Esiason Ignites Controversy By Questioning Coach
The inevitable finally happened: The New York Jets erupted Monday with a quarterback controversy. But not your run-of-the-mill controversy.
Rich Kotite, saying he doesn’t want to expose Boomer Esiason to the risk of another head injury this soon after his Oct. 8 concussion, announced that Bubby Brister will remain the starter for Sunday’s home game against the Patriots.
That didn’t sit well with Esiason, who was upset and bewildered by Kotite’s decision.
Esiason, claiming he’s fully recovered from the severe concussion, second-guessed Kotite’s decision, calling it “curious and dubious.” Esiason controlled his anger as he spoke with reporters in front of his locker, but he made it clear he was miffed.
“For whatever reason, it’s one of those decisions you scratch your head about. There have been a number of those,” said Esiason, taking a subtle shot at the many bizarre personnel moves by Kotite this season. “This just adds to that.”
Jones may return to 49ers
It was a good-news, worse-news day for the San Francisco 49ers. Tight end Brent Jones may not be lost for the season after all. Fullback William Floyd, meanwhile, faces a long road back.
Coach George Seifert said examinations of Jones’ right knee showed a strained, rather than torn, anterior-cruciate ligament. That could keep him from playing for up to four weeks.
Floyd may be out through the 1996 season after tearing his right knee’s anterior-cruciate ligament.
Pritchard cleared to play
One day after his arrest for striking two pedestrians with his sports car in an alcohol-related accident, Denver Broncos receiver Mike Pritchard was told by coach Mike Shanahan he can play this weekend.
Pritchard’s blue 1992 Porsche convertible jumped the curb early Sunday near the University of Colorado campus. One of the women hit by the car was hospitalized and the other was treated and released.
Police reports said breath tests showed Pritchard’s blood-alcohol level was 0.079 percent - below the Colorado standard for driving under the influence (0.10 percent) but in the range of driving with impaired ability.
Overtime becoming ordinary
After nine weeks of the season, there have been 17 overtime games. That’s just two games short of a record set over 16 weeks in 1983. Five of the 17 overtime games have been decided by touchdown returns (four interceptions and one punt return).
Consider that from 1974-94, just six overtime games were decided by touchdown returns (five interceptions and one kickoff return).
Expansion hurts NFL
A couple of days after his supposed Super Bowl-caliber Browns were defeated by the expansion Jacksonsville Jaguars at home, Cleveland owner Art Modell complained to his good friend Wellington Mara of the New York Giants.
“I told him, ‘I’ve got news for you. We went overboard on these expansion teams,”’ Modell said. “We gave them too much.”
That says a lot about the season’s first half. Play has been so mediocre that Modell laments about getting bullied by an expansion team and the league being too generous in helping them get started. The NFL loaded up the Jags and Carolina Panthers with an extra pick in each round of the draft. They had the usual expansion draft of unwanted veterans.
But they also had a full $37.1-million salary cap to wave at free agents. They started at $0 and went into the marketplace checkbook-first to fill it up. The result: the Jags and Panthers have combined for more victories than the Giants and Jets and already have tied the record for most wins by an expansion team with three.
End zone
Defensive tackle Andy Harmon, tied for second in the NFL with 8-1/2 sacks, agreed to a three-year, $7.55 million contract extension with Philadelphia… . Chip Lohmiller, signed by New Orleans to bring consistency to its kicking game, was cut after missing two field goals in the Saints’ 11-7 upset of the San Francisco 49ers… . St. Louis released rookie kicker Steve McLaughlin, who missed half of his 16 field-goal attempts and was only 2 for 6 between 30 and 40 yards.