Home >  Sports >  Notebooks

Sunday, October 07, 2001

Compiled by Ed Bouchette

NFL players wanted grass, and now they've got it -- coming out in clumps the size of suitcases in Charlotte, N.C., last week.

New sod, three weeks old, came up so often in the Carolina-Green Bay game last Sunday that it has alarmed the NFL Players Association.

There were as many as 23 sod squad members running onto the field during timeouts to make repairs. Even players joined in. There haven't been that many divots since "Caddyshack." Some holes were reportedly bigger than those on McCardle Roadway.

Ericsson Stadium was rated the No. 2 grass surface in the league in player surveys as recently as 2000. However, they fired their groundskeeper in February, and the new guy apparently isn't that good.

"The hottest topic in our industry is liability lawsuits," said Ray Brincefield, North Carolina State's head groundskeeper. "It goes to a whole other level with the NFL and a group like the players' union. It's awfully scary what could come out of a situation like that."

49ers find room to run

The West Coast offense isn't all air show and no go on the ground.

The Steelers are the No. 2 rushing team in the NFL, which is no surprise. But holding down No. 1 are those finesse guys in San Francisco, the 49ers.

They had to get a runner out of Pittsburgh -- Kevan Barlow -- to help them do so, but the 49ers have been running well for years with little fanfare.

They ranked higher in rushing than in passing 1997-99, although last season they were fourth in the NFL and 18th in rushing.

"If you have to throw for 300 yards to win it, hopefully, you're equipped to do that," 49ers Coach Steve Mariucci said. "And if you have to rush for 200 yards to win it, hopefully you're equipped to do that."

Bad investment

The Dallas Cowboys gave up two first-round draft picks and sunk $42 million to sign receiver Joey Galloway in 2000.

They should have just thrown one big party and kept the picks.

Galloway has 12 catches for 113 yards, and has been as productive as a dry oil well. He missed all last season after an injury in the opener against Philadelphia. Last Sunday, he had no catches against Philadelphia.

"My expectations are for him to be a really dominant factor in our offense," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said.

In Jerry's offense these days, 12 catches for 113 yards is dominant.

Three of a kind

The mighty have fallen in the NFC East, and the annual doormat hasn't budged. Dallas, Washington and Arizona are winless, and their eight losses have come by an average of 33-11. Only one of the eight games was lost by fewer than 30 points.

Keeping the faith

Two newspaper columnists in Washington have called for Dan Snyder to fire Coach Marty Schottenheimer after three games, but Snyder refuses to hand him over to the mob.

"We all must have a little more faith than we do," Snyder said.

In the meantime, the home crowd last week booed Schottenheimer's halftime commercial for a Pentagon relief fund.

Quick slants

Arizona quarterback Jake Plummer, in response to a reporter's question about all the jeers he heard at home last Sunday: "I thought they were booing you." The good news for Plummer is only 28,878 tickets were sold, and about 20,000 people bothered to turn out and boo.

Wayne McGarity fumbled a punt for Dallas against Philadelphia last Sunday, then said, "We've still got 13 games left." He was cut on Wednesday.

Eagles Coach Andy Reid, on what he said to Rod "He Hate Me" Smart after signing the former XFL halfback to the practice squad: "I asked him who his English teacher was."

Things are so bad in Minnesota that the leading receiver is not Randy Moss, not Cris Carter but Byron Chamberlain, a tight end. He has 16 catches for 221 yards.

George Seifert's Carolina Panthers are 4-0 against his old team, the 49ers, where he had a 103-35 record as coach, the best winning percentage in NFL history at .755.