AFC NEWS ‘N’ NOTES

TITANS DEs IMPRESS DENT

Tennessee Titans head coach JEFF FISHER has two outstanding pass-rushing defensive ends in newcomer KEVIN CARTER and JEVON KEARSE.   In fact, since the beginning of 1999, Carter’s 27.5 sacks and Kearse’s 26.0 sacks rank behind only Tampa Bay’s WARREN SAPP (29.0) for the most by a player in the NFL.   But that doesn’t mean Carter and Kearse can’t use a few pointers.

Fisher invited former Chicago Bears teammate, defensive end and Super Bowl XX MVP RICHARD DENT to the Titans’ minicamp earlier this month.  Dent, who ranks fifth all-time with 137.5 sacks in 15 NFL seasons, was impressed with the club’s bookend rushers.

“I would say Tennessee has the two best defensive ends in the league as it stands right now,” says Dent.  “I think they have proven in the past couple of years that they are the premier defensive ends.  To get them both on the same team, it should be amazing.

''What takes place will enhance the abilities of the whole defensive line,” Dent continued.  “Those two guys can just take the defense to a whole other notch and create more excitement.  You can't double both of them.  You're going to have to check on blitzes and things of that nature.  It's really going to make the defensive coordinator (JIM SCHWARTZ) have more fun.  The way these two guys have played before, if they make any improvement as players, I would say ‘look out.’”

Carter and Kearse, meanwhile, were eager for any nugget Dent had to offer.

“A guy like that who has more than 100 sacks in the league, you've got to respect what he's done,” says Carter, acquired from St. Louis for a first-round draft choice.  “It was just an honor to be around him and soak up some of his wisdom.”

Added Kearse:   “I'm open-eared to anything he has to say.”

Even the tackles got involved.  “I've been around a long time (seven years),” said DT JASON FISK.  “I've seen a lot and I've learned a few moves.  But Dent showed me some things I hadn't seen and I will try to incorporate into my game.”

MALL RAT:  Miami Dolphins defensive end ADEWALE OGUNLEYE missed the 2000 season while rehabilitating a knee injury suffered in college.  This spring, Ogunleye, who had 34 sacks in 39 games at Indiana, is taking a unique approach to returning to form.

Ogunleye visits shopping malls and, using oncoming shoppers as “offensive and defensive linemen,” darts for openings.  “People probably don’t even notice it,” says Ogunleye.  “I’m pretending I’m spinning past a lineman or racing to a spot to get to the quarterback.  People are passing by and I do something.”

LEARNING A NEW SYSTEM:  This spring, the Seattle Seahawks have added quarterbacks MATT HASSELBECK (trade with Green Bay) and JOSH BOOTY (sixth-round draft choice) to a club that runs the West Coast offense.   But while Hasselbeck has spent the past three seasons studying a similar offense in Green Bay, Booty is coming in fresh off the Louisiana State campus and has a lot to learn.

“It’s overwhelming when you start looking at it,” says Seattle quarterbacks coach JIM ZORN.  “Obviously, Josh’s head was swimming.  I took him from square one to square two.  It’s like learning a whole new language...a different vocabulary.  At first you get discouraged.  You look at the book and you think there’s no way you can learn it all.  But as you get into it, the mind compartmentalizes the information.  Then it’s a matter of getting the body to do things differently.”

Booty’s game for the task.  “You’re not going to be BRETT FAVRE overnight,” he says of the Packers’ quarterback who has mastered the offense.   “There’s a lot of stuff in that book, and I have to get in there and learn it right now.”

THE “SUPER BILLS”:  In April, buffalobills.com began a “Super Bills” tournament to determine the franchise’s best team ever.  Twenty Bills teams were seeded and placed in a tournament bracket.  Using game simulation software, the teams “play” each Monday until the champion is crowned in July.  In the 1996 Bills’ 17-14 overtime win over the 1990 Bills, quarterback JIM KELLY threw for 600 yards – 318 (and two touchdowns) for the victor, 282 for the loser.

“People always ask me what my favorite all-time Bills team is and it is such a hard thing to answer,” says Buffalo President RALPH C. WILSON, JR., who founded the franchise in 1960.  “It is like asking a parent who their favorite child is.  But I think the idea of a Super Bills Tournament is great and a lot of fun for the fans.  I’m anxious to see who the computer picks at the end.”

PITTSBURGH’S PRIDE:  The Hall of Famer was honored along with the high-schoolers. 

On May 30, 125 outstanding high school seniors from western Pennsylvania were saluted at a scholar-athlete banquet in Pittsburgh that featured a fellow Pittsburgher and Pro Football Hall of Famer as the guest of honor – Steelers President DAN ROONEY.  A former high school quarterback (Pittsburgh’s North Catholic High), Rooney was honored as the Person of the Year by the Pittsburgh YMCA for his role in the growth of the Steelers and the NFL.

“Dan Rooney and his family have been leaders in the community for decades,” said banquet chairman KEN HOROHO.  “His effect has stretched beyond Pittsburgh.  We saw him as a perfect honoree because he is a role model in the whole community.  Someone like Dan Rooney is someone the kids would love to emulate.”