|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
It's official: Rams 24, Titans 20
Posted: Friday January 28, 2000 05:48 PM
ATLANTA -- For me, it all comes down to Kurt Warner. I have decided to trust him. This game will be decided by Warner, pure and simple. He is the X factor. Last week, The Greatest Story in NFL History played a crummy ballgame for 40 minutes, then made enough plays in the last few drives to win the game. This week, he will be rushed by similarly great athletes. The coverage will be more man-to-man, almost exclusively man-to-man, and it will be a physical, punishing coverage. I asked Tennessee defensive coordinator Gregg Williams if he'd watched the Tampa battering of the Rams intently. "We watched the game with great interest," Williams told me. "We plan to continue the same physical barrage that Tampa Bay started. Tampa Bay started that, and our job is to duplicate it."
My prediction: Rams win, 24-20. Warner throws for 296 yards and two touchdowns, and Marshall Faulk has a nice, clock-burning 134-yard rushing-passing day. And, finally, for the 10 Things I Think I Think: 1. I think commissioner Paul Tagliabue avoided the real issue today on minority hiring, which was deftly broached at his State of the NFL press conference by Bryan Burwell of HBO. The real issue is that of the last 31 head-coaching hires, Ray Rhodes is the only black man to get a job. Four years, one man. 2. I think Bill Belichick is fortunate he landed on his feet. 3. I think Dick Vermeil's perspective this morning on the Belichick hiring was refreshing -- refreshing in light of the Patriots giving up a first-round pick for him: "I believe that's a small price to pay for the right guy. I would pay two first-round picks for Bill Parcells, for example, to come and coach my team. If the Patriots are right about Belichick, it's a tremendous investment. You know, there've been a ton of first-round picks who've flopped, who people get down on for the next 10 years." 3. I think the preface of the morning came to Jeff Fisher during his press conference thusly: "Jeff, some people are calling this the Hee Haw Bowl ..." What! Who called it that? Comedy Central? Come on, man! 4. I think St. Louis right tackle Fred Miller is kidding himself when he says of his seven-penalty first game against the Titans on Oct. 31: "I forgot about the game in a couple of days." Right. You forgot about the game when your teammates gave you a Jevon Kearse rookie card as a gag. You forgot about the game when everyone in America here for the Super Bowl reminds you about it every five minutes. We're not buying it, Fred. 5. I think I have seen it all when someone named Julius Francis, fighting Mike Tyson tomorrow night, wears headphones with music coming through them to a press conference hyping his fight and can't hear the questions. 6. I think I hate tattoos. 7. I think if you want to feel good, get a tape of Vermeil's press conference this morning and turn it on. He is Coach Up With People. He is Dale Carnegie with a whistle. He gets soggy Cheerios this morning from room service and thanks his lucky stars. He credits tiny people with the big gains in his life. He makes Anthony Robbins look Belichick-esque. 8. I think it is stunning to hear Coach Burnout talk about his approach to the Super Bowl and say: "I want to relax and have fun." 9. I think Tagliabue will go very soft on Orlando Brown's fine, and I don't like that one bit. 10. I think Tagliabue said one thing today I heartily agree with: This taunting and fighting and strutting in the NFL is way out of control. He called it "provocative and juvenile." Thank you. Please, men, exult, but act like you've been there before.
SI's Peter King will file the 10 Things He Thinks He Thinks every day leading up to -- and even at halftime of -- Super Bowl XXXIV.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
