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Thursday, March 29, 2001

PALM DESERT, Calif. -- The NFL yesterday said yes to instant replay and yes, it will have no bandannas.

The owners voted to keep instant replay to aid officiating for at least the next three years and voted to ban the wearing of bandannas by players on the sideline.

The coaches' challenge system that has been used the past two years will be maintained. It's the first time the NFL has decided to keep the system longer than one year.

"It's very expensive, and the situation justifies it for three years," Steelers President Dan Rooney said. "Last year, it came off very well. I think on the whole, it's the right thing."

While they voted to disallow the increasingly popular wearing of bandannas by players, the owners decided to permit them to wear standard, team-issued skull caps. The wearing of bandannas was judged by some as giving the NFL a poor image. At the same time, many players prefer to wear something under their helmet, especially in cold weather.

"Some players shave their head, and they feel it's better to have something on in the cold weather," Rooney said. "Basically, it was a uniform issue."

Capers' viewing

Dom Capers has a year to get ready before he coaches the expansion Houston Texans in 2002. This summer, he hopes to travel around various NFL training sites to view practices in camps.

"How many times do you get a chance to do that?" he asked.

Perhaps not as many as he would like. Capers served as defensive coordinator under Bill Cowher with the Steelers and, most recently, Tom Coughlin in Jacksonville. Both said he would not be welcome at their training camps.

When Coughlin had a year to get ready for the expansion Jaguars, he visited training camps in the summer of 1994, including the Steelers' in Latrobe. That, Cowher said, was an oversight. Coughlin said just because other teams let him in doesn't mean he's going to do it.

"The Steelers did, so did Art Modell. He drove by on his golf cart and said, 'Tom, do you have your team picked yet?' and kept on going."

Zone blitz ineffective

Dick LeBeau introduced the zone-blitz defense to the Steelers in the early 1990s, and they caught many offenses by surprise with it through the middle part of the decade.

But the novel defense might have run its course. Its use throughout football spread, and as offenses became more accustomed to facing it, they became more effective against it.

"I don't think it has quite the impact it had when it was more novel, or when you had Greg Lloyd, Kevin Greene, Rod Woodson and Carnell Lake," LeBeau said. "That was an unusual blend of football. But I don't see a game that they don't run a zone blitz. It's here to stay."

The defense in its most basic form brings a blitz from unanticipated players while dropping others in a zone. For example, an inside linebacker would blitz and a defensive end would drop back into a short zone.

"The soundness of the zone blitz allows you to pressure a little more safely," LeBeau said. "And that factor I don't think will ever leave the game. I will bet anybody that you put on any game, college or pro, and you'll see the zone blitz before the game's over."

Bettis endorsement

The Bengals must defend against him twice annually, but LeBeau was happy to see the Steelers re-sign Jerome Bettis.

"I think it's great. That's where he should be. He was definitely a large part of our success when I was there. I have a special feeling for that man. I think he's a great talent and even a better person. It just seems like he should stay with Pittsburgh and finish up there. He's one of the strongest backs that ever played."

Fisher's prediction

Coach Jeff Fisher's Tennessee Titans had the best record in the NFL at 13-3, then lost their first playoff game to Baltimore, 24-10.

It might be why Fisher refused to admit that the defending Super Bowl champions are the team to beat this year.

"There's a lot of good teams," Fisher said. "I couldn't pick one of them. Logic would suggest it's the team that won the Super Bowl. They're one of them. But Jacksonville, Pittsburgh ... we have some good clubs in our division. I think three's a lot of good clubs in the AFC."