The Bears’ Brian Urlacher is among the front-runners for defensive rookie of the year, but he has more competition than Tennessee’s Jevon Kearse had last season.
Philadelphia defensive tackle Corey Simon has five sacks to Urlacher’s six. The two will play on the same field Sunday. Simon’s strength in the middle has been a big factor in elevating the Eagles’ defense from 24th last season to ninth.
While Urlacher has been the most visible and often spectacular player on the Bears’ defense, the Bears have improved only from 29th to 28th overall on defense and have slipped from 23rd to 29th against the run.
Still, Urlacher’s seven-game tackle and sack totals compare favorably with the seven-game rookie totals of other prominent middle linebackers. Urlacher has 71 tackles and six sacks. Mike Singletary had 10 tackles and no sacks. Baltimore’s Ray Lewis had 69 tackles and one sack. Miami’s Zach Thomas had 94 tackles and two sacks.
The No. 1-ranked defense in the league belongs to the New Orleans Saints, who have their own rookie-of-the-year candidate in pass-rushing end Darren Howard. He has started on the left side all year and has six sacks.
“He’s playing as well or better than any rookie I’ve ever had,” Saints coach Jim Haslett said. “If he doesn’t win rookie of the year, something’s wrong.”
The New York Jets are 5-1 in part because of the production of two rookie first-round pass rushers, John Abraham and Shaun Ellis. Abraham, one of the choices gleaned from the Keyshawn Johnson trade, has 4 1/2 sacks and Ellis has four.
Then there is the No. 1 overall pick, Cleveland’s Courtney Brown, who has been solid as the starting left defensive end from Day One on a team that is ranked 24th on defense, ahead of the Bears. Brown has 34 tackles and three sacks.
“He is everything we hoped he would be,” Browns coach Chris Palmer said.
Brown’s Penn State teammate, linebacker LaVar Arrington, has not made enough of an impact with the Washington Redskins to warrant the rookie award. He doesn’t start and hasn’t yet shown his skill as a difference-maker.
As for offensive rookie of the year, nobody is setting the league on fire the way Indianapolis’ Edgerrin James did last year. The top running back is sixth-rounder Mike Anderson of Denver. Baltimore’s Jamal Lewis and the New York Giants’ Ron Dayne have been effective, though far from spectacular.
Seattle receiver Darrell Jackson, a third-rounder from Florida, has outperformed all the first-round receivers–Cincinnati’s Peter Warrick, Pittsburgh’s Plaxico Burress, Baltimore’s Travis Taylor, Green Bay tight end Bubba Franks, Kansas City’s Sylvester Morris, Jets tight end Anthony Becht and Jacksonville’s R. Jay Soward.
The top candidate for offensive rookie of the year is the first offensive player drafted, Redskins left tackle Chris Samuels, who has protected quarterback Brad Johnson’s back side all season on a team that has no patience for the development of rookies.
Passing the Buc: Defending NFC Central Division champion Tampa Bay is in big trouble, which means the Bears have to feel worse than ever about the 41-0 drubbing they took from the Bucs on Sept. 10.
It must have taken as much out of the Bucs as it did the Bears because Tampa has won once since, in Detroit, and that looked like a fluke after the Lions manhandled the Bucs on Thursday night in Tampa.
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After arguing that their three-game slide was a combination of bad luck against the Jets and two tough road losses against the Redskins and Vikings, the Bucs got a dose of reality against the Lions, who gave coach Tony Dungy’s team one of their most thorough defeats in years. The Bears’ game is now the only one of three home games the Bucs have won.
Lions quarterback Charlie Batch, finally recovered from a broken knee, outpassed Tampa’s shaky Shaun King even though the Lions didn’t have injured top receiver Germane Crowell. Running back James Stewart plowed through the vaunted Bucs defense in a way that could become a turning point for both teams.
The Bucs were 3-4 last year before rebounding to advance to the NFC title game, but seldom have they looked in such disarray, and they lost only once all last season at home.
Clearly, the Keyshawn Johnson experience has so far been a failed experiment.
Boss Ross chills: Lions coach Bobby Ross was asked whether he had done anything during the team’s week off to get away from it all.
“Well,” he said proudly, “one day I went to a movie.”
Ross saw “Remember the Titans,” the football movie starring Denzel Washington and based on actual events and coaches Ross knows and worked with earlier in his career. The irony of the busman’s holiday totally escaped Ross’ notice. “I forgot it was a football movie,” he said. “Dumb me.”
Kicking away: Minnesota’s Gary Anderson needs only nine points to tie George Blanda as the highest-scoring player in NFL history. Blanda finished with 2,002 points. Anderson has 1,993.
Hold the applause: Minnesota’s Daunte Culpepper has won his first six starts. That puts him in a very small club of five quarterbacks. Kurt Warner won his first six with the St. Louis Rams last year. Mike Kruczek won his first six with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Dieter Brock won his first seven with the Los Angeles Rams. Mike Tomczak won his first 10 with the Bears. Kruczek was Culpepper’s coach at Central Florida.
Ban for Boston: Arizona Cardinals receiver David Boston caught a 70-yard touchdown pass from Jake Plummer against Philadelphia last week and was penalized for turning and taunting Eagles defenders 10 yards from the goal line. The Cardinals were behind 24-0 at the time.
Against San Francisco two weeks earlier, Boston’s coaches criticized him for high-stepping 10 yards from the goal line during another loss.
Said Plummer: “A team that’s going to go out and fight and play hard doesn’t need to do that. Your actions speak. You don’t have to tell somebody you beat them. They know when they get beat.”
Said coach Vince Tobin: “That has no place in the National Football League, and he’s been told that many times. Whether it’s youthful exuberance or whatever, it’s just something you can’t have happen. It shows a total disrespect for the game and to me has no place in the game.”
Even if he has no common sense, Boston should know the rules. His dad, Byron, is an NFL official. Byron Boston is never assigned to his son’s games, so he’s unable to keep an eye on him.
This is parity? The St. Louis Rams are scoring 43.6 points per game. The Cincinnati Bengals have scored 37 points all season.
There are 23 NFL players who have scored more points than Cincinnati.
The fewest points in a 16-game season is 140 by the 1992 Seattle Seahawks. At this rate the Bengals would score 99.
Get a grip, Fred: Since the start of the 1999 season, the Tennessee Titans have beaten the Jacksonville Jaguars four times. Each time, Jaguars running back Fred Taylor said the Jaguars have the better team. He didn’t waver last Monday night: “I still think we’re better. I know it sounds stupid and it will keep sounding stupid until we beat them.”
Ex-Bear watch: The Bears have little use for tight ends or fullbacks, who must find work elsewhere. Alonzo Mayes, recently traded to Miami, felt ignored by the Bears and offensive coordinator Gary Crowton.
“A tight end there is nothing but an extra receiver,” Mayes said. “That’s really what the position is about. I believe, if [Crowton] could, he would like to put five receivers out there and just go at it.”
Fullback Jim Finn, chosen by the Bears as the last player picked in the 1999 draft, is now starting as the blocking back for Edgerrin James in Indianapolis.
The mouths of babes: New England quarterback Drew Bledsoe has been sacked 30 times this season. Even his 3-year-old son, Stuart, has noticed.
Said Bledsoe: “Early in the season I asked him, `Did you see Daddy on TV?’ And he said, `Yes.’ I asked him, `What did Daddy do?’ and he said, `Oh, Daddy just fell down.'”
DON PIERSON’S NFL RANKINGS
1. Rams–Outdoors on grass at Arrowhead first big test.
2. Vikings–Culpepper vs. Flutie this week. Get pictures.
3. Titans–By George, they are a physical team.
4. Dolphins–Trying to prove defense still works.
5. Colts–Getting back to Edgerrin basics.
6. Jets–Curtis Martin carrying the load again.
7. Raiders–Gannon is finding a way to win.
8. Redskins–Starting to get their act together.
9. Lions–Impressive win in Tampa; Batch is back.
10. Ravens–No TDs in three games will catch up.
11. Giants–Still on top of NFC East, wondering how.
12. Bills–Defense could give Minnesota a game.
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13. Buccaneers–Things are looking down and very strange.
14. Eagles–They will have a say in NFC East race.
15. Chiefs–Have lost both home games against winners.
16. Broncos–A healthy Griese remains key to season.
17. Steelers–Running, defense still work in some places . . .
18. Saints– . . . Including here. Ricky, defense are on rolls.
19. Packers–They welcome their off week to get healthy.
20. Jaguars–Notre Dame looking better to Coughlin.
21. Patriots–May have missed chance against Jets.
22. Seahawks–As Brock Huard goes, so goes Seattle.
23. Falcons–They are about one loss from next year.
24. 49ers–On their way to becoming surprise of season.
25. Cowboys–It could ache to watch Troy Aikman.
26. Panthers–Reggie White called team meeting. Goodnight.
27. Cardinals–They could move and not many would notice.
28. Browns–Ouch. No Tim Couch. Doug Pederson rules.
29. BEARS–Maybe if Jauron grabbed McNown by the throat …
30. Chargers–Ready to find out truth about Ryan Leaf.
31. Bengals–QB sneaks would get more than six points a game.