Jets Plan to Focus on Krieg, Sanders

The ideal New York Jets game plan against the Detroit Lions today would force Dave Krieg to run and Barry Sanders to pass. It’s a surefire strategy based on these numbers: Krieg, 125; Sanders, 0-for-1.

First, the 125. That’s the number of fumbles Krieg, the Lions’ quarterback, has been guilty of in his 15-year career. That’s a National Football League record. Second, the 0-for-1. That’s the career passing record for Sanders, the NFL’s leading rusher this season. Get Krieg running, Sanders passing and chalk up a crucial victory.

Fumble No. 125 came on Krieg’s first snap from center this season, in the second quarter against the Packers in Green Bay Nov. 6. Krieg came into the game to replace starter Scott Mitchell, who suffered a broken right hand. He bobbled the snap, the Packers recovered and scored a touchdown for a 17-0 lead in a game they eventually won, 38-30.

Krieg hasn’t fumbled since, and the Lions have won three of their last four to pull into playoff contention. He hasn’t thrown an interception either, and even in that Nov. 6 loss to the Packers he produced a brilliant second half, throwing for 275 yards and three touchdowns.

“Barry doesn’t fumble and Krieg doesn’t throw interceptions,” Jets Coach Pete Carroll said. “I wish we could get close enough to David to force him to fumble because he has a little history of that.”

In fact, Krieg has a lot of history. Though his career doesn’t include fingers full of Super Bowl rings, it is nonetheless substantial. He is 15th in career passing with 31,554 yards and 11th in career touchdown passes with 227, with 10 of those coming this season in five games. Most of those TD passes came when he was the Seattle Seahawks’ quarterback for more than a decade, from 1980-91. Many of them went into the hands of Steve Largent, whose consecutive-game reception mark might be broken by Art Monk Saturday.

Krieg might have been a Jet this season if he hadn’t gone to a New York Knicks game with Boomer Esiason. The Jets brought Krieg into town last April with the idea he would back up Esiason this season. Esiason and Krieg have known each other for some time and Esiason offered to drive him to a Knicks game. Should have taken the train. They became frustratingly lodged on the LIE at 4:30 in the afternoon. Then fans at the Garden kept chanting “Booma, Booma, Booma.”

“I guess you have to be from here to understand,” Esiason said. “He had had enough.”

The traffic and the Madison Square Garden crowd would have been entirely bearable, but the prospect of being a backup was not. Krieg still thought he could be a starter, though he was dislodged from that role in 1993, his second year with the Kansas City Chiefs, when Joe Montana came to town.

“When you start in this league you don’t ever want to be (a backup),” Esiason said. “After what he has accomplished in his career, I’m sure he felt that he could still do those sort of things.”

Krieg’s search to be a starter didn’t materialize, so he signed to be a backup with the Lions.

The Lions already had signed Mitchell as a free agent from the Dolphins and they intended to play him. After all, they gave him an $11.1-million contract and weren’t about to have him ride the bench.

Mitchell was outstanding in the preseason, but when the real games rolled around he was disappointingly inconsistent, great for a quarter or a half, lousy the rest of the time. The Lions were 4-5 when Mitchell’s injury forced him to the sideline for the rest of the season. Under Krieg’s leadership, the Lions have improved to 7-6 and are coming off two consecutive victories, including a 35-21 dusting of the Buffalo Bills in which Krieg threw for 351 yards.

Krieg’s career has been longer than most, and he’s still playing football long after tiny Milton College, his alma mater in Wisconsin, folded.

“That speaks volumes for the man,” Esiason said with a grin.