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Sunday, November 25, 2001

Compiled by Ed Bouchette

Bill Cowher pointed out last week that the past four Super Bowl teams had come from nowhere to reach the championship game.

What he did not mention was that after the big game, they returned to where they had come from -- nowhere. It appears the teams that played in January's Super Bowl will follow the trend.

The defending NFC champion New York Giants are 5-5 and, as seen Monday night, falling apart. The defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens are 6-4 and have the ignominy of losing to the Cleveland Browns twice.

The champions of the 1998 season, Denver and Atlanta, went from the Super Bowl to a combined 11-21 in 1999. The 1999 champs, St. Louis and Tennessee, did not fare as poorly but they were knocked out in their first playoff games a year later.

Repeat winners were a fad that has ended. It looks as though this will be the third consecutive season that neither Super Bowl team will have returned to the big game.

In the case of the Giants and Ravens, poor luck with injuries are part of it, but so too is the NFL's free-agency system and talent being spread thinly across the league. One year, a team catches the wind and sails to a championship; the next season, it remains still in the water.

Baltimore has been ravaged by injuries, the most recent to defensive end Michael McCrary. He's done for the season, another blow to a team that lost halfback Jamal Lewis and tackle Leon Searcy before they played a game. McCrary led the team with 7 1/2 sacks and his 64 tackles led the defensive line. He had started 72 consecutive games.

But the poor Ravens offense also has caught up to it. Brian Billick, the offensive genius from Minnesota who became the Ravens' head coach, dumped Trent Dilfer, last year's quarterback for their second-half run, and signed Elvis Grbac.

Grbac has been dreadful. He threw four interceptions and lost a fumble in a 27-17 loss a week ago to Cleveland in Baltimore. It's gotten so bad that Billick issued a gag order on his players, threatening fines if they talk about their teammates.

That came after tight end Shannon Sharpe said some unkind words about his quarterback.

"He was brought here to do a job, and the job is not getting done," Sharpe said. "If Elvis is down, he can't get any lower. In all of my 12 years, I have never had someone cheer for my backup to come in the ballgame. I've always been positive. I don't know if he can be any lower."

The Ravens can cut their losses with Grbac if they wish. He signed for an $11 million bonus, but $6 million of that is at the club's option if they want him back next year. In two years, Billick has started Scott Mitchell, Stoney Case, Tony Banks, Dilfer, Grbac and Randall Cunningham at quarterback.

On to the Giants, who helped jump-start the Redskins' comeback by losing to them. The Giants just aren't that good. Kerry Collins is up one day, down the next. Tiki Barber is not good enough to carry the ball all the time and Ron Dayne, the other half of the Thunder and Lightning combination, has been a disappointment.

Coach Jim Fassel recently stated the obvious.

"We're going to have to go five-out-of-six or six-out-of-six. Anything less, I think we're not going to make it."

The Giants' schedule won't facilitate that. They play Oakland today and while they do have Dallas and Arizona left, they also must play Seattle, Philadelphia and Green Bay. That's not a 5-1 schedule for them.

So while baseball, basketball and hockey can still do it, the dynasty is dead in the NFL. The days of a team like the Dallas Cowboys winning three out of four Super Bowls have ended.