THE NFL / BILL PLASCHKE : Late Bloomers Give Life to Second Half of Season

Surprised by that Cincinnati quarterback with the gold hoop earring and shotgun arm?

Listen to one of Jeff Blake’s teammates:

“I swear, the first time I heard his voice was when I looked up in the huddle during the middle of the Cleveland game,” veteran offensive lineman Bruce Kozerski said. “We had absolutely no idea who he was. None.”

Surprised by that Chicago quarterback with the ugly arm, awkward gait and checkered resume?

Listen to one of Steve Walsh’s coaches:

“Sometimes you look at a guy and just physically, you write him off,” said Ron Turner, offensive coordinator for the Bears. “But then you look closer. . . . “

Surprised by that Lake Erie bunch with a surly coach, nasty defense and two castoff quarterbacks?

Listen to the Cleveland Browns’ owner:

“Before this year, nobody knew the Browns were still alive,” Art Modell said. “If the owners had any sense of decency, they would call off the season right now.”

Surprise. Thanks to the likes of Blake, Walsh and the Browns, an autumn filled with meaningless games and mindless posturing has suddenly turned interesting.

With six weeks remaining in the NFL’s regular season, the league has been struck with surprises resounding like summer raindrops on a tin roof.

Some have been pleasant. Others have been a pain.

A checklist:

JEFF BLAKE

Perception: He is the Bengals’ greatest quarterback prospect since Ken Anderson.

Reality: The real deal.

There is little wonder a Cincinnati judge was willing to embarrass himself by writing a song entitled “Shake ‘n’ Blake.”

In three starts, Blake has energized the city by leading the Bengals to their first two victories while throwing for 988 yards and six touchdowns, with one interception.

He began the season as a third-stringer, a New York Jet castoff who had thrown nine passes in two NFL seasons.

Today?

“He comes into the huddle and looks at the receivers and tells them exactly who is going to get the ball if certain coverages are played,” Kozerski said. “And then under pressure, he gets it to them. Throws off the run. Throws against a blitz. He’s like nobody I’ve seen in a long time.”

And what of David Klingler? Write him off as another quarterback from a run-and-shoot college program who couldn’t make the pro adjustment. Perhaps you remember Andre Ware.

EMMITT SMITH

Perception: Years of constant work on the field, combined with little work in the weight room, have made the Dallas Cowboy running back slow and susceptible to hard-hitting defenses. Note that the San Francisco 49ers held him to 10 yards in his final nine carries Sunday.

Reality: Compared to Detroit’s Barry Sanders, Smith indeed looks 60 years old.

This week, Cowboy Coach Barry Switzer actually challenged Smith, saying, “I question him in the weight room. He doesn’t work in the weight room like he should. Emmitt hasn’t reached his full potential physically this year. He hasn’t been 100%.”

Replied Smith: “The man’s entitled to his opinion. I’m on a pace, as you put it in the press, to get 1,500 yards and 20 touchdowns and you’re talking to me like I really got a problem.”

But after gaining more than 100 yards only twice in the last seven games, yes, it seems the three-time rushing champion has a problem.

CLEVELAND BROWNS

Perception: Headed for their first Super Bowl.

Reality: A New Year’s Day wild-card playoff game on Lake Erie.

If the Browns (8-2) survive in Kansas City on Sunday, they should finish with at least 12 victories after completing a schedule that includes games with the New York Giants, Houston Oilers and Seattle Seahawks.

Don’t laugh. The Browns have yielded the fewest points and are the only team that has not allowed a 100-yard rusher or receiver. And no team, other than the Cowboys and Chiefs, has an active Super Bowl most valuable player available at quarterback, like Mark Rypien.

“I’ve already called the convention bureau here, and apparently nobody from the south of France comes to Cleveland in January, so we have rooms,” said Modell, whose team hasn’t been to the playoffs in five years. “My wife is now talking to me. The talk shows aren’t being so mean.”

And people have finally stopped talking about your release of quarterback Bernie Kosar?

“To be honest with you, we could have handled it better,” Modell said of last season’s firing of the Browns’ hero. “The end result would have been the same, but I miscalculated the timing of it. It was my fault.”

Does this mean people should stop hating Coach Bill Belichick for that move?

“Belichick is so charming these days, he could host a daytime show,” Modell said.

STEVE WALSH

Perception: He will lead the Bears to the playoffs.

Reality: We haven’t seen the last of Erik Kramer.

Since signing with the Bears this summer as the “other” free-agent quarterback, Walsh has outplayed anointed starter Kramer from Platteville to Newark.

Given his chance after an early-season injury to Kramer, Walsh has responded by going 5-0, completing 64.1% of his passes, throwing only two interceptions in those five starts and not being sacked in 16 quarters.

Kramer, in his five starts, went 1-4 with seven interceptions.

“Steve has a great awareness and presence out there,” said Turner, the Bears’ offensive coordinator. “He makes great decisions. He throws to the right guy.”

In a Bear system that stresses defense and ball control, a smart guy from the University of Miami like Walsh would seem to be the perfect quarterback. Having played in only 31 games in five previous pro seasons, he is also fresh.

But Kramer, who has struggled to learn the new system, is the quarterback with the 99.2 postseason quarterback rating. Few enjoy pressure as he does.

The Bears should make the playoffs, but we bet Kramer will be their quarterback when they do.

CHARLIE GARNER

Perception: He will be the league’s next great running back.

Reality: Get real.

After becoming only the seventh player in NFL history to rush for 100 yards in his first two NFL games, Garner has vanished behind a cloud of nagging injuries and charges that he can’t block.

He has carried the ball only six times in the last 10 quarters for the Philadelphia Eagles while recently complaining about a lost fingernail.

ARIZONA CARDINALS

Perception: With four of their last six games at home, and road games against Houston and Atlanta, they have a chance to fulfill Buddy Ryan’s prophecy of a playoff berth.

Reality: With Jay Schroeder at quarterback and Mark Higgs at running back, they have no chance.

Life in Tempe is as messy as always. Just when Steve Beuerlein had regained his confidence with one interception in his last four games, he suffers torn knee ligaments.

Schroeder, with three interceptions in his last start, is in. Jim McMahon, the backup who hasn’t played in two months, is spitting venom on the sidelines.

“At this point, man, I don’t care,” McMahon told reporters.

The running backs also are angry because Ryan signed Higgs from the Dolphins and promised to play him Sunday against the Eagles. Higgs played for Ryan at Philadelphia in 1989.

“It just goes to show you, he takes care of his guys who have played with him in the past,” running back Larry Centers said. “He’s a coach who has a plan in mind. And we’ll just have to wait around and see what it is. I don’t know what it is right now.”

He’s not the only one.

GUS FREROTTE

Perception: He is the next Mark Rypien.

Reality: Heath Shuler will be given at least a dozen more chances to fail.

The Washington Redskins have lost 27 regular-season games in the three seasons since they won the Super Bowl in 1992, the worst collapse for a Super Bowl champion.

That is why Frerotte suddenly looks like Billy Kilmer. Particularly since his 583 yards passing and five scoring passes are the best numbers for a Redskin rookie quarterback after three starts.

But first-round draft pick Shuler is making several million dollars more than Frerotte. And Redskin coaches are already trying to figure out ways to get him back in the lineup, particularly with five of their last six games against teams with losing records.

The best thing Frerotte can hope for is a trade to Jacksonville.

CORRALLED AND BRANDED

A source who ventured inside Troy Aikman’s hotel room on the eve of the Cowboys’ game in San Francisco last week offered this medical opinion:

“The guy’s thumb was the size of a pickle. There were two trainers there with him, icing the thumb, hooking it up to electrical stimulation gadgets, working on him like mad.”

And the Cowboys didn’t deem it necessary to report the injury to the league? And avoid the potential for club employees to sell this inside information to gamblers? And uphold the integrity of the game?

Shame on them.

We’re thrilled that the league hit owner Jerry Jones with a $10,000 fine Friday. We wish it had been more.

QUICK HITTERS

* YOUNGER EVERY DAY: Still don’t believe that San Francisco’s Steve Young is a different quarterback this season? A more complete quarterback? Even a championship quarterback?

Listen to teammate Brent Jones:

“He could have thrown for 400 yards and not gained the respect that he has this year. In the last four or five weeks, ever since that so-called Philadelphia incident, he’s taken on a leadership role that he never had taken on before.

“What it did was, it made him realize he’s going to stand up and start being a leader. He definitely has earned the respect of the guys by his play and his toughness and his overall demeanor.”

* THE SO-CALLED PHILADELPHIA INCIDENT: Jones was referring to what has become the watershed moment in the 49er season.

It occurred in the third quarter of an eventual 40-8 whipping by the Philadelphia Eagles on Oct. 2. After being removed from the game in the middle of a drive, Young stormed to the sidelines and loudly berated his coaches.

It was the first time anyone had seen him show any emotion stronger than a shrug.

Since then, the 49ers are 5-0, having outscored their opponents, 168-75. Young has thrown nine touchdown passes and only one interception in that span.

* NEXT TIME 49ERS ARE IN TOWN, THEY’LL BE SEATED WITH RAIDER FANS: The 49ers’ new aggressive attitude apparently extends beyond the playing field.

Jack Faulkner, the venerable director of pro personnel for the Rams, was in San Francisco last weekend to scout the 49ers in their game with Dallas.

But 49er officials stuck him in a corner of the press box where he could see nothing inside the north 25-yard line.

* CUT LEFT AT THE GARBAGE CAN: How unusual was the Chicago Bears’ fake field-goal play last week against Miami? The one in which receiver Curtis Conway took the snap on one side of the field and threw the ball to a group of players on the other side of the field, with the pass eventually being deflected into the hands of tight end Keith Jennings for a touchdown?

It was so unusual that Coach Dave Wannstedt huddled with officials before the game and actually diagramed the play for them so they wouldn’t panic and begin throwing flags.

Like the previous time he ran it.

* STRANGE BUT TRUE: With 1,319 yards rushing, Barry Sanders of the Detroit Lions is on a pace to gain 2,111 yards and break the mark of 2,105, set by Eric Dickerson with the Rams in 1984.

But that is not his outstanding statistic.

Sanders has four of the NFL’s five longest runs from scrimmage this season, of 85, 84, 69 and 62 yards--yet did not score on any of them.

* WAYNE’S WORLD: Coach Wayne Fontes of the Lions has announced that if Sanders is within striking distance of the rushing record during the season finale against Miami, Sanders will break it.

“If he’s close, in that last Miami game, I’ll give him the ball 50 times, maybe 60,” Fontes said. The single-game record for rushes is held by Jamie Morris of the Washington Redskins, who carried 45 times in an overtime game with the Cincinnati Bengals in 1988.

“Right now, he is the best runner that’s ever touched the football,” Fontes said.

* BAD-TIMING AWARD: Two weeks ago, linebacker Byron Evans and agent Bert Kinerk turned down an offer for a contract extension from the Philadelphia Eagles for about $1.7 million a year, including an $800,000 signing bonus.

They wanted $2 million a year and a $2-million bonus.

In an instant last Sunday, Evans lost it all.

He was carted from the field after suffering a career-threatening knee injury when teammate Bill Romanowski fell on his leg.

Rehabilitation could take a year or longer and his contract, which expires at the end of the season, probably will not be renewed.

* QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Daddy, are you playing dinosaur?”

That was spoken by Michael Tofflemire, 2 1/2-year-old son of Seattle Seahawk center Joe Tofflemire.

At the time, Tofflemire was writhing on his garage steps, having tripped over a pair of work boots and chipping a bone in his right wrist.

He wasn’t playing dinosaur, and he wasn’t able to play last Sunday in Denver.