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Part 1
Area NFL teams showing their muscle
By Jeff Mayfield
[OCT.
12, 2000]
At
least that’s what the fans of the St. Louis Rams and Indianapolis
Colts are saying. Both teams are off to a good start. In fact, the
Rams are one of only two undefeated teams in the entire National
Football League. The other of course, is the Minnesota Vikings. The
Chicago Bears on the other hand are not flexing their muscles. But,
do they have the personnel that those other teams have? This week
the LDN offers up a progress report and prognosticates on what the
future may hold.
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The
best thing I can probably say about the NFL can be summed up in one
word: parity! Fans all over the league are operating under the
fallacy that their area team actually has a chance to make it to the
Super Bowl. I would bet the hot tub that the
San
Diego Chargers will not make it to this year’s Super Bowl.
Unfortunately for all of our local Bears fans, I don’t think
Chicago is going to make it either. They started off with a good
showing against the Vikings in the Twinkie dome. They really
deserved a better fate. They even looked a little better when they
beat the Packers. However, their poor performance displayed against
the New Orleans Saints removes any hope that they’re climbing to
some acceptable level of consistency and respectability. They just
don’t seem to have enough skill at the skill positions. Their
inability to run the football consistently has put too much pressure
on quarterback Cade McNown. Also, the defense will need to step up
big on a regular basis for this team to improve.
The
Indianapolis Colts on the other hand, are entertaining Super Bowl
dreams of their own after making it to the AFC championship game
last year. Things may be not be going according to plan with their
recent losses to New England and a tough home setback to Oakland.
However, at times their offense looks as good as anybody’s. When
Peyton Manning is in rhythm, he is as good as anyone in the NFL.
[to top of second
column in this section]
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Edgerrin
James doesn’t seem like he is the dominant running back that he
was last year. If the Colts are to go deep in the playoffs, James
will have to punish people from week to week. I noticed how
important he is to the overall offensive scheme when I recently
attended their game with the Minnesota Vikings. When he was
clicking, the Colts looked pretty hard to stop. That may say more
about the Vikes' defense than it says about the offensive prowess of
Indianapolis.
Speaking
of the Vikings, their offense is really impressive. I know that they’re
not one of the local teams that loyal Lincoln Daily News readers
follow, but I’m on a roll here! Have you ever seen a quarterback
the size of Dante Culpepper? He is 6 feet 5 inches and weighs over
260 pounds. How would you like to try to bring this guy down in the
open field? Everyone dissed on the Vikings for letting all of their
good quarterbacks go to keep Culpepper. It appears that Coach Dennis
Green knew a lot more about it all than the armchair quarterback
nation!
Back
to the Colts… Several things impress me about them. One is the
emergence of Peyton Manning at the quarterback position at such a
young age. He is simply brilliant back there and has deserved a
better fate in the few games that they have lost the last two
seasons. The consistency of their kicking game also is one of their
strong suits, especially Mike Vanderjack. He has shown a consistency
that takes a lot of pressure off of both the offense and the
defense. In fact, the game I saw versus the Vikes, he calmly hit the
game winner as time expired. I think he has been one of the unsung
heroes of the Colts rise over the last two years. Their defense will
tell the story as to how far they will go this season.
(To
be continued)
[Jeff
Mayfield]
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