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Sunday, November 25, 2001

Compiled by Ed Bouchette

Don't count out the Atlanta Falcons. The team that has Michael Vick as its backup quarterback is 5-4 and coming on in the NFC West Division. If they had not lost two overtime games against San Francisco, they would be a half-game behind the St. Louis Rams.

If the season had ended after last week's games, the Falcons would have the sixth and final playoff berth in the NFC. They are doing it despite a season-ending knee injury to running back Jamal Anderson.

These are the same Falcons who went from oblivion to win the NFC in 1998 and then went back to oblivion with records of 5-11 and 4-12 the past two seasons.

They play 1-9 Carolina today.

"We know what it's like to be in Carolina's shoes," Falcons cornerback Ray Buchanan said.

Who are you calling a punk?

Saints tackle Kyle Turley called members of the New Orleans media "a bunch of punks" and "bandwagon punks" for their reporting in the wake of his meltdown on the field three weeks ago against the Jets.

He refused to do interviews with them and threatened to talk only to those in the national media. Three days later, Turley had a change of heart and called a news conference to promote his concert at the House of Blues in New Orleans tomorrow. Turley plays guitar and, with some teammates, will host local musicians for a benefit concert.

The local press willingly reported the upcoming event, then Turley banned the New Orleans Times-Picayune from attending the concert to review it.

Strahan's complaint

Giants defensive end Michael Strahan was sackless but not speechless the past week after Minnesota tackle Chris Liwienski became the first opponent to shut him out all season.

Liwienski was called for one holding penalty.

"Some of those plays, I'm going to go to the local police and file assault charges," said Strahan. "Maybe we need to add another official. You can take it out of my salary. Each time I come inside, I've got the guy draped on me like a towel and I'm going to take a shower."

Strahan leads the league with 15 sacks.

"It's a joke," Strahan said of the officials. "At this point, we might as well not even have them out there."

Steelers had interest in Garcia

Jeff Garcia leads the NFC with a 95.2 passer rating and his team, the 49ers, are a half-game behind the Rams with a 7-2 record.

Except for a snowstorm, Garcia could be playing quarterback for the Steelers. The late Max McCartney, a Steelers' college scouting director at the time, pushed for the Steelers to take a look at Garcia when Garcia was a star in the Canadian Football League. A trip was scheduled for him to come here in February 1999 but it was canceled because of a snowstorm and never rescheduled.

Garcia signed with the 49ers and the Steelers stuck with Mike Tomczak as their backup one more year.

It probably was a good thing for both. Garcia has thrived in San Francisco with the West Coast offense, which is not the Steelers system. And the Steelers have gone 14-6 with Kordell Stewart as their starting quarterback the past two seasons.

Garcia has led the 49ers to comeback victories in the fourth quarter four times this year, tying Joe Montana's team record set in 1989.

Quick slants

Don't expect them to rename the Super Bowl trophy after him, but Mike Sherman's 15-10 record with the Packers matches what Vince Lombardi had after 25 games in Green Bay.

The 49ers are 5-0 when they trail at halftime and 3-1 in overtime games. The overtime wins tie an NFL record shared by the '97 Steelers, the '95 Chiefs and the '94 Lions.

The Steelers wanted wide receiver David Boston in the 1999 draft but Arizona took him with the eighth pick and the Steelers grabbed Troy Edwards with the 13th. Boston caught 40 passes as a rookie, Edwards 61. Today, Boston leads the NFC with 60 receptions; Edwards has seven.

Giants quarterback Kerry Collins has fumbled 14 times, 11 in the past five games. The record is 21, set by Tony Banks of St. Louis in 1996.