13 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(04/27/07 4:00am)
Casual fans didn’t discover JaMarcus Russell until the Sugar Bowl last January. Neither, apparently, did some NFL scouts – not to the extent that they’re on to him now as the likely No. 1 pick in Saturday’s draft.\nIn those three-plus hours, Russell’s 332 yards and two touchdown passes carried LSU to a 41-14 win over Notre Dame. That performance helped propel him to the top of the 2007 NFL draft class over the presumptive heir to that spot, Notre Dame’s Brady Quinn. Never mind that LSU was simply the better team, Quinn’s 15-of-35 for 148 yards with two interceptions put a huge question mark after his name.\nSo the top of the NFL draft is about the two quarterbacks, notwithstanding the fact that Georgia Tech’s Calvin Johnson is conceded to be the one “can’t miss” player – perhaps the best at any position in the last five years or so.\nBut in the endless analysis that starts in early January and carries on for four months, Quinn’s “can he or can’t he” status has been the focus, despite the fact he had a far more consistent college career than Russell. Suddenly, he became a “can’t win the big one” QB, a label that also was applied in college (and for a while in the NFL) to Peyton Manning.\nQuinn might go second, third ... or 10th, as Matt Leinart, who spent almost two years at Southern California fighting the burden of being a potential No. 1, did a year ago. Such a drop could cost Quinn a lot of money.\n“I don’t care about money; I care about football,” Quinn said Thursday at a media session in New York for potential top picks. “Look at it this way: the lower I go, the better chance I have a chance of playing for a winning team.”\nThe other subplot to this draft is behavior.\nThere is supposed to be increased scrutiny on players who misbehaved in college – whether on the field or off – following a season in which nine Cincinnati Bengals were arrested, and a number of other players were in trouble for a variety of other reasons. Earlier this month, commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Adam “Pacman” Jones of Tennessee for a year and Cincinnati’s Chris Henry for eight games for their misbehavior. More suspensions could be upcoming.\nIn an odd twist, after a report leaked that three of the top players – Johnson, Louisville defensive tackle Amobi Okoye, and Clemson defensive end Gaines Adams – acknowledged at the scouting combine that they had used marijuana, the reaction to those revelations seemed to be positive. What college kid, many NFL types asked, didn’t try the drug at some point? And weren’t these three more honest than others who didn’t acknowledge they used it?\nAssuming the Raiders take Russell, Johnson presents an interesting dilemma to Detroit, which picks second, putting considerable pressure on team president Matt Millen, under whom the Lions are 24-72.\nFrom 2003-2005, Millen chose wide receivers with high first-round picks. Only one of them, Roy Williams, has worked out, and taking another, even one seemingly as sure a thing as Johnson, would be acknowledging how badly he has drafted.\nBut Millen has said the NFL now is “a throwing, wide-open game.”\n“That all points to catching the football,” he added in defense of those three picks.\nSo does he take Johnson? Or Quinn for the throwing part; the Lions’ incumbent QB \nis veteran journeyman Jon Kitna? Or Wisconsin tackle Joe Thomas to block? Or trade down and take Adams, the pass-rusher he needs?\nThat makes this an unusual draft, especially in the top five, which normally is pretty well set this late.
(01/30/07 3:59am)
MIAMI -- After his brother died in an auto accident last September, Reggie Wayne returned to the Indianapolis Colts to find Tony Dungy waiting to console him -- as only a man who has been through his own personal tragedies can do.\n"I was at the lowest point," Wayne recalled last week. "Just to hear it from someone who has been through it helps you a lot. Coach Dungy is a strong man -- a strong soul. It was huge for me."\nDungy's tragedy came 13 months ago -- the suicide of his 18-year-old son James.\nA season later, he's coaching in the Super Bowl, using the strength that sustained him through his terrible loss to try to get the Colts their first NFL title in 36 years.\nThe television cameras never catch him shouting at an official or cursing under his breath. His priorities are his family and his faith. He's also worked hard to advance minority hiring in the NFL, a cause that is clearly in the spotlight this week and was last week, too.\nDungy is hardly the prototypical coach -- he's usually stoic on the sideline, as he had been in dealing with his son's death. After the Colts beat New England to win the AFC championship, he pointedly noted that coaches don't have to encourage profanity and trash-talking to succeed.\nDungy's teams have missed the playoffs only once since 1997. In Indianapolis, he went from a defensive powerhouse to a strong offense and succeeded with Manning, Marvin Harrison and Edgerrin James.\nEarly in his career in Indianapolis, Dungy's teams lacked playoff success; the Colts were blown out in their first postseason game with Dungy at the helm. Where his predecessor, Jim Mora, might have blown-up after a horrible game like that one, Dungy put it aside. \nThat is Dungy, whose many interests beyond pro football can help reduce the sting of a crushing playoff defeat. A deeply religious man, but one who refrains from using his position to push his beliefs, he acknowledges: "I am certainly aware that there is life outside of football."\nThat was made abundantly clear on Dec. 22, 2005, when James Dungy was found dead in his Tampa apartment.\nTwo weeks later, Dungy was back coaching, graciously thanking the millions of well-wishers, getting himself involved in an effort to prevent teenage suicide and suggesting that it was harder on his wife, Lauren, because he had football as an outlet.\nEven his oldest friends were amazed at his calm.\n"He stood above his son's casket with so much control that I told him after the funeral, 'I don't know how you do it,'" recalled Peter May, who has known him since the seventh grade. "He was the best athlete, the smartest kid and the person with the most manners when we were growing up. But in my whole life, I've never been more impressed with him than I was on that sad day."\nDungy doesn't talk about how tragedy has changed him. Or at least not often.\n"I think God gives you tests to see if you're going to stay true to what you believe and stay faithful," he said last week. "For me, that's what it was, having to continue to believe. Sometimes when you have disappointments it makes that final destination that much sweeter"
(02/08/06 5:05am)
Two days later, the NFL defended the officiating in the Super Bowl, and Joe Montana defended himself.\nAfter the Steelers beat the Seahawks 21-10 in the NFL title game, the league said Tuesday that no mistakes were made by the game officials, although Seattle coach Mike Holmgren might \ndisagree.\n"The game was properly officiated, including, as in most NFL games, some tight plays that produced disagreement about the calls made by the officials," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in a statement.\nMeanwhile, three-time Super Bowl MVP Montana denied reports he had asked for $100,000 to appear with other past MVPs at pre-game ceremonies. He said he left Detroit on Friday, and \nreturned home to attend his sons' weekend basketball games.\n"I had told them both (sons) that I'd be there for their games and that we'd watch the Super Bowl together," Montana said in an interview with ESPN. Later, Montana added, "The Super Bowl is important to a lot of people but, to me, it was more important that I was home with my boys."\nTwo-time MVP Terry Bradshaw and Miami's Jake Scott were the only other MVP's who didn't attend. Bradshaw reportedly wanted to be with his family, and Scott was traveling in Australia.\nThe officiating, though, has been the major topic of discussion since Sunday night. Right after the game, Holmgren suggested that the first-quarter offensive interference call on the Seahawks' Darrell Jackson, negating what would have been the game's first touchdown, probably should have been "a no call."\nHolmgren, a former chairman of the NFL's rule-making competition committee, fueled the debate Monday during a rally for the Seahawks at Qwest Field when he said, "We knew it was going to be tough going up against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I didn't know we were going to have to play the guys in the striped shirts as well."
(10/26/05 4:45am)
NEW YORK -- Every NFL fan owes a huge debt to Wellington Mara, who died Tuesday at 89.\nSo does every owner, executive and player.\nMara, who joined the New York Giants as a ballboy the day his father purchased the team 80 years ago and became co-owner as a teenager, was the face of his team for more than a half century.\nBut he also was the patriarch of the NFL, a man who was willing for more than 40 years to split the millions in television revenues he could have made in the nation's largest market with the Green Bays and Pittsburghs of the league.\nIt put the NFL at the top of America's sports hierarchy.\n"He shaped nearly every rule and philosophy we have in our league today," said Ernie Accorsi, the Giants general manager. "Most of all, he was the moral conscience of the National Football League. He now joins the pantheon of incredible men who made this league what it has become."\nThe last of the NFL's founding generation, Mara, elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997, died of cancer at his home in Rye, N.Y., the team said.\nOne of Mara's greatest contributions came in the early 1960s when he and brother Jack agreed to share television revenue on a league wide basis soon after Pete Rozelle became commissioner. That deal allowed the NFL to thrive and remains in place today.\nMara became a Giants' ballboy at age 9 on Oct. 18, 1925 after his father, Timothy J. Mara, bought the team. He stayed fully involved in New York's operation for almost 80 years, except for the three years he served in the Navy during World War II. Until he became ill last spring, he attended most practices and every game.\nIn 1930, at 14, his father made him co-owner with older brother Jack.\nHe ran the club until several years ago, when his son John took over day-to-day operations. But from 1979 on, while the team was run by general managers George Young and Ernie Accorsi, Mara had final say on football decisions. He was the one who decided to fire Jim Fassel after the 2003 season and replace him with Tom Coughlin.\nBefore last Sunday's game against Denver, Coughlin told his players of Mara's condition. The Giants won on a touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Amani Toomer with 5 seconds left. In the locker room after the game, the players chanted "Duke, Duke, Duke," Mara's nickname.\nManning later said he had been told by one of Mara's grandsons that the owner awakened in time to see the winning play, then smiled and went back to sleep.\nTwo other Giants stars, Tiki Barber and Jeremy Shockey, went to Mara's home on Monday. "We were able to say a prayer and say goodbye, and that meant a lot to me," Barber said.\nMara always repaid his players -- once a Giant, you were a Giant for life.\nWhen former players became ill, Mara would find them doctors, pay their medical expenses and arrange help for their families. Many old-timers were on the payroll as scouts or advisers. Even in this era of sophisticated scouting, it wasn't unusual for Young or Accorsi to get a call from a former player recommending the Giants look at some prospect.\nThe team was almost always well aware of the prospect, but Mara never dropped any of those old "scouts" from the payroll.\nMara always considered himself a football man first, running the on-field operations through the 1950s until 1979 while Jack and then Jack's son Tim ran the business end. The team was successful during the '50s and early '60s with such stars as Frank Gifford, Y.A. Tittle, Sam Huff and Roosevelt Brown and a coaching staff that included Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi as assistants.\nThe Giants won Super Bowls in 1986 and 1990 with Bill Parcells coaching a team that starred Lawrence Taylor and Phil Simms and stout defenses. The 1990 team featured one of the best coaching staffs assembled: future head coaches Coughlin, Bill Belichick, Al Groh, Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennel and Ray Handley.\nParcells left after that season and the Giants slipped into the middle of the pack.\nThey made the Super Bowl again after the 2000 season, losing to the Baltimore Ravens, owned by Art Modell, Mara's close friend and longtime partner in league matters. \nIn 1991, Tim Mara and his family sold their share of the team to Robert Tisch. Tisch and Wellington Mara were officially co-owners and Tisch ran much of the business affairs. But it was always clear this was Wellington's team.\nStill, he was never an authoritarian. He would greet players after every game -- win or lose -- flashing a shy smile at stars and scrubs alike.
(09/01/05 5:34am)
There is only one certainty about the New Orleans Saints' future: They will live and work out of the Marriott Riverwalk in San Antonio for a while.\nBeyond that, question marks abound. It's highly unlikely they'll be able to hold their home opener Sept. 18 at the Superdome -- and they may not be able to play there at all this season after the stadium was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.\nSo that first game against the New York Giants could be at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Or at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. Or even at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala.\nAnd all of those sites could host other home games for the Saints, who escaped the hurricane by flying with their families last weekend to San Jose, Calif. New Orleans plays at Oakland on Thursday night in its final exhibition game.\nWhile the Saints and NFL officials have been discussing a variety of alternatives, they haven't talked yet with many of the people at the proposed sites.\n"We can say is LSU an option, yeah, but is it an option with them?" Saints spokesman Greg Bensel said Wednesday by phone from San Jose. "That's the next hurdle. We haven't crossed that hurdle yet."\nOnly one hurdle has been crossed.\nFollowing the Raiders game, the Saints will go to San Antonio, where they will stay at the same hotel they stayed at last season when Hurricane Ivan chased them out of New Orleans in the second week of the regular season.\nThe Saints will also use the same practice facilities at Trinity University, so they will have, as Bensel put it, "a certain comfort level with where we are."\nThat would seem to make the Alamodome, which holds 65,000 for football, a logical alternative, although it's about 550 miles from New Orleans, farther than the NFL would like.\nBut at this point, no one really knows the options.\nCommissioner Paul Tagliabue and league officials have discussed the situation over the past few days. Location hasn't been the most important topic.\n"We've been talking about how we as a league can assist with relief efforts," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said. "Not only for Saints players and officials and their families, but also for a lot of other players in the league who live or have families in the region."\nThe Saints aren't the only ones in sports affected by the damage done to the 65,000-seat Superdome.\nBowl Championship Series spokesman Bob Burda said Sugar Bowl officials hope to meet within the next few weeks to talk about what to do with the game scheduled for Jan. 2 in the Superdome.\n"It's just too early on their end to even speculate," said Burda, adding that bowl officials had been in contact with BCS coordinator Kevin Weiberg.\nIt's unlikely officials would want to let the Sugar Bowl leave Louisiana, even for just a year. Independence Stadium, home of the Independence Bowl, in Shreveport, La., has been renovated in recent years and holds about 53,000. Tiger Stadium could also be a plausible option, with a capacity of almost 92,000.\nNone of the options for the Saints seem ideal, including the unlikely scenario of playing their entire schedule on the road.\nSwitching their home opener to the Meadowlands is a problem because the Giants share their stadium with the New York Jets, who are scheduled to play Miami at home that day.\nThere has been talk of using Reliant Stadium in Houston, but the Texans are home Sept. 18 against Pittsburgh.\nThose hurdles could be overcome by playing games Saturday or Monday, but it hardly seems like a palatable option to either the team or the league.\nThe last time a game was shifted on short notice was on Oct. 27, 2003, when the Chargers and Miami Dolphins met at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., after wildfires in southern California prevented the game from being played in San Diego. That was a regularly scheduled Monday night contest and no admission was charged -- 73,000 people attended, far more than usually attend Arizona Cardinals games at the same venue.\nBut this is likely to be more than a one-shot deal, and few of the alternatives seem particularly enticing.\nBoth the league and the Saints would like to stay as close to home as possible, although other stadiums are showing interest in having them.\nMayor Buddy Dyer of Orlando, Fla., proposed the Saints try the little-used Citrus Bowl. There was no indication the Saints were even familiar with that offer.\nEven before the hurricane, the team has been negotiating with the state of Louisiana for a new stadium to replace the Superdome. Owner Tom Benson has suggested that without one, he might sell the franchise, leading to speculation that the Saints might be the team that fills the hole in Los Angeles left vacant when the Rams moved to St. Louis and the Raiders went back to Oakland after the 1994 season.\nYes, the Los Angeles Coliseum is among the sites suggested as a possibility for this season.\nBut all of that is speculation.\n"We just don't know yet," Bensel said. "We really don't"
(04/25/05 6:03am)
NEW YORK - After a week of trade rumors and intrigue, the only drama in this NFL draft was the long wait for Aaron Rodgers.\nWith the top players considered relatively equal, quarterback Alex Smith went first as expected to San Francisco, and the other dominoes fell more or less the way they were supposed to.\nBut Rodgers, the Cal quarterback whom the 49ers had considered at No. 1, fell most of the way through the first round until he was taken 24th overall by Green Bay to the cheers of fans at the draft. He will be groomed to succeed Brett Favre, who will turn 36 in October.\n"I had already prepared myself for things not going my way," said Rodgers, who had been invited to the draft on the assumption he would be taken much earlier. "Things get a little screwy on draft day. We all know that."\nThe shortage of drama was in sharp contrast to last season, when San Diego took Eli Manning, who had expressed his desire not to play for the Chargers. They then traded him to the New York Giants for Philip Rivers, whom the Giants had taken fourth overall.\n"There's a lot of smoke this year, but very little fire," said Cleveland General Manager Phil Savage, who entertained a number of offers before selecting wide receiver Braylon Edwards with the third pick.\nIn fact, the biggest fire might have come at the end of the evening at 11 p.m., when Denver used the final pick of the third round to select Maurice Clarett, the running back who led Ohio State to the 2002 national championship then left the Buckeyes.\nA year ago, he challenged the NFL rule requiring a player to be out of high school for three years. The courts eventually turned him down, and after slow times in the 40-yard dash, he was expected to be drafted much lower. The pick was 101st overall.\nEdwards was part of a top nine that included three running backs, three cornerbacks and three players from Auburn with quarterback Jason Campbell, taken by Washington with the 25th pick, the fourth Tiger taken. The three early Auburn guys were running backs Ronnie Brown, second overall to Miami; Carnell Williams, fifth to Tampa Bay; and cornerback Carlos Rogers, whom the Redskins settled for at nine when they couldn't trade up.\nSmith, who is just 20, was considered the quarterback with the best chance to become a star, fitting for a team that had Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Steve Young but slipped to 2-14 last year. He was the fifth straight quarterback taken with the first pick.\n"We felt that Alex was the one that most fit what we want our team to look like," said new coach Mike Nolan, who got decision-making power over personnel when he took the job. "He brings discipline, competitiveness and intelligence to the table. He is off the charts in all three areas."\nSmith was off the NFL's charts until this year, when he led Utah to an unbeaten season and the first Bowl Championship Series appearance by a team from a non-BCS conference.\nRodgers' fall was one big surprise -- even Matt Jones, the 6-foot-6, 240-pound Arkansas quarterback who runs the 40 in less than 4.4 seconds, was taken 21st by Jacksonville.\nHe said that once he fell beyond 10, he knew the next run of teams didn't need a young quarterback, so he was prepared.\nThe Packers were, too.\n"It just didn't make sense that a player like this would drop like this. As our pick got closer, we started to get serious about taking him," General Manager Ted Thompson said. "We didn't go into the day looking to take a quarterback, but we felt by the time we picked Aaron Rodgers, he was the best player on the board."\nCampbell's selection by Washington was a second surprise.\nHe was projected at best as a second-rounder after salvaging a mediocre college career with an outstanding senior season. It shows less than a lot of faith in Patrick Ramsey, the Redskins' incumbent QB and their first-round pick in 2002.\nThree more quarterbacks went in the third round: Charlie Frye of Akron to Cleveland, Andrew Walter of Arizona State to Oakland and David Greene of Georgia to Seattle. The draft will continue Sunday with rounds 4-7.
(03/23/05 5:37am)
KAPALUA, Hawaii -- New York moved a step closer to getting the 2010 Super Bowl on Tuesday when an NFL committee approved the Jets' bid to get the game -- contingent on the construction of a new stadium on the West Side of Manhattan.\nThe approval by the league's Super Bowl advisory committee came a day after the Jets upped their bid for the rights to build on the land to $720 million, surpassing the $700 million from an energy company and the $600 million from Cablevision, which owns Madison Square Garden. The Dolan family, which owns Cablevision, has been in a bitter fight to block construction of the stadium.\nThe Jets initiated the move to get the 2010 game at this meeting, hoping it would help their chances of building the stadium. But whether it will be built is still a major question -- the city and state support it, but numerous political groups in New York oppose it.\n"It's a great step for New York, but the final step is tomorrow," Jets owner Woody Johnson said of the Super Bowl bid. "I hate to prejudge what the guys might do. But today is a good sign."\nCommissioner Paul Tagliabue, who has supported a Super Bowl in New York since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, backed the bid. League owners are expected to approve it on Wednesday, contingent on the stadium being built. The 2009 Super Bowl has not yet been awarded. Atlanta, Miami, Houston and Tampa are bidding for the game, which is expected to be awarded at meetings this spring.\nThe Jets, who currently play at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, have committed $800 million for the stadium project, with the city and state required to raise the rest of what is expected to be a $1.7 billion total.\nMeanwhile, the owners continued to debate the labor negotiations that are essentially three sided -- between the league and the players' union on one side and among the "have" and "have-not" owners on the other. There are some low-revenue teams that would like what amounts to a luxury tax on teams with considerable outside revenues for the pool that will eventually go to the players.\nTagliabue said Monday he would consider holding a special league meeting on April 19 if he could make progress in talks. NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw, who is vacationing in Hawaii, said Monday that Tagliabue had contacted him about meeting here this week, although there was no indication there had been any talks on Tuesday.\nDallas' Jerry Jones, one of the leaders of the high-revenue group, said after Tuesday's owners session that there had been a lot of discussion of the subject.\n"We share more revenue than any sport ever has and it's been very successful," Jones said. "Players have benefited substantially from the system we have now."\nAs for the New York Super Bowl, NFL rules require that a championship game site has to be used by a team for two seasons before the game is played -- a rule that is expected to be waived for this bid because the new stadium with a retractable roof won't be ready until the 2009 season.\nThe $720 million bid by the Jets was made to the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which owns the railroad yards that would be the main site for the stadium. It is adjacent to the Javits Convention Center and three blocks west of Madison Square Garden.\nJohnson would not comment on bid details, referring all inquiries to the MTA.\nMTA officials said they received five offers for the property before bidding ended Monday, but two bidders were immediately disqualified. The MTA hopes to decide by March 31.\nA third bidder, TransGas Energy Systems LLC, previously made the highest bid, but the deal has several contingencies and would be the most complicated.\nThe city also hopes the stadium will help it land the 2012 Summer Olympics. New York is bidding against Paris, London, Madrid and Moscow, with the International Olympic Committee due to select the site on July 6.
(12/09/04 5:48am)
Marvin Harrison decided to stick around with the Indianapolis Colts as Peyton Manning's primary target.\nHarrison agreed to a six-year, $66 million contract with the team Wednesday that includes a $22 million signing bonus, according to a source within the league who requested anonymity.\nThe star receiver is making $5.56 million this season.\nHarrison, 32, who set an NFL record with 143 receptions in the 2002 season, has 826 receptions in nearly nine seasons with the Colts after being their first-round draft pick in 1996. Earlier this season, he passed the 800-catch mark faster than any receiver in NFL history.\nHe and Manning have also combined for more completions than any other quarterback and receiver, passing Jim Kelly and Andre Reed of the Buffalo Bills. They are second in career touchdowns to Steve Young and Jerry Rice of San Francisco.\nThe deal was first reported by ESPN.\nHarrison, who would have become a free agent on March 1, has 67 catches for 870 yards and 12 touchdowns this season, far less than his record pace.\nBut that is largely because Reggie Wayne and Brandon Stokley have emerged as alternate targets for Manning, who with 44 TD passes in 12 games is just four away from Dan Marino's single-season record. In Manning's early years in Indianapolis, Harrison was the team's only consistent wide receiver.\nThe Colts had no immediate comment on the deal.
(09/10/04 5:37am)
FOXBORO, Mass. - As usual, Tom Brady was uncannily accurate as the New England Patriots moved within three wins of setting the NFL record for consecutive victories.\nStill, New England's 27-24 win over Indianapolis on Thursday night wouldn't have happened if its defense hadn't awakened in the second half after being shredded for 255 yards by Peyton Manning and Edgerrin James before intermission.\nBrady threw for 335 yards and three touchdowns -- one each to Deion Branch, David Patten and Daniel Graham. Corey Dillon, obtained from Cincinnati to revive the Super Bowl champions' running game, carried 16 times for 86 yards.\nBut the Patriots' defense bailed them out after a horrible first half, although the 446 yards they allowed were more than they gave up in any game last year.\nThree times they stopped the Colts after turnovers, the second time after Branch fumbled a punt and Asante Samuel was called for pass interference to put the ball at the 1. But Eugene Wilson knocked the ball loose from James and rookie Vince Wilfork recovered with 3 minutes, 43 seconds left, avoiding what looked like a sure touchdown.\nThen Willie McGinest sacked Manning with the Colts at the Patriots 18, forcing Mike Vanderjagt to try a 48-yard field goal instead of a chip shot. Vanderjagt, who had made 42 in a row, kicked it wide right with 24 seconds left.\n"It seems all of our games with them come down to a late play, but our defense made just enough plays to win," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said.\nThis game was a repeat of last season's AFC championship, a toughly played 24-14 New England win that spurred the NFL to tighten up on holding and bumping by defensive backs.\nBut the first flag on a defensive back didn't come until four minutes into the third quarter, when the Colts' David Thornton was called for holding one play before Brady hit Patten for a 25-yard TD to give New England a 20-17 lead.\nThe win was the 16th straight for New England, including the last 12 regular-season games plus two playoff games and the Super Bowl last season.\nThat puts the Patriots two short of the NFL record of 18 set by five teams, most recently Denver in 1997-98 with games at Arizona, at Buffalo after a bye and Miami at home coming up.\nThe Colts led 17-13 at halftime and it could have been more if not for another big play by the New England defense, Tedy Bruschi's interception of Manning's pass with the Colts at the New England 6 on their first possession.\nThat was eerily like last season's title game, when Rodney Harrison did that to Manning from the 1 on the first series.\nThe Patriots, who had only two running backs dressed, came out with four wide receivers and drove 48 yards in nine plays to set up a 32-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri. All nine plays were passes from a no-huddle offense as Dillon sat out his first series as a Patriot.\nVanderjagt's 32-yard field goal made it 3-3 1:20 into the second quarter.\nThe next Indy drive was a stunner -- 66 yards in nine plays, all of them runs and most of them up the middle. The score came on a 3-yard run by Dominic Rhodes.\nBack came the Patriots, scoring on Brady's 16-yard pass to Branch.\nBut Manning hit Dallas Clark for 64 yards on the Colts' first play from scrimmage and Manning's 3-yard TD pass to Marvin Harrison with 42 seconds left gave Indy a 17-10 lead. Vinatieri's 43-yard field goal on the final play of the half cut it to 17-13.\nThe New England defense finally stopped the Colts, who went three and out on the first possession of the second half. The Colts' defense couldn't reciprocate, Brady connecting with Patten to give them the lead.\nBrady's 8-yarder to Graham late in the period stretched it to 27-17.\nManning came back with an 8-yarder to Brandon Stokley to cut it to three points 3:55 into the final period.\nThen Branch fumbled a punt, giving the Colts the ball at the New England 33. But Wilson came up with one big play, the forced fumble. When the Colts got the ball back again, Manning found Stokley for 45 yards, putting Indy within chip-shot range for Vanderjagt.\nBut McGinest blitzed unblocked on Manning and Vanderjagt, perfect all of last season, missed this one. A 19 mph breeze didn't help for a kicker who plays half his games indoors.\n"It seems that Willie always seems to be there when we need him," Belichick said.\nJames finished with 132 yards rushing on 30 carries and Manning was 16-for-29 for 256 yards. Manning went over 25,000 yards passing for his career in his 95th game, the second fastest to that mark. The only one quicker was Dan Marino, who got there in 92 games.
(02/02/04 6:12am)
HOUSTON -- Houston, we have a champion. And once again, the New England Patriots have Adam Vinatieri's foot to thank for a Super Bowl victory.\nVinatieri gave New England its second NFL championship in three seasons with a 41-yard field goal with four seconds left for a thrilling 32-29 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday night.\nVinatieri earlier missed a field goal and had another one blocked. But as he did in 2002 when he kicked the winning field goal to beat St. Louis on the final play of the Super Bowl, he proved he is perhaps the NFL's best clutch kicker.\nFor a contest that was scoreless for a record 27 minutes, this game was one of the all-time offensive shows between two of the NFL's best defenses.\nThere were 37 points scored in the fourth quarter alone, and Tom Brady, who led New England on its winning drive, was 32 of 48 for 354 yards and three touchdowns.\nBrady was voted the game's MVP for the second time in three seasons, although he did throw an interception that prevented New England from winning more easily.\n"There have been some heart attacks, but they've come out on top," said coach Bill Belichick, whose team won its 15th straight game.\nCarolina had tied the game at 29 with its third fourth-quarter TD on a 12-yard pass from Jake Delhomme to Ricky Proehl with 1:08 left. Then John Kasay kicked the ball out of bounds to give New England field position at its own 40.\nBrady moved the Patriots 37 yards in six plays, hitting Deion Branch to set up Vinatieri's winning kick.\n"I looked up, and it was going right down the middle," he said.\nThe kick prevented the Super Bowl from going into what would be the first overtime in its history.\nThe Patriots led 14-10 at the half, and after a scoreless third quarter, they made it 21-10 on the second play of the fourth on a 2-yard run by Antowain Smith. It capped an eight-play, 71-yard drive, featuring a 33-yard pass from Brady to tight end Daniel Graham.\nCarolina wasn't about to give up, though, scoring on DeShaun Foster's 33-yard run on a six-play, 81-yard drive. But the 2-point conversion pass was behind Muhsin Muhammad, and it was 21-16. The decision to go for two would come back to haunt coach John Fox.\nThe Patriots seemed ready to put the game away when they got the ball back, but Brady made a rare mistake -- throwing an off-balance pass that Reggie Howard intercepted in the end zone.\nTwo plays later, Delhomme found Muhammad behind the New England defense for an 85-yard score, the longest play from scrimmage in Super Bowl history, to give the Panthers a 22-21 lead with 6:53 left. Fox again went for the two-point conversion and failed.\nBrady came back with the TD pass to linebacker Mike Vrabel with 2:51 remaining, and Kevin Faulk ran in for the two-point conversion to give New England a 29-22 lead.\nAbout two minutes later, Delhomme and Proehl hooked up to tie the game, setting up Vinatieri's heroics.\nThe game was scoreless longer than any previous Super Bowl -- nearly 27 minutes.\nThen the teams got going -- 24 points in the final 3:05 of the first half that left the Patriots with a 14-10 lead.\nNew England dominated that dormant period and finally took a 7-0 lead on the first of two 5-yard TD passes by Brady. The quarterback found Branch after Vrabel had sacked Delhomme, forcing a fumble and giving New England the ball at the Carolina 20.\nAt that point, New England had outgained Carolina 125 yards to minus-7, and Delhomme was 1 of 9 for 1 yard and had been sacked three times.\nBut the Patriots' touchdown seemed to wake up the Panthers. Delhomme led Carolina on a 95-yard drive, tied for second longest in Super Bowl history, capping it with a 39-yard TD pass to Steve Smith, who beat Tyrone Poole in single coverage. That tied it at 7-7 with 1:14 left in the half.\nBrady came right back, hitting Branch for 52 yards behind Ricky Manning Jr. to set up the second 5-yard TD pass, this time to Givens.\nCarolina wasn't finished, either.\nVinatieri squibbed the kickoff and Kris Mangum returned it 12 yards to his own 47. With 12 seconds and a timeout left, the Panthers crossed up the Patriots by handing the ball to Stephen Davis, who rushed 21 yards to the New England 32.\nAfter a timeout, Kasay kicked a 50-yard field goal to close the half.\nNew England looked as if it might get off to a quick start, shutting down the Panthers on their first possession, then moving to the Carolina 13 after Troy Brown's 28-yard punt return.\nBut Vinatieri's 31-yard field-goal attempt was wide right. It was only the third time he had missed indoors in 34 attempts, all of them in Houston.\nThe Patriots continued to keep the Panthers backed up.\nCarolina got its first first down with just over two minutes left in the first quarter on a holding penalty on New England's Ty Law but had to punt three plays later. Carolina's defense held up its end -- Will Witherspoon ended another Patriots threat by dumping Brown for a 10-yard loss on a reverse to take New England out of field-goal range.\nWith just under nine minutes left in the second quarter, the Patriots reached the Carolina 38. Brady's third-down sneak was barely stopped, then Antowain Smith barely got the six inches on fourth down, a spot that was upheld on replay.\nThe Patriots reached the 18, but Vinatieri's 36-yard attempt was blocked by Shane Burton.\nThree plays later, Vrabel stripped Delhomme and Richard Seymour recovered.\nOn third-and-7, Brady, the self-described "slowest quarterback in the league," scrambled up the middle to the 5. On the next play, he found Branch in the end zone for the game's first score.
(01/16/04 5:12am)
FOXBORO, Mass. -- Here's how the Colts and Patriots stack up for Sunday's AFC Championship game.
(03/27/03 5:48am)
PHOENIX -- NFL owners changed nothing.\nThe league closed its annual spring meeting Wednesday by voting down a proposal to give both teams a shot at the ball in overtime. And it tabled a proposal to expand the playoffs from 12 teams to 14.\nThe plan to change the overtime rule got 17 votes, seven short of the 24 required for passage.\n"They made the decision because the current system presents a tremendous reward or risk. That's something that adds a lot of excitement to the game," said Indianapolis general manager Bill Polian, who helped convince the other teams by citing the Colts' 23-20 win overtime win over the Broncos in the Denver snow.\nThe expansion of the playoffs got more support than either commissioner Paul Tagliabue or competition committee chairman Rich McKay expected.\nBut it was tabled until the league's May meeting in Philadelphia because, Tagliabue said, the league had to study the ramifications for both competition and television coverage involved in adding two wild-card teams.\nSome teams also are concerned that only one team would have a bye under the proposed system. And both Tagliabue and McKay noted it was a change in an agreement to wait two years with the new eight-division alignment before tinkering with the playoffs.\n"We had no problems last year with the alignment," said McKay, Tampa Bay's general manager. "The teams that made the playoffs were the teams with the best records."\nThe change in overtime was proposed after a record 25 games went into an extra session last year. Ten of those were won by a team on its first possession and 58 percent were won by the team that won the coin toss at the start of the OT.\nOne of those was the game in Denver, which seemed to sway many teams.\nIn that contest, which was televised nationally, the Colts' Mike Vanderjagt tied the game with a 54-yard field goal in regulation. Indianapolis then won the coin toss in overtime and moved the ball far enough for Vanderjagt to try a 51-yarder into the wind, which he made.\nPolian said that if it wasn't sudden death, coach Tony Dungy certainly would have chosen to punt; he sent the punting team on the field until Vanderjagt convinced him to try the field goal.\n"That game made our season," Polian said. "It's probably the main reason we made the playoffs. If there had been two possessions, a defensive-minded coach like Tony certainly would have tried to pin them back. That would have been the right call. But the reward for kicking was much greater -- we won the game on the spot."\nIn another move, the league changed the rules involving onside kicks in the final five minutes of games.\nIn the past, if a ball did not go 10 yards, went out of bounds, or was touched illegally, the kicking team was penalized, but had a chance to kick again from five yards back.\nUnder the new rule, the receiving team will have the option of accepting the penalty and getting the ball immediately -- without the kicking team having a second chance to try an onside kick.\nThe new rule will only be in effect during the final five minutes of a game as a concession to coaches who feared teams would stop trying surprise onside kicks.
(01/27/03 5:19am)
SAN DIEGO -- Just defense, baby!\nThe Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn't need much more -- for most of the game, anyway.\nCoach Jon Gruden and his Bucs won the Super Bowl on Sunday, routing Oakland 48-21 in the first matchup of the NFL's best offense against its best defense.\nThe Tampa Bay defense won by a mile, shutting down the Raiders for three quarters and holding on as they made a belated comeback attempt.\nSuper Bowl MVP Dexter Jackson had two interceptions, as did Dwight Smith, who returned both of his picks for touchdowns, including a 50-yarder to finish off the scoring with 2 seconds left in the game. Derrick Brooks also returned an interception for a touchdown.\nSimeon Rice had two of the Bucs' five sacks as Tampa romped to a 20-3 halftime lead then scored two quick third-quarter touchdowns.\nThat rendered futile a late comeback by the Raiders that included a touchdown on a blocked punt and 48-yard TD pass from league MVP Rich Gannon to Jerry Rice.\nThe Tampa Bay offense did its part, too, led by Michael Pittman, who ran for 124 yards on 29 carries.\nMike Alstott had a 2-yard TD run and Brad Johnson added two TD passes to Keenan McCardell, the second an 11-yarder after an 89-yard drive that ate up almost eight minutes of the third quarter.\nJust 43 seconds later, Smith grabbed the ball away from Jerry Rice and took it to the end zone to make it 34-3.\nOakland owner Al Davis' slogan "Just win, baby!" wasn't going to work this time.\nHow good was the Tampa Bay defense?\nOakland had just 62 total yards in the first half, second-lowest total in Super Bowl history. And the five interceptions of Gannon were the most he had in any game this season. He finished 24-of-44 for 272 yards and two touchdowns.\nCredit the win also to the 39-year-old Gruden, who left Oakland a year ago for Tampa Bay in what seemed at the time far too much in draft picks and cash -- $8 million to be exact.\nBut Gruden's knowledge of his old team worked out perfectly.\n"Every play they've run, we've run in practice," Tampa Bay safety John Lynch said.\nTampa Bay started badly but soon took control and led 20-3 at halftime on a 2-yard touchdown run by Alstott and a 5-yard TD pass to McCardell. The defense held the Raiders' top-ranked offense to just three first downs at intermission.\nBut the Raiders struck the first blow.\nOn the opening series, Johnson was hit by Regan Upshaw as he threw toward an open McCardell, and Charles Woodson intercepted to give the Raiders the ball at the Tampa Bay 28. But Oakland got only one first down and had to settle for Sebastian Janikowski's 40-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead.\nThe Bucs came right back to tie it on Martin Gramatica's 31-yarder. It was set up by two 23-yard plays, a pass from Johnson to Joe Jurevicius and a sweep by Pittman.\nJackson's first interception for Tampa Bay set up the next score: Gramatica's 43-yard field goal early in the second quarter to give the Bucs a 6-3 lead.\nJackson got another interception on the Raiders' next possession, returning it 23 yards to the Raiders 45. Tampa Bay couldn't move and Tom Tupa had to punt.\nBut the Tampa Bay defense held the Raiders to three downs and out, and the Bucs finally broke through to take a 13-3 lead.\nFirst Karl Williams returned Shane Lechler's punt 25 yards to the Oakland 27, then Pittman had runs of 6 and 21 yards to give Tampa Bay a first down at the 2. On the second play, Alstott went in for the game's first TD with 6:24 left in the half.\nThe Bucs made it 20-3 at halftime on a 77-yard, 10-play drive, which was aided by three Oakland penalties and capped by a quick out to McCardell on first down from the 5.