Delay of Game Call by NBC Would Suit Rams

(1.)

Question: Who would gain the most if NBC still had the NFL?

Answer: Georgia Frontiere and Dick Vermeil. Considering how enamored NBC sports boss Dick Ebersol has become with tape-delaying Olympic results, he would just now be getting around to showing the St. Louis Rams’ victory in last season’s Super Bowl, meaning all the accolades for Frontiere and Vermeil would be starting up all over again.

(2.)

Q: Is there a way to beat the Rams?

A: Said San Francisco 49er quarterback Jeff Garcia, who failed to do so last week, “When you play the Rams, you have to go in with the attitude that you need to score on every single series.”

Most teams can do that. The problem is, according to the rules, they then have to kick the ball back to the Rams.

(3.)

Q: What chance does Washington Redskin Coach Norv Turner have to hold onto his job?

A: He has more job security than Davey Johnson, but less than Bruce Coslet, the Cincinnati Bengal coach who isn’t encumbered by the need to win.

(4.)

Q: The Cleveland Browns play at Oakland this week. When was their last visit to that city?

A: 1979. Nothing much has changed since then except those Browns moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens. And these Browns were formed last year as an expansion team. And those Raiders moved to Los Angeles, came back to Oakland and are threatening to move again. Raider football was a bit more popular in those days. The team’s season-ticket total that year reached 51,825.

(5.)

Q: Is there any chance that offensive lineman Orlando Brown can resume his career?

A: Not likely. Struck in the right eye by a flag inadvertently thrown by an official late last season, Brown was released by the Browns last week.

“If he sustains any kind of a head trauma,” said Clifford Stern, Brown’s attorney, “even a routine head slap, he runs the risk of a detached retina and an injury that could lead to blindness. This is a nightmare. His entire life was football.”