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Sunday, December 23, 2001

Compiled by Ed Bouchette

The Baltimore Ravens were not happy that Jerome Bettis compared Bengals linebacker Takeo Spikes to Ray Lewis?

Well, Spikes is not thrilled with the Ravens' reaction to it, particularly comments made by Baltimore tight end Shannon Sharpe.

Sharpe said comparing Spikes to Lewis was like comparing the movie "Dude, Where's My Car?" to the Oscar-winning "Titanic."

The Bengals, who beat Baltimore 21-10 in September, play the Ravens again today and Spikes is ready for Sharpe.

"The thing that really got me going was his little sidekick, Shannon Sharpe," Spikes said. "OK, since he wants to be Siskel and Ebert and rate movies, I'll rate this movie. I see him as if he were the movie 'Bring It On.' He's nothing but a cheerleader. That's what he does best, bump his gums."

Flapping those gums again, Sharpe pushed the button in Baltimore.

"The guys just need to realize that it's time to panic now," he said. "The playoffs are not a lock anymore. That's thanks to the 53 guys in this locker room. We really, really backed ourselves in the corner. We have no one else to blame."

The Denver Broncos, a Super Bowl favorite when the season began, are 7-7 and drifting, but owner Pat Bowlen claims the expectations were not too high for his team. "No they were not," he said. "The season has basically been a disaster from the standpoint of what we expected."

Injuries and the NFL's salary cap and free agency system can bring Super Bowl teams to their knees overnight and elevate others quickly. Last year's NFC champion New York Giants are on the verge of elimination and the Super Bowl champion Ravens are scrambling for a wild-card playoff berth. Tennessee, which had the best record in the NFL at 13-3 last season, has floundered.

"But the way the league works these days with free agency, it's much harder to have very solid football teams year in and year out," Bowlen said. "Look at the San Francisco 49ers. They were on the bottom two years ago and they were able to make their way back to the top by drafting good young players, filling in the holes, and getting some luck with people who have been able to come back and play. We could use some of that luck."

Some Broncos aren't happy that a few of their teammates made disparging remarks about Chiefs wide receiver Eddie Kennison before their game last Sunday. Kennison was released by Denver this year after he left the team Saturday night before a game against San Diego. The Chiefs then signed him, and Kennison caught three passes for 62 yards to help Kansas City beat Denver, 26-23, in overtime.

"Just because he's a traitor and don't have no heart doesn't mean he can't play," Denver linebacker John Mobley said.

Priest Holmes can became the fifth player since the 1970 NFL merger to lead the NFL in rushing for a last-place team. Barry Sanders did it twice in Detroit in 1990 and 1996. Floyd Little led the league with lowly Denver in 1971 and George Rogers did it for New Orleans in 1981.

Oakland fullback Jon Ritchie: "I think I am kind of like a hybrid. The heterozygous football player who is half lineman, half back." Hetero what? "It's genetics," Ritchie said. "You have the homozygous -- like an X [chromosome] and another X. When you have an X and a Y, it's heterozygous." Ritchie is a Stanford man.

The Ravens allowed 188 points in 20 games, regular and postseason, on way to winning the Super Bowl last season, an average of 9.4 a game. They've given up 240 points in 13 games and have allowed an average of 25.3 in their past four. Their 8-5 record is one game worse than after 13 games last season.

Oakland, which led the league in rushing last season, is one of only two teams that does not have a 100-yard runner in a game this season, along with Arizona.

Buffalo defensive end Phil Hanson has 145 career starts in the regular season. The 10 other starters on defense for the Bills last week have a combined 131 starts.

"Yeah, I learned a lot: Don't get hurt." -- Colts linebacker Mike Peterson, who was leading the Colts in tackles before a knee injury knocked him out in the eighth game.