a hurry, didn't it? 10. I think if anyone can figure out this game, this year, please, please, please e-mail me. I need some answers.
I know the Bears were probably not as a good as 13 wins last year. I know they're not as bad a two wins this year. I also know they're facing the wrong team, the wrong coach, the wrong quarterback and the wrong defense tonight. Rams, 29-10. Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Monday Morning Quarterback appears in this space -- no kidding -- on Monday mornings. Click here to send him a comment.
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