When Bobby Beathard was general manager of a Washington Redskins team that won two Super Bowls in the 1980s, he was dubbed the "smartest man in pro football" by Sports Illustrated.
His smartest move was hiring an obscure San Diego assistant named Joe Gibbs as coach in 1981.
At the time, the skeptics wondered if the Air Coryell offense -- created by Chargers coach Don Coryell -- would work on a Redskins team with John Riggins.
It didn't. The Redskins started Beathard 0-5 in Gibbs' first season before he switched to a one-back offense with Riggins and went to the Super Bowl in his second and third seasons, vindicating Beathard.
Now the San Diego general manager, Beathard made another unorthodox move when he hired Jacksonville Jaguars assistant Kevin Gilbride as coach last year. Gilbride's only moment in the spotlight came when Buddy Ryan took a punch at him when they were both assistants in Houston.
This time, Beathard's move didn't work. Gilbride displayed a dour personality and wasn't popular with players, fans or media.
Beathard was quick to admit his mistake and fired Gilbride last week after a fourth straight loss, replacing him with June Jones on an interim basis.
It was a quick hook, but sometimes a team is better off cutting its losses when it's obvious it made a mistake. The Redskins, for example, would have been better off firing Norv Turner after two years instead of giving him five years to devastate the franchise.
Realignment debate
The crowd of 74,051 the Jaguars drew for their Monday night game against Miami was a good argument for realignment.
"There was a lot of energy in the stands, a lot of excitement. You could feel it on the field," said Jaguars linebacker Kevin Hardy.
It would make perfect sense to put the Jaguars and Dolphins in the same division so they could play twice a year.
But it probably won't happen next year when the AFC goes to 16 teams, adding the new Cleveland Browns. To get to four four-team divisions, Seattle would have to join Jacksonville, Miami and Tennessee, and that's a tough sell.
The real test will be when Houston or Los Angeles joins the league in a few years as the 32nd team. The NFL could then go to eight four-team divisions.
The NFL could move four NFC teams -- San Francisco, St. Louis, Tampa Bay and Arizona. The league will propose that Tampa Bay join Carolina, New Orleans and Atlanta; St. Louis or Houston would join Miami, Jacksonville and Tennessee. It would then create a new western division -- San Francisco, Seattle, Arizona and Los Angeles or St. Louis.
Even that will be a tough sell because, among other things, Arizona wants to stay with Dallas, and Buffalo likes being with Miami.
But eight four-team divisions makes a lot more sense than two six-team divisions and four five-team divisions.
Those in six-team divisions -- like the Ravens starting next year -- will play 10 of 16 games against the same teams every year.
Stewart struggling
The Ravens get a front-row seat today as the Pittsburgh Steelers continue to try to answer one of the most intriguing questions of the year: What has happened to Kordell Stewart?
His quarterback rating of 51.0 is worse than Peyton Manning's 55.7 and he has thrown just four passes longer than 30 yards. His longest completion is 36 yards, the shortest "long" pass of any team in the league.
One theory is that he misses wide receiver Yancey Thigpen and offensive coordinator Chan Gailey. Another is that he's still haunted by the three interceptions he threw against Denver in the AFC title game that cost the Steelers a Super Bowl bid.
Or he simply could be going through growing pains. He's only in his second year as a full-time quarterback.
Ray Sherman, the Steelers' new offensive coordinator, keeps telling him to throw deep.
"He's got to do it. There's no doubt he's got to do it. He knows he's got to do it," Sherman said.
Going home
It's not unusual for a player or a coach to be taunted when he returns to a stadium he left. Rod Woodson of the Ravens is likely to hear it from the Steelers fans today in Pittsburgh. And the Patriots fans will be on Jets coach Bill Parcells tomorrow night.
But will the Patriots' fans taunt Curtis Martin's mother?
She thinks so.
"Because many of them know I made the concrete decision for Curt, and I'm sure they're not happy with it," Rochelle Martin said, referring to her son's decision to leave the Patriots for the Jets.
"I made the decision. I told him to go. It was a tossup to him."
Meanwhile, Martin has been hurt and has gained 368 yards; the Patriots replaced him with Robert Edwards, who has 379 yards.
When New England coach Pete Carroll was asked about Parcells' comment that the Patriots used Martin too much last year and caused him to get hurt, he said, "That was the biggest crock. Everything he says is a crock. You might as well make a list. He's just full of it."
Just some fodder for Tuna Bowl III tomorrow night. The teams split their two Tuna Bowls last year, with each team winning at home.
Langham rebounds
Former Ravens cornerback Antonio Langham gave up three touchdown passes and was guilty of seven penalties in the team's first four games, but 49ers coach Steve Mariucci stuck with him.
"We believed in him and we still do. He's going through a slump and we've discussed it with him. He's a conscientious guy who will work until the sun goes down to get better," Mariucci said a week ago.
Defensive coordinator John Marshall seconded the motion.
"He's like a golfer that lost his timing and a great hitter in baseball that's in a slump. He knows he's got to get better and play the ball," he said.
The vote of confidence apparently worked because Langham wasn't called for any penalties and didn't give up a touchdown pass as the 49ers blanked the Saints last week.
Langham said, "You've got 10 other guys who are counting on you and you can't be the one guy who is not doing his job."
Of course, it helped that it was against the Saints.
Monday sideshow
The duel between Jaguars tackle Tony Boselli and Dolphins end Jason Taylor was one of the sideshows of last Monday night's game, and they were still going at it after the game.
"It's amazing how the guy can talk and not make a single play the whole game," Boselli said. "I've played against trash-talkers, but usually those guys make plays. I've never heard anyone talk like that in my life."
Boselli said Taylor kicked him in the ankle after one of the Jaguars' fourth-quarter touchdowns.
Taylor's reply: "He got two penalties. I didn't get any. That speaks for itself. I didn't say anything the whole game until Boselli started doing some of the things. That's when I let him know I didn't appreciate it. If a guy's going to start things, I'm not going to back down. You tell Tony I made some plays."
Quick facts
Nashville fans didn't get excited about the Oilers' win in Baltimore last week. They're 9,400 tickets short of a sellout for today's game against the Bengals at Vanderbilt Stadium, which seats only 41,000, even though they're giving away Beanie Babies. Since the game will be blacked out, Nashville fans get to watch the Ravens-Steelers matchup.
There's only one game on the NFL schedule this weekend that features two teams with winning records. The surprise is that it's New Orleans at Atlanta.
The Detroit Lions, who upset Green Bay before a sellout home crowd Thursday night, are 15-3 in front of home sellouts since 1993.
Vinny Testaverde, who'll start for the Jets tomorrow night, has thrown for 74 touchdowns and 45 interceptions since 1995. In that same span, John Elway has similar stats -- 85 touchdowns and 41 interceptions. But Elway has a Super Bowl ring.
If the 49ers' Steve Young, who has thrown 15 touchdown passes in five games, continues on his current pace, he'll tie Dan Marino's record of 48 set in 1994.
Quotable
"I wouldn't be him for all the money in the world and all the riches, gold and diamonds, either. He disgraces the game. He disgraced Johnny Unitas and all the great quarterbacks who played the game."
-- Tampa Bay defensive tackle Warren Sapp on quarterback Kerry Collins, who was released by Carolina and picked up by New Orleans last week after he apparently said he didn't have his heart in the game. Collins has since said he was misunderstood.
Pub Date: 10/18/98