It Was So Close, Now It Is So Far

On April 17, 1999, they were consecutive picks.

On Sunday, they’re more likely to be separated by a pickoff.

Minnesota Viking quarterback Daunte Culpepper was the 11th selection in the 1999 draft. Cade McNown of the Chicago Bears was No. 12.

But the Bears actually passed up Culpepper by trading down from the seventh spot to 12th and taking McNown.

Now, in the assessment of the quarterback class of 1999, Culpepper stands at the top and McNown is near the bottom.

Their teams meet Sunday at Soldier Field for the first time with both players starting--though there are plenty who would like to see McNown benched in favor of Jim Miller or Shane Matthews.

To reconsider, here’s the original draft order, numbered by overall selection:

* 1. Tim Couch, Cleveland.

* 2. Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia.

* 3. Akili Smith, Cincinnati.

* 11. Culpepper, Minnesota.

* 12. McNown, Chicago.

* 50. Shaun King, Tampa Bay.

Here’s how they stand among themselves this season in passer rating: (Overall, Culpepper is fifth in the NFL and Smith is next to last, leading only Ryan Leaf.)

* 1. Culpepper (94.1).

* 2. King (79.5).

* 3. Couch (82.0).

* 4. McNabb (75.5).

* 5. McNown (70.1).

* 6. Smith (51.9).

Here’s how they rank in victories:

* 1. Culpepper (5).

* T2. King (3).

* T2. McNabb (3).

* 4. Couch (2).

* 5. McNown (1).

* 6. Smith (0).

Of course it’s impossible to account for the overall strengths or weakness of each team.

But grant McNown this, he has the most yards passing among the group, 1,254, having thrown more passes than anyone but McNabb.

Couch is the leader in completion percentage at 64.6.

Culpepper has the most touchdown passes with eight.

McNown has another distinction: He leads in interceptions with eight, tying him with three other players for most in the NFL.

JUST FOR KICKERS

Dear Raiders: Try a volleyball net.

Back when Sebastian Janikowski was making all those kicks at Florida State, he spent much of every practice playing volleyball off to the side with the punter, the snapper and a walk-on kicker.

The Raiders might be willing to try anything at this point.

They are the first team since New Orleans in 1979 to use a first-round pick on a kicker, and they have watched him miss five of 11 field goals--including one in the fourth quarter against the 49ers and another in overtime that probably would have cost the game if not for Anthony Dorsett’s block of a 49er attempt later.

The Raiders thought the risk factor with Janikowski was trouble with the law, not trouble with his leg.

Actually, his leg is strong enough. His eight touchbacks on kickoffs are second most in the league. Even though he hasn’t made a field goal longer than 37 yards, the issue hasn’t been distance, it’s accuracy.

He was wide left on the first four, wide right on the overtime attempt.

His volleyball coach--er, kicking coach--from Florida State expects Janikowski to get it back together.

“I’ve talked to him a couple of times,” assistant coach John Lilly said. “My opinion, I’m sure there’s a lot of pressure put on him, being a first-round pick.

“He’ll be fine. They’re going to get their money’s worth.”

Pressure is a word that comes up a lot.

Janikowski was 66 for 83 at Florida State and last season he didn’t miss inside 45 yards.

But the Seminole history of wide right aside, Janikowski didn’t face a lot of pressure kicks for dominant Florida State.

“That’s what the scouts all wanted to know,” Lilly said. “Everyone can see he can kick it 60 yards. They want to know if he can do it to win games.”

Lilly contends that Janikowski had two big pressure kicks last season--a game-winning 39-yard field goal with 5 1/2 minutes left against Clemson as the Seminoles came from behind for Bobby Bowden’s 300th victory, and a 54-yarder after a delay-of-game penalty had nullified his 49-yarder in the third quarter against rival Florida in Gainesville to secure a shot at the national title.

“The Florida game is bigger for us than the San Francisco 49er-Oakland Raider game,” Lilly said.

Still, neither of those was overtime in the NFL--and neither was made trying to live up to a $6-million contract.

An essentially self-taught kicker who played football only one year in high school, Janikowski doesn’t appear to have been down the lonely road of a kicker in a slump before, and he’ll have to learn to get out of it.

“He really loves the organization and the area there,” Lilly said. “He can’t be pleased, missing kicks. He has high standards and expectations for himself.”

And remember, he has never done his job by putting his head down and kicking field goals over and over.

“He’s a good volleyball player--although they may have used a soccer ball,” Lilly said.

PERFECTION DEFINED

Still struggling to understand why 158.3 is perfection in the NFL’s passer-rating formula?

“As George W. Bush might say, chalk it up to fuzzy math,” wrote Elizabethe Holland of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in the wake of Kurt Warner’s “perfect” game.

The explanation might not exactly clear it all up, but here goes.

The system--devised in 1973 by Don Smith, a now-retired public relations man from the Pro Football Hall of Fame--measures performance against a standard based on all qualified passers in the NFL since 1960.

A maximum of 2.375 points can be attained in each of four categories--completion percentage, average yards per attempt, percentage of touchdown passes per attempt and percentage of interceptions per attempt.

The standard in the completion-percentage category, for example, is 77.5%, so Warner, who completed 80% of his passes against the San Diego Chargers, earned the full 2.375 points despite not being perfect.

Then you add the points in each category, divide that by six and multiply the result by 100.

Why 2.375? Why six? Why 100?

We were afraid you’d ask.

NEWS FROM MOTRIN DOME

The Minnesota Vikings are eager to reclaim the title of the NFL’s loudest stadium from Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium.

But it’s not the same--Arrowhead is outside--and the 130-decibel sound levels for the Tampa Bay game Monday night in the Metrodome were headache-inducing.

Vikings officials denied to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune suspicions that the team pumps in artificial crowd noise, and the Vikings claimed they actually lowered the music level from 103 decibels to 97 to compensate for increased fan noise Monday.

Still, the 130-decibel level is rated as loud as a jackhammer or racing stock cars.

Face it: When the team is considering a corporate sponsorship that would provide fans with ear plugs, it’s too loud.

Crowd noise is great. Turn down the music and the sound system.

ROOKIE REPORT

It’s hard to get a lot of notice when you’re playing for the Cleveland Browns, but Courtney Brown, the No. 1 overall pick from Penn State, is getting strong reviews.

Although he had an eye-catching three-sack game against Pittsburgh in Week 3, Brown hasn’t had a sack since.

But Denver Coach Mike Shanahan took a good look at the film going into Sunday’s game and was impressed.

“He’s probably the best rookie defensive lineman I’ve seen since I’ve been in the NFL,” Shanahan said. “As a rookie, Brown is really an exceptional player. He does things most rookies can’t do.”