PRO FOOTBALL / BILL PLASCHKE : He Had Good Intentions, Bad Plan

When David Williams and his wife, Debi, reflect on the birth of their first child, they will try to recall that tiny shining face, the cries, the warmth.

But they fear that they will only remember the phone calls.

There were many calls last Saturday, all of them to the delivery room of the hospital in The Woodlands, Tex., where Debi experienced a nine-hour labor.

The calls were from Williams’ employer, the Houston Oilers, for whom he is a starting offensive tackle. The callers, according to Williams, were Coach Jack Pardee and General Manager Mike Holovak.

The message: Leave your wife and board a plane for Boston so you can play in Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots at Foxboro, Mass.

“I’m trying to help my wife through a tough labor, and here these guys are, telling me to walk out the door on her,” Williams said.

The doctor eventually tore the phone off the wall. And Williams never moved.

Today he is $111,111 poorer after the Oilers docked him one game’s pay for skipping their 28-14 victory.

Williams said he tried to leave for Boston as soon as possible after the 6:25 p.m. CDT birth of Scot Cooper Williams. But he said he couldn’t catch a flight.

The Oilers said he didn’t try hard enough, and cited plane schedules that would have resulted in his appearance in Foxboro at 1 p.m. Sunday.

The ensuing debate has raged from editorial pages to national television news shows. Who’s right? We say they both are.

Nobody will say that Williams did the improper thing by being with his wife during the birth.

And by his willingness to sacrifice one-eighteenth of his $2-million salary without grievance--”It was well worth it,” he said--he is taking responsibility for his behavior.

The Oilers were rude to continually phone Williams in the delivery room. But upon learning that his wife had gone into labor early Saturday morning, Williams was wrong not to warn the team about his plans. The Oilers had every right to expect him to fly to Boston after the baby was born.

There are few employers who won’t give men vacation or unpaid leave immediately after the birth of their child. But there are few employers who won’t discipline that man if he doesn’t show up at work without warning.

When Williams didn’t arrive by game time, the Oilers gave rookie Brad Hopkins his first NFL start even though Hopkins was suffering from pneumonia. Guys on assembly lines have been fired for less.

But if Williams made a mistake, there have been plenty of mistakes made by husbands who have seen their wives in trouble and walked the other direction. The NFL is full of players who, as children in single-parent homes, were forced to pay for those mistakes.

Let’s give him this one.

RETURN MAN

Only one of the Detroit Lions can be sure he is walking into Anaheim Stadium Sunday as a marked man.

Only one knows that half the Rams have been thinking about him all week, plotting to take him down, to hurt him.

Barry Sanders? Rodney Peete?

Try Mel Gray, one of the best kick and punt returners in NFL history.

“It happens every game, guys will run down the field and tell me, ‘I’m going to tear your butt up, you’re not getting nowhere, we’ve been preparing for you all week,’ ” Gray said with a laugh. “It’s kind of thrilling, but it’s also terrifying.”

If he maintains his current pace of 86.1 return yards per game, on the last day of the season Gray will pass Ron Smith, whose 8,710 combined kick- and punt-return yardage leads the NFL.

Smith is the perfect leader for this category. He was an all-purpose player in the late 1960s and early ‘70s whose 10-year career included stints with six teams, including the Raiders and Rams. He never spent more than three years in one place.

“I never ran back kicks before I was a pro, and it was never my intention to run back kicks,” said Gray, a former Purdue and USFL running back who was attempting to make the New Orleans Saints in 1986 when he made his debut as a kick returner.

“To the Saints, I was luggage,” he said. “They just wanted to use me up. I had never returned a kick in my life, but they threw me out there anyway. I grabbed the ball and ran. About 50 yards later, well, look what happened.”

Now, 7,857 yards later, he has run from scrimmage only 19 times in eight seasons, including twice in the last four years.

“If I had a chance to be a running back again somewhere . . . you know, I would probably take it,” he said. “This business I’m in now, guys are crazy.”

PRODIGAL SON

One of the most amazing comebacks in the league this season will take place on TNT Sunday night in Miami when Jeff George makes his first start of the season for the Indianapolis Colts.

Less than two months ago, George had lost the respect of his teammates and the coaching staff after refusing to attend training camp because he was upset with his treatment by the media, fans and club officials.

When he realized he would not be traded, he rejoined the team as a beaten, ridiculed man.

How could he return to everyone’s good graces so quickly? Apparently, when he returned, George behaved as he had not behaved during his holdout.

“He came in here like a man,” said Duane Bickett, veteran linebacker. “He took his place on the third team. He kept his mouth shut and didn’t ask for anything. It could have been horrible, but it wasn’t.”

About the only time George speaks, Bickett said, is during impromptu meetings with small groups of players. It has been his way of spreading the word that he wants to be their leader again.

“He has slowly worked his way back into the fold,” Bickett said. “Guys have appreciated his approach.”

Bickett said that while few of the players know all the reasons for George’s holdout--”There’s probably some underlying things there that nobody will ever know”--he said the players do appreciate one of his problems.

“He will always be the hometown boy here and, because this is a pretty small town, he goes through things that nobody else in the league goes through--except maybe if there’s a kid from Green Bay who plays for the Packers,” Bickett said. “I’m talking about people here making a big deal out of his father coming to practice, or his mom coming on the field when he was hurt.

“Everybody here takes everything about Jeff George personally, and we can sympathize with that.”

GO FIGURE

--Bring Back Cary What’s-His-Name: Since the return of Mark Rypien from a knee injury, the Washington Redskins have been outscored, 77-13.

--Troy Aikman of the Dallas Cowboys has not thrown an interception since being picked off by Matt Darby of the Buffalo Bills in a game-saving play in the final seconds of Week 2. That’s a span of 116 passes.

--With Randall Cunningham as a starter, the Philadelphia Eagles averaged 28 points. With Bubby Brister, they have averaged eight.

--Dan Reeves was run out of Denver for being too strict, but after six games his New York Giants have 225 fewer yards in penalties than the Broncos while losing less than half as many fumbles, 8-3.

--Marcus Allen’s five touchdowns in six games are two more than he scored in 16 games with the Raiders last season.

SO MANY FIGURES, SO LITTLE TIME

--Reggie Langhorne caught a touchdown pass in his first game as an Indianapolis Colt in the 1992 season opener, but hasn’t caught one in 21 games since.

--The active kicker with the best chance to break Tom Dempsey’s 23-year-old record for longest field goal--63 yards--is Jason Elam of the Denver Broncos. Last week, he kicked a 73-yarder in practice.

--The game between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots at Seattle on Sunday will not be shown on television in Seattle--the first regular-season blackout there in 15 years, a string of 117 games.

--The Raiders have lost more yardage in penalties, 547, then they have gained by rushing, 486.