THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 4, 1994 TAG: 9412040176
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: JIM DUCIBELLA
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
Here's a story you may not have heard following the Cowboys' come-from-behind victory over the Packers Thanksgiving Day.
The morning before, a certain third-string quarterback approached veteran defensive ends Charles Haley and Tony Tolbert with a proposal:
``Let's make a bet,'' Jason Garrett challenged. ``Wanna bet I get more touchdown passes than you get sacks?''
Guess what? He tied.
Garrett threw two touchdown passes, while the Cowboys had just two sacks against Packers QB Brett Favre.
``Really, I was just throwing the ball up there,'' insisted the self-effacing Garrett, whose first true chance to perform in a full NFL game resulted in 311 passing yards, a franchise-record 36 second-half points, a season-high 42 points, scores on six consecutive possessions, the erasure of an early 14-point deficit.
He's also something of a clairvoyant, though this call wasn't really much of a challenge.
``I'll be running the scout team by Monday,'' Garrett insisted when asked if his performance should elevate him past Rodney Peete as Dallas's No. 2 QB.
Sure enough, Peete starts today for the injured Troy Aikman. Garrett is No. 2, but only until Aikman heals. Then he's back with the scrubs.
THE PENALTY BOX: John McVay, 49ers' vice president for football administration, is proposing that the NFL competition committee study the use of a penalty box, similar to the one used in the NHL, for defensive players who deliver dangerous blows to quarterbacks.
``These same defensive players who avoid punters, holders and kickers are good enough athletes to avoid hitting the quarterback after he's released the ball,'' McVay said. ``So many people are putting hits on quarterbacks this year that someone needs to come up with something innovative to try to stop it.''
Under McVay's vision of an NFL penalty box, a player who was penalized for a late hit or roughing the quarterback would have to sit out 15 plays. But unlike hockey, the team would not have to play a man short.
``That would get the coaches involved in stopping it,'' McVay said. ``Because a coach would need the player, he would caution him against making those kinds of hits.''
George Young, the Giants' general manager and a member of the competition committee, said there are rules already in existence to deal with excessive violence, including ejection.
But McVay said ejection for a late hit on a quarterback is ``too drastic.'' He admits resistance may come from quarterbacks themselves.
``They don't want to be thought of as sissies,'' he said. ``But you don't have eight quarterbacks on a roster. There are only so many good ones in the league. Unfortunately, there are plenty of concussions to go around.''
BARGAIN BASEMENT SALE: The 49ers either showed remarkable widsom or how desperate they are for pass-rushing players when they signed Tim Harris the other day. Harris, 30, hadn't played in the league in more than a year and hadn't made a sack since he got Troy Aikman in the 1992 NFC title game. And it's not like he was staying in shape or anything - Harris was running a restaurant in Santa Cruz, Cal., when the 49ers contacted him.
Harris once was one of the NFL's best pass-rushers. He had 54 1/2 sacks in five seasons at Green Bay and 17 for the Niners in 1992 but was released because of - among other things - alcohol problems. Richard Dent's knee injury now appears likely to sideline him the rest of the season, a major loss for the 49ers and one reason for desperation moves.
NFC NUGGETS: Rumors continue that former Bears coach Mike Ditka might return to coaching. The only two knocks on him reportedly are his health and his enjoyment of gambling. Da-Bear has an answer for both charges. Regarding his health, Ditka said: ``That's bull. My health is fine, except I walk funny. That's a cop-out. If you want to be realistic, look at my health versus Bill Parcells' health. Or even Dan Reeves'. Those guys had it done (heart problems) a couple times. The last time I had minor angioplasty.'' As for his gambling, Ditka insists how he spends his money is his business: ``If someone has a problem with it, they can hire another Buddy Ryan.'' ... Packers president Bob Harlan and Ed McCaskey, the Bears' chairman of the board, are going to propose to NFL owners that teams never be required to make the Monday-Thursday turnaround. ``We're always talking about the level field and the competitive atmosphere in this league,'' Harlan said. ``I think this distracts from it. It's worth trying. If a lot of clubs were put into this position, I think they would go along with us.'' The Packers were upset because they are the first team since New England in 1984 to play a Sunday road game and then spend Thanksgiving in Dallas. Meanwhile, the Cowboys were home against Washington and then The Pack. ... Giants RB Rodney Hampton didn't know it, but at some point in the New York-Redskins game last week, the padding that shields his kidneys came unzipped. His left kidney, which had been smashed earlier in the season on a crushing hit, was again exposed. When Redskins cornerback Tom Carter hit him with about two minutes left in the game, Hampton was in considerable pain, though not as severe a pain as he experienced in Arizona in September. Then, he spent a couple days in a hospital. But the first thing he did after the game was check his urine. No blood, but he's listed as questionable for today's game against Cleveland. ... Speaking of the Giants, rumor has it there are two reasons Lawrence Taylor has been hanging around the team so much lately - A) he's bored and B) he has told his former teammates that he has been offered a $750,000 advance to write what he described as a ``tell all, nasty'' book about his last few years with the Giants. Taylor, whose drug use has already been written about in detail in one book, is mulling the offer. MEMO: This column was compiled from Virginian-Pilot and Ledger-Star wire
service reports. by CNB