Linebacker Derrick Brooks may have more to say about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' bid for home-field advantage in the NFC this month than quarterback Brad Johnson.
And defensive end Hugh Douglas might exert more influence on the Philadelphia Eagles' playoff push than running back Duce Staley.
If this is December, it's time to identify the best defenses. Offense has been center stage all season, but this is when defense bears its teeth. Both the Bucs and Eagles are well fortified for the stretch run and beyond.
The 10-3 Bucs have the No. 1 defense in the NFL and the No. 2 seed in the NFC at the moment. Brooks has been magnificent this season leading the Bucs to the top of the NFC South. Last week he was instrumental in ending the magical run of Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick with 10 first-half tackles.
He even scored on a 74-yard interception return, only to have it wiped out by a penalty. His fifth touchdown of the year would have tied the NFL record for defensive scores in one season.
"He's definitely having an MVP season," said Bucs defensive end Simeon Rice, who leads the league with 14 1/2 sacks. "He's doing things that are stellar. When I look at him, he's playing out of control and making big, big-time plays. ... He's taken the defense to a whole other level."
Douglas is the leading pass rusher with 11 sacks on the Eagles' fifth-ranked defense. On a defense that loves to blitz, Douglas is a force that opposing offensive coordinators must scheme around.
The 10-3 Eagles currently own the NFC's No. 1 seed, thanks to their 9-0 conference record, and head-to-head tiebreakers over Tampa Bay and Green Bay. They'll wrap up home-field advantage if they win out against the Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants. Those teams rank 23rd, 26th and 12th in the league in offense, which means the Eagles' defense should control each game.
Tampa Bay's final three regular-season games are against Detroit (No. 31 in offense), Pittsburgh (No. 3) and Chicago (No. 28). The Pittsburgh game is in Tampa on Monday Night Football, so the Bucs appear to be in good shape. Even better, the offense also seems to have found itself, and Johnson has thrown 15 touchdown passes with only one interception in the past five games.
Martz on a rage
Stung by the St. Louis Rams' miserable performance in a 49-10 loss to Kansas City, coach Mike Martz lashed out last week. Among those to feel his wrath were kicker Jeff Wilkins, special teams coach Bobby April and wide receiver Torry Holt.
Oddly, Martz picked on Wilkins for a missed field goal in a 39-point loss, saying he hasn't had confidence in his kicker all season. Martz was also distressed over kick coverage teams giving up two touchdowns to Dante Hall, and a dropped touchdown pass by Holt.
But the real news was Martz' proclamation that should quarterback Marc Bulger play well over the final three games, he will challenge two-time Most Valuable Player Kurt Warner for the starting job next year. Bulger, 5-0 this season, returns from a finger injury to start against Arizona tonight. Martz is mad over a 5-8 season and the Rams are forewarned.
Coughlin's Waterloo?
The end is near for Jacksonville coach Tom Coughlin, whose Jaguars lost to the Cleveland Browns last week when quarterback Tim Couch completed a 50-yard Hail Mary pass on the final play. Knowing a Hail Mary was coming, the Jaguars sat in a two-deep zone and watched Quincy Morgan take the ball away from cornerback Fernando Bryant, with safety Marlon McCree arriving late.
Coughlin defended the coverage, but Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver did not. "It's coaching when ... there's a call where we're in two-deep coverage when we should have had seven or eight people back in the end zone," he said.
The bigger issue is that Jacksonville fans have turned off to Coughlin's team. There were only 46,267 on hand last week. Apathy almost always means a coaching change.
Scattershooting
The 5-8 Carolina Panthers, the last-place team in the NFC South, need a win at Pittsburgh today to sweep the AFC North. ... The Steelers have a serious dilemma at quarterback. Tommy Maddox, who played poorly in a shocking loss to Houston, is 0-2-1 in his past three starts and not necessarily the quarterback of the team's future. But neither is Kordell Stewart, who is due $6.3 million in 2003, a sum the Steelers are no longer willing to pay. ... After getting the bedraggled Chicago Bears twice in four weeks on Monday Night Football, the call for a flexible schedule has grown louder. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said it's important to have that flexibility "beginning in early November and running through the remainder of the season." ... Parity or mediocrity? AFC contenders Oakland, Tennessee, New England and the New York Jets all have endured four-game losing streaks this season. ... Seven of the Browns' 29 games under coach Butch Davis have been decided on the final play (they're 2-5), and 16 of the 29 have gone into the final minute (they're 7-9).
The New Orleans Saints traded running back Ricky Williams in the offseason in part because he didn't break many long runs. He had just one run of more than 30 yards. This year with the Miami Dolphins, he leads the NFL with six runs of more than 30 yards. ... The Dallas Cowboys have led or been tied in the fourth quarter in seven of their eight losses. They need to win two of the last three to avoid three consecutive seasons with at least 10 losses, which has never happened in the team's 43-yard history. ... The 49ers were so short-handed in the secondary against Dallas that outside linebacker Julian Peterson, 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds, lined up at safety and cornerback, and even matched up with Joey Galloway on some plays. ... The NFL is averaging 43.9 points per game, the highest average after 14 weeks since 1967, when it also hit 43.9. The all-time record for average points per game in a season was 46.5 in 1948.
The last word
Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp is prone to hyperbole. Here's how he says a conversation with the Ravens' Ray Lewis went:
"He always talks about, 'Ya'll need just one more player, a middle linebacker. Me.' I'm like, 'You know they ain't going to let you, me and Brooks be on the same team.' ... I mean, how would you defend this team?"
Compiled from interviews, wire services and reports from other newspapers.