Nfl Football - Football Betting

2005-11-07T12:19:00.000-08:00

AFC rivals clash on MNF

Scouts Inc.: Peyton Manning and the Colts have lost their past six games against the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Patriots. Equipped with a much-improved and far more physical defense, the Colts are hoping to reverse their fortunes in Foxborough, where their playoff run has ended each of the past two seasons. --football gambling--

A win for the undefeated Colts would be the biggest step yet toward claiming home-field advantage in this season's playoffs. Perhaps more importantly, it would all but rid them of a third-consecutive postseason trip to Gillette Stadium. --football gambling--

But before anyone gets too carried away, the Patriots have had the Colts' number for a reason. Manning might have the passing records, but Tom Brady is the one wearing three Super Bowl rings. --football gambling--

Patriots coach and defensive guru Bill Belichick seems to be one step ahead of the curve in terms of frustrating the otherwise unflappable Manning, and New England has a huge mental advantage due to the physically dominating manner in which it has handled Indianapolis in the past. --football gambling--

And oh, by the way, ILB Tedy Bruschi is back healthy to lead an emotionally charged Patriots' defense. Does Monday Night Football get any better than this?--football gambling--

2005-11-02T08:28:00.000-08:00

Road to ruin a familiar NFL path

November 2, 2005

BY MIKE MULLIGAN STAFF REPORTER

It's never easy to live out of a suitcase. It's virtually impossible to play winning football in the NFL while living out of a suitcase. -NFL Football-

The Bears learned that lesson during the 2002 season, when the glory of a 13-3 run the year before turned into a miserable 4-12 campaign with home games played 135 miles away at Champaign's Memorial Stadium. -NFL Football-

In light of that experience, the Bears have an idea, however remote, about what the New Orleans Saints are going through this season after their city was destroyed in August by Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing flooding. The Saints relocated to San Antonio and are splitting home games between that city and Baton Rouge, La., where the Bears travel for a 3:05 p.m. game Sunday. -NFL Football-

"They have a lot more to overcome than we did,'' middle linebacker Brian Urlacher said. "Guys lost their homes, they've relocated -- it stinks what they are going through. It's not easy doing that, but once Sunday rolls around, it doesn't matter. They have played some good games this year. -NFL Football-

"They beat our butts in Champaign, so we have to beat their butts in Baton Rouge.'' -NFL Football-

Indeed, the Bears had a 2-0 record and an early lead against New Orleans in 2002 when the Saints rallied for a 29-23 victory that began an eight-game slide that buried the season. Enduring memories of that year include bungled hotel plans, the terrible smell coming from a nearby farm that's part of the University of Illinois' agriculture school and a series of injuries that at least two players blamed on the surface at Memorial Stadium. -NFL Football-

Urlacher said he remembered some good card games on the trips. Jerry Azumah said he has blocked out the entire year from his memory, while Patrick Mannelly and Olin Kreutz said they just remember all the travel. Bus rides and plane trips and weather delays and an exhausting weekend grind that took a toll on the psyche as much as the body. -NFL Football-

"Sixteen road trips, who the hell wants to do that?'' Kreutz wondered. "When you are at home, you have a lot of time. You meet in the morning on Saturday, and then you go home. You rest, and then make your way to the hotel downtown. When you travel, with the security checks, you go right to the plane after the morning meeting. At home, you have an extra six hours, at least, to study film or to rest. It's a huge advantage.'' -NFL Football-

The Bears knew they were going on the road. They had plenty of time to make travel arrangements for friends and family going to games. They knew well in advance what the weekend and game-day routine would be. And the process proved exhausting. -NFL Football-

The Saints, in contrast, never could have prepared for the disaster that led to their relocation. They lost out on one home game when they were forced to play at the New York Giants in Week 2 and lost 27-10. It was a downer for a team that rode an emotional tidal wave in a season-opening victory at Carolina. Since then, the Saints have won only one other game, a 19-7 victory against Buffalo on Oct. 2 in San Antonio. -NFL Football-

They have looked like a tired and battered team in losing four straight, and a run of injuries, including the loss of running back Deuce McAllister for the season, hasn't helped. The Saints have talent, including an excellent defensive line, but they have been riddled by mistakes and negative plays and lead the NFL in turnovers, penalties and dropped passes. -NFL Football-

Bears coach Lovie Smith seems to view the game as a trap, one where the Bears easily could come in with a sense of superiority created by a three-game winning streak and forget to finish off a wounded team eager to get to its bye the following week. -NFL Football-

"We can't get to a point where we think they have all this stuff going on and there is no way they can think about football,'' Smith said. "They are still a very good team with a lot of talent. It's got to be tough for them, but the game is still in Louisiana and they will have the majority of their crowd there. It's not like playing at home.'' -NFL Football-

The Bears may empathize with the Saints' plight, but once the ball is kicked off, the goal is to win and win big. There is no quarter given in pro football. -NFL Football-

"We all have different things going on in our lives,'' Smith said, "but once you come inside the building, it's supposed to be just football then. You can't think about what is happening outside in the world when you are playing a football game. -NFL Football-

"I know it is easy for me to say with my home right down the street and my kids here, but that is the only way you can look at it. They have put it together to win a couple of games. What happened then? It's a disadvantage for them, but it's something they can overcome.'' -NFL Football-

ALIVE AND KICKING: Rookie kicker Robbie Gould has made 4 of 6 field goals, including two in the Bears' 19-13 overtime victory Sunday at Detroit. But Gould is 1-for-3 from beyond 40 yards, and you have to wonder if the Bears are being cautious in terms of his attempts. -NFL Football-

It looked that way at the end of regulation Sunday, when the Bears opted to run out the clock rather than throw the ball in an effort to get into field-goal range in the final minute. It was odd to see the team throw a 22-yard pass from its 3-yard line with 1:21 left, then opt to play for overtime by calling two running plays. -NFL Football-

Offensive coordinator Ron Turner said the decision had nothing to do with Gould. Turner said after the pass to Justin Gage got the Bears to the 25, the idea was to get into field-goal range. -NFL Football-

"We threw it the next play and threw incomplete, so then we took the air out of it a little bit,'' Turner said. "Now all of a sudden, the clock stops and it's second-and-10. If we throw it again incomplete, it's third-and-10 and they have 40-some seconds and all they need is a field goal. We had to balance it. We didn't want to take the air out of it, but we didn't want to be stupid.'' -NFL Football-

Gould has flown below the radar, but he's bound to play an important role, especially for a low-scoring team. While only 18.7 percent of games in 1970 were decided by three points or fewer, the number has risen dramatically in this era. Since 1999, almost one quarter of the games, 24.5 percent, have been decided by three or fewer. -NFL Football-

RETURN OF THE RETURN MAN: Cornerback Jerry Azumah looked as dangerous as ever on kickoff returns against the Lions. Azumah averaged 30.5 yards on four returns with a long of 40. He had another nice return erased by a penalty. Azumah started the year slowly with a hip injury but looks to have regained his Pro Bowl form, something the Lions picked up on during the game. -NFL Football-

"They were trying to kick it away from me a few times,'' Azumah said. "They were making me move all over the place. They weren't just getting it high and between the hashes, they were kicking outside the numbers. It feels good to get the thing going again because obviously we've been there before. We know how to do it. Once we get that thing going, it's hard to stop because we know it well.'' -NFL Football-

ROOKIE RECORDS: Don't look now, but Kyle Orton is getting ready to rewrite the Bears' rookie record book. Orton tied the team record for starts by a rookie with his seventh against Detroit, putting him in the books with Bobby Douglass (1969) and Jim McMahon (1982). He'll break that mark Sunday against New Orleans. Orton also should scratch the name Cade McNown out of the record book. He needs just 37 pass attempts and 17 completions to pass McNown's team rookie records of 235 and 127, set in 1999. Orton has six touchdown passes in seven games, three short of McMahon's rookie record. -NFL Football-

Orton also has thrown 62 consecutive passes without an interception and has only one pick in his last 136 attempts, although the Lions had their hands on three balls Sunday and couldn't hang on. -NFL Football-

TICKET SALES: The Bears don't figure to be near the same draw in Baton Rouge, La., that the Miami Dolphins were last week. The Dolphins, thanks in part to the appearance of former LSU coach Nick Saban, helped draw 61,643 fans. That was well below the crowd of 88,887 that attended the LSU-North Texas game Saturday, but that included a large student ticket base that doesn't pay NFL prices. -NFL Football-

LSU plays Appalachian State on Saturday and will draw another crowd in the 88,000 range, while the Bears could play in front of a house half that size. A Saints spokesman said tickets are available in all price ranges from $15 to $89, but fans from Chicago who want to attend should check on lodging before making the trip. All hotels in the area are currently sold out. -NFL Football-

GETTING A LOOK: The Bears worked out free-agent wide receiver Charles Lee on Tuesday. Lee was waived by the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 24, and with Mark Bradley (knee) lost for the season and Bernard Berrian (thumb) out at least five more weeks, the Bears had to at least get a look at what is available. They cannot re-sign Eddie Berlin for two more weeks because they gave him an injury settlement. Lee is a six-year veteran whose best season was 2003, when he made five starts for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and had 33 catches. -NFL Football-

NUMBERS GAME

51: The number of points the Bears have scored off turnovers, including two interception returns for touchdowns by Mike Brown and Charles Tillman in two meetings with the Lions. The Bears are fifth in the league in points off turnovers, and the 51 points count for 42.9 percent of their total points, the fourth-highest percentage in the league. -NFL Football-

2005-10-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

Bills, McGee agree to four-year extension

NFL.com wire reports

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (Oct. 28, 2005) -- Cornerback Terrence McGee signed a four-year contract extension, allowing the Buffalo Bills to lock up their outstanding pass defender and Pro Bowl kickoff returner through 2009. -NFL Football-

The Bills were not immediately available for comment. -NFL Football-

McGee was in the final year of his contract, although the Bills held the right to re-sign him next season because he's not eligible to become an unrestricted free agent until 2007. -NFL Football-

He was the first of Buffalo's two fourth-round picks in 2003, drafted out of I-AA Northwestern State in Louisiana. -NFL Football-

After making two starts in 14 games as a rookie, McGee emerged last season as an impact player. -NFL Football-

He earned his first Pro Bowl selection as the AFC's kick return specialist after becoming only the 10th NFL player to take three kickoffs back for touchdowns in one season. The scores included a franchise record 104-yarder against Miami in December. -NFL Football-

McGee also took over the starting job as the team's No. 2 cornerback, filling in after Troy Vincent was hurt three games into last season. McGee performed so well that Vincent agreed to switch to free safety once he returned -- a move made permanent this season. -NFL Football-

McGee finished the season with three interceptions and two sacks. -NFL Football-

He has two interceptions in seven games this season. Although he's yet to score, McGee is averaging a league-leading 34.3 yards per kickoff return. -NFL Football-

Earlier, McGee said he wanted an opportunity to stay in Buffalo and was glad talks were progressing. -NFL Football-

He was not immediately available for comment because the Bills held a night practice in preparation for their game at New England on Sunday night. -NFL Football-

2005-10-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

Officials expect Superdome to be ready for some 2006 Saints game
October 20, 2005 --- nfl ---
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)
--- nfl ---
-- Superdome officials say the stadium should be largely cleaned up from Hurricane Katrina and ready for the New Orleans Saints to play at least some of their games there in 2006.
--- nfl ---The announcement Thursday came as San Antonio officials said they were working with Saints owner Tom Benson to keep the team in Texas. The state must also respond to the team's assertions that its state-owned practice facility has been rendered unusable by damages caused by federal agencies in the weeks following the Aug. 29 storm. --- nfl ---
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The Superdome, severely damaged by high winds, should have a temporary roof in place within 10 days, said Doug Thornton, regional vice president for SMG, which manages the stadium. An environmental assessment of its interior -- damaged by rainfall through holes in the roof and its use as a shelter for evacuees -- should be finished by Dec. 1, he said. --- nfl ---
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``We're working to make the Dome ready for the next season,'' Thornton said at a meeting of the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District Commission, the state board that oversees the Superdome. --- nfl ---
The Saints have drawn criticism recently with shake ups in upper-level staff, as Benson apparently leans toward moving the team from New Orleans to San Antonio. --- nfl ---
--- nfl ---
On Monday, Benson fired Arnold Fielkow, the team's top business executive since 2000 and an advocate for keeping the Saints in Louisiana. Fielkow has said that stance led to his dismissal. On Tuesday, Conrad Kowal, senior director of marketing and business development, resigned. --- nfl ---
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The team also sent a letter to the Louisiana National Guard and the stadium commission, saying their Jefferson Parish practice facility, leased from the state for $1 per year, has been damaged so badly by federal actions after the storm that the team cannot return ``for some time (if ever).'' --- nfl ---
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``These actions have effectively terminated the Saints' lease for the facility and have caused great and continuing damage to the team,'' said the letter, signed by lawyers for the team.--- nfl ---
Tim Coulon, head of the stadium commission and the state's negotiator with the team, said Thursday that state officials planned to inspect damage at the practice facility next week. --- nfl ---
--- nfl ---
``If there's some damage to those buildings, we're going to rectify that,'' Coulon said. --- nfl ---
Asked it he thought the letter was Benson's first step toward leaving New Orleans, Coulon said he hoped not.
--- nfl ---``I don't want to speculate, because I haven't heard from him,'' Coulon said. ``But it's not too late (for Benson) to step up to the plate and be the good citizen.'' --- nfl ---
--- nfl ---
Under the terms of the state's contract with the team, the Saints could argue that the storm has made the stadium unusable, move to another state and avoid paying an $81 million penalty, Coulon said.
--- nfl ---Coulon said the state would fight such a move, probably in court or in arbitration. --- nfl ---
--- nfl ---
Gov. Kathleen Blanco said she talked for some time with NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue on Wednesday. She said he is committed to working with Louisiana, but also suggested that the game at LSU's Tiger Stadium on Oct. 30 ``is not just a game but a very symbolic event and we should encourage as many people as possible to go.'' --- nfl ---
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She said she had not spoken to Benson. --- nfl ---
``I'm planning to speak with him shortly,'' she said. ``I needed to speak with the commissioner first.''
--- nfl ---
Asked about New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's suggestion that if the team does leave, the city should keep the name, she said, ``I think it's brilliant.''
But Blanco said she didn't talk to Tagliabue about that. --- nfl ---
--- nfl ---
``Let's just support the Saints. That's what I say.''--- nfl ---
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2005-10-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

Packers offense to be short-handed vs. Saints

GREEN BAY, Wis. (Oct. 7, 2005) -- The Green Bay Packers might be without running back Ahman Green, tight end Bubba Franks and left tackle Chad Clifton against New Orleans.

The Packers completed a short week of practice with Green, Franks and Clifton nursing injuries. All three are listed as questionable for the game.

Coach Mike Sherman didn't rule any of them out. However, the team practiced as though it wouldn't have the three against the Saints, except for some limited on-field work by Clifton and Franks. - NFL Football -

Green, who hasn't rushed for 100 yards in 11 straight games dating to mid-November last year, has a bruised right knee and strained quadriceps tendon. Offensive coordinator Tom Rossley all but confirmed Green won't play. - NFL Football -

The Packers also will have to shuffle their offensive line. Besides Franks, whose bruised left knee has sidelined him the last two games, center Mike Flanagan is out indefinitely after hernia surgery. Scott Wells will make his third career start at center.

Clifton sprained his left ankle Oct. 3. He was in a walking boot Oct. 5 and didn't practice on the 6th. He was still hobbling, though offensive line coach Larry Beightol said Clifton handled about half the reps with the first-team offense in practice. - NFL Football -

2005-09-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

GRILLO: Football's home-run hitters

By Ron Grillo, Rocky Mount Telegram

It's funny the things you remember, but the best pair of hands I ever saw belonged to one of my boyhood friends, Frankie Gallo.

I don't think even he knew how blessed he was. Frank and my other classmates played on some pretty good football teams, both in grade school and high school. In fact, on the prep level we won the Philadelphia city championship by beating the public league champion Central High, 50- 0.

If Central sounds familiar, it's because it was the alma mater of Bill Cosby. One of the coaches on the Central staff was Art McNally, who attained legendary status as an official in the NFL.

But back to Gallo. I contend he could have been a record-breaking wide receiver under the proper circumstances. However, once we reached high school, we had such a ridiculous plethora of talent, and Frank wound up playing defense. As far as our personnel, I have the feeling the offensive and defensive coaches got together and said, “You take that guy, I'll take this guy, you take, etc.”

My second contention is that if Frank lined up at offensive end he would have latched on to a minimum of 10 passes a game if our coach, Jack Ferrante, had not been obsessed with the ground game.

Frank went on to Drexel University, and I want to say they had the good sense to play him on offense, but they didn't throw the ball his way nearly enough.

The forward pass, ever since the days of Gus Dorais and Knute Rockne at that school in Indiana, has been the great equalizer. Actually it's been the great dominator. I know, defense wins championships, and you've gotta be able to run the ball, etc.

You might have seen a perfect example of what I'm talking about last Monday night in the Giants-Saints game. I've never been a Plaxico Burress fan, but last week, he was feasting on the Saints small defensive back, Jason Craft.

I'm surprised Craft is still in the game.

Go back to early 2003 to the Saints-Panthers game in Charlotte. I believe Rodney Peete got injured. Enter Jake Delhomme. Jake pulled out an exciting come-from-behind win, victimizing Craft, time and time again by throwing to the much taller Mushin Muhammad, who's now with the Bears.

There is no doubt defensive back is the most difficult position to play in football, and most offenses don't take advantage of that fact.

Receivers know where they're going and are running forward, while the defensive back can only guess where the receiver is headed and the defensive back — for the most part — is running backwards. Talk about advantages.

Add to that the fact that any receiver should be able to get position on a defensive back. that is, positioning himself between the defender and where the ball is thrown, regardless of the length of the pass. Panther receivers the past few years have excelled at doing this, especially the aforementioned Muhammad and Steve Smith. They've also benefited from returning to undertrown passes by Delhomme.

Jake underthrows so many passes, I'll have to be convinced that it's not on purpose.

This past week Chris Collinsworth, himself a former receiver at Florida and with the Cincinnati Bengals, said ESPN radio that, “Receivers are the home-run hitters of football. They are the guys who can take it long, the Babe Ruths and Hank Aarons of the sport.”

There was no better example of the sudden strike than the second of last Monday night's games, when the Redskins rallied from 13 points down inside of four minutes left in the game, as Santana Moss beat Roy Williams on two scoring passes from Mark Brunell.

Practically every team in the NFL has the capacity to score like that. Okay. Maybe not the Browns because they've got Trent Dilfer, but almost everyone else.

A couple of gimmick offenses have materialized the past few decades, seriously hampering the production of the long pass. First there was the Run and Shoot, which we utilized, without much success, when I coached at Malvern Prep in suburban Philadelphia in the late 60s. I think my friend, Nick Robak, who was the head coach at Malvern, still has the book on the offense, which was not conceived by Mouse Davis.

The other offense has been the so-called West Coast offense.

Ten years, ago Billy Barnes told me the Eagles, with Norm Van Brocklin, were using the West Coast offense back in 1960, when they won the world title. They just didn't have a penchant for naming everything back then.

There are few things more annoying in football to many of us than the short pass, especially when it's stopped for little or no gain. My friend Ray Didinger of NFL Films, claims that recently, the Eagles, the game's foremost proponents of the West Coast offense, completed three passes in a row and punted on fourth down.

2005-09-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

Saints vs. Giants game event details

(Sept. 14, 2005) -- The NFL announced details of its activities to focus on the Gulf Coast recovery and rebuilding effort as part of the New Orleans Saints vs. New York Giants game on Monday night, Sept. 19.

Under the theme "Recover and Rebuild," special guests and entertainers from New Orleans and décor changes at Giants Stadium will reflect the special character of what was scheduled to be the Saints' home opener in New Orleans against the Giants. The game was originally scheduled for the Louisiana Superdome but moved to Giants Stadium at 7:30 p.m. ET Monday due to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

The NFL will host New Orleans police chief Eddie Compass and other members of the New Orleans Police and Fire Department who will participate in the coin toss along with former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, who lead the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. In addition, the NFL has arranged through several relief agencies for more than 600 residents of New Orleans who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina to the northeast to attend the game.

There will be several performances at Giants Stadium by artists with Gulf Coast ties.

New Orleans natives and music superstars Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis will perform the national anthem on piano and saxophone. Irvin Mayfield, the famed New Orleans jazz trumpeter and cultural ambassador for the city, will perform "America the Beautiful." The band 3 Doors Down from Escatawpa, Miss., will perform during halftime.

The west end zone will say "Saints" and feature the team's helmet logo. Team banners will be placed on the sideline walls. In addition, banners with the website address and phone number for the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund will be on the walls and the fund's logo will be screened onto the field on the sidelines near the bench areas.

The New Orleans Saints cheerleaders, the "Saintsations," also will be on hand.

Tickets for the game are still available through Ticketmaster by phone, (201-507-8900 or 212-307-7171), online ( www.ticketmaster.com) or by visiting a Ticketmaster outlet.

Every NFL game on Sept. 18 and 19 will include elements that will highlight and contribute to the national relief effort. The NFL's network television partners (ABC, ESPN, CBS and FOX), and national radio partner, Westwood One/CBS Radio Sports, will promote the relief effort during their pregame shows and game telecasts.

ABC, ESPN and the NFL are teaming on an unprecedented telethon to raise funds and bring attention to the massive needs of the Gulf Coast region. The Monday night telethon will emanate from ABC's Times Square studio in New York City. The telethon will raise money for the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund ( www.bushclintonkatrinafund.com). Former Presidents Bush and Clinton lead the fund, which serves as an umbrella organization for three special funds established by the governors of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi to assist in the long-term recovery plan for those states.

Current and former NFL players, including Hall of Famers Marcus Allen, Eric Dickerson, Mike Haynes, Steve Largent, Ronnie Lott, Art Shell and Bart Starr, will be on hand at the studio to answer calls and accept pledges.

The Saints vs. New York Giants game will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET. ABC will televise the game until the 9 pm ET start of the Washington at Dallas game. At that time, the Saints vs. Giants telecast will switch to ESPN in most markets. New York, Louisiana and selected hurricane-affected areas will see the Giants-Saints game to its conclusion on ABC. The Cowboys-Redskins game will begin on ESPN in those markets and switch to ABC following the conclusion of the Giants vs. Saints game.

The NFL, its owners, clubs and players have contributed nearly $10 million so far to Hurricane Katrina relief. Saints owner Tom Benson donated the first $100,000 to a special relief fund created by the team -- the New Orleans Saints Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund ( www.saintshurricanefund.org), which will provide assistance to people in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region.

2005-09-06T09:29:00.000-07:00

NFL legend Rice calls it quits

Jerry Rice, the NFL's all-time leading receiver, has announced his retirement at the age of 42.

An emotional Rice said: "I think the tears you see are because I've really enjoyed this ride. It's been great."

He played 20 NFL seasons and set 38 league records. His career totals of 1,549 catches for 22,895 yards and 197 touchdowns are all league records. - NFL Football -

Rice helped San Francisco win three Super Bowls in 16 years before joining Oakland for three and then Seattle.

He joined Denver in the off-season, hoping for one more season, but was unable to convince coach Mike Shanahan he still had what it takes. - NFL Football -

However, Shanahan said: "He's the greatest player to ever play the game."

Rice, speaking at the Broncos' Engelwood HQ, admitted: "It didn't work out, but I'm still going to hold my head high.

"I have a lot to smile about - all the players I have played with, all the records and the Super Bowls.

"What you saw out there on the football field was an individual who loved the game."

Rice, who first made his name at Mississippi Valley State University, earned Pro Bowl honours 13 times and was the Super Bowl's most valuable player in 1989. - NFL Football -

US Sports

2005-08-30T07:54:00.000-07:00

College football: All eyes on Spurrier

COLUMBIA, S.C. — It's game week again for Steve Spurrier.

After two disappointing seasons in the NFL, another one away from coaching and nine, hype-filled months since taking the South Carolina job, the head ball coach (Spurrier's preferred nickname these days) returns to collegefootball when the Gamecocks face Central Florida on Thursday night.

"There's a little bit of excitement and certainly I'm looking forward to it," Spurrier said. "But still, this game's about our players against their players. I know sometimes we coaches get too much in the spotlight of the game."

There's no doubt who will be the focus of this one.

Ever since Spurrier succeeded Lou Holtz in November, South Carolina fans have been giddy with expectations of the "Cock-n-Fire" offense, future Southeastern Conference championships and collegefootball domination, like it was at Florida for 12 seasons under Spurrier.

Gamecock fans have bought a record number of season tickets (62,618) — and that's despite an offseason where the school was hit with an NCAA probation and saw several players dismissed after running afoul of their new coach.

Right tackle Na'Shan Goddard says he can't escape the grocery store around town without someone asking him what it's like to play for Spurrier.

"I've never been around nothing with this much hype," defensive end Orus Lambert said. "It's the first game, so everybody wants to see Coach Spurrier return to the sidelines."

But Spurrier's not so sure what he'll find when he does.

He was walking with four of his offensive linemen recently and was pleased with their size and conditioning.

"I said, 'Dang, we've got big, strong, good-looking offensive linemen. How come they're not blocking as well as I hope?' " Spurrier recalled. "I'm trying to figure that out."

There could be a lot of head-scratching this season for Spurrier. His quarterback, sophomore Blake Mitchell, hasn't started a game. He will start first-year tailbacks Mike Davis and Bobby Wallace. The most reliable receiver so far, according to Spurrier, is Kris Clark, a senior who has nine catches in his college career.

"I think our fans are expecting some good things in the future," Spurrier said. "I don't know if they expect a turnaround right away. I do think we have a team that's got a chance to do some good things this year. Now whether or not we achieve that, we've got to wait and see."

Once the game starts, Spurrier says he'll return to his familiar mind-set of running the offense as he has successfully done before.

Central Florida was 0-11 last season under coach George O'Leary — yes, that George O'Leary — and comes in with the nation's longest losing streak at 15 games.

"What we know about them is they had a tough, struggling year last year, but that year is history," Spurrier said.

What is also history, for Gamecocks players at least, are South Carolina's struggles of the past few seasons. The team that missed out on bowl games the last three years under Holtz — twice going 5-7 and last year turning down a bid as punishment for a brawl with Clemson — has a new energy and direction.

"We can't wait to get out there," Levey said.

The Associated Press

2005-08-24T08:35:00.000-07:00

Phillips charged with multiple counts of assault

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips was charged Tuesday with multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon, two days after prosecutors say he drove into three teenagers who argued with him following a pickup football game.Phillips was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon, the district attorney's office said. He was charged with seven counts of assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of child abuse and one count of hit and run. - NFL Football - If convicted, Phillips faces up to 13 years and four months in prison. Phillips, a star at Nebraska before the St. Louis Rams made him the sixth overall pick in the 1996 NFL draft, got into an argument with several young men after the pickup football game Sunday in Exposition Park, Los Angeles police officer Sandra Escalante said. He left the park, but returned and drove a black Honda onto the field, allegedly running into a group of young males. Three were hit, including two aged 14 and 15, the district attorney's office said. The teenagers were taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said. The car Phillips was driving had been reported stolen in San Diego earlier in the week, Escalante said. The district attorney's office said a bench warrant was issued for Phillips in 2003 after he allegedly failed to appear for a probation hearing at the Airport Court. He had pleaded no contest to one count of making a criminal threat in 2000 after he allegedly attacked a girlfriend in Beverly Hills. - NFL Football - Police in San Diego had been seeking Phillips since earlier this month for allegedly attacking his girlfriend twice, once choking her into unconsciousness. Phillips, 30, was arrested Sunday and held on the domestic violence felony warrant and held without bail, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Web site. San Diego police had offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to Phillips' whereabouts, and said he had indicated he wouldn't surrender peacefully. - NFL Football - The first domestic assault, in which police say Phillips' 28-year-old girlfriend was choked, allegedly occurred Aug. 2 at her San Diego home. Police said the second assault allegedly took place 11 days later when Phillips confronted the woman at a party. In both cases he left the scene before officers could arrest him. Phillips has a history of high-profile trouble with the law going back a decade to his time as one of the nation's top college football players at Nebraska. The Rams released him for insubordination in 1997 after he played 25 games with them. Phillips signed with the Miami Dolphins later in the 1997 season, but was released after pleading no contest to hitting a woman in a nightclub. - NFL Football - He was the top offensive player in NFL Europe in 1999 after setting league records for rushing and touchdowns with the Barcelona Dragons. He signed with the San Francisco 49ers later that year, but was released for missing a practice. He also has played in the Canadian Football League.

Associated Press

2005-08-15T09:17:00.000-07:00

NFL Preseason ~ Alex Smith: Getting started
Tonight comes Alex Smith's first chance to show he's ready to lead the 49ers

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Ready or not, he's playing. Seven months after completing the University of Utah's perfect football season, four months after becoming the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, and four weeks before the games really count, quarterback Alex Smith will take the field tonight when the San Francisco 49ers meet Oakland in a preseason game at Monster Park in San Francisco. - NFL Football -
The 49ers and their "Faithful" - as the season's marketing theme describes them - hope this is the start of something big for a proud franchise that is coming off a 2-14 season. Yet if Smith's rookie year is anything like Troy Aikman's or Peyton Manning's, there will be only occasional signs that suggest a similarly long, productive career in the NFL for him. "There are going to be inevitable downs," Smith said this week. "Obviously, I hope there's a lot of ups." The 49ers, whose headquarters are adjacent to the Great America amusement park in Santa Clara, are giving him every chance to fully experience the ride as a rookie. Having worked with the No. 1 offense since the start of training camp two weeks ago, Smith is not officially the starter - yet. Veteran quarterbacks Tim Rattay and Ken Dorsey also will play one-third of tonight's game, and coach Mike Nolan will name a starter in a week or two. No doubt, Nolan and everybody else expect Smith to respond to his opportunity. - NFL Football -
"He has not let us down in all the things we thought about him to begin with," Nolan said, ticking off a long list of Smith's attributes. "But he's done them in practice against our own people, and he sees them every day and he's not afraid of them." So here come the scary, silver-and-black Raiders. "This will be a big learning process, his first game," said 49ers linebacker Derek Smith, a nine-year veteran from American Fork. - NFL Football -
"It's only a preseason game, but you've got live bullets coming at you." Alex Smith has enough to worry about at the moment, learning his own offensive scheme. At Utah, his talent surfaced only when he became comfortable with former coach Urban Meyer's offense, after initially being third-string - "and that was only because we had three guys," Meyer once said. For that reason, Meyer wondered about Smith's ability to perform right away in a pro offense. Yet Smith is tackling the 49ers' volume of information - the playbook is the equivalent of "a good couple of phonebooks," he said - with the same relentless approach that worked at Utah, where he would spend nearly as much time at the football office as the coaches. - NFL Football -
Smith knows his comfort level is critical. He believes he can handle all of the accompanying pressure: of being the No. 1 pick, of playing a position once held by Joe Montana and Steve Young, of performing up to the standards of a six-year, $57 million contract. And like John Stockton, for all of his intelligence, he understands that thinking too much is the wrong way to play. "Since camp started, I've felt remarkably more comfortable," he said. "Sometimes, I'm kind of shaky. I'm thinking a lot of different things. [But] I'm getting there. I feel like I'm to a point where I could play and be somewhat successful with a large portion of the offense." Besides absorbing everything the 49ers' coaches present him, Smith will have to deal with a huge volume of defensive schemes - "looks I never got in college," he said. The physical demands are also greater, starting with the length of the season: six weeks of training camp and 16 regular-season games. - NFL Football -
Beyond the statistics - the 21-1 record as a starter, the 65-percent completion rate as a junior - Smith's toughness was his strongest characteristic as a Ute. Frequently exposed on option plays, he took some ferocious hits in college and never wavered. But if his running ability was a weapon for the Utes, it will be merely an element of self-defense in the NFL. Andy Ludwig, now Utah's offensive coordinator, witnessed all of this three years ago when he sent quarterback David Carr from Fresno State to the expansion Houston Texans as the No. 1 pick. Carr started from the beginning for a struggling team, being sacked 76 times as a rookie. - NFL Football -
"I certainly don't wish anything on Alex like setting the NFL record for sacks in a season, which David has," Ludwig said. "A young quarterback, they're going to take some hits. I would just anticipate that [the 49ers'] personnel would be much ahead of an expansion team." Not necessarily. The 49ers allowed 52 sacks last season, leading them to draft two offensive linemen in the first three rounds. As of tonight, however, four-fifths of their projected starting line is injured, so offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy will try to use a lot of short passes in the West Coast offense to help protect Smith. In Utah's spread offense, often working with five receivers and no backs behind him, Smith had to make quick decisions and deliver the ball. Meyer prepared him well. "I can remember countless times being screamed at that I'm not getting the ball out fast enough," Smith said. - NFL Football -
The challenge of learning the offense is "very similar," Smith said, to what he went through two years ago at Utah, where he began his sophomore season ranked second to Brett Elliott among the quarterbacks and became the starter in the third game after Elliott was injured. The coaches gradually increased his responsibility level, and Smith thrived. But here's the big difference: In high school in the San Diego area, Smith played with current USC tailback Reggie Bush. At Utah, he was surrounded by four offensive players who are in NFL camps this summer, including guard Thomas Herrion, a second-team lineman with San Francisco. The 49ers, by definition, are bad enough to have earned the right to draft Smith. "It'll be interesting to see how he reacts," said Utah center Jesse Boone. - NFL Football -
"Because if you look back on his career, he's always had great talent surrounding him. He's never had to carry the team on his shoulders. This year, he may have to carry the team, and we'll see how he reacts." Boone is not the only curious one. - NFL Football -
The 66,000 or so fans who fill Monster Park (formerly 3Com Park, more formerly Candlestick Park) every Sunday have not watched a rookie quarterback start regularly for the 49ers since Tom Owen in 1974. The team's Pro Football Hall of Famers - Y.A. Tittle, Montana and Young - and John Brodie, whose jersey is retired, either apprenticed elsewhere or waited their turns or, in Young's case, both. Young once went to Tampa Bay as the No. 1 supplemental draft pick for the league's worst team. - NFL Football -
"If it is anything like that for Alex, then Alex is in a bad spot," Young said. "But I think the good thing for Alex is there is stability coming into the organization. I think that [Nolan] will be there for a while and they can be successful. That's positive. There is such a dearth of talent, Alex can kind of grow and learn and find his spot. - NFL Football -
" That's one way of looking at it. It's both frightening and comforting that Aikman and Manning struggled as rookies, winning a total of four games between them, but were resilient and improved into Hall of Fame-level players. Smith has talked often with Manning about handling adversity, and is encouraged that Manning - and Manning's brother, Eli - had some good games late in their rookie seasons. "Obviously, I would like for it to happen a lot sooner than that, but it's just a symbol of being patient," Smith said. "It's going to get better if you keep working, if you keep putting in the time. You're going to learn from it. It's going to start making sense." That's the plan, anyway. Whatever's going to happen, it starts tonight. - NFL Football -

Kurt Kragthorpe The Salt Lake Tribune

2005-08-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

Marino, Young inducted into NFL Hall of Fame

CANTON, Ohio -- Dan Marino capped his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the best way possible: with a long completion.He licked his fingers, a trademark of his 17 seasons as the NFL's most prolific quarterback, then turned to one of his favorite receivers, Mark Clayton, in the audience.
``Go deep, Mark,'' Marino commanded.Clayton sauntered up the aisle, turned and latched onto _ what else? _ a perfect spiral.``Of course, in the end, every quarterback wants one more Sunday with a football in his hands and going deep,'' Marino said.Thousands of fans clad in No. 13 Dolphins jerseys shook Fawcett Stadium with cheers, remembering how sweet it was to see Marino setting all his records.``I'll remember this day for the rest of my life,'' Marino said.Marino joined Steve Young, Fritz Pollard and Benny Friedman in the shrine.Paying tribute to his Western Pennsylvania roots, Marino noted that John Unitas, Joe Namath, Joe Montana and Jim Kelly all came from the region. All are Hall of Famers.``When I was younger, there's no doubt I thought about being Joe Namath,'' Marino said, adding that joining them in the Hall ``definitely makes an impact on you.``I've accomplished many things, but what I cherish more than any record I hold, fourth-quarter comebacks or any wins I was involved in, is the relationships.''That, of course, also included his family, and his oldest son, 20-year-old Daniel, presented Marino for induction. It was then that he was betrayed by the eyes that stared down so many defenses _ they were wet with tears as he took his place among the legends of football.Marino suspected he might break down during his acceptance speech, but did so even before then after Daniel's speech. None of that on-field stoicism for the Miami Dolphins great, at least not on this sun-splashed day amid chants of ``Danny!''``This is a proud day not only for me but the entire Marino family, and I'm blessed you are all here,'' he said.Young suggested it was the first time only quarterbacks entered the Hall in one class, and he was partly right. Pollard was a running back who sometimes played QB.``I'm proud to be part of this with Dan and the Pollard and Friedman families,'' Young said. ``We are quarterbacks and that's what is neat about this position.''While Marino and Young had diverse styles, they both spent years at the top of their profession. Marino set NFL marks of 4,967 completions, 8,358 passes, 61,361 yards (nearly 35 miles) and 420 touchdowns. His record of 48 TD passes in the 1984 season, when he was MVP, was broken by Peyton Manning last year.He also owned 21 NFL marks when he retired, including most seasons with 3,000 yards or more passing (13); most yards passing in one season (5,084 in '84, the only year he won a conference championship); and most games with 300 yards or more passing (63).``I know individually you get the honor of being inducted in the Hall of Fame,'' Marino said, ``but you see coach (Don) Shula up onstage and teammates and family and friends -- my mom and dad and wife and kids -- this day is for them.''The only achievement Marino didn't reach that Young did was winning a title. Young, the 1992 and '94 league MVP after taking over for Montana in San Francisco, and the career passing efficiency leader, guided the 49ers to the '94 championship. He also is the first left-handed QB in the Hall.

BARRY WILNER AP Football Writer

2005-07-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

Former NFL athlete visits Silver City

It’s not every day somebody gets the chance to meet an athlete from the National Football League. Those lucky few who visited Snappy Mart on Friday got that chance.Former NFL cornerback Scott Turner was at the Snappy Mart on Swan Street to promote Player’s Drink. He is the director of the company releasing the beverage and endorses it.But for many of the children visiting the store, the focus was on what Turner did for the past 10 years. They dream of entering the league Turner had the opportunity to play in. It’s a dream he remembers well.“I see a lot of kids, and it was about their age when I started dreaming of playing in the National Football League,” Turner said. “I played at the YMCA, and I remember I was 10 years old, and I told my mom that I was going to play in the NFL, and I was really blessed to do so.”Turner played with the Washington Redskins from 1995-97, the San Diego Chargers from 1998-2001 and with the Denver Broncos from 2002-04.But Turner had to start somewhere, the same as his visitors Friday. Alex Avalos, 10, will start playing Pop Warner Football this fall and sees the possibilities someone like Turner represents.“It’s exciting,” Avalos said. “You get to have an autograph. It’s my first time getting an autograph of a football player.”Avalos was escorted by his aunt, Sara Hamilton, to the event. In many ways, she was just as happy to meet Turner as her nephew was.“I’m excited,” said Hamilton. “I just read about it in the newspaper. I wanted to meet him.”Meeting people is one of the things Turner said he is about. During his second year in the NFL, Turner turned his talents to motivational speaking through the organization “Speak-a-Word.” Through the years, Turner’s need to speak out about how to succeed grew to higher levels. It’s something very important to who he is, Turner said, and he enjoys every minute of it.“I did a lot of motivational stuff for the U.S. Congress, corporations, youth groups, churches, a variety of things, but that’s really what my passion is, ministering,” Turner said.As a cornerback in the NFL, Turner played alongside and against some of the greats of the game. Turner saw players like Emmitt Smith, LaDainian Tomlinson and Barry Sanders in the greatest seats in the league: On the field.But meeting football fans in person has a great effect on him, Turner said. In that moment, he understands who he really played for — the fans. Meeting them is the least he said he can do.“It’s always humbling when you can give back to the community and serve and sign autographs and talk with these kids and parents,” Turner said.Most of all, Turner said, he is thankful for football fans. “Thanks for supporting the NFL,” Turner said. “A lot of guys get a bad rap, but there are a lot of good guys in the NFL.”

Matt Miller

2005-07-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

Green is headed to Hall of Fame
Longtime News columnist, writer is honored for his work covering pro football.

Jerry Green, a retired Detroit News columnist and writer, has won the 2005 Dick McCann Memorial Award for long and distinguished career reporting on professional football, and will be inducted into the sport's Hall of Fame.
"Outstanding -- well-deserved," said Tom Lewand, chief operating officer for the Lions. "I'm from the Detroit area, and had the good fortune of reading Jerry Green as I grew up. I learned a lot of what I know about the Detroit Lions from reading Jerry Green. Everybody in Detroit can take pride in having one of the best and longest-serving sports journalists in America."
Green's remark when reached by a News reporter Monday was perfectly typical.
"How'd you get stuck with this?" he asked. "This is worth about two inches."
Green, 77, is one of only five journalists to have covered every Super Bowl, a streak he will keep alive by reporting on the 40th game at Ford Field in February, even though he semi-retired last September.
"This was long overdue, and it's the capstone of Jerry's career," said Washington Times writer David Elfin, president of the Pro Football Writers of America, whose 300-plus members vote on the award. "When I called Jerry and told him the news, he had to compose himself a minute on the phone. It brought tears to his eyes.
"One thing we all admire about Jerry is, he always carries himself like a beat guy, never walking around with his nose stuck in the air. You'd never know he covered the Wimbledons and everything, all the major events he did. He's just a hard-working guy."
Green's name will be engraved on an honor-roll plaque in the Canton, Ohio, hall beside some of the greatest journalists in sports history.
That list includes Arthur Daley and Dave Anderson of the New York Times, John Steadman of the Baltimore News-American, Cooper Rollow of the Chicago Tribune and Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated.
"Jerry will receive his award at our annual Civic Dinner (Aug. 6) during Enshrinement Weekend," said Joe Horrigan, vice president of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. "Four thousand of his closest friends will be there (in Canton) to see Jerry receive his award and the players being enshrined receive their gold jacket."
In another Michigan touch, Green's award will be presented by a Pro Football Writers Association board member, Jarrett Bell of USA TODAY, a Detroit native and Michigan State graduate.
Since the late 1970s, Green has represented Detroit as one of the Hall's 39-member selection committee.
He also serves on the nine-member seniors subcommittee that chooses candidates who played at least 25 years earlier.
Dan Marino, who played from 1983 to 1999 for the Miami Dolphins, and fellow quarterback Steve Young, who played for 15 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the 49ers, will be enshrined the night Green receives his award, along with deceased old-timers Fritz Pollard and Benny Friedman.
Pollard -- like Green, a Brown University alum -- died in 1986. He was the first African-American inducted into the college Football Hall of Fame, the first to play in the Rose Bowl, the first to play quarterback in the NFL and the first black head coach in NFL history. Pollard coached the Akron Pros and two other NFL teams as well. When the league imposed a ban on blacks that lasted from 1934 to 1946, he waged a one-man campaign to force the NFL to reopen its doors to blacks.
Friedman, who died in 1982, was a Michigan graduate who played for four teams between 1927 and 1934, including the Detroit Wolverines, and was considered the NFL's first great passer.
They're all the kind of player Green wrote about during his half-century in journalism, the last 41 years with The News. He covered hockey and horse racing, pro baseball and college sports, even a rodeo once. But it was always pro football, Green has said, that defined him as a journalist.

Fred Girard / The Detroit News

2005-07-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

Owens headlines likely camp holdouts

Talk is cheap, literally, during much of the NFL's down time. When training camps are empty, so is the rhetoric for the most part. Discussions of contract inequities, at a time when no one is drawing paychecks, are usually more bemusing than bitter.
With most camps scheduled to open in two weeks, the heat may be turned up as much off the field as on it. The verbiage can get venomous, and those contract-related offseason harangues that seemed relatively benign in April can mushroom into official holdouts.
The public perception seems to be that 2005 possesses the potential for more training camp absences than in past years. It's hard to say, though, whether the tough talk of the spring will actually translate into hard-line negotiating positions.
Even the most noted of the potential camp no-shows, Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens, acknowledged during an appearance Sunday at a youth football camp that he hasn't decided whether he will report to work Aug. 1. Owens even seemed to soften his stance a bit, which is not that surprising, given the intransigence of Philadelphia management in terms of reworking the final six years of his contract.
It's not unusual for the fiery rhetoric of the offseason to include some openings for a little rapprochement this time of year.
"The thing guys have to realize is that, it you're going to hold out, you'd better be able to hold on, too," said former NFL defensive lineman Dan Williams, who sat out the entire 1998 season with the Kansas City Chiefs in a contract dispute. "I mean, you have to be ready to hold on financially, emotionally, [psychologically], all that. Because if there is any kind of chink in the armor, the team will find it, believe me. A lot of guys can talk about [holding out], but not many guys can do it for a prolonged time. That's why the talking usually doesn't mean anything."
Indeed, it remains to be seen whether all the words uttered this spring actually turn into work stoppages once training camps open for business at the end of the month. Both sides tend to have selective amnesia, to understand that bluster and posturing are just a traditional function of the offseason ritual, as reporting dates draw closer.
If every player harboring a contract grievance failed to show up for camp, coaches might struggle to field two units, but that certainly won't be the case. Nor is it even likely that most of the veterans who vented publicly about their contract situations, and skipped their teams' minicamps, will be out of camps for long.
The old axiom aside, time doesn't heal all wounds, especially when dollars are involved. But in many cases in the NFL, common sense prevails, and, quite frankly, there can be outside influences on occasion that affect holdout plans. Case in point: Washington free safety Sean Taylor skipped all of the Redskins' offseason workouts. But confronted now by a felony charge, and in need of support from the organization, does anyone really think the second-year veteran will be absent when the Redskins report to camp?

Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com

2005-07-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

Stram, Buck clicked on Monday nights

Hank Stram made it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach, but to many NFL fans he was equally well known for his work as the adroit analyst on "Monday Night Football" radio broadcasts.
Stram worked on CBS, alongside play-by-play announcer Jack Buck, for 16 seasons_from 1978 to 1995, minus two years NBC had the package in the mid-1980s. That gave them a longer run than any team ever to broadcast "MNF" on radio or television.
They mixed like apple pie and ice cream, with Stram having the uncanny ability to correctly predict the coming play, then Buck following through with his description of what was transpiring.
Many people, especially those who didn't like Howard Cosell's presence on ABC's telecasts of the games, would turn off the volume on their television set and turn up the sound on the radio.
"It was the only time in my life I tuned in just to hear the broadcasters," longtime Detroit sportswriter Joe Falls wrote three years ago, after Buck died. "They were terrific."
Joe Buck, now Fox's lead baseball and football announcer, grew up watching and listening to his father and Stram work together.
"He was really one of my dad's closest friends," Buck said Monday night, adding, "they'd have their cat fights during breaks."
But he said the disagreements quickly subsided.
"They were like the odd couple, but in a fun way."
To wit, Joe Buck said his dad would bring candy bars into the booth to eat at halftime to maintain his sugar level because he had diabetes.
"Hank would steal them by the end of the first quarter," he said. "He's have it in his pocket."
Joe Buck said his dad would rummage through Stram's pockets looking for them while on the air.
"He was one of the few guys who could make my dad laugh," Joe Buck said. "He had nicknames for everybody. It was `Skippy' for my dad because of his love for peanut butter."
Carole Buck, Jack's widow, often went to Hawaii with her husband when he and Stram broadcast the Pro Bowl. She was friendly with Stram and his wife, Phyllis.
"They were great for each other," Carole Buck said. "They were family people, like us. He was a tough, tough guy."
Stram was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2003, a year after Jack Buck died.
"My dad would have been so happy to know (Stram) got that thrill of going into the Hall of Fame before" dying, Joe Buck said.
And Jack Buck, in his autobiography, said he had fun with Stram.
"Hank and I clicked," Buck wrote. "We both prepared well for the game, never rehearsed what we were going to say. I trusted him. He trusted me. Our work was all spontaneous."
When the Buck-Stram run ended in 1995, CBS Radio vice president of programming Frank Murphy said, "They will always be a model for what a radio play-by-play broadcast should be."

DAN CAESAR
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

2005-06-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

Shields Has One More Left

On Thursday, June 23rd, Kansas City Chiefs Pro Bowl guard Will Shields announced that he would return for his 13th season. Shields took time this off season to contemplate whether or not his body could handle the grind of another rugged season in the NFL.

In the end, Shields decided he could and now looks forward to helping the Chiefs make his 13th season a magical one. “It depends if I can get up and walk the next morning. It makes a big difference how you feel the next day and as you work your way through it,” Shields said.

Shields returns as the anchor of the Chiefs offensive line, arguably the best offensive line in the NFL. Willie Roaf mans the glammor spot on the line, the left tackle position and has been to ten pro bowls. Brian Waters is the up and coming superstar on the line and went to his first pro bowl last year.

Shields has been a constant fixture of the Chiefs offensive line for all 13 years of his career. Of the 192 regular season games of his career, Shields has started 191 with the loan non-start coming in his 1993 rookie season. He has been to 10 consecutive pro bowls.

Shields’ return to the line keeps the entire playbook open to offensive coordinator Al Saunders. John Welbourne would have been the likely replacement for Shields had he chosen to retire. Welbourne is a solid guard who is very strong as a between the tackles run blocker.

However, Shields excels in getting out in space in both the run game and passing game. Shields has proven to be one of the best pulling guards in the league, which is extremely important for the numerous sweeps the Chiefs run with Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson.

Another mainstay of the Chiefs attack is the screen pass package they employ (perhaps second only the the package of the Green Bay Packers). Shields’ ability to get out in front of Holmes and Johnson at the right time and make effective blocks is vital to the success of the screen pass package. Shields is also a prolific pass blocker which allows quarterback Trent Green to attack down field and stay healthy. Shields will also return to be a positive influence in the lockerroom. Shields is the consumate professional. He shows up for work everyday, practices hard, studies hard, thouroughly prepares, and plays hard. The Chiefs have numerous rookies, 2nd year players, and new faces that have a chance to have an impact on this season. Shields’ presence and example will help to make their transitions to the Chiefs organization successful.

Finally, the Kansas City community will feel the impact of Shields and his wife, Senia. Shields has been recognized numerous times over the years for his community involvement such as the 2005 Henry P. Iba Citizen Athlete Award, the 2003 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, the 2001 Sporting News NFL’s Top Good Guy Award, and the 1999 Arthur S. Arkush Award by Pro Football Weekly Humanitarian of the Year Award. Since the inception of his Will to Succeed Foundation in 1993, Will and his wife, Senia, have assisted some 97,781individuals.

This may indeed be the last season that Shields dons the red and gold for the Chiefs. As the Chiefs attempt to make this season one to remember that ends with a game in Detroit in early February, it is evident that Shields will be a focal point for them once again.

By Darren Carter

Nfl Football Game

2005-06-22T08:27:00.000-07:00

Nfl Football Gambling

2005 USC Nfl Football Media Guide Now Posted Online
Available in early August, the guide will be printed in hard cover for the first time ever.

The 2005 USC nfl football media guide, with Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Matt Leinart and All-American tailback Reggie Bush displaying hardware from Troy's 2004 national championship season on the cover, is now posted online.

The guide can be accessed at http://usctrojans.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/2005-mediaguide.html.

This year's guide, which has a special metallic paper on the cover, will be printed in hard cover for the first time ever.

The guide will be available to the public in early August. It can be purchased through the mail for $20 (shipping included) by sending a check or money order payable to "USC" to the USC Sports Information Office, Heritage Hall 103, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0601. Phone and credit card sales are not available.

Or it can be purchased in person at the Sports Information Office in USC's Heritage Hall for $15.

New NCAA legislation enacted this past spring limits the number of pages allowed in media guides to 208 pages. Therefore, USC's nfl football guide--which was 408 pages last year--had to be reduced by 200 pages in 2005. This was accomplished by eliminating some long-standing material and many photos, as well as reducing type size and changing type font.

Still, the guide--the same one used by the media who cover USC--is a must for fans who want to follow the two-time defending national champion Trojans as they attempt an unprecedented three-peat.

The guide includes information present and past about the USC nfl football program, such as biographies of players and coaches on the 2005 squad, as well as an outlook of the team and a roster. It also has a complete historical section that includes scores of every game USC has played since 1888, a list of all-time letterwinners, bios of every All-American, USC records and statistics, and a listing of every Trojan who has played in the NFL Football.