Columnist Sal DeFilippo: Hold onto your helmet — Rudd not only goat

Sal DeFilippo

Friday, Sept. 13, 2002 | 9:20 a.m.

Sal DeFilippo's pro football column appears Friday. Reach him at sal@ lasvegassun.com or 259-4076.

Dwayne Rudd has already taken his share of grief for what was the dumbest football play in quite some time.

Sure, he has it coming. It doesn't matter how caught up you are in the emotion of closing out a victory in an NFL game -- you just can't act like a complete clown and toss your headgear in the air as if it has a tassel attached at graduation. Hats off to the referees for throwing a flag (not nearly as far, by the way). It may not be the spirit of the rule, but if nothing else, Rudd deserved the penalty just for being so ridiculous.

The Browns' linebacker was celebrating what he thought was a sack on what he thought was the final play of Cleveland's game against Kansas City last Sunday. The Browns led by two points with four seconds left and Kansas City at its own 47-yard-line.

Chiefs quarterback Trent Green dropped back and was nearly dropped by Rudd before alertly pitching the ball to the nearest red jersey -- 6-foot-6, 323-pound left tackle John Tait.

Here's where the real tragedy occurred. All the blame has been heaped on Rudd, but what about the other 10 defenders who allowed this behemoth to plow for a 28-yard gain that, coupled with the penalty, led to Morton Andersen's game-winning field goal?

I know the Browns' main concern was to keep Tait from reaching the end zone, but when a guy wearing number 76 has the ball, he seldom makes it back to the line of scrimmage, let alone lumbers an additional 84 feet. If Rudd had hurried, he might have been able to put his helmet back on before the play ended and maybe nobody would have noticed.

If Crazy Legs Tait had been held to a modest gain, say, of 10 yards, then Andersen's three-pointer at the buzzer would have come from 48 yards -- a much more difficult shot, to be certain.

This certainly doesn't absolve Rudd for his ludicrous actions, but to help put this into the proper perpective: Right now, Tait has 28 rushing yards, and Marshall Faulk has 19.

So now who's to blame?

Three celebrity prognosticators posted 2-1 records against the spread in Week 1.

Clint Holmes was closest to posting an unbeaten week, losing only when Jacksonville convetered a late two-point conversion to cover against Indianapolis.

"I have two main objectives for this contest," Holmes said. "One: Always pick the Washington Redskins. Two: Beat Lance Burton and Kevin Janison."

So far, so good for the Harrah's star. Holmes is tied with defending champ Burton and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman.