This is David Terrell time, North Division Career Saving Time. If the underachieving receiver is going to justify his No. 1 draft status in Chicago, the time is now. The third-year player has been on “fall behind” time for too long.
The Bears are playing without their top receiver, Marty Booker. The Lions are playing without their top receiver, Charles Rogers. Neither team’s top running back is healthy.
Both teams are 1-5 and looking for a spark. No. 1 draft choices have to be difference-makers. Terrell and Lions quarterback Joey Harrington will be the only No. 1 draft choices on the field in either the offensive so-called skill positions or the defensive skill position of cornerback.
The Lions’ best player this season has been cornerback Dre’ Bly. The Lions have four interceptions, all by Bly. He returned one for a touchdown, and last week against Dallas, his fumble return for a touchdown provided a 7-0 lead in a 38-7 loss.
Bly covers the top receiver. He stopped the Cowboys’ Joey Galloway without a catch.
“If Booker’s not playing, I’ll probably match up with . . . who’s their next go-to guy? Dez White? I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Bly said.
That leaves Terrell. Last week Dallas receiver Terry Glenn scored three touchdowns in the first half against Detroit zones and 37-year-old cornerback Otis Smith.
No matter whom Terrell matches up with, he needs to show up. The Bears hierarchy privately acknowledges he is on the clock. The Bears need to feed him too. They need to give him a chance to find out whether he has a chance. Many antsy, temperamental receivers need to be forced into game plans early to grab their attention so they will grab passes.
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Next week the Bears play against a San Diego team with a rookie and a second-year player as starting cornerbacks. Then they play the Lions again. If Terrell and the Bears can’t hook up with any consistent promise over the next three weeks, it will signal the start of a different time zone, as in time to move on.
Parcells defends Johnson: Bucs receiver Keyshawn Johnson had only two passes thrown his way and caught only one for 4 yards during the loss to San Francisco, so he and his agent expressed dismay.
“It’s not about me,” Johnson said. “That’s just my mentality. I don’t care about being selfish. I don’t think when you have a player who considers himself playing on a high level at all times, you consider [him] selfish when he does everything you ask. Everything.”
This week Johnson and the Bucs play against his former boss with the Jets, Bill Parcells with the Cowboys. Although Parcells was involved in his trade to Tampa Bay, he defended Johnson last week.
“Listen, these players who are talented players, they want to feel like they’re contributing,” Parcells said.
“I never would stifle that until it became disruptive. There’s a difference between wanting to contribute and being selfish.”
Parcells said selfish did not describe Johnson when the two worked together in New York.
“He’ll go in there and crack-block defensive ends,” Parcells said. “There are not many receivers in the league who will do that. When a guy will approach every task you give him with the same kind of enthusiasm, I have no problem with those kinds of players. . . . He’d do every dirty job I asked him to do.”
Ex-mates: San Francisco backup defensive end Chidi Ahanotu got a game ball for inspired play against his former Bucs teammates. Seems it was ex-teammate Warren Sapp who inspired him.
“Little-known fact,” Ahanotu said. “Not little-known. I don’t really like the guy, man. I think the league would be better off once he retires. He’s a big buffoon. He’s ignorant. . . . A mind is a terrible thing to waste. He’s a fool, man. It’s just ridiculous.
“He should get some pompoms. That’s all he is, a cheerleader. Two sacks from a guy who said he was going to break the record. That’s all he does is dance and shuck and jive back there. . . . He’s a fading star. He’s trying to hold on, man. Give him some pompoms.”
Other than that, Ahanotu offered insight on the Bucs’ problems.
“We knew the offensive line couldn’t hang with us,” he said. “That’s their weakest point on their team. Really probably the weakest offensive line we’ve seen in a while. We just knew we could take advantage of some things.”
Kanell tour: New Denver quarterback Danny Kanell said the persistence of quarterbacks such as Tommy Maddox, Kurt Warner and Jeff Garcia persuaded him to kick around the Arena Football League before getting another NFL shot.
“Not long ago, I heard a quote from Tommy Maddox in which he said everybody should have to stay away from the game for a while so they would realize what they had,” Kanell said. “The two years that I was away gave me a whole new attitude toward what I have. When I was there before, I was too naive. I didn’t know what was going on. I kind of expected everything to come to me. Now I realize what kind of work goes into it.”
About six months ago, Kanell sent letters to 15 NFL teams, hoping to hook up somewhere, somehow. He got a quick rejection from the Minnesota Vikings.
“They said, `Our coaching staff is full right now,'” Kanell recalled.
Ray of hope: Look for somebody to sign Canadian Football League and former Sacramento State quarterback Ricky Ray. He led the Edmonton Eskimos to a 4-1 record in September while completing 123-of-163 passes, 12 for touchdowns.
Hail, yes: The over-the-shoulder lateral from Randy Moss to Moe Williams that went for a touchdown for the Vikings against Denver last week has been named the Hail Randy.
Explained Moss: “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing that only happens every so often.”
Denver receiver Rod Smith, asked if he had seen that before: “Yeah, on PlayStation.”
Small world: Seahawks rookie cornerback Marcus Trufant, 22, will face Bengals quarterback Jon Kitna, 31. They both grew up in Seattle and knew of each other but hadn’t met.
Trufant took a physical education class from Kitna’s wife, Jennifer, at Tacoma’s Wilson High School.
“She wasn’t that tough,” Trufant said with a laugh. “She was a real cool lady, and I enjoyed having her as a teacher.”
Familiar notion: Remember way back during the Bears’ 13-3 season in 2001? The Bears were considered more lucky than good. The 7-0 Kansas City Chiefs are getting the same reputation.
Last Monday, Chiefs safety Jerome Woods tackled Oakland’s Tim Brown just a yard short of the goal line on the game’s final play, preserving the Chiefs’ 17-10 victory and evoking warm memories of Jan. 30, 2000, for coach Dick Vermeil. That’s when Rams linebacker Mike Jones stopped Tennessee’s Kevin Dyson at the 1, saving Super Bowl XXXIV for Vermeil’s Rams.
“I didn’t think about it at the time, but I did later,” Vermeil said.
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Here’s how the Chiefs have won their last four games:
– Dante Hall broke a tie with a kickoff return for a touchdown to beat Baltimore.
– Hall provided the winning margin with a 93-yard punt return, aided by a clip that was not called, to beat Denver.
– After a blocked field goal, the Chiefs recovered a fumble by Green Bay’s Ahman Green at midfield and converted that into a game-winning touchdown in overtime.
– Oakland punt returner Philip Buchanon muffed a fourth-quarter punt that the Chiefs recovered at the Raiders’ 11, setting up Kansas City’s second touchdown in its 17-10 victory.
“To be 7-0, you have to win games like that. Those things don’t happen by accident. We work on them every day,” Vermeil said. “Why would any coach not want something like that to happen in a football game? It’s stupid to sit and think, `I’m disappointed we won the football game because we returned a punt or picked off a pass.'”
Said Woods: “Maybe this is destiny. We’ve had a lot of breaks and a lot of good things happen this year.”