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MONDAY NIGHT NOTES
MNF LIGHTS SHINE ON BALTIMORE FOR CHIEFS-RAVENS TILT Elite running backs, Super Bowl-winning coaches, defending division champions and a sold-out stadium are the ingredients for a Monday night showdown this week when the back-on-track Baltimore Ravens host the looking-to-get-back-on-track Kansas City Chiefs. Former Raven and all-time leading Chiefs rusher PRIEST HOLMES is the high-octane fuel that makes Kansas City motor. For the Ravens, last season’s NFL Offensive Player of the Year and former Holmes understudy JAMAL LEWIS is perhaps the central Baltimore star in a purple solar system of luminous talent. The two were teammates for one season (2000). Holmes moved to Kansas City as a free agent after helping the Ravens win Super Bowl XXXV, and has since run for the most yards (4,941) and touchdowns (60) in Chiefs history. Lewis’ tall achievements include reaching 5,000 career rushing yards last week in only 51 games – the fifth-fewest games played to reach that mark. Lewis credits Holmes “for schooling me on how to be an NFL player when I was a rookie.” The most important numbers Monday, however, will be the ones next to each team on the scoreboard after the game. “When you go into a season coming off a 13-3 record, I think you've earned the right to have high expectations,” says head coach DICK VERMEIL of the 0-3 Chiefs. “But right now, we aren’t a 13-3-caliber football team. As long as we don't forget how we got where we are, I think we can battle our way back into a picture of being very, very competitive.” The Chiefs are 5-1 on Monday nights when a back rushes for 100 yards. Holmes has reached that mark in three of his past four games, including the playoffs. In the Chiefs-Ravens Week 4 meeting last season at M&T Bank Stadium, Kansas City’s margin of victory in a 17-10 win was a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by DANTE HALL. The Chiefs are 6-0 when Hall scores on returns. Baltimore is 3-0 all-time on Monday night – all under head coach BRIAN BILLICK. Like the Chiefs, the Ravens (2-1) return 21 of 22 starters from last season. Perennial All-Star linebacker RAY LEWIS steers the defense’s wheel. Led by Lewis, Baltimore has not allowed a 100-yard rusher in nine games – tied with Detroit for the NFL’s longest active streak. “I like Monday night games,” says Billick. “It’s a little easier to coach that week. The players all want to do well when they know the whole league is watching.” Since 2003, the teams that have scored the most rushing touchdowns and those that have allowed the fewest:
A look at the longest active streaks in denying a 100-yard rusher:
MONDAY NIGHT MUSINGS – KANSAS CITY CHIEFS AT BALTIMORE RAVENS CLOSE MILITARY CONNECTIONS IN GAME
One is 53-year-old HERMAN MORRIS, stepfather of Kansas City Chiefs running back PRIEST HOLMES. Morris, a master sergeant in the Army reserve, volunteered for a 12-month tour of duty in Iraq. Holmes knows that as hard as the NFL is, it can’t compare with the life of his father or any soldier. “There’s just no rest over there,” says Holmes. “My father works 18-hour days. The sun and the sand over there are so harsh that they changed the color of his skin. And the soldiers are constantly on alert. When they sleep, it’s with one eye open. They are unbelievable. I know the arena I work in is so different. I’m not sacrificing my life.” The Ravens also have a player with military connections. Baltimore running back MUSA SMITH’s brother JOHN is a U.S. Marine who was wounded in Iraq. John visited his brother in Ravens training camp this summer. “I just look at him, and to see my position, I’m definitely blessed,” says Musa. “It definitely puts things into perspective.” SMART PLAY
Richardson became the first NFL player to use the assistance of the NFL’s Player Development Department, headed by NFL Vice President and Pro Football Hall of Famer MIKE HAYNES, to complete three phases of his post-career development. He earned his bachelor’s degree (in education from Auburn in 2000), completed several professional internships, and received his masters -- all with the help of NFL Player Development. On the other side of the ball, Baltimore All-Star linebacker RAY LEWIS earned his business administration degree this spring from the University of Maryland. Ray was a dean’s list student, earning 24 credits. NFL Player Development was created by Commissioner PAUL TAGLIABUE in 1991 to assist players and their families in their lives off the field. In the past five offseasons, more than 200 players have earned degrees through the program, with at least 250 enrolling in courses each year. OVERCOMING THE ODDS
Last March, Fisch checked into a hospital after experiencing sharp back pains. After a series of tests, doctors discovered that his aorta, the body’s biggest blood vessel, had dissected. After two high-risk surgeries to repair his heart, Fisch is beating the odds. Doctors believed he had only a one-in- five chance of survival. Fisch lost 40 pounds because of the illness and needed the entire summer to recover, but he now can walk two miles on a treadmill. HISTORICAL MEANING · Kansas City All-Star left tackle WILLIE ROAF and his grandfather have helped save an important Civil War battlefield, Virginia's Fort Collier. Roaf’s grandfather, WILLIAM W. LAYTON, is a noted historian, speaker and author. Through him, Roaf became Interested in preserving the historical site, and has contributed to its restoration. On September 16, 1864, Fort Collier was the scene of the largest single cavalry charge in U.S. history -- 6,000 mounted Union federals. Roaf, whose mother is a former state Supreme Court Justice in Arkansas and now serves on the Arkansas Court of Appeals, used to visit his grandparents at their home in Arkansas during summers as a child. He is well aware of his grandfather’s passion for history and was happy to contribute to the Fort Collier Civil War Center when asked. I’m not the Civil War buff that my grandfather is, but I will study more and try to understand what went on in the battles there,” says Roaf. “It is amazing for him to know all of this history.” Nearly $500,000 has been raised to purchase and preserve the 10 acres of land on which Fort Collier sits.
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