THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 9, 1994 TAG: 9410090141
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: JIM DUCIBELLA
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
Anyone else wonder what the league was thinking in their plan to stock the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars? Anybody else think the expansion boys will be respectable long before the NFL's current class of have-nots - Redskins, Bengals and Bucs.
Here's the deal. Each expansion team was given a double draft in 1995 - two firsts, two seconds, etc. That's 14 picks apiece. Then in 1996, each team gets an extra third-, fourth- and fifth-rounder, plus two sixes and two sevens. That's 14 more picks.
The math is easy. Twenty-eight picks, per team, over two years.
``I'd love to be an expansion team,'' one team executive told the Dallas Morning News.
The executive committee of the NFL's Management Council devised the stocking plan, announced it to the owners, then implemented it.
Carolina has the first overall choice, Jacksonville the second, then the two expansion teams will make four consecutive picks at the end of the first round and start of the second. Carolina will have the 32nd and 34th picks and Jacksonville the 31st and 33rd choices.
Who might those players be?
In the 1983 draft, the first, 32nd and 34th overall picks were John Elway, Henry Ellard and David Lutz.
In the 1977 draft, the second, 31st and 33rd overall picks were Tony Dorsett, Nolan Cromwell and Wesley Walker. That would be a best-case scenario for Jacksonville.
And a far better-case scenario than any of the struggling existing teams in the league.
CHATTING WITH . . . FORMER LIONS DT ALEX KARRAS
Q: You don't think much of pro football these days, do you?
KARRAS: (Recently,) a friend of mine was watching a pro game. The team's in the huddle, and I said: `Why are you going to watch this?
Let me tell you what's going to happen. They're going to break the huddle, line up on the line of scrimmage, the quarterback's going to get the ball, drop back, look down the field, everyone's going to be covered, and he's going to be looking at four people who want to kill him. So he's going to flip to the halfback on the wide side, and he'll gain a yard and a half.' And that's exactly what happened. I just walked out of the room.
Q: Summarize your NFL career.
KARRAS: At that moment of time in my life, I found myself a very fortunate person, in that I was able to get all my frustrations and anger out on the football field - and it was legal.
I had gone through a lot of problems, one way or the other, and found myself feeling like the only way out was football. And I enjoyed it. So I have nothing against the sport. I think it's a violent sport. And I think you have to be violent to play it. On the other hand, sometimes people need that kind of outlet.
THE SILENT TREATMENT: Giants coach Dan Reeves has had it with the officiating. There was a time he heeded league advice and sent in weekly reports evaluating the game officials. Now he refuses.
``I used to do them every week,'' he says, ``but it doesn't help. I felt it was supposed to be a help to the officials to get better. But they just used them to justify what they were doing and not to get better. I grade players every week to make them better. I quit doing it with the officials because it was a waste of time.''
Reeves said he has ``nothing against the officials, but I have more important things to do. They have ways to get better. They don't need me to send in reports and it ends up being an argument. They justify it and look at it different and I get in an argument. If you disagreed, it became an argument. I don't need that.''
Reeves, already upset about a taunting call against receiver Chris Calloway that cost the Giants a first down in the fourth quarter of last week's loss to the Saints, became enraged when watching tapes of the Vikings-Cardinals game and noticed an Arizona receiver catching a pass down the middle, getting up and spinning the ball and raising his arms. No flag.
``Whose interpretation is it? What is taunting?'' he said. ``You see a linebacker go up the middle, he gives a great hit and he's strutting around with his chest out. You see guys sack the quarterback, come up and swing a golf club. What the heck is that? It's a gray area.
``And to see it called in that crucial a situation is tough, and when it's against us, it's even tougher.''
NFC NUGGETS: There is a poster in the Lions' locker room that reads, ``Ripoff '94. Brought to you by Gene Upshaw and the sellouts.'' ... Reggie White's statistics may be relatively modest, but Packers defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur said the 32-year-old defensive end still is a dominant player. ``I can't even comprehend what he really means to us,'' Shurmur said. ``It's not only measured in terms of the plays he makes, but more like the plays he doesn't make where he's attracting so much attention.'' ... The Bucs are losing patience with 1993 No. 1 pick Eric Curry, a defensive end who was the sixth pick in the '93 draft and missed the final six games of last season with an ankle sprain that many in the organization felt took too long to heal. Then he missed a game this season with a bruised quadricep muscle on his right leg. ``I'm not ready to label the guy yet,'' coach Sam Wyche said. ``But he's starting to build up quite a track record.''
QUOTING:
49ers cornerback Deion Sanders, on Deion Sanders: ``Don't tell me all I care about is jewelry, money and women. I have kids at home. I have a beautiful wife at home. I take care of my family to the fullest. I mean, I'm one of the happiest individuals in the world.''
Cowboys coach Barry Switzer, on his performance as a family man: ``My daughter said I might have flunked as a husband, but I'm probably the best father she could have ever had.''
Eagles backup quarterback Bubby Brister, on alligator hunting: ``It's great. You put a big meat hook with some chicken on it out there, and they come and get it. You come back and check it out later, and you got a nice pair of boots and a nice meal.'' by CNB