THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 25, 1994 TAG: 9409250167
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: JIM DUCIBELLA
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
As bad blood goes, the Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings shouldn't be more than a blip on the Hate-O-Meter. An incident a month or so ago may have changed all that, making today's game in Minneapolis more than just another inter-conference matchup.
It started with a pair of roughing-the-passer calls against Vikings defensive end James Harris. He was kicked out of the game, fined $7,500 and criticized by Dolphins offensive linemen for going after reserve quarterback Bernie Kosar's knees.
``(Harris) is up high and there's nobody confronting him and he dove right at Bernie's knee,'' offensive tackle Ron Heller said recently. Heller ran after Harris after one of his sacks. ``We had noticed on film that whenever they had a shot at the quarterback, instead of coming up high, they would dive down low. Not one of them, all of them. I noticed early in the game they were guilty of that.''
``Our response is, in the 2 1/2 years we've been here, that was only our fourth roughing the passer call and that wasn't a good call,'' Vikes defensive coordinator Tony Dungy said. ``They don't like us going down low at their quarterback's legs. Their coach, Don Shula, is on the competition committee and he has it so you can't hit a quarterback up high and if you touch a quarterback in the head, it's a 15-yard penalty. So we don't go high, we go low. I would suggest talk to their coach and get him to get the rule changed if they are worried about the way we come in to play.''
Shula, who is the co-chairman of the competition committee, said the penalty for going low against a quarterback has ``been a league rule for years.''
``I think they were fined and that was after it was studied by the league officials,'' Shula said. ``It was declared illegal by the officials. We wouldn't want to do it to (Vikings quarterback Warren) Moon and we wouldn't want them to do it to (Dolphins quarterback Dan) Marino.''
CATCHING FLAK: Giants running back Rodney Hampton says he will start wearing a flak jacket when he comes back from the back and kidney injuries that will probably sideline him for another couple weeks.
But he won't shy away from turning his back to get extra yardage, even though he described the blow as ``devastating'' and the hardest he has taken in all his years playing football.
``I don't think it was a dirty hit,'' said Hampton, who took a helmet to his back from Arizona's Lorenzo Lynch in the third quarter of a 20-17 win a couple weeks ago. ``I was trying to get the extra yardage and my back was exposed. And the guy put a helmet right in my back. I don't think he tried to do it.''
Hampton is eying the Oct. 2 game against the Saints for his return.
WATCH YOUR OWN FILM, DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS: We hear ex-Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson, while doing his homework for his new job as a Fox pregame announcer, is having difficulty gleaning inside info from former colleagues.
Many are apparently afraid that when he becomes a coach again next year, he will use that information against them.
SLOW STARTER: September has never been Buddy Ryan's favorite month. In his first season as Philadelphia's coach in 1986, he also lost his first three. Then Ryan lost four of his first five games in 1987, three of his first four in 1988, two of his first four in 1989 and three of his first four in 1990.
So Arizona's 0-3 start should not be a surprise. But the lack of emotion and fire by the Cardinals certainly is.
The first two losses, the offense didn't show up. Ryan's defense played well enough to win. In fact, the Cardinals ranked first in the NFL in defense after two weeks. But the offense ranked last and managed only 29 points.
The offense gave Ryan another inept showing last Sunday against the Browns. Ryan changed quarterbacks, benching Steve Beuerlein in favor of Jim McMahon, but he didn't get the spark he was hoping for.
``We're not a very good team right now,'' Cardinals linebacker Seth Joyner said. ``We're fooling ourselves if we think we are. Guys have to search themselves to find what will make us a better team.''
BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW: Redskins TE James Jenkins tapes professional bowling matches and studies them in his spare time. When NFL career is done, he hopes to join PBA Tour. . . . Cardinal DT Michael Bankston's 3.5 sacks exceed his '93 output of 3.0. . . . With 31 victories from 1991-94, head coach Rich Kotite has posted more wins in his first four seasons than any coach in Eagles' history. . . . Bucs TE Jackie Harris enjoys collecting old record albums and has more than 500. . . . In his five seasons with Falcons, Deion Sanders had eight TDs on kick and interception returns. In that same span, San Francisco had seven. . . . Sterling Sharpe needs two TD catches to become Green Bay's career leader (Max McGee had 50 from 1957-67).
CLOSING THOUGHT: How meaningless have NFL contracts become when Deion Sanders can turn down $17 million from one team - the Saints - to sign for $1.1 million elsewhere? by CNB