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Sunday, December 15, 2002

By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Tony Dungy keeps trying to fight the good fight against instant replay, an abomination on the sport.

"When we put it in," the Colts' coach said, "we said that it wasn't going to have an influence on the officials and the way they call the game, but clearly it has. So I think we're going to have to look at something where we make some adjustments.

"The compromise would be to not lose the challenge if you're right. That way if you're challenging some easy calls, you still have some challenges left at the end of the game."

The current system is ludicrous. Each coach gets to challenge calls twice a half, and challenges are then up to an official in the booth in the final two minutes of each half.

Here's a scenario: Bill Cowher successfully challenges two calls in the first half. An obviously poor ruling is made with 2:01 left in the second quarter, but it's not permitted to be reviewed. But if the play occurs with 1:59 left in the half, the officials can review it.

"Now we're letting the coaches officiate the game," Dungy said. "I don't think that's good."

Run for cover

Tom Coughlin, a good coach but a poor general manager, may be nearing the end in Jacksonville.

Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver ripped Coughlin's strategy of covering Cleveland's successful Hail Mary pass last Sunday with a Cover 2 defense.

"It's coaching when we ... there's a call where we're in two-deep coverage when we should have had seven or eight people back in the end zone," Weaver said.

Coughlin defended the coverage call until he learned what Weaver had said.

"Yes, we should have had five guys standing there at the 20-yard line," Coughlin said. "It's a mistake, and I accept full responsibility for the mistake and, certainly, Wayne is right in his position, and that's that."

Williams cashes in

By hitting 1,500 yards rushing, Ricky Williams has cost Miami another first-round draft pick to New Orleans. Williams gets a $1 million incentive bonus. If he reaches 1,550 yards, he gets $1.4 million, then it goes up $200,000 for each 100 yards until it is capped at 1,950 and $2 million.

Then, those numbers automatically are added to Williams' base salary next season, in essence doubling every incentive bonus he reaches this year.

Quick slants

The Colts' Marvin Harrison is the only player in history to have more than 100 catches in four consecutive seasons. "I've coached 17 years in the NFL," said Houston defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, formerly with the Colts, "and I was in the NFC West when Jerry Rice was in his prime, and I think he's a better receiver than Rice was in his prime."

Last week, 13 of the 16 AFC teams were separated by just 5 1/2 games. It's the same this week. Two teams in the NFC have clinched playoff spots, none in the AFC. Four more could be clinched in the NFC this weekend, only one in the AFC -- Oakland.

Bills fullback Larry Centers on Buffalo's playoff chances: "I can imagine what an attorney must feel like when all the evidence is stacked against his client. Or what a surgeon is feeling when everyone else is saying his patient doesn't have a chance."

Patriots Coach Bill Belichick on all the playoff contenders who had four-game losing streaks this season: "That's the way it is in this league now. You're always one week away from disaster. That's where we are, just like Indianapolis. A week ago, they were on top of the AFC. Now they're looking uphill. It can all change in one week."

"Six Feet Under" is the nickname Laveranues Coles has put on the Jets' receiving trio of him, Wayne Chrebet and Santana Moss, all under 6 feet tall.

In Cleveland, where his performance has been booed and his injury cheered, Tim Couch is 1-3 with a 62.8 passer rating. On the road, he is 5-2 with a 79.0 rating.

The three top career receivers in NFL history will be on the same field today when Oakland brings Jerry Rice (1,448 catches) and Tim Brown (1,007) to Miami, where Cris Carter (1,097) plays.