Dave Wannstedt remained popular in South Florida on Monday for at least “playing to win.” Tony Dungy remained boring even though Dungy’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers out-dulled Wannstedt’s Miami Dolphins by a field goal 16-13 Sunday.
Wannstedt second-guessed himself for giving up three points before the half, but his aggressive attitude earned him accolades from Monday’s pundits for trying harder on offense than Dungy seems to do.
All season long, the Dolphins had been weaning themselves from the mistakes quarterback Dan Marino used to make in a passing game that was no longer efficient. All season long, the Dolphins had surprised skeptics by winning while Marino’s unheralded successor, Jay Fiedler, avoided risky situations.
Then against Tampa, when everybody knew a single field goal would be huge, the Dolphins mistook Fiedler for Marino in his prime.
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Just before halftime, the Dolphins’ defense called two timeouts in an effort to get the ball back. After forcing a Tampa punt, the Dolphins neglected to field it. The ball rolled to the Miami 20 with 22 seconds left.
Instead of kneeling to run out the clock, Fiedler threw. The pass was intercepted, and a field goal gave the Bucs a 10-3 halftime lead.
Four interceptions of Fiedler allowed the Bucs to brag that their defense is better than the Dolphins’ defense. The Bucs failed to score a touchdown on offense; their only TD came on an interception return by linebacker Jamie Duncan. It was the first such touchdown against the Dolphins all season. With the loss went home-field advantage in the AFC unless Miami (10-4) can beat the Colts and Patriots and both Tennessee and Oakland lose one.
Fiedler ailing: Fiedler damaged the rotator cuff in his non-throwing shoulder on a sack. He played with the injury and expects to play Sunday against Indianapolis, but may have surgery after the season.
“It’s going to be pain tolerance–whether I can perform to the ability I think is able to take this team to victories,” Fiedler said.
NFC title rematch: When the Bucs host the St. Louis Rams next Monday night in a rematch of last year’s NFC title game, it will be with survival in mind, not superiority.
The loser will have to win its season finale on the road to make the playoffs. On the day before Christmas, the Rams visit New Orleans and the Bucs visit Green Bay.
The Rams won last year 11-6, causing the Bucs to retool their offense in an effort to give their defense more help. They traded for receiver Keyshawn Johnson, fired offensive coordinator Mike Shula, signed Minnesota Vikings offensive linemen Randall McDaniel and Jeff Christy, and didn’t change a bit.
Quarterback Shawn King hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass in 4 1/2 games, yet the Bucs still hold out hope they can become the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium.
This aches, man: The Dallas Cowboys still aren’t ready to say the end of Troy Aikman’s 12-year career is near, even though his fourth concussion in his last 20 starts likely will knock him out for the final two games. Aikman was slammed to the ground by Washington linebacker LaVar Arrington midway through the first quarter Sunday. It was his second concussion this season, and 10th of his career.
This is how a neurology professor at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center, Dr. Hal Unwin, quoted by the Associated Press, described a concussion: “The brain moves around and parts of the brain move in different speeds than other parts of the brain, kind of like whipped cream on Jell-O. Sometimes you can have some of the nerves torn if you get hit hard enough.”
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said it is still too early to know what long-range plans would be made concerning Aikman, who turned 34 last month and is the first player Jones ever drafted. Jones must decide by March 8 whether to pay Aikman a $7 million bonus. Aikman can be released before the deadline without being given any money. Regardless of what happens, he will count at least $10 million against Dallas’ salary cap next season, a number that begs for relief with a salary renegotiation common in such cases.
Washington follies: The Washington Redskins have the NFL’s biggest payroll and are quickly turning into the league’s biggest failures. Somewhere, Norv Turner is smiling.
Owner Daniel Snyder wanted Jeff George at quarterback; he got him. Coach Terry Robiskie, who replaced the fired Turner, presided over the team’s worst game of the season, a 32-13 loss to lowly Dallas.
The Redskins committed 11 penalties, yielded five sacks, gained only 79 yards rushing against the league’s worst run defense, wasted several timeouts, allowed two long punt returns and gave up a season-high 242 yards rushing.
Under Turner, the Redskins hadn’t lost a game by more than six points all season.
“It was chaotic. It was definitely that,” Robiskie said. “The biggest lesson I learned, the one I didn’t want to learn, was the agony of defeat as a head coach.”
George has a career mark of 46-75 as a starting QB. Robiskie’s future may depend on the final two games against Pittsburgh and Arizona.
“I just want to win one,” Robiskie said. “Hopefully, whatever happens in the end, it says, `Terry Robiskie as a head coach, he won one.'”
Far out Favre: Detroit coach Gary Moeller on the passing mechanics of Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre: “He violates every principle of throwing, and does it very well. It’s a compliment to him, but if you wanted to teach a young kid how to throw a ball, he would be the ideal guy to watch for where it lands but not how he gets it there. He’s really unorthodox, but that’s what makes him so good.”
Coaching gesture: On the final play of Sunday’s 35-3 win over Cincinnati, Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher let kicker Al Del Greco line up deep behind quarterback Neil O’Donnell when O’Donnell was taking a knee.
“We had enough games where they were coming down to the end with Al,” said Fisher, whose 11-3 team had not won any previous game by more than 14 points.
“I just told them if we get in a victory situation, I was going to put Al back there and let him feel what it’s like to go on the field without his heart in his throat.”
After Del Greco missed kicks in two Titans losses, Fisher stuck with him, and Del Greco responded with five field goals to beat Philadelphia last week, including a 50-yarder on the last play.
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Pro Bowl vote: Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss, with 210,493 votes, and quarterback Daunte Culpepper, with 207,011, finished as the top two vote-getters in AFC-NFC Pro Bowl fan balloting on NFL.com, the NFL announced Monday.
More than 10 million votes were tabulated in the voting that began in October. Fan balloting counts for one-third of the final vote in determining the 43-man AFC and NFC All-Star rosters that will be announced Thursday.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning led all AFC players with 187,412 votes.
Fans, players and coaches select the AFC and NFC All-Stars. Each group’s collective vote counts one-third towards determining conference rosters. Players and coaches started voting Monday and will complete ballots on Tuesday.
In fan voting, the Tennessee Titans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers led with six players apiece.