Star-stomping Terrell Owens gave the NFL all the ammunition it needed last week to justify its reputation as the No Fun League. His idea of fun provoked a near-riot, and it wasn’t a laugh riot.
Owens, a San Francisco 49ers receiver, showed why the NFL is forced to make rules outlining behavior, rules often criticized as stodgy and overbearing. If players have no clearer idea of common decency than Owens displayed, it’s no wonder the NFL has to spell out the lost concept of sportsmanship.
After Owens scored against the Dallas Cowboys, he ran to the middle of Texas Stadium and celebrated on the star painted at midfield. He did it twice. The second time he was leveled by Cowboys safety George Teague. Referee Jeff Triplette penalized Owens for taunting and ejected Teague for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Triplette could have flagged Owens for unsportsmanlike conduct the first time, but he said he didn’t see it. Coach Steve Mariucci told Owens to stay home this week.
He’ll miss Sunday’s game against Arizona, along with his $24,294 paycheck.
NFL officials were advised to keep a closer eye on celebrating players and the league expanded the scope of the rule against taunting. It used to be limited to “poses” directed at players or the bench; now a player can be penalized or fined for posing anywhere. Owens was stunned by the reaction and claimed he would do it again if the spirit so moved him.
“For the most part, I felt like I didn’t do anything wrong,” Owens said. “Everybody has their opinions of me as a person, but I’m not going to let any person, coach or media personnel criticize me, or make me out to be a classless person, or what I did to be a classless act.
“No amount of money they fine me or amount of time that they cause me to be away from my team is going to stop me from being who I am, what I stand for or just being true to myself. I’m going to do what I’ve been doing all the time. I’m going to celebrate how I know how to celebrate.
“Why would I go out of my way to please other people? This is who I am. I’m being true to myself.”
Almost as clueless was the reaction of some teammates.
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Said safety Lance Schulters: “I don’t think he was taunting their team. It was just emotion. I really can’t sit here and say I can knock him.”
Rookie linebacker Julian Peterson said: “I thought they’d maybe just warn him. I saw a lot worse [celebrating] in college, so I’m surprised.”
Owens saw Raiders receiver Andre Rison socially after the incident.
“We laughed about it,” Rison said. “I don’t think Terrell was wrong. Everybody has their own emotions–let’s defend ourselves. All the clowning the Cowboys did, I mean when Deion [Sanders] was with the Cowboys, Michael Irvin doing his thing–I don’t know what you call that.”
By contrast, the St. Louis Rams’ “Bob ‘n’ Weave” end-zone celebration that was outlawed this year looks tame. But Minnesota coach Dennis Green, a co-chairman of the NFL Competition Committee, said such acts incite players to retaliate.
“They were lucky there wasn’t a riot,” Green said. “There’s no place for it in the game.”
Said Tampa Bay guard Frank Middleton: “If somebody does that at Raymond James [Stadium], you all will have a story to write for a whole month, because I wouldn’t let it happen.”
Said Vikings receiver Cris Carter: “That was a big rivalry, so the juices were flowing, but I could never see myself doing that at Lambeau Field. It was just tacky, very tasteless. He didn’t represent San Francisco very well. I don’t think Terrell Owens is the spokesman of that organization. … It was just stupid.”
Wanny winning: Dave Wannstedt’s record in his final 20 games as coach of the Bears was 6-14. Dick Jauron’s record in his first 20 games is 6-14.
Wannstedt, 3-1 with Miami, said he feels no vindication.
“There are so many variables that contribute to winning and losing in this league,” he said. “As a coach, you are obviously going to be held accountable for the bottom line, but there are so many things that happen on a weekly basis that you don’t have any control over.
“The thing I found out is that people understand at the time, but they understand for one week. And then the next week, it didn’t make any difference if Erik Kramer broke his neck or it didn’t make any difference what the circumstances were. The bottom line was that you didn’t win, and that’s what makes it such a tough profession. That’s why you see the changes as often as changes are being made.”
General LeBeau: Wannstedt faces new Cincinnati coach Dick LeBeau this week after Bruce Coslet resigned. LeBeau, 63, is the oldest rookie NFL coach since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.
LeBeau played for Woody Hayes at Ohio State and is a student of military history. LeBeau admires Confederate Civil War generals because they made the most of their limited resources.
“They’re the ones who kept it going for as long as it did,” he said.
One of the first changes LeBeau made was to silence the locker room boom box. He also doesn’t want to see players wearing baseball caps backward or sitting on their helmets in practice.
“There will be plenty of music in there when we win,” LeBeau said. “I want us to look like a professional outfit when we’re here doing our work.”
Tobin next? After last week’s lackluster 29-3 loss to the Packers, Arizona coach Vince Tobin is feeling heat from more than the desert.
The Cardinals have gone 20 games without scoring a first-quarter offensive touchdown. They’ve never emerged from September with a winning record. There is a stadium issue going to the voters of Maricopa County on Nov. 7. The latest polls showed 53 percent against it.
The Cards had a week off to prepare for the Packers.
Said Tobin: “Players have got to be able to prepare themselves and the coaches have got to be able to prepare the players. But this isn’t junior high school, or high school, or college. This is their livelihood. They have to get themselves prepared to play at a high emotional level every week.”
The obvious candidate to replace Tobin would be defensive coordinator Dave McGinnis. McGinnis has been linked with Tobin since their Chicago days, but would not likely turn down his second head-coaching offer.
Hot Kurt: Kurt Warner started his 20th career game last week for the Rams. Nobody has ever started hotter. He has thrown for 5,910 yards. Dan Marino threw for 5,310 in his first 20 starts. Warner has thrown for 51 touchdowns; Marino threw for 47.
Warner’s 10 touchdown passes this season have averaged 51.1 yards. The Rams have scored 160 points, an average of 40 a game. They are on a pace for 640, which would shatter Minnesota’s record of 556 set in 1998.
Bad hands with Alstott: Mike Alstott has fumbled 12 times in his last 36 games with the Bucs, losing the fumble that allowed the Jets to pull out last week’s win. It was only the third time in 30 games the Bucs had yielded a fourth-quarter lead. But coach Tony Dungy said he will stick with Alstott.
“My gut feeling is that we’ve had success doing it this way and Mike’s got to do it and hang on to the ball and I think he will,” Dungy said.
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Said Alstott: “Obviously it wasn’t fun, it wasn’t a good feeling, but I have to bounce back and be a leader and make something happen this week. We haven’t discussed it. Whatever Tony wishes to do, I have to be ready to bounce back and do some good things.”
Of the top 15 running backs in the NFL last season, only Indianapolis rookie Edgerrin James, with eight fumbles, had more that Alstott’s six fumbles, and James had a league-leading 431 rushes and receptions, 162 more than Alstott.
Alstott had 269 touches last year. The Jets’ Curtis Martin had 412 touches and two fumbles, the Rams’ Marshall Faulk had 340 touches and two fumbles, the Redskins’ Stephen Davis had 313 touches and four fumbles, the Titans’ Eddie George had 367 touches and five fumbles, the Cowboys’ Emmitt Smith had 356 touches and five fumbles, and the Eagles’ Duce Staley had 366 touches and five fumbles.