Path to Greatness in Ohio Not Always Straight One

L.A. Times Archives

Oct. 15, 2001 12 AM PT

They were drafted two picks apart in 1999, shipped to opposite ends of a state to revive two franchises and renew a rivalry.

Tim Couch and Akili Smith were supposed to go at it for a decade or more, restoring the luster to an intrastate series that disappeared when Cleveland’s team was uprooted to Baltimore.

Couch is coming into his own on a Browns’ team doing the same.

“This young man has been a winner at every level he has been at,” Cincinnati Bengal Coach Dick LeBeau said. “It is no surprise--it shouldn’t be to anyone--that he is doing well as a quarterback.”

So what did Smith do this week in preparation for the Bengals-Browns game? He pretended to be Couch in practice, running the scout team to give the Bengals’ defense a workout--the job of the third-string quarterback, a position behind starter Jon Kitna and backup Scott Mitchell.

Smith isn’t running the Bengals’ plays, which says a lot about the diverging paths taken by the two No. 1 draft picks.

The Browns chose Couch with the first overall pick in 1999. The bypassed Smith took it as a snub, vowed revenge and got it by leading the Bengals on a last-minute touchdown drive and an 18-17 win in Cleveland on Oct. 10, 1999.

Smith was hurt for the rematch, which Cincinnati won 44-28. Couch got even by leading the Browns to a 24-7 win last season.

Couch was out with a broken thumb when the Bengals won last year’s rematch 12-3.

“I believe it’s one to one,” Smith said playfully. “He got me here last year and I got him up there. I wish I had the opportunity to play against him this week, but I don’t.”

With Smith on the sideline, the Bengals beat the Browns, 24-14.

That Sharper Image

Green Bay Packer safety Darren Sharper got the best of his older brother, Jamie, Baltimore’s right outside linebacker, for the second time in their NFL careers.

“It is great to have bragging rights,” Darren said. “He beat me twice in college but now I’ve got him twice in the NFL.”

Darren played at William and Mary while his brother was a standout at Virginia. The second time the teams played in 1995, each had an interception.

But there is something Jamie has that Darren wants.

“He is always showing off his [Super Bowl] ring and bragging,” Darren said of Jamie.

Darren also prefers to live in the moment and has a plan.

“Now I can tell him I have the upper hand,” he said of Sunday’s victory. “[At least] up until the Super Bowl, when I think we may face these guys again.”

Cutting His Losses

Long ago when the Philadelphia Eagles were on their way to a spot in the 1981 Super Bowl, a gritty free-agent linebacker named Bill Cowher was cut in training camp by a coach named Dick Vermeil.

Cowher, the Pittsburgh Steeler coach, joked he couldn’t handle Vermeil’s tough workouts, but Vermeil remembers a player who had the heart, but not the skills.

“He wasn’t quite talented enough at that time, and it happened to be a time when the strength of our football team was our linebackers,” said Vermeil, now the coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, who played host to the Steelers on Sunday.

“He was one of those kids that when you cut him, you never forget him, because he had a tremendous passion.”

Now, Vermeil has another reason to remember him: a 20-17 Steeler victory.

Bear of a Decision

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Dave McGinnis might--for the tiniest of moments he’ll never admit to--wish he was the coach of the Chicago Bears.

The Arizona Cardinal coach, whose team lost to the Bears, 20-13, at Soldier Field, had a chance to be the main man in Chicago three years ago after a decade-long run as an assistant coach.

But when the team called a news conference to announce his hiring before a contract had been worked out, McGinnis stormed out.

The Bears responded by almost immediately hiring Dick Jauron.

The unlikely episode eventually prompted the removal of Michael McCaskey as team president, a job that went to Ted Phillips.

“[My wife] Kim and I both spent 10 wonderful years there and we got a deep feeling for the city, the fans, the Bears and the organization,” McGinnis said. “Now I’m extremely happy to be a head coach here.”

How happy might McGinnis be if he was part of a Bear team that has a three-game winning streak for the first time since 1995?

East Is East, West Is West

The Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers certainly didn’t allow their last meeting as division rivals to become a bore-fest.

This rivalry was the biggest anomaly in the NFL’s geographic mess of divisional alignments.

In every full season since 1967, these teams from opposite sides of the country met twice--an arrangement that finally ended after Sunday’s game at the Georgia Dome, a 37-31 49er victory.

Next season, the NFL will have a new divisional alignment. Atlanta will join the NFC South, while San Francisco remains in the West.

Compiled by Jim Barrero

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Opposite Directions

Tim Couch has come of age as the Browns’ starting quarterback while Akili Smith’s career is on the Bengals’ backburner. A glance at their averages per start:

Tim Couch

Starts: 26

Att.: 28.4

Comp.: 17.5

Pct.: .615

Yds.: 188.1

TD: 1.1

Int.: 0.9

Rating: 79.5

W-L: 7-19

W-L %: .269

Akili Smith