Over and out

OT proposal falls inexplicably short

MONTCLAIR, N.J. -- For me, the NFL's current overtime rule turned stupid last Nov. 3, as I sat in a hotel room near the airport in Buffalo. I'd just witnessed the Patriots blister the Bills, and then, before I wrote my stuff for Sports Illustrated and this Web site, I settled in to watch the last 45 minutes of the Raiders-49ers game on TV.

It looked like a beautiful day in Oakland, sunny and warm. The Raiders defense was on the field for a big chunk of time in the second half. San Francisco's final two offensive drives lasted 15 and 12 plays, the latter of which would have won the game had Jose Cortez not shanked a 27-yard field goal wide left to end regulation in a 20-20 tie. The 49ers were in the process of wearing the Raiders defenders down to the bone. The Oakland defense looked totally spent. The 49ers defense, conversely, sat for much of the second half.

As 49ers and Raiders captains went out to the 50-yard line for the coin toss, I thought: If the 49ers win this flip, the game's over.

And I thought: If that's what I'm thinking prior to an overtime, the coin flip is becoming far too important in the NFL.

The Raiders lost the toss. The 49ers drove it down their throats again. Seventeen plays, and this time Cortez made the field goal. Ballgame.

I know what many of you are thinking, because I've heard Warren Sapp and countless other defense-is-just-as-important-as-offense-in-the-NFL advocates say it during the past three months: If you deserve to win the game, THEN STOP THE DARNED OFFENSE! If you'd play quality defense on that first possession and get the ball back, then you'll have your chance.

True. But what is not fair about the overtime system, and what I cannot believe 15 of the NFL's 32 teams did not vote to change last week at the league meetings, is that a coin flip has progressed from being marginally important to having major significance in the outcome of an overtime game. Several coaches and GMs I respect said last week that they didn't want to add another layer of decision-making to an already complicated game.

Hogwash! If fairness means another layer of decision-making, then so be it. That's why you get paid the big bucks, men.

This is not going away, despite competition committee co-chair Rich McKay's insistence last week that, "I don't think this issue will continue to haunt us." From 1974 -- when sudden-death overtime was voted into the NFL rule book -- to 1997, the winner of the coin toss scored on its first possession and won the game 26 percent of the time. But since 1998, some 37.5 percent of teams that have won the toss have scored on the first overtime possession to win the game. That peaked in 2002, when only one team had possession in overtime in 10 of 25 games, a 40-percent rate.

Coincidence? Trend? I don't care. I really don't. All I know is that when the coin-flip loser only get its hands on the ball 60 percent of the time in an overtime game, then something's wrong with the rules. Something's really wrong.

I don't want the college rule, alternating possessions at the opposing 25-yard-line. Stupid. You change the meaning and rules of football, and bastardize the stats, to see who has the best field-goal kicker. You don't need the college rule. You need to play football fairly. Play it with one team kicking to another, and each team having at least one possession, and if it's tied after that, the next score wins.

A postscript. I was bemused, and confused, to see that Oakland's Al Davis abstained from voting on this issue last Wednesday. The vote was 17 teams in favor if a two-possession overtime, 14 to keep the rules intact, and one team, Oakland, abstaining. The initiative needed 24 votes, or three-quarters of the 32 teams, to pass, and so the vote was seven votes shy. Oakland played two overtime games last year, against San Diego and San Francisco. The Raiders lost the toss in both of them. The Raiders then lost each game on the first possession of the overtime. I suppose it's conceivable that Davis just loves the rule the way it stands. But if my team got burned on something twice, the last thing I'd want to do is abstain from voting on it.

"We went 7-9 last year. Now I'm just another stiff."

—Formerly famous Washington coach Steve Spurrier, at last week's league meetings in Phoenix

... With Kansas City coach Dick Vermeil.

MMQB: There seem to be a lot of questions about Priest Holmes' hip, and whether he can make it through a full season, especially following his arthroscopic surgery. Your thoughts?

Vermeil: There's no absolute when it comes to a player's health, but our medical staff has just told me he'll he be ready to go. So I think he's going to be fine.

MMQB: Have you talked to Kurt Warner lately? How's he feeling?

Vermeil: I talked to him in late January. He said he felt better than he had in a long time.

MMQB: Do you find yourself watching the war on TV a lot?

Vermeil: All the time. You can't get away from it. I like to listen to what our leaders say. I think they're a lot like football coaches, or we're a lot like them. I try to make our team a family. I always have. And the other day, when we had some casualties, one of the generals stood up -- we've got 300,000 people over there -- and he says how he feels like he's lost part of his family. I was so impressed by that.

Last year, when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers bought coach Jon Gruden from the Raiders for two first-round picks, two second-round picks and $8 million, I wrote a column saying what a great deal it was for Tampa Bay. Not that the Raiders got ripped off, I reasoned; it was just that the Bucs had gone as far as they could with Tony Dungy, and they needed an offensive mind to cattle-prod them to the promised land. If they had to pay a stupid sum of picks and cash, so what? I brought up the last two No. 1s and last two No. 2s Tampa Bay had picked -- no stars among the lot of them -- and if that's what it took to get a Super Bowl, so be it. The Bucs, of course, were widely taken to task as having overpaid for Gruden. And so Bryan Glazer, Bucs exec and son of owner Malcolm Glazer, walked up to me at the meetings and said: "I just wanted you to know that I put that column up on my refrigerator last year, and it's still there."

I wonder if he posted the column I wrote saying the Raiders would paste the Bucs in the Super Bowl? Maybe I should keep that one to myself.

We have a celebrity letter this week. A TV guy from Pittsburgh whom I respect checks in with a staunch defense of Kordell Stewart, and we also hear from other folks around the globe on football and world events.

KORDELL GOT A BUM STEER. From John Steigerwald of Pittsburgh: "Let me preface this by saying that I am now known as the No. 1 Kordell Stewart apologist among the Pittsburgh media. I noticed in your SI note on Kordell Stewart that you referred to him as an 'underachiever.' But since he was re-made the starter in 2000 (including a 2-2 record as a starter in 2002), the Steelers are 23-10 with him starting. I know I'm in the minority on this, but I think he is still carrying the baggage from his horrible seasons in '98 and '99, when he lost his two best receivers, his starting left tackle, left guard and right tackle. His coordinator in '98 was Ray Sherman. Ask anybody in the Steelers organization and they will tell you he was a joke. In '99 Kevin Gilbride was the offensive coordinator. The top two receivers were Courtney Hawkins and Troy Edwards. Gilbride picked both of them over Hines Ward. Gilbride once said that the Steelers' offense was the same whether it was being run by Kent Graham or Kordell Stewart. The Steelers hardly ever rolled Stewart out and ALMOST NEVER used play action. I really believe that Stewart last season got the quick hook because of that baggage from '98 and '99. He may stink with the Bears, but I think he achieved quite a bit with the Steelers."

Thanks for writing, John. I am not anti-Kordell, though there are probably 24 quarterbacks in the league I'd take over him right now. I just believe he's being set up for failure because the Bears are almost sure to bring his successor in via the draft this year, and you know how Stewart responded to pressure in Pittsburgh. I always thought he had rabbit ears, as did Gilbride. I realize stats don't tell the full story, and I really do value the won-lost record as an important measure of a quarterback's proficiency. But I believe you have to gauge Stewart's record, in large part, by his inability to run the offense consistently except for some not-long-enough stretches of his Pittsburgh career. Let's compare Stewart's career quarterbacking numbers to mobile throwers of his day (not including Michael Vick, because of his relative inexperience), ranked by quarterback rating:

QB Comparison
No.	Player	Team	Comp. %	TD/Int.	Rating
1.	Jeff Garcia	S.F.	62.2	+52	89.9
2.	Rich Gannon	Oak.	60.5	+73	85.3
3.	Daunte Culpepper	Min.	62.3	+13	85.2
4.	Mark Brunell	Jac.	60.2	+56	85.1
5.	Steve McNair	Ten.	58.8	+32	81.7
6.	Aaron Brooks	N.O.	55.3	+19	79.4
7.	Donovan McNabb	Phi.	56.9	+33	79.3
8.	Kordell Stewart	Pit.	56.5	-2	72.3
9.	Jake Plummer	Ari.	55.9	-24	69.0

Not trying to jump on ol' Kordell, but the numbers don't lie.

WE NEED SPORTS IN OUR LIVES RIGHT NOW. From Scott Fagan of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: "Out here in the desert, with a war going on next door, it is a refreshing distraction and a good cure for homesickness to read a column by a great sportswriter. Keep up the good work. You questioned bringing in rivals to the Rams, specifically Kyle Turley and Jason Sehorn, as being harmful to the team chemistry, but it has worked in the past. Look at Bill Romanowski in Oakland. Turley and Sehorn may be just what the Rams need to get back in the game."

Thanks for writing. Turley, I can see. I'm not big on Sehorn's ability to be a championship contributor right now.

I'M ON MY WAY TO O'FALLON. From Sam Anselm of St. Charles, Mo.: "You mentioned Surprise Stadium in your column. I'm sure you'll get a lot of responses about picturesque ballparks, but you haven't lived until you've checked out a River City Rascals baseball game in O'Fallon, Mo., at T.R. Hughes Ballpark. Next time you're in St. Louis talking to Mike Martz, catch a game."

Good advice. Thanks.

A THEORY ABOUT OVERTIME. From George Taylor of Buffalo, N.Y.: "I know the owners just voted to keep overtime the same, but that just means they are too afraid of change right now. I have the perfect solution: Move the overtime kickoff back to the 40-yard line. Keep everything else the same. It's so simple that I'm surprised I have not heard it mentioned before."

George, I respect your idea. The fact is, this has been considered by the competition committee, but I believe no one in the NFL wants to fudge the playing rules and make the kickoff spot or some automatic line of scrimmage (as in the college overtime rule) a change from regulation play.

FOOTBALL TALK IS NOT ONLY APPROPRIATE, BUT NECESSARY. From Jason Knight of Elmwood, Ill.: "Your concern for not wanting to trivialize current world events by discussing seemingly insignificant (in the grand scheme of things) sports issues is commendable. But as an Air Force captain who has been stationed overseas five of the past six years and who deployed to Saudi Arabia for three months in 2001, I can tell you such talk is truly needed. While serving our nation abroad, we need the release of watching the games on TV, of having sports discussions with our buddies, and of reading your articles online. Please continue doing what you do. It really does help us do what we need to do."

Wow. Thanks a lot. That's a really meaningful letter.

THE PROTESTERS AREN'T 'PRO-WAR.' From Scott Kuykendall of Mount Airy, Md.: "ONLY because I am a sports fan in the military are you getting this comment ... and I know you aren't the only one to use the term, but please stop referring to people as 'pro-war.' I am in the military and I firmly believe we are doing the right thing, but I am far from pro-war. I find it hard to believe anyone is pro-war. I am pro-'do what is right,' and freeing the Iraqi people from oppression and suffering is, in my mind, what is right. It is my job to go to war when called, but that doesn't mean I want war."

Point taken. And I'm sure there are many people protesting the protesters who are out there in support of the troops and the government. The tenor of some of those signs in Phoenix, however, was the sort of bomb-the-living-crappola-out-of-the-Iraqis stuff that made me think there were a few people who actually are pro-war.

This is going to do nothing but make you envious of me, and so I'm not sure if I should write it or not, but I relate it only to let you know how thankful I am for the charmed life I lead, and to remind you that the next time I complain about anything job-related you need to put me in my place and tell me what a fool I am.

Last Wednesday, at the conclusion of the league meetings, I had a 5:15 p.m. flight on Continental from Phoenix to Newark. Being the baseball nerd that I am, I decided to stop in at the Arizona-Oakland exhibition game in Phoenix for a few innings, in large part because Randy Johnson was hurling. And so here came Miguel Tejada to the dish. Cool moment.

Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner versus reigning AL Most Valuable Player. Here's the pitch. Long drive to right ... twisting ... curving foul ... deep ... and 10 feet foul, over the fence. I thought -- and I have my reasons why -- what a good thing it would be to have that ball.

There was a moderate crowd on this toasty Arizona afternoon. And, after the inning, I walked out to the bleachers down the right-field line and looked over the fence that stood between the main ballpark and the back fields where the A's train. I asked a fan where the ball was that Tejada hit, and he pointed to the first main field, where a ball sat between home plate and the first-base bag. At the same time, a kid, maybe about 7, asked some other fans where the ball was; I heard him. And those fans pointed to four foul balls sitting in sort of no-man's land between the backstop on the first field and the fence where I was. I knew this couldn't be true, because the ball went over the fence barely foul, not 35 feet foul the way it would have had to if it was where the kid thought it was. And so I walked to the area outside the right-field stands where a guard and an A's official were making sure no fans got down to the lower fields and the players' parking lot. I asked if I might be able to get the Johnson-Tejada ball. The official said no problem, and I walked down, past the alerted guard, and onto the pristine field to get the ball. Behind me, all of a sudden, I heard the running footsteps of the kid, who'd apparently snuck behind me and got past the guard, too, and he scrambled past the backstop to get the ball he was sure was the one Tejada hit. I picked up the True Ball, and I told the kid: "I'm sure you've got the one Tejada hit," just so he'd feel good about it. And when the guard saw him walking back up the ramp toward the stadium, he tried to stop the kid, but he was too quick and slipped back into the stadium. (Just like I'm sure I would have done if I was a kid and had an MVP foul ball.) I thanked Matt sincerely, told him the ball would be put to good use, and went back to watch a couple more innings before catching my plane.

And now you know why I have the best job on earth.

1. I think this is my New York Post-ish scurrilous note of the week, from the league meetings in Phoenix: One coach had far too much to drink one night and around midnight held court, stupidly, with a bunch of writers near the lobby bar of the host hotel. Said coach was savage in his criticism of his general manager. Said coach, in my opinion, should probably go to bed the next time he feels like venting about what an idiot his GM is, unless he wants one of the writers to actually report what he said. Which, I must say, they were tempted to do.

2. I think the funniest moment of the league meetings, at least for me, came when Boomer Esiason walked past a breakfast table at which Bill Parcells and Butch Davis were seated and he greeted both men. Davis looked up, shook Boomer's hand, and said, "Hi, Phil." Yeah, they're both blond, former New York quarterbacks and tall, but are Phil Simms and Boomer Esiason that easily confused? By an NFL coach?

3a. I think the most interesting moment of the league meetings, at least for me, came at about 6:50 last Tuesday morning. I was chatting up Troy Aikman in the lobby of the Arizona Biltmore. Aikman had a little bit of time, and he saw Parcells sitting alone, nursing a cup of coffee and lobby-sitting, as he is wont to do early in the morning at road hotels, particularly when his body clock says he should be up. And so Aikman joined Parcells. They talked warmly for 15 minutes. Aikman wondered if Parcells might bring in Jim Miller to lend a veteran hand to the kiddie quarterback corps, and Parcells said he thought he'd stick with what he had, for now. Aikman said he'd have to come by to work up some notes for his first FOX telecast of the year, Atlanta at Dallas Sept. 7, and Parcells told him he was welcome anytime. And I thought: He might be welcome to play after Parcells sees what Dallas has now at quarterback.

3b. I think if I'm Parcells I'm all over Brian Griese for little money June 2. Accurate guy, coachable guy. And if it means Chad Hutchinson has to sit for one or two years, or five, so be it.

4. I think I really like the Emmitt Smith signing by Arizona, because the Cardinals have what he wants -- carries, lots of them, behind a passable offensive line -- and no other team has a similar job opportunity to offer. But I must remind Big Red Nation (or should I say, Big Red Neighborhood, because other than Upper Montclair Starbucks barista Chris Stuccio I have no idea who still roots for the Bidwillmen) that it ended badly for Tony Dorsett in Denver, and for Eric Dickerson with the Raiders, and for Franco Harris in Seattle, and I see no reason other than the sheer force of Emmitt's will why it will end any differently for Smith in the desert.

5. I think these are my personal thoughts of the week:

a. I really admire Sarah Hughes. I have a daughter her age. You know how hard it is to play sports, go to school, have a social life, study for the SAT and try to be good at all of the above? This kid is a world-class athlete, and she has been admitted to Harvard! Do you have any idea how much work that takes? I laughed at all the stuff I read over the past few days about Hughes' "slump," and her sixth-place finish in the worlds in Washington, D.C., over the weekend. Let's think about this for a moment. Hughes was the second- or third-best skater in America at the Salt Lake City Olympics when, in a clutch performance, she skated the greatest free skate of her life. She won the gold medal. Did that make her better than Michelle Kwan or Sasha Cohen? I don't think so. And now she has all these other worthwhile things in her life and she doesn't skate quite as wonderfully. So what? I applaud Hughes -- no, I give her a personal standing ovation -- for making her life a priority, not just her skating. This is a kid headed for a great, great life -- not just a great, great life of ice skating.

b. I don't watch college basketball, except for the occasional UConn men's or women's game, being an old Nutmegger myself. But I found myself sucked into the Marquette-Kentucky game. And that Dwyane Wade is an incredible treat to watch.

c. Coffeenerdness: Actually, this is a coffee-ice-cream-nerdness, Larry King dot-dot-dot note of the week: I highly, highly recommend the coffee chip ice cream at Holsten's in Bloomfield, N.J.

e. Montclair (N.J.) High Softball Note of the Week: I missed three Mountie season tune-ups while at the league meetings last week, but I did get to the final scrimmage of the preseason on Friday at home versus Kearny, which handed us our collective lunch last year in the preseason finale. So junior pitcher Mary Beth King strode moundward to start the game on an overcast, chilly afternoon at the home diamond. In the first inning, she struck out the first kid swinging, then got the second kid swinging on a change, then struck out the third swinging on another change. Hmm. First time she has struck out the side in a while.

Then she did it again in the second. In the third Kearny went out K, 1-3 and K, and Mary Beth struck out the side again in the fourth. Wow. Kearny kids were waving at her high-riser instead of letting it go, which is what you're supposed to make batters do with a good riser because it looks like a regular navel-high strike until it starts moving up. The parents watch from behind a fence along the third-base side, and we were all a bit stunned. Her coach, Tricia Palmieri, walked over to me before she went to the third-base coach's box to start the bottom of the fourth. "She's got all six pitches working today," coach Palmieri said. "This is as good as I've seen her pitch." I turned to a couple of the parents and said, "That's pretty good, seeing that she's only got four pitches."

The next two innings: P-4, K, P-3, then 1-4 on a bunt attempt, K, P-3. Eighteen up, 18 down. I didn't care if this was a scrimmage. Something incredible was happening. Funny. In the major leagues, entering the last inning, a pitcher with a perfect game wouldn't be spoken to, and guys would leave the pitcher alone. These kids had no idea, none whatsoever, that Montclair was three outs from a perfecto. Mary Beth struck out the leadoff batter for the third time. The second kid bounced to second. The third kid, on an 0-2 pitch, waved at a high strike three. Too bad it didn't count, but you know me. It's going on the King Family mental chalkboard as a perfect game.

Immediately I wondered if Mary Beth knew what she did; we don't talk to the players during the game, nor are we close enough to hear the coaches afterward. "No," she told me later. "I didn't know until Ferg told me." Ferg is Harold Ferguson, the assistant coach and stat maven. When it was over, I was struck by the fact the third baseman, shortstop, left fielder, center fielder -- the entire left half of the diamond -- and right fielder never touched the ball in the game. At the dinner table Friday night, I was a bit incredulous that Mary Beth didn't know she had a perfect game. "I don't really notice those things, Dad," she said, a bit dismissively. Maybe that's part of the reason they happen.

6. I think the biggest loser of last week was Arizona State pass-rusher Terrell Suggs, who might have gone as high as No. 3 in the first round of the NFL draft before he worked out for coaches, scouts and GMs in Tempe on Wednesday. He ran awfully slow times for an edge rusher -- 4.9 seconds in the 40 -- instead of the low 4.6s, where he needs to be to make really big dough -- but I would caution everyone who might consign him to the top of the second round to simply watch tapes of his games last fall. This guy's Dwight Freeney.

7. I think, from what I hear, that Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila might be pricing himself out of a good Philadelphia offer sheet.

8. I think this is my NFL stat of the week:

Career catches, one team's top three receivers:

Oakland (Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, Jerry Porter): 2,545.

Arizona (Kevin Kasper, Jason McAddley, Bryan Gilmore): 49.

In other words, let's not get too excited about the Emmitt signing. The Cards still have nothing on offense to scare anyone.

9. I think the league has done Atlanta no favors by having the Falcons open at Dallas in Parcells' debut. Ditto the Bucs, for having to go inaugurate the new stadium in Philadelphia, where they just closed the old one. On a Monday night, no less. I can accurately report that the Bucs are a little steamed over that one.

10. I think you'll see a different side of Mike Martz on Tuesday when he testifies before Congress to try to get more funding for research and development on Alzheimer's disease. Martz's mom died of cancer six years ago after a four-year battle with Alzheimer's, and this has become his golf tournament's cause every year. "I think America needs to realize, especially with the Baby Boomer generations growing old now, how much of a catastrophic illness this us," Martz said the other day. "It doesn't just destroy the person. It destroys the family of that person. My mom was feeding the dogs 20 to 30 times a day. She was calling my brother on the job 20 times a day. She'd keep forgetting what she just did. With everything going on in the world right now, I know this is not a very popular cause, but I hope I can convince [Congressional leaders] that it needs to be."

Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com. Monday Morning Quarterback appears in this space every week. Click here to send him a comment.

 

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