Monday, Jan. 15, 2001

Monday Musings

Thoughts on the coaching carousel, the Super Bowl matchup and enjoying the NFL on radio

By Trent Modglin, Associate editor

Thinking back, isn’t it altogether possible the Ravens’ offense is the worst ever to make it to the Super Bowl? If you quickly discount this claim, you may just need more time to think about it.

Everywhere, in every sport, you always hear talk about how "players play the games" and should get the lion’s share of the credit when things are prosperous, as well as the criticism when things go poorly. If that’s true, what is the reasoning for the madness surrounding coaching vacancies the past two weeks? Everywhere you look there are head coaches, coordinators and assistant coaches getting hired or fired, promoted or demoted, welcomed in as one of the family or tossed aside like yesterday’s newspaper. Teams asking permission to talk to assistants, personnel directors and TV analysts getting big-time front-office gigs, two retired coaches rejoining the fray and a whirlwind of speculation surrounding who’s going where and at what price — it’s enough to make your head spin. One thing is certain, as far as the mess of a coaching carousel is concerned, frequent-flier miles are as popular as ever.

At halftime of the Giants’ impressive win over Minnesota, New York had 10 plays of 15 yards or more, and the Vikings had zero. Yeah, you expected that.

Kerry Collins can be as impressive a passer as anyone in the league when he has the time. Then again, if a dozen other mid-level quarterbacks had the time Collins had Sunday, I’d probably be saying the same thing about them.

I got the wind knocked out of me when I saw Tony Siragusa’s 350 pounds of girth land on Rich Gannon. I can’t imagine what Gannon felt like.

The Broncos, Titans and Raiders — the second-, 14^th- and sixth-rated offenses in the league respectively — could muster only a combined 16 points vs. the Ravens.

Successfully running the ball up the gut against the Ravens is a lot like a long-jumper successfully clearing the Grand Canyon.

Kudos to Westwood One’s radio crew of Howard David, Matt Millen and Boomer Esiason. They may be the best broadcasting combination I’ve ever heard, and I’m deciding that based strictly on listening to them for the third quarter of the Giants’ win. Their casual, joking, yet informative spin on the game was refreshing in comparison to most announcers — especially in radio — who are often as dry as leftover turkey the week after Thanksgiving. Granted, they were dealing with a blowout, but this was a personable group that brought some life to the airwaves. It sounded as though I was listening to three friends remarking on the game over hot wings at a sports bar. And it was enjoyable that way. Esiason and David ragged on Millen for devouring a sandwich during the broadcast, and at one point, Esiason and Millen handed the headsets over to their young sons for a uniquely different perspective on the game.

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2000 - 2001 Season