FOR USE AS DESIRED
NFL-PRE-4 8/18/98
BRONCOS-PACKERS SUPER BOWL REMATCH, JETS-GIANTS ANNUAL CLASH, & MANNING VS. LEAF HIGHLIGHT WEEK 4 PRESEASON ACTION
In the NFL this week, old and recent rivalries will be renewed…and a new one begins.
Those themes and more will highlight the NFL’s Week 4 preseason schedule.
Like last week and next week, NFL fans can start the weekend early with a nationally televised game on Thursday night.
It’s the renewal of an old rivalry – the New York Jets against the New York Giants for the 30th consecutive preseason (ESPN, 8:20 PM ET). And if the annual "battle for bragging rights" always heats up the summer, this year it will be hotter than ever because the teams themselves come off sizzling seasons.
The Giants (10-5-1) won their division last year, and became the first team ever to go undefeated in the NFC Eastern Division. They played in their first postseason since 1993. The Jets came within one game of a playoff berth, and tied for the third-best season improvement ever (eight games) by posting a 9-7 mark after a 1-15 record in 1996.
But records aside, it’s "Jets-Giants" on a summer night at the Meadowlands, and "rivalry," not "records," is the watchword.
"I would be lying if I said this was just a regular preseason game," says Giants cornerback PHILLIPPI SPARKS, a veteran of six of these brother-vs.-brother meetings. "It’s something special."
Saturday features the first of what may be many closely watched matchups through the years of the top two draft choices of 1998 – quarterback PEYTON MANNING (No. 1) of the Indianapolis Colts against quarterback RYAN LEAF of the San Diego Chargers in Indianapolis. Only the fourth quarterbacks taken first and second overall in draft history, they inevitably will be compared during their careers.
They compared fairly evenly during their past two college regular seasons (with each also winning a conference championship as a senior):
| Category | Leaf |
Manning |
Category | Leaf |
Manning |
||||
| Games Started | 22 |
23 |
Yards | 6,448 |
7,106 |
||||
| W-L Record | 15-7 |
20-3 |
300-Yard Games | 12 |
13 |
||||
| Attempts | 748 |
857 |
TDs | 54 |
56 |
||||
| Completions | 404 |
530 |
4-TD Games | 6 |
6 |
||||
| Comp. Pct. | 54.0 |
61.8 |
INTs | 22 |
23 |
||||
Sunday afternoon, there’s the second nationally televised game of the week, the Miami Dolphins at the San Francisco 49ers on FOX-TV at 4:00 PM ET.
On Monday night, a rivalry not as old as Jets-Giants, but one already with a memorable history, is renewed.
It’s the Green Bay Packers at the Denver Broncos on ABC NFL Monday Night Football (8:00 PM ET) – seven months (less one day) to the day the two met in what some people call the most memorable Super Bowl ever. The Broncos, led by quarterback JOHN ELWAY and running back TERRELL DAVIS, the game’s MVP, dethroned the Packers as Super Bowl champions with a 31-24 victory, scoring the winning TD with 1:45 left. It was the AFC’s first Super Bowl triumph in 14 seasons.
Packers head coach MIKE HOLMGREN greatly respects the accomplishments of Elway, who has said that this season, his 16th, will be his last.
"The Super Bowl was the final jewel to his crown," says Holmgren. "But he didn’t need to win a Super Bowl to prove he was a great quarterback."
AN AMERICAN BOWL IN WEST VIRGINIA?
For the second time this preseason, the NFL will play a game in a college football hotbed. This Saturday night, the Pittsburgh Steelers take on the Atlanta Falcons in Morgantown, West Virginia at Mountaineer Field, home of the West Virginia Mountaineers. On August 8, the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers played in Norman, Oklahoma, home of the Oklahoma Sooners.
It will be the first NFL game in Morgantown in 30 years. Ironically, the Steelers were one of the teams to play that day in 1968 (August 25), losing to the Cincinnati Bengals, 19-3.
The Steelers have played four NFL international preseason games in the 1990s – in Montreal (1990), Barcelona (1993), Tokyo (1996) and Dublin (1997). So Saturday’s non-NFL-city road game prompted a whimsical remark from Steelers President DAN ROONEY.
"We’re playing," said Rooney, "an American Bowl in West Virginia."
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FOR USE AS DESIRED
NFL-PRE-4 8/18/98
THIS WEEK'S NFL SCHEDULE (AUGUST 20-24)
| Thursday, August 20 |
| N.Y. Giants (NFC) at N.Y. Jets (AFC), 8:20 (ESPN) |
| Friday, August 21 Buffalo (AFC) at Chicago (NFC), 7:00 Saturday, August 22 Atlanta (NFC) vs. Pittsburgh (AFC) at Morgantown, West Virginia, 6:00 Dallas (NFC) at St. Louis (NFC), 7:00 Detroit (NFC) at Cincinnati (AFC), 7:30 Jacksonville (AFC) at Kansas City (AFC), 7:00 Minnesota (NFC) at Carolina (NFC), 7:30 New England (AFC) at Washington (NFC), 7:30 San Diego (AFC) at Indianapolis (AFC), 7:00 Seattle (AFC) at Arizona (NFC), 7:00 Tennessee (AFC) at New Orleans (NFC), 7:00 |
| Sunday, August 23 Miami (AFC) at San Francisco (NFC), 1:00 (FOX) Monday, August 24 |
Green Bay (NFC) at Denver (AFC), 6:00 (ABC)
Philadelphia (NFC) at Baltimore (AFC), 7:30
Tampa Bay (NFC) at Oakland (AFC), 6:00
| AMERICAN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE | NATIONAL FOOTBALL CONFERENCE | ||||||||||||||
Eastern Division |
Eastern Division |
||||||||||||||
| W | L | T | Pct. |
Pts. | OP | W | L | T | Pct. |
Pts. | OP | ||||
| Miami | 2 |
0 | 0 |
1.000 | 33 | 29 | Arizona | 1 |
1 |
0 |
.500 | 37 | 37 | ||
| Indianapolis | 1 |
1 | 0 |
.500 | 51 | 51 | N.Y. Giants | 1 |
1 |
0 |
.500 | 34 | 41 | ||
| N.Y. Jets | 1 |
1 | 0 |
.500 | 29 | 48 | Philadelphia | 1 |
1 |
0 |
.500 | 36 | 46 | ||
| New England | 1 |
2 | 0 |
.333 | 34 | 45 | Washington | 1 |
1 |
0 |
.500 | 43 | 43 | ||
| Buffalo | 0 |
2 | 0 |
.000 | 20 | 31 | Dallas | 0 |
3 |
0 |
.000 | 25 | 57 | ||
Central Division |
Central Division |
||||||||||||||
| W | L | T | Pct. |
Pts. | OP | W | L | T | Pct. |
Pts. | OP | ||||
| Baltimore | 2 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 | 52 | 14 | Minnesota | 2 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 | 62 | 0 | ||
| Jacksonville | 1 |
1 |
0 |
.500 | 51 | 40 | Green Bay | 2 |
1 | 0 |
.667 | 79 | 58 | ||
| Tennessee | 1 |
1 |
0 |
.500 | 55 | 43 | Detroit | 1 |
1 |
0 |
.500 | 16 | 17 | ||
| Pittsburgh | 1 |
2 |
0 |
.333 | 47 | 64 | Tampa Bay | 1 |
2 |
0 |
.333 | 56 | 37 | ||
| Cincinnati | 0 |
2 |
0 |
.000 | 44 | 54 | Chicago | 0 |
2 |
0 |
.000 | 38 | 46 | ||
Western Division |
Western Division |
||||||||||||||
| W | L | T | Pct. |
Pts. | OP | W | L | T | Pct. |
Pts. | OP | ||||
| Denver | 2 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 | 37 | 23 | Carolina | 2 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 | 42 | 34 | ||
| Oakland | 2 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 | 43 | 24 | San Francisco | 2 |
1 |
0 |
.667 | 59 | 61 | ||
| San Diego | 2 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 | 68 | 48 | Atlanta | 1 |
1 |
0 |
.500 | 23 | 34 | ||
| Seattle | 2 |
1 |
0 |
.667 | 65 | 64 | New Orleans | 0 |
2 |
0 |
.000 | 17 | 48 | ||
| Kansas City | 1 |
2 |
0 |
.333 | 41 | 74 | St. Louis | 0 |
2 |
0 |
.000 | 40 | 61 | ||
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS |
(Home team in capitals)
| AMERICAN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE | NATIONAL FOOTBALL CONFRENCE | |
| Baltimore 33, N.Y. JETS 0 | Atlanta 7, DETROIT 3 | |
| Indianapolis 30, CINCINNATI 27 | ARIZONA 27, Chicago 24 | |
INTERCONFERENCE |
||
| Carolina 12, BUFFALO
7 MIAMI 14, Tampa Bay 13 |
||
| DENVER 17, New Orleans 10 | ||
| JACKSONVILLE 24, N.Y. Giants 10 | ||
| PHILADELPHIA 21, Pittsburgh 17 | ||
| San Francisco 24, SEATTLE 21 * | ||
| MINNESOTA 34, Kansas City 0 | ||
| SAN DIEGO 41, St. Louis 27 | ||
| Washington 27, TENNESSEE 24 | ||
| Oakland 27, GREEN BAY 21 | ||
| New England 21, DALLAS 3 ** | ||
| * American Bowl in Vancouver, Canada | ||
| ** American Bowl in Mexico City, Mexico | ||