Friday, Dec. 26, 2003 | 9:56 a.m.
All-time series -- Denver leads, 6-3-1.
Last time -- The Broncos won, 31-10, in Denver in 1999.
Notable -- Denver has never won in Green Bay, losing both games (in '93 and '96). Plus this will be payback for Super Bowl XXXII. This time, the Broncos won't have John "Helicopter" Elway to lead them ... that last game for the Broncos in Green Bay on Dec. 8, 1996, it was 31 degrees when Packers QB Brett Favre threw four touchdown passes in a 41-6 romp ... since Denver WR Rod Smith predicted that the Broncos would go on a tear six weeks ago, his squad is 5-1. Make that 5-2 after this weekend, when RB Clinton Portis will sit again to rest for the playoffs.
Prediction (8-8) -- Green Bay 33, Denver 8.
-- San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson, who leads all backs with 2,011 total yards,
on not making a Pro Bowl appearance.
What happened to "The Greatest Show on Turf" or that genius label for fourth-year coach Mike Martz?
Turns out, both were in hibernation for the St. Louis Rams.
Martz had been considered brilliant when he guided the Rams into the Super Bowl in his second season. Then the Rams stumbled in that 20-17 defeat to New England in the Louisiana Superdome in Super Bowl XXXVI.
Then came the jettisoning of reserve quarterback Trent Green to Kansas City and the Kurt Warner fiasco, when the grocery bagger-turned-ace disappeared into a haze of concussions. The Rams fizzled, going 7-9 in 2002.
Martz had planned well, however, in picking up Marc Bulger as a free agent in '01. He's been the key to the Rams' NFC-best 12-3 record, which should be polished to 13-3 come Sunday in Detroit.
For returning the Rams to such prominence so quickly, we must honor Martz as our coach of the year.
Marvin Lewis (Cincinnati), Bill Parcells (Dallas), John Fox (Carolina), Bill Belichick (New England) and Dick Vermeil (Kansas City) are worthy candidates, but turning St. Louis back into a power with a new field general (Bulger) forced us to tap Martz.
The Rams are the clear NFC favorite to reach Super Bowl XXXVIII at Reliant Stadium in Houston.
Bulger has plenty of help. Receiver Torry Holt is the deep threat, and Marshall Faulk is the multi-purpose weapon out of the backfield. Dane Looker and Mike Furrey have proven capable when Isaac Bruce is dinged up or held down.
Tackle Kyle Turley was a key offseason acquisition, bolstering an offensive line that is coached by one of the game's stalwarts, Jim Hanifan, who has announced that his will be his final season.
The former tight end for the Toronto Argonauts tutored Conrad Dobler and Dan Dierdorf on a fabulous St. Louis Cardinals line in the 1970s, and he joined the Rams in 1997.
"Having Jim around ... we can't replace Jim," Martz told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "We'll never replace him. That's why he's probably the best there ever was at coaching the offensive line."
A staff that includes defensive coordinator/assistant head coach Lovie Smith, running backs coach Wilbert Montgomery and receivers coach Henry Ellard only missed a beat for one season after Vermeil's purge.
" ... the era of free agency has put such a premium on having a great staff," Martz said. "You have such a high rate of turnover with players. You have to have terrific teachers. Jim is an example. Look at the job Perry (Fewell) has done with the secondary.
"The entire staff -- I told them (Monday) at a staff meeting -- what a terrific job they did all year. That's why we are where we are."
Not entirely. That's why we're doffing our fedora to Martz.
That's why we must give a big nod to Baltimore running back Jamal Lewis as the NFL's best player of 2003.
First, the Ravens are likely a playoff team. If Cleveland wins in Cincinnati on Sunday morning or Baltimore beats Pittsburgh on Sunday night, in a game that the Ravens will host, the Ravens are, well, ravin'.
The defense is probably the best in the league, led by linebacker Ray Lewis. But without Jamal Lewis leading the way on offense, Baltimore would be nowhere. In a high-scoring conference, only three AFC teams have scored more points than the Ravens' 378.
Most important, Lewis is poised to prance into the record books.
He has a league-best 1,952 yards, thanks to a pair of steamrollers over the Cleveland Browns. He can become the fifth runner in NFL history to dash past the 2,000-yard barrier Sunday against the Steelers.
With a scintillating performance, he will break the single-season mark of 2,105, set by Eric Dickerson in 1984.
"If (Lewis) has to run it 50 times for us to win on Sunday, he'll run it 50 times," Ravens coach Brian Billick told the Baltimore Sun. "The great thing about where we are now is that this game is for the whole ball of wax.
"We're going to need every bit of whatever he needs to get the record, whether it's 2,000 or above, to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers."
Lewis needs 153 yards Sunday to pass Dickerson, who, by the way, predicted two weeks ago that Lewis would not come close to breaking the mark. Go, Jamal. Go.
He has run for at least 153 three times this season, and the Ravens are 3-0 in those games. They are 5-0 when the bulldozer from Atlanta covers at least 130 yards in a game.
"I still think (Denver's Clinton) Portis is the best back. He is shiftier and makes better cuts," said Cleveland safety Earl Little. "But the best old-school back, pound for pound, is Jamal. He is that Earl Campbell-type of back who can run you over."
In Pittsburgh on Sept. 7, the Steelers held Lewis to 69 yards on 15 carries, both season lows for Lewis.
"We're a different team, in a totally different set of circumstances," Billick said. "So I don't know what you would draw from (that defeat)."
Lewis said he thinks he can do it.
"It's hard not to think about it," he said. "But we have to worry about a win so we can go to the playoffs. I think it's attainable, though. I know the offensive line is going to be all psyched up. If it's meant to be, it will be."
It is difficult to overlook 6-foot-9, 340-pound tackle Jonathan Ogden, a Vegas resident who is responsible for protecting Baltimore quarterback Anthony Wright and creating gaps for Lewis.
A national magazine even touted Ogden as the best player in the league in the preseason.
Sam Brandon, a second-year safety from UNLV, has played in all 15 games for the Denver Broncos and is eighth on the team with 44 tackles. He's also deflected eight passes.
Because of Nick Ferguson's broken left wrist, Brandon will start for the rest of Denver's season.
Nevada-Reno product Nate Burleson, a rookie receiver for Minnesota, is fourth on the Vikings with 28 catches, for 447 yards and two touchdowns.
Those two have established themselves as up-and-comers, but we are compelled to turn to a cagey veteran.
In his 12th season, ex-UNLV receiver Keenan McCardell is on the verge of a record season. He nabbed six passes for a season-high 122 yards last week in Tampa Bay's defeat to Atlanta.
McCardell, 34 in two weeks, has 1,171 yards in 2003. In 2000, with Jacksonville, he set his career mark with 1,207 reception yards. The Bucs play at Tennessee on Sunday, and the Titans own the fourth-worst passing defense in the league.
So it appears McCardell will cap a career year this weekend.
We've been watching.
They snatched him as a free agent in 2001, and he's been a productive, if not unlikely, element in the Tennessee offense.
Not bad for a quarterback who was shunned at the position in college. When he arrived at UCLA, he threw passes. Then he was shelved, and then he was switched to wide receiver. Hello, NFL.
Bennett gave the Titans one touchdown in '01, doubled that the following season and then doubled that this year. He can add to that seven-TD total Sunday at home against Tampa Bay.
He did, though, give some insight into his athleticism during downtime at UCLA, when he was spotted dunking a basketball inside Pauley Pavilion in his socks. Wearing shoes, everything Bennett does is gravy.
(At least, that wasn't caught on-air.)
Division hits
NFC: West -- St. Louis running back Marshall Faulk has 130 career TDs, one behind Cris Carter for fourth-place on the all-time list. South -- K John Carney had nailed 104 PATs in a row for New Orleans until that untimely miss. His last flat-out shank was in '93. North -- QB Rex Grossman's 2-0 record as a starter has opened many eyes in Chicago. East -- Dallas coach Bill Parcells told lame-duck Giants coach Jim Fassel, a possible candidate for Arizona if that job opens, to weigh his future "very carefully" last week.
AFC: West -- He's nasty, crude and full of mayhem, or has anyone missed his antics in San Diego (where their team plays Sunday). But Raider fan was a class act Monday night in cheering for Packers QB Brett Favre. South -- Indy QB Peyton Manning was second in our MVP voting to Jamal Lewis, but it wasn't close. North -- Browns QB Tim Couch's future in Cleveland could depend on his performance Sunday in Cincinnati. East -- The Jets are about to score fewer than 300 points for the first time since '96, which makes offensive coordinator Paul Hackett uneasy.
archive
