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FOR USE AS DESIRED
NFL-PRE
5 8/26/03
FINAL WEEK OF PRESEASON, FINAL WEEK TO IMPRESS
The NFL season is a
little more than a week away. Which means that for those last roster spots
as the final cutdown to 53 players looms this Sunday, this week’s final
preseason games are critical.
“Another day isn’t
promised to you,” says Philadelphia Eagles free-agent rookie center
ALONZO EPHRAIM.
Those six words say it all. Performing in preseason can
mean prolonging your NFL career, or going back to selling… insurance.
That was the possible situation for Pittsburgh Steelers
quarterback TOMMY MADDOX last preseason. Selling insurance only two
years before, Maddox led the NFL in passer rating (128.1) in the 2002
preseason and secured the backup role with the team. He went on to lead the
Steelers to the AFC North Division title and win himself the Associated
Press Comeback Player of the Year Award.
This week will be important for team development as well.
Get the veterans their final tune up, determine who will survive the final
cuts, and go into the season on an upswing with a win. Five clubs (Arizona,
Carolina, New England, San Francisco and Tennessee) want to follow the
Atlanta Falcons and New York Jets of last year. Those teams parlayed a
spotless preseason record (4-0) into playoff berths.
In fact, since 1990, 16 of the 28 teams that have gone
undefeated in the preseason have made it to the postseason:
|
TEAM/PRESEASON RECORD |
PLAYOFFS |
TEAM/PRESEASON RECORD |
PLAYOFFS |
|
N.Y. Giants
(4-0), 1990 |
Won Super Bowl
XXV |
Jacksonville
(4-0), 1997 |
Lost AFC Wild
Card |
|
San Francisco
(5-0), 1992 |
Lost NFC
Championship |
Miami (4-0),
1998 |
Lost AFC
Divisionals |
|
Minnesota (4-0),
1992 |
Lost NFC Wild
Card |
Minnesota (4-0),
1998 |
Lost NFC
Championship |
|
Detroit (4-0),
1993 |
Lost NFC Wild
Card |
Tampa Bay (4-0),
1999 |
Lost NFC
Championship |
|
Chicago (4-0),
1994 |
Lost NFC
Divisionals |
Baltimore (4-0),
2000 |
Won Super Bowl
XXXV |
|
Philadelphia
(4-0), 1995 |
Lost NFC
Divisionals |
Denver (4-0),
2000 |
Lost AFC Wild
Card |
|
Green Bay (5-0),
1997 |
Lost Super Bowl
XXXII |
Atlanta
(4-0), 2002 |
Lost NFC
Dvisionals |
|
Pittsburgh
(5-0), 1997 |
Lost AFC
Championship |
NY Jets
(4-0), 2002 |
Lost AFC
Divisionals |
On top of the roster-deciding and record-determining,
the final week of preseason packs many interesting games:
-
NY JETS at PHILADELPHIA: Seventeen-year
NFL quarterback VINNY TESTAVERDE of the Jets will see action in
replacing starter CHAD PENNINGTON, who is out 12 weeks with a
broken wrist……And speaking of final roster cuts: Jets head coach
HERMAN EDWARDS made the Eagles in 1977 as a free-agent cornerback and
went on to a 10-year NFL playing career.
-
ATLANTA
at CLEVELAND: A year ago, the two starting quarterbacks weren’t
starters. Now they are. The Falcons’ DOUG JOHNSON (replacing an
injured MICHAEL VICK) goes against KELLY HOLCOMB, who has
been named the Browns’ starter in place of TIM COUCH.
-
MIAMI AT NEW ORLEANS: NFL 2002 rushing
leader RICKY WILLIAMS (1,853 yards) returns for the first time to
the town where he began his NFL career.
-
NY GIANTS at BALTIMORE: It’s been three
years, but when these two meet, it conjures visions of Super Bowl XXXV.
Giants will take the train to Baltimore.
-
KANSAS CITY at ST. LOUIS: Chiefs’ DICK VERMEIL plays
the team he led to Super Bowl glory in 1999 in a renewal of the Missouri
Governor’s Cup.
LAST WEEK’S NFL RESULTS
(AUGUST 21-25)
(Home team in caps)
|
Thursday, August 21 |
Saturday, August 23, Cont’d. |
|
PITTSBURGH 15, Dallas 14 |
Carolina 20, GREEN BAY 7 |
|
|
New York Jets 15, NEW YORK GIANTS 14 |
|
Friday, August 22 |
TAMPA BAY 10, Jacksonville 6 |
|
MIAMI 30, Atlanta 21 |
WASHINGTON 24, Baltimore 3 |
|
New England 24, PHILADELPHIA 12 |
San Diego 19, HOUSTON 17 |
|
Minnesota 21, OAKLAND 6 |
SAN FRANCISCO 27, New Orleans 12 |
|
ARIZONA 27, Chicago 17 |
SEATTLE 42, Kansas City 31 |
|
|
|
|
Saturday, August 23 |
Monday, August 25 |
|
BUFFALO 28, St. Louis 24 |
Indianapolis 28, DENVER 23 |
|
Tennessee 23, CINCINNATI 15 |
|
|
DETROIT 38, Cleveland 17 |
|
|
AMERICAN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE |
NATIONAL FOOTBALL CONFERENCE |
|
East Division |
East Division |
|
|
W |
L |
T |
Pct. |
Pts. |
OP |
|
W |
L |
T |
Pct. |
Pts. |
OP |
|
New England |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 |
70 |
31 |
Philadelphia |
2 |
1 |
0 |
.667 |
60 |
57 |
|
Buffalo |
2 |
1 |
0 |
.667 |
72 |
80 |
Dallas |
1 |
2 |
0 |
.333 |
48 |
34 |
|
N.Y.
Jets |
2 |
2 |
0 |
.500 |
74 |
79 |
Washington
|
1 |
2 |
0 |
.333 |
37 |
43 |
|
Miami
|
1 |
2 |
0 |
.333 |
72 |
68 |
N.Y. Giants |
0 |
3 |
0 |
.000 |
30 |
61 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
North Division |
North Division |
|
|
W |
L |
T |
Pct. |
Pts. |
OP |
|
W |
L |
T |
Pct. |
Pts. |
OP |
|
Baltimore |
1 |
2 |
0 |
.333 |
35 |
54 |
Detroit |
2 |
1 |
0 |
.750 |
74 |
53 |
|
Cincinnati |
1 |
2 |
0 |
.333 |
51 |
61 |
Green Bay |
2 |
2 |
0 |
.500 |
72 |
81 |
|
Pittsburgh |
1 |
2 |
0 |
.333 |
44 |
61 |
Chicago
|
1 |
2 |
0 |
.333 |
47 |
60 |
|
Cleveland
|
0 |
3 |
0 |
.000 |
54 |
86 |
Minnesota |
1 |
2 |
0 |
.333 |
51 |
48 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
South Division |
South Division |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
W |
L |
T |
Pct. |
Pts. |
OP |
|
W |
L |
T |
Pct. |
Pts. |
OP |
|
Tennessee |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 |
70 |
45 |
Carolina |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 |
60 |
17 |
|
Indianapolis |
2 |
1 |
0 |
.667 |
67 |
50 |
Tampa
Bay |
3 |
1 |
0 |
.750 |
76 |
65 |
|
Jacksonville |
2 |
1 |
0 |
.667 |
49 |
47 |
New Orleans |
1 |
2 |
0 |
.333 |
51 |
71 |
|
Houston |
0 |
3 |
0 |
.000 |
35 |
73 |
Atlanta |
0 |
3 |
0 |
.000 |
52 |
70 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
West Division |
West Division |
|
|
W |
L |
T |
Pct. |
Pts. |
OP |
|
W |
L |
T |
Pct. |
Pts. |
OP |
|
Denver |
2 |
1 |
0 |
.667 |
58 |
50 |
Arizona |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 |
56 |
27 |
|
Kansas City |
2 |
2 |
0 |
.500 |
72 |
82 |
San Francisco |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 |
65 |
28 |
|
Oakland |
1 |
2 |
0 |
.333 |
23 |
41 |
Seattle |
2 |
1 |
0 |
.667 |
69 |
59 |
|
San Diego |
1 |
2 |
0 |
.333 |
36 |
53 |
St. Louis |
1 |
2 |
0 |
.333 |
56 |
51 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THIS WEEK’S NFL SCHEDULE (AUGUST 27-29)
(All times local)
|
Wednesday, August 27 |
Thursday, August 28, Cont’d. |
|
Chicago at New England, 8:00 |
Kansas City at St. Louis, 7:00 |
|
|
Houston at Tampa Bay, 8:00 |
|
Thursday, August 28 |
|
|
Detroit at Buffalo, 7:00 |
Friday, August 29 |
|
NY Jets at Philadelphia, 7:00 |
Pittsburgh at Carolina, 8:00 |
|
NY Giants at Baltimore, 8:00 |
Cincinnati at Indianapolis, 7:00 |
|
Atlanta at Cleveland, 8:00 |
Seattle at Denver, 8:00 |
|
Oakland at Dallas, 7:00 |
San Francisco at San Diego, 7:00 |
|
Tennessee at Green Bay, 7:00 |
|
|
Washington at Jacksonville, 8:00 |
|
|
Arizona at Minnesota, 7:00 |
|
|
Miami at New Orleans, 7:00 |
|
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