Walter Payton’s presence was felt in more places than Green Bay over the weekend. The inspiration of the Bears’ Hall of Fame running back spread throughout the NFL on Week 9.
There were more 100-yard rushing performances on Sunday than during any other weekend this season–nine.
On Monday night, Dallas’ Emmitt Smith ran for 140 yards in the first half against Minnesota, including a 63-yard touchdown run, his longest in seven years. Smith left in the second quarter with a broken bone in his right hand and didn’t return.
As if to add their own individual tributes to the most prolific rusher in NFL history, San Francisco’s Charlie Garner (166 yards), Philadelphia’s Duce Staley (140), Seattle’s Ricky Watters (133), the New York Jets’ Curtis Martin (131), Jacksonville’s Fred Taylor (124), Baltimore’s Errict Rhett (117), Tampa Bay’s Mike Alstott (117), Indianapolis’ Edgerrin James (109) and Denver’s Olandis Gary (108) all surpassed the 100 mark on Sunday–seven of them in victories.
This has not been a great year for running or for runners. The top four rushers of 1998–Denver’s Terrell Davis, Atlanta’s Jamal Anderson, San Francisco’s Garrison Hearst and Detroit’s Barry Sanders–are either retired or injured and out for the season.
Rushing statistics are down from a team average of 112 yards a game last season to 104 at the halfway point this year. Average gain per rush also is down from 4 yards to 3.8.
But for one afternoon, it seemed like old times.
Gary, a rookie from Georgia replacing the injured Davis, put up the first 100-yard game against the San Diego Chargers’ stout run defense since 1997, when Davis did it.
Watters had Seattle’s first rushing touchdown of the season in a 37-20 win over Cincinnati.
Martin’s 38 carries were the second-most in a game this season behind the 40 by New Orleans rookie Ricky Williams last week.
Running empty: Marshall Faulk of the St. Louis Rams wanted to wear jersey No. 34 Sunday against Detroit in memory of Payton. But the NFL rejected his request.
Following Payton’s death last Monday, Faulk left a phone message that night for Rams trainer Todd Hewitt saying he wanted to wear Payton’s No. 34 instead of his usual No. 28 on Sunday.
Hewitt checked with the NFL office Tuesday and was told any jersey number switch would violate the league’s uniform code, which reads: “For competitive purposes, no player can change his uniform number once the regular season begins.”
The reason is players practice and coaches coach by numbers. They study video by numbers and prepare themselves to line up against numbers. Any change would create chaos.
“It’s not a story,” Faulk said. “I don’t want the league picking on me.”
The result was Faulk might have been the victim of a different kind of Payton effect. The Rams were beaten by the Lions and Faulk was held to only 15 yards in 11 carries.
Until Sunday, Faulk had been running wild for a team that got off to a 6-0 start. He had 597 combined rushing and receiving yards in his last three games (404 rushing, 183 receiving).
“Right now, I think he’s playing better than anybody in the National Football League,” Rams coach Dick Vermeil said.
In the same game, ex-Rams running back Greg Hill of the Lions was held to only 3 yards in 11 carries as neither team could get anything going on the ground. A week earlier, Hill gained 123 yards against Tampa Bay in his first start for the injured Reggie Rivers, who replaced the retired Sanders.
Moonriders: Bob McNair, owner of the new Houston franchise scheduled to begin play in 2002, said he wants the nickname to reflect “something Texan, something western. . . . related to horses or cattle or cowboys.”
With Cowboys, Broncos, Colts and Chargers already spoken for, that leaves something like Mustangs or Cowponies or Rustlers or Wranglers. There have already been 10,000 suggestions.
McNair is eager to exploit more of a Texas-wide presence than the predecessor Houston Oilers enjoyed.
“We’d certainly like to have support from all over Texas,” McNair said. “Maybe the (Dallas) Cowboys can be America’s Team and Houston can be Texas’ team.”
In that case, the Houston Texans seems appropriate.
Lion leap: If the season ended at the halfway point, the NFC home-field advantage would go to the Detroit Lions. This might be a more mind-boggling development than the dramatic improvement of the Rams.
As if losing Sanders weren’t enough of a setback, the Lions began the year with a battered offensive line and have been playing without their leading receiver, Herman Moore. Against the Rams on Sunday, coach Bobby Ross had all 11 of his defensive starters on the field for the first time.
The Lions beat the Rams with backup quarterback Gus Frerotte finishing for injured Charlie Batch.
“In most ways, I think we are a closer team this year,” Ross said. “We’re also a more confident team this year even without some of the people.”
The Lions have an edge in a season of evenly-matched teams and close games because of place-kicker Jason Hanson, who is approaching the kind of year Minnesota’s Gary Anderson enjoyed last year. Hanson has connected on 16 of 17 field-goal attempts and eight of the 16 are from 47 yards or more. He has hit twice from 47, twice from 48, twice from 49, once from 50 and once from 51 yards. His only miss was a 49-yarder against Minnesota.
