Before lamenting the absence of dominant teams and declaring the arrival of perfect parity, NFL observers had better keep an eye on the St. Louis Rams.
By outscoring their first four opponents by an average of 36-12, the league’s last unbeaten team is outdoing the start of last year’s record-setting, 15-1 Minnesota Vikings, who outscored their first four opponents by an average of 32-18, including a tight 38-31 game against the Rams.
Quarterback Kurt Warner leads the league in passer rating, touchdown passes, completion percentage and third-down passing, but he isn’t the only dominant Ram.
Receiver Isaac Bruce leads the NFC in receiving yards and touchdown catches. Receiver Az-Zahir Hakim leads the NFC in punt returns, and receiver Tony Horne leads in kickoff returns.
The Rams have scored 80 points in their last two games even though running back Marshall Faulk rushed for only 29 yards. They have scored at least 35 points in three straight games for the first time in the franchise’s 62-year history.
“When I saw them in the preseason with Trent Green, I thought they were the most explosive offense I’d seen,” Bears pro scouting director Rick Spielman said.
Coach Dick Vermeil said he was confident backup Warner could replace the injured Green. “Now I have blind confidence in him,” Vermeil said. “Now when he throws an incomplete pass it’s, `My gosh, what’s wrong with you?’ “
With 14 touchdown passes, a 72.6 percent completion rate and a 136 passer rating, Warner is on a record pace in all three categories.
Of comfort to rivals, Vermeil conceded: “His performance probably is not going to continue at 72.6 percent and a 136. That’s darn tough. He has the ability to be above 100 in efficiency and the ability to throw in the high 60s in percentage. He played four halves in the preseason, and combined with his four games as a starter, he’s still completing 68.9 percent and has a 122.5 raating. So he is for real.”
Before Warner signed with the Rams out of the Arena League in December 1997, the Bears wanted him to try out. Sports Illustrated reported the Bears canceled the workout after Warner’s elbow swelled from a spider bite during his honeymoon. Spielman recalls Warner wanted a promise the Bears would sign him.
“We couldn’t do that without seeing him,” Spielman said.
Young no more: Steve Young isn’t the only San Francisco 49er whose career is fading. Receiver Jerry Rice, who turned 37 Wednesday, has 20 catches for 190 yards. His 9.5 yards-per-reception average is well below his career average of 15.5. His longest catch is 19 yards, and he has scored only one touchdown.
“I look at the film and I look at what he used to be,” Carolina safety Mike Minter said. “The guy used to just kill everybody. I don’t know if it’s just the offense (or) if they’re going through other options. They’ve got two other great receivers now (Terrell Owens and J.J. Stokes).
“I don’t think it’s just him diminishing as a player. Of course he’s diminished a little bit. He had knee surgery and (there’s) age. That stuff catches up with you.”
But Minter added: “We just saw a play today (on tape) where he ran a route I haven’t ever seen before–smooth and quick as I’ve ever seen. I still see flashes of Jerry Rice.”
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Improvement: Slowly but surely, the Baltimore Ravens are getting better. Under coach Ted Marchibroda last year, they were 2-2 and lost to Tennessee in the fifth game 12-8, getting two field goals and a safety. Under coach Brian Billick this year, they were 2-2 and lost to Tennessee 14-11, getting three field goals and a safety.
Additional teeth: Under new coordinator Dom Capers, the Jacksonville Jaguars are ranked No. 1 in defense for first time in team history, which means they were never No. 1 under former coordinator Dick Jauron.
The Jaguars finished No. 25 last season, and not surprisingly the players credit Capers, who brought his zone blitz-schemes from Carolina.
“This is a different defense,” safety Donovin Darius said. “Coach Capers has brought in a good style and scheme, and the players are making plays. We don’t know how good we can be.”
According to script: The Ohio State Marching Band peformed its famous Script Ohio in Cleveland Browns stadium last week while players were coming back from halftime. Punter Chris Gardocki, the ex-Bear, became trapped inside the large O of the formation. Frustrated and with nowhere to go, Gardocki punted a ball while band members circled in on him.
“If I got stuck in the big C at Clemson, at least I had a way out,” Gardocki said.
An ugly scene: The Dallas Cowboys expect receiver Michael Irvin to miss at least six weeks with the neck injury he suffered against the Eagles in Philadelphia last week. Irvin conceded that retirement is an option and said he didn’t hear the cheering from a segment of the Philadelphia crowd when he went down. He was too concerned about the numbness is his body to hear or see anybody.
“There aren’t many things that scare me. For a minute there, I lost all feeling. The thought of not playing with my son . . . I was scared,” he said.
Ex-Eagles Chris Boniol and Clyde Simmons, now with the Bears, got used to low-rent behavior by Eagles fans.
“Tacky,” Boniol said. “But it didn’t surprise me.”
“That’s the Philadelphia mentality. They hate Dallas so much,” Simmons said.
Replay byplay: Replay continues to cause arguments as well as settle them. Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian said a reverse-angle replay that appeared to show Colts defensive end Shawn King knocking the ball from Dan Marino’s grasp before his arm began moving forward was not shown to referee Gerry Austin on the field. Austin overturned his fumble call and kept Miami’s winning drive alive.
Polian and owner Jim Irsay have been staunch supporters of replay, but Polian sent this warning: “Jim instructed me to indicate we would never support a system where a retired official sits in the booth and nit-picks calls to death. In fact, I suspect we’ll lead the fight against it.”
In Tennessee, coach Jeff Fisher was told by the league his challenge in the Baltimore game should have resulted in a reversed call instead of the play standing and a timeout taken away.
Fisher challenged a pass completion, but referee Dick Hantak called replays inconclusive. Said Fisher: “We’re trying to figure out why Dick Hantak got only two views of the play, both inconclusive. They looked at another TV feed in New York and the ball was on the ground.”
There are fewer TV cameras used in regionally televised games than in nationally televised games, thereby limiting the system as opponents feared by making justice arbitrary.
Thumbs down: Green Bay’s Brett Favre might love to thumb his nose at the Broncos Sunday if his thumb didn’t hurt so much.
In an Aug. 23 exhibition game against Denver, Favre was throwing a pass to Bill Schroeder when Broncos linebacker John Mobley shoved the quarterback to the ground. Favre broke his fall with his right thumb, immediately left the game and still has not recovered. The Broncos still remember.
Said Denver safety Eric Brown: “He’s somebody we’ve got to shut down. We have to get in his head, put him out of the game if we can. Mess with that thumb, if it’s possible. If we get back there to him, we can do a lot of things to him.”
Favre’s sarcastic reply: “Please don’t go after my thumb. I never concern myself with an injury. If I’m going to play, I’m going to play. If I get hit, I get it hit. If someone grabs me at the bottom of the pile, I have to poke him in the eye, I guess. It’s football.”
Loving it: Buffalo’s Doug Flutie, on Kurt Warner and Flutie’s Canadian League successor Jeff Garcia of the 49ers outperforming some big-time draft picks:
“It throws a wrench into the NFL system. All these experts who have their stopwatches out, go to their meat markets and their combines and this and that. Hey, all you have to do is look at the film and decide if they can play or not. You know, there are just some guys that can play football. There are a lot of (experts) who really don’t know what it is like to be under fire.”