| Memo to the movers and shakers at
"Monday Night Football": Boomer Esiason was NOT the problem.
Granted, he was definitely on the bland side. But it definitely wasn’t his fault
MNF was so hard to watch this past season.
It was the games — or, more accurately, the teams — that were hand-picked as
potential marquee attractions on the 1999 NFL schedule.
Last year, eight teams tied for the most Monday-night appearances with three apiece
— Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Green Bay, Miami, Minnesota, the New York Jets and San
Francisco.
Their combined ’99 record? A hardly scintillating 58-70 (.453).
On the other hand, a whopping 14 teams were left off the MNF log altogether. Heading
the list were five playoff teams, led by Super Bowl participants St. Louis and Tennessee.
(Indianapolis, Washington and Detroit were the others.) Also excluded from the mix were
three teams — Baltimore, Carolina and Chicago — whose stock continues to rise
right up to the present due to the dramatic improvement they showed in ’99 and the
offseason moves they’ve made since then.
As far as the ’99 games were concerned, only a few were worth losing sleep over.
In a season earmarked by an inordinate number of close games, only two Monday-night
clashes had victory margins of three or fewer points. Denver did have a six-point overtime
victory over the Raiders in Week 11, but you get the point.
At the same time, 10 of last year’s 17 Monday-nighters had victory margins of
seven or more points.
It’s no wonder remotes around the nation set new records in station changes.
Obviously, the NFL schedule makers didn’t bank on early season-ending injuries to
superstars such as the Broncos’ Terrell Davis, the Falcons’ Jamal Anderson, the
Jets’ Vinny Testaverde and the 49ers’ Steve Young. Those injuries were primarily
responsible for their teams’ sudden swoons. (Both Anderson and Young, it should be
noted, went down for the count in consecutive early-season Monday-nighters.)
But in the NFL, circa 2000, unpredictability has become the norm. Instant sensations, a
la the Rams, have become commonplace. So have instant busts.
You have to figure St. Louis will get top Monday-night billing this season, based on
its super rise through the ranks. But what happens if Marshall Faulk gets whacked early on
as Anderson did in Week Two last year at Dallas? At last look, after they released Amp Lee
last week, there were just three running backs on the Rams’ roster behind Faulk
— Robert Holcombe, Justin Watson and James Hodgins.
Can you say "yikes"?
So what’s the solution? That’s a tough one.
Can alterations be made in the schedule during the season to reflect the best draws for
special prime-time occasions? The league and ABC have discussed this possibility, and it
seems that certain switches from Sunday to Monday could be made without wreaking too much
havoc.
Yeah, some coaches would probably gripe about shorter work weeks, but if the
Monday-night mystique is somehow recaptured, the majority of players will welcome the
opportunity to strut their stuff on THE game of the week.
Another thing the powers-that-be should consider is waiting until at least the second
week of June to draw up the 2000 schedule. There are still some potential big moves (such
as Jeff George possibly moving on to a new team) that could linger into the late spring
and genuinely impact the 2000 slate.
If nothing earthshaking materializes, the extra time would still be worthwhile as far
as assessing the draft and the possible emergence of heavyweights such as the Colts’
Edgerrin James who could make pretenders into sudden contenders.
It would still be a guessing game — but with a lot more educated guesses.
As far as the guys in the booth go, the best-case scenario is, and always has been, a three-man
crew, as was the case back in the MNF glory days when Frank Gifford, "Dandy" Don
Meredith and Howard Cosell ruled the roost.
From the start, Esiason was asked to take on too heavy a role, and the feeling here is
that with the right No. 3 guy, he could have developed into a solid keeper.
Early scuttlebutt suggests that Bill Parcells and Steve Young (provided the growing
rumors of his impending retirement are accurate) are the front-runners to replace Esiason,
but neither of them seems like an instant difference-maker by himself.
Which brings us to perhaps the biggest question:
Is there a No. 3 guy who could spice things up and turn the tables?
Cris Collinsworth, maybe? Or Matt Millen?
Stay tuned. |
