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Sunday, November 11, 2001

Compiled by Ed Bouchette

No one has been able to collar Priest Holmes, including some of the best defenses in the league. The Kansas City Chiefs' running back gouged the Steelers for 150 yards rushing Oct. 14. The Steelers have the league's top defense against the run.

Holmes ran through the Chargers last week for 181 yards, the first time in 19 games anyone has run for 100 against San Diego. The Chargers had the third-best defense against the run before that game.

The Chiefs, who haven't had a back rush for 1,000 yards since Christian Okoye 10 years ago, are about to have one. Holmes, who left Baltimore as a free agent, has 711 yards in eight games. He's the league's second-leading rusher behind Curtis Martin (804) and just ahead of Jerome Bettis (703). Holmes has the highest average per carry of anyone with more than 350 yards at 5.3.

Sworn enemies

Mike Shanahan never lets a chance go by to take a swipe at Al Davis, who still owes him $250,000 from his days as coach of the Raiders.

Oakland Coach Jon Gruden's contract is up after next season, and Shanahan would like to see him move on.

"I'm hoping with the situation like it is, that Al doesn't pay him the type of contract he deserves when his contract is up. So we can get him out of the AFC West. He's always been tight when it came to head coaches. I'm hoping [Davis] doesn't take care of him."

By the way, the NFL likes to call itself family entertainment, but that is X-rated stuff when the cameras constantly zoom in on Gruden along the sideline. He tosses out more expletives than Eddie Murphy doing standup. And Notre Dame is interested in him as a coach?

Sad sacks

Oakland's Rich Gannon leads the NFL with a 98.7 passer rating, but even he doesn't think the statistic measures the true worth of a quarterback.

"I think sometimes it's skewed because guys are rewarded for taking sacks and not throwing it away," Gannon said. "Throwing it away would help the team a lot more but hurt his quarterback rating."

Sacks do not count in a passer rating, nor do yards rushing by a quarterback, nor touchdowns rushing. Quarterbacks have been known to take sacks rather than throw it away in order to protect their rating.

Florida flop

Jacksonville rests at the bottom of the AFC Central Division and might never get up. The Jaguars are 9-15 since they whipped Miami, 62-7, in the 1999 playoffs.

They have been a one-dimensional team with no running game. Now, things are starting to get a little hot in Jacksonville.

Coach Tom Coughlin has been trading shots with his players . Defensive players blamed Coughlin for playing a soft zone in a loss to Tennessee last week.

Said Coughlin, "It's easy to sit back and say, 'You should have done this, you should have done that' ... some way, we need to make a play."

Said linebacker Kevin Hardy, "I think in that situation we need to be in a more aggressive scheme. We probably need to play man to man coverage."

Quick slants

Jim Kelly, the pride of East Brady, Pa., will see his name go on Buffalo's Wall of Fame at Ralph Wilson Stadium next Sunday. Kelly is in the first year of eligibility for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Houston Texans can't sign players until late December, but they've begun working out free agents. Defensive backs and offensive linemen visited this past week.

The Jets' 5-3 record has been fueled by a league-high plus-15 in turnover ratio, a statistic which can make up for other ills on the team.

San Diego, which beat the Broncos three weeks ago, can sweep the series in Denver today. They haven't done that since 1982, the year before John Elway arrived.

The effect of coaching? Tennessee was first in defense and first in defense against the pass last season. Then, coordinator Gregg Williams left to become Buffalo's coach and took secondary coach Jerry Gray with him. The Titans are 27th in defense and 30th against the pass this season.