November 22, 2004

NEWS, NOTES & QUOTES FROM CBS SPORTS' "THE NFL TODAY" FROM WEEK 11 ON NOVEMBER 21

(On influence of tight ends being used more this year)

Shannon Sharpe: I like to talk about the tight end position. In 1984, seven tight ends led their team in receptions. In 1994, it was only two, one of them being yours truly. Here we are in 2004, there are six guys on pace to lead their teams in receptions. Why is this? Teams are drafting guys that are more athletic, and with the increase of the blitz, the backs are having to pick up the blitz. The tight end is the option. And I love my tight ends.

Dan Marino: Let me say that I think it's because of the emphasis on the rule change. They don't to get to jam them at the line of scrimmage. So they're getting an opportunity to catch more balls. No one is covering in the League. Nine quarterbacks have a chance to be on pace to get 4,000 yards. Where are the corners? Why do they spend money on cover corners? You got to get pass rushers to get to the quarterback before the ball gets out there.

Greg Gumbel: I'm getting word we've got six phone calls. People are tired of hearing about tight ends.

(Phil Simms on Cleveland's Jeff Garcia) Well, I'll say this about Jeff Garcia. It's not been a very good year for him statistically, but he's still as outspoken about this offense. He wants it to be more wide open. And he's got to understand, it is not going to change. This is not the San Francisco 49ers' offense where it's all about the quarterback. Here in Cleveland with Butch Davis, it's about the defense. It's about special teams. It's about running the football. And the quarterback has got to manage the game. And that's what they're going to do today. They're going to keep this game simple, run it and Jeff Garcia is going to have to live with that.

(On Jets' clock management last week)
Phil Simms: Well, nothing new. We still can't find the answer what actually went wrong at the end of the game. Who are you going to blame? But when you watch the films, the play clock or the communication to the quarterback, that stops with 15 seconds to go. We know that Quincy Carter had the play. He could not communicate that to the offense, get to the line of scrimmage and run that. So really nothing's going to change for the New York Jets except Quincy Carter, if you get in that situation again, if you have to, just call a play and go up to the line of scrimmage and run the play.

Gumbel: Boomer, the blame game is what's big anywhere, especially here in New York. The bottom line is whose fault was it that all the time got away from the New York Jets?

Boomer Esiason: Just like a cynical New Yorker. I feel like, you know, everything stops and starts with the head coach, Herm Edwards. He is the guy that is responsible for making these calls on the sideline. He came out this week and he basically protected his players. You can't ask Quincy Carter, who is a backup quarterback, to understand the mechanisms at that point of the game with all the anxiety riding high. We saw a piece on the NFL Network this week that looked like it was complete and utter chaos on the sideline of the Jets. The head coach is the one who is in charge for all of those decisions, and they did not do the right thing at the end of that game.

(More)

Marino: When you look at it really, yes, they miss managed the whole thing. It comes down to having plays ready. After he gets the first down, you've got to have two plays called. You've got to get to the line of scrimmage and run the play. We always had a thing on Friday, if we're in this situation, game-winning plays, plays that you know ahead of time. Quincy Carter would have known what that was, and they could have gone to the line and run that play. The other thing comes down, I don't think they trusted him at the end of the game with eight seconds left. Usually you let that guy throw it into the end zone. If they get blitzed, man coverage, get a chance to win. If not, you throw it away.

Sharpe: Even in training camp, I played with one of the great quarterbacks, John Elway. We would go through situations if we had this much time on the clock. But John would always call two plays. If you got out of bounds, John would say let's huddle back up. If you didn't, let's hurry back to the line of scrimmage. You should expect more from your quarterback. Don't give me this about he's a backup quarterback.

Gumbel: There have been several late quarterback changes today. Shaun King will start for the Cardinals against the Panthers after Dennis Green benched Josh McCown. Jake Delhomme is expected to start for Carolina despite a stress fracture in his right throwing thumb. What does Dennis Green's move tell you?

Boomer: It validates the fact that Dennis Green has no idea what he's doing when it comes to the draft. He passed over Philip Rivers. Dennis Green, the coach who was telling us that Josh McCown was good enough to be his starting quarterback, and now he throws him under the bus and inserts Shaun King. I think you go back to the draft. If you have an opportunity to draft a franchise quarterback, you take that opportunity. You make the most of it. And Dennis Green failed in his first draft as the head of the Cardinals.

(Armen Keteyian's feature on injuries around the NFL this season) You know, what began really for me as a medical investigation into why there had been so many early season injuries soon turned into more of a political story. On the long-running battle, it turns out, between the Players' Union and the League over the issue of injury information. Think of them not as professional football players but rather high-performance automobiles, costing an average of $1.3 million a year. Colliding at breath-taking speed week after week...

Keteyian: While an NFL spokesman said NFL information is pretty widely shared, for the NFL Players' Association, it has long been a different story. Three high-ranking union officials, including former NFLPA President Trace Armstrong, have told CBS Sports that dating back to the mid-1980s, the league has classified injury surveillance data as proprietary, unwilling to share it for legal and other reasons.

Rod Smith: As a player rep, any kind of information I can get to keep my guys on the field and keep them healthy, that's what I need. I need that information. The only way I get it is through the Players' Association.

Derrick Brooks: What's the big secret? For the NFL to separate itself concerning the players, in my opinion, is a problem. I'm embarrassed to sit up here and not know that that information is not transcended across the league. (More)

CBS Television ...3

John Lynch: I had no idea that that information wasn't available, that that wasn't exchanged. It seems only natural that it would be in a true partnership where everyone has the League's best interests in hand.

Keteyian: Less than a week after Lynch spoke out, Players' Association President Gene Upshaw told CBS Sports he requested and received a copy of this document from the NFL. While described as a significant step forward, the selected summary contained little or no raw data...

Kevin Mawae: I didn't read all into the reports. A lot of the stuff was just graphs. Anybody can draw lines on a graph. But we get what they want to show us...This league doesn't work without the players. And if the players continue to get hurt and continue to get banged up, something is going to give. And it's going to be the quality of the play on the field.

Keteyian: Greg, what the NFL PA really wants is an independent, scientific review of that raw data so it can determine as best as possible whether the league is withholding or skewing that information to protect its own interest. What I've learned is that the NFLPA has for the first time commissioned its own study of injuries that will be based on this season so that they can be more pro-active and less reactive to what's happening on the field.

Reaction from Boomer, Marino and Gumbel

Boomer: I'm shocked that the union hasn't had something like this before this year. I mean, it's all about protection of the players. Remember, the players do not have guaranteed contracts in this league. You're hurt this year, you might not be getting paid next year. And finally, I think what the NFL should do, you have 53-man rosters, 53 guys getting paid but only 46 guys active for the games. Make all 53 guys active for the game and you have your eight-man taxi squad, so you can pull off of there if somebody does get hurt.

Marino: If you have the 53 guys, you could use some of those guys on special teams where you don't want to use some of your star players.

Gumbel: We had a chance to talk earlier today to Rich McKay, the President and General Manager of the Atlanta Falcons, who stopped by. He also chairs the NFL's competition committee. And he says most of the injuries are patella injuries. A lot of them are non-contact. It's just a guy who's making a cut out on the field.

(Dan Marino feature with Indianapolis's Peyton Manning) Marino: Hands down, Peyton is the hottest quarterback in the League. If he keeps going at this pace, he's going to break my record. This week, he's got other things on his mind. You know why I'm here, it's the biggest news in the NFL. Everybody is talking about it. Your brother Eli gets his first start.

Peyton Manning: I like that question. I was looking forward to that question. That's a good -

Marino: So is he ready?

(More)

CBS Television ...4

Manning: I think he is. You know, you have to remember your first start. I remember mine. I played against you, actually. How do you know? Except to throw him in there. Not much phases Eli. I called him. I told him, I'm not calling to congratulate you. I'm calling to tell you good luck.

Marino: You didn't give him brotherly advice?

Manning: It's almost like, what do you tell him? You start talking, you know, when do you stop? The one thing I have told him before is, you give the NFL defenses, you give them the respect they deserve. That is going to be Ray Lewis over there in a few weeks, but you can't give them too much respect...

Marino: Are you going to break the record (for most TD passes in a season)?

Manning: Here's the thing. I can't give you a one-word answer. I can't imagine what these baseball players go through when they're trying to get DiMaggio's hitting streak or hit .400. They're talking about it at mid-season. That's where we are right now. Forty-eight, that seems like a long way away.

Marino reaction: Well guys, Peyton Manning is everything that's right about the NFL. Just talking about him, after this Kansas City game when he played so well and they lost, I think he really is taking it all on his own shoulders and taking it to another level. I do think he's going to break my 48 touchdown-single season record. I don't think I'll have a problem with him. But my wife Claire said if he doesn't slow down she's going to be the next Tonya Harding of the NFL.

(On Sportsmanship in professional sports) Gumbel: Like everyone else around the world, we're wondering if players and fans can stop acting like thugs and morons for a little while. Sportsmanship has been the issue. Boomer, where has sportsmanship gone?

Boomer: This is a disturbing trend. Last week it started in Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Joey Porter and William Green got after each other. Bill Cowher said there is no place for this in professional sports. It is on the coaches' shoulders to control their players. As far as what happened in the basketball game, I'm telling you right now, no professional athlete should ever go into the stands, no matter what the situation is. And I have to tell you, I think that you have to throw it on to the security personnel in Detroit for letting this thing get completely out of hand. Of course, a guy who doesn't know what integrity means (Ron Artest) goes flying into the stands.

Sharpe: Here's the thing. Just because you spend $75 or $1,000 on a ticket, it doesn't give you the right to throw beer on me. But because you're in an arena, if you're walking down the street, you wouldn't throw beer on someone...

Boomer: You saw the kids in the stands out there in that NBA basketball game. That picture (clip of boy crying) tells a thousand words. You cannot allow things like this to get out of hand. And it's up to the athlete to be above it all, get in the locker room.

Sharpe: Why do athletes always have to be above it all? Aren't they people?

Boomer: Stay out of the stands. Fans, do not come down on the field of play. You (players) make $10 million a year, stay out of it.

CBS Sports Contacts in studio: 212/975-1796