Sunday, September 14, 2003

By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden wrote a book with Vic Carucci that comes out soon and, naturally, talks about the presence that Al Davis has ... because of his smell.

"Al wore distinctive cologne that I can smell to this day," Gruden writes in the laboriously titled "Do You Love Football?! Winning with Heart, Passion and Not Much Sleep."

"I knew he was coming down the hall before he ever got to my office.

"Al called me by a nickname, too, but it wasn't Chucky. It was Butch, although I never knew why. He'd say, 'Butch, did you see the right corner on this play?' ...

"At first, I looked at such comments maybe negatively, like he was questioning every single thing we were doing. Then I started looking at it as if I was Al and I owned the team and it was all I cared about. I started thinking I'd probably be the same way."

Plenty of Penn Staters

Penn State might have dropped out of the Top 25 in the college polls, but the Nittany Lions were in the top 10 in the NFL. Penn State ranked tied for 10th among colleges with 28 players on NFL opening-day rosters. Florida and Notre Dame tied at the top with 40 players each. The rest of the top 10: Florida State (37), Georgia (36), Miami (36), Tennessee (36), Texas A&M (33), Michigan (31), Ohio State (29), Penn State (28) and Nebraska (28).

Opening statement

Making a good first impression in the NFL counts for something. Of the 346 teams that won their openers since 1978, when the NFL went to a 16-game schedule, 182 made the playoffs. That's 52.6 percent. Of the 346 teams that lost their openers, only 82 went to the playoffs, or 23.7 percent.

Still not the one

This was supposed to be the year Antonio Bryant made his move after leading all rookies with 733 yards receiving last season in Dallas. But he's still the Cowboys' No. 3 receiver behind Joey Galloway and Terry Glenn.

Insignificant sweep

Last season, the Saints became the second team to sweep the eventual Super Bowl champions and not make the playoffs. The Saints beat Tampa Bay twice, and the Redskins defeated the 1995 Cowboys twice.

Zero tolerance

Tampa Bay can join the old St. Louis Cardinals and the Steelers as the only teams to record three consecutive shutouts since the 1970 league merger if they hold Carolina scoreless today. The Cardinals did it in 1970. The Steelers are the only team to do it twice. They had three in a row in 1976, then ended that season with two more and blanked San Francisco in the 1977 opener.

No help up front

There's a thin line in front of Kordell Stewart in Chicago. IUP alum Chris Villarial is the latest Bears' lineman to be injured. He'll miss 4-6 weeks with a sprained left knee. That left the Bears with one experienced starter on their offensive line.

Packers go soft

The Packers did not practice in pads the week of their opener and had not practiced in them since Aug. 20. The Vikings practiced in pads all that first week and won in Green Bay, 30-25. "It showed," Vikings defensive tackle Chris Hovan said. "They're a more finesse team, more dink-and-dunk. We're a more physical team. We get after it." When the Packers began practice for Detroit last week, they had on full pads.

Sinking Tuna

Bill Parcells made it to the final six modern-day candidates for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002, but wasn't elected. What happens if his Cowboys go 5-11 this season, just as they have the past three? What happens if they lose again in 2004 and Parcells quits out of frustration? Or, he keeps coaching and they keep losing? You could flush one Hall of Fame candidate right out to sea.

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