This was supposed to be the final Sunday of the regular season until Sept. 11 pushed Week 2 to next week. Neither of the next two weeks is shaping up the way the NFL would have liked.
There isn’t a single game Sunday between two winning teams.
Next week only two games between winning teams are guaranteed–the Jets at Oakland and Philadelphia at Tampa Bay. Some 7-7 teams could win this week and increase that number.
The only game with playoff implications for both teams Sunday is the 7-7 Giants at the 9-5 Eagles.
The defending NFC champion Giants are trying to keep the Eagles from clinching the NFC East, which the Eagles could do next week in Tampa regardless.
Not by design is the NFL saving most of its head-to-head drama for the playoffs. But the head-to-head quarterback faceoff Sunday between the Giants’ Kerry Collins and the Eagles’ Donovan McNabb has promise.
While playoff-bound quarterbacks Jim Miller, Kurt Warner, Jeff Garcia, Tom Brady, Rich Gannon and Kordell Stewart have exceeded expectations this year or in other years, Collins and McNabb have yet to fulfill the high demands of their status as former No. 1 draft choices.
Their game Sunday could help make or break their reputations. Collins is coming off two late game-winning drives. McNabb is coming off a disappointing three-point performance in San Francisco.
Collins beat the Eagles three times last year en route to the Super Bowl yet has struggled among the bottom third of passers this season. McNabb beat the Giants 10-9 on Oct. 22 with a late pass but has been short on big plays for most of the season. The Eagles rank 30th in third-down efficiency, with McNabb completing only 51 percent of his third-down throws.
Eagles coach Andy Reid refuses to buy into Philadelphia fear that McNabb is dropping off from last year’s performance as the runner-up for league MVP.
“He’s a third-year quarterback and he’s [already] one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL,” Reid said. “If you can say that about a guy in his third year, it’s a great tribute to the player.”
Collins and McNabb will be under pressure from strong defenses as well as impatient fans. To the winner goes at least a one-week reprieve.
Terrible, terrific Terrell: Terrell Owens and the 49ers return Sunday to Dallas, where Owens put his stamp on the NFL rulebook by dancing on the Cowboys’ star at midfield not once but twice.
Coach Steve Mariucci suspended Owens for a week, and there is lingering animosity between the coach and his star receiver.
Owens also joined the list of NFL players who have “changed the game,” even though under the definitions of unsportsmanlike conduct, “stomping on a team logo” is not expressly forbidden.
Displaying his short attention span, Owens showed up for practice Wednesday wearing a white T-shirt with a video image of him standing on the star.
Owens could argue his classless act had a lasting effect. The 49ers won last year’s game 41-24. At the time they were 1-14 in the previous 15 games. They are 17-10 in the last 27 games. But quarterback Jeff Garcia doesn’t want an encore.
“It’s a team game,” Garcia said. “We’re trying to make plays as a team. I agree with celebrating as a team. I don’t necessarily agree with separating yourself from the team.”
“I think T.O. has gotten much better with that sort of thing over the past year. He does a lot of positive things for this team, and I think he has appreciated his teammates and how we’ve responded to him and backed him in many ways. So I don’t think those types of situations are going to happen again.”
Marshall vs. Colts: When the Colts traded Marshall Faulk to the Rams before the 1999 season for second- and fifth-round draft picks, nobody knew it would transform the Rams into a Super Bowl team. Nobody knew Faulk’s replacement, Edgerrin James, would lead the league in rushing until he got hurt this season.
Faulk will face his former team for the first time Sunday.
Faulk said he had no feelings toward the Colts “other than just thanking them for giving me an opportunity, picking me second and providing a great work environment and allowing me to become a professional and learning the game there. I don’t think [the trade] was as much personal as people perceived it to be. When you look at it, it was one of the smart decisions that they could have made.
“They had a young quarterback. I’d probably be playing with Peyton [Manning]. And if I was there, and they’re going through what they are right now, you would have a clock ticking with your quarterback and your running back. Whereas with him and Edgerrin together, you have years to grow.”
Nice team: The New Orleans Saints have had 17 personal fouls–unsportsmanlike conduct, unnecessary roughness, roughing the passer–called against them in 14 games.
Carter tour: Minnesota receiver Cris Carter is acting as if he wants to be next season’s Jerry Rice. Besides dropping hints he’s through with the Vikings, he has left the door open to join a team like the Packers, for whom he will be auditioning Sunday.
But Packers quarterback Brett Favre and safety LeRoy Butler told the Wisconsin State Journal they doubted it.
“I don’t know if [Carter] would fit within the framework of our system,” Favre said. “I know one thing: What’s made this team successful over the years is unselfishness. Not saying that he’s selfish and wants the ball, but if he went through a season like our guys have to … where he might only have two catches in a game, how impatient will he be?”
Said Butler: “We’ve never had anyone like [Carter]. I don’t know if what you’d get out of it would outweigh what else you’d get out of it. I don’t even think it’ll be something we’ll look at. Not at all. I don’t see what we’d be gaining. He’d gain more staying in Minnesota than leaving for anywhere else.”
Maybe Carter just wants to get away from old buddy Randy Moss after serving as his mentor for four seasons. Asked about Moss’ insistence that he plays hard only when he feels like it, Carter told Green Bay reporters:
“I ask myself the question, `Is that what you taught him, or did you teach him something else?’ So I take personal offense to it because that’s not the way you approach the game. You play when they make the schedule. When the commissioner gives the schedule, that’s when you play.
“And I know what Randy was trying to say . . . but then he came back the following week and said he meant what he said, so I couldn’t even cover up for it. So I think you take it personal.
“There’s probably 99 percent of the players in the league have less ability than Randy has. . . . We know we have to give our absolute best to even perform in the NFL, and we know it’s not easy.”
