There’s a Special Kind of Stress

Raider kicker Sebastian Janikowski was arrested this week for suspicion of drunk driving. On the NFL shock meter, that falls somewhere between Daniel Snyder is pompous and the Bengals are 0-4.

Anyone with a vague recollection of Janikowski’s background could see this coming. From his wild college days at Florida State--where he had at least six brushes with the law involving drugs or alcohol--to his face plant last year on the dance floor of a San Francisco nightclub, he is trouble.

Don’t feel too sorry for the Raiders, who wasted a first-round pick on him; they knew what they were getting. The guy to sympathize with is special-teams coach Bob Casullo, who came into the league with Janikowski in 2000 and whose fortunes are tied to the 24-year-old knucklehead.

Of all the coaching jobs in the NFL, being in charge of special teams must be the most stressful. Your fate rests in the hands--and on the feet--of the team’s youngest and often least experienced players. Your practice time is very limited; it’s almost an afterthought with many teams. And the stakes are extremely high.

Half of the league’s 32 teams have changed special-teams coaches in the last two seasons.

It’s the only job in football in which you can go from a great coach to a buffoon in the amount of time it takes a kick returner to run from one end zone to the other.

“I’ve never had an urge to stick my foot out and trip a guy when he ran past me,” said Joe Avezzano, who has been with the Dallas Cowboys since 1990, making him the dean of special-teams coaches. “But you do want to crawl in a hole when something bad happens. Because there’s no one else that will take the hit on that. On offense, you’ve got four or five coaches to share the blame. If there’s a mistake in the kicking game, it’s on you.”

Just think how Denver’s Frank Bush felt Monday night, when his field-goal unit found its way into the NFL record books in a most discouraging way. Bronco kicker Jason Elam, one of the game’s most reliable players, ended the first half by coming up short on a long field-goal try. Baltimore’s Chris McAlister caught the ball in the end zone, then bolted past a slew of lumbering linemen for a 107-yard touchdown, the longest play in league history.

Then, there’s Casullo, who was floating on a cloud all week after Raider rookie Phillip Buchanon returned two punts for touchdowns, sparking Oakland’s first victory over Tennessee.

Then, along comes Janikowski, who was arrested by the California Highway Patrol late Wednesday for speeding in his red 2001 Mercedes-Benz. Police told the Associated Press that his blood-alcohol level registered 0.20, more than twice the legal limit.

Earlier that day, I spoke with Casullo about the unpredictability of coaching special teams.

“Each game is its own entity,” he said. “One week, your guys can be really outstanding. The next week, it’s like you’ve never met with your guys.”

The Raiders have met with Janikowski before, and they’ll meet with him again.

Somehow, that doesn’t seem to make a difference.

At This Stage of the Game

“Runt of the Litter,” a critically acclaimed play written and performed by former NFL player Bo Eason, is heading into its second and final week in Los Angeles.

The one-man show takes place in a football locker room, where the protagonist is preparing to play against his older brother in the Super Bowl. Eason is the helmeted Hamlet, struggling with the notion of trying to defeat the person he respects and loves most.

“It’s kind of a Cain and Abel premise; do you choose brotherhood, or do you want to win?” explained Eason, 41, a Houston Oiler safety from 1984 through ’88 who has had supporting roles in movies such as “Miami Rhapsody” and “A Bright Shining Lie.”

“Runt” is autobiographical to a large degree. Eason’s older brother, Tony, 42, played quarterback for New England in the 1980s and helped lead the Patriots to Super Bowl XX, which they lost to the Bears.

Bo and Tony were best friends growing up in Walnut Grove, Calif.--Bo considered himself the runt, hence the name of the play--and never lost a game while playing on the same teams from Pop Warner through high school. They never played against each other in the pros; they were scheduled to in 1987, but the player strike wiped out that reunion.

Castle Rock has optioned the screen rights to Eason’s play, which had a successful off-Broadway run in New York, and several Hollywood types have been--or are scheduled to be--in the audience, among them Toby McGuire, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Chris Klein and Rosie O’Donnell. The production runs Tuesday through Friday at the Matrix Theatre in Hollywood.

Around the League

AFC EAST--After the Patriots won the Super Bowl, four former Dolphins--quarterback Damon Huard, linebacker Larry Izzo, cornerback Terrell Buckley and offensive lineman Gary Ruegamer--put their championship rings on their raised middle fingers and posed for a picture. Then, they sent the photo to some of their former teammates. Coach Bill Belichick was irate when he found out about the gag and fined the four players. Copies of that picture could be found all around the Dolphin facility this week--they play host to the Patriots on Sunday.... Buffalo quarterback Drew Bledsoe has thrown 149 consecutive passes without an interception. Twenty-four more and he’ll pass Jim Kelly for the franchise record.

AFC NORTH--If you go to a Cleveland game, don’t leave early. The Browns are 9-11 under Coach Butch Davis, and seven of those games were decided on the last play.... The Bengals are an embarrassment. They have a 37-game losing streak on the road to teams with a winning record. Their last road victory over a team with a winning record was Dec. 2, 1990, when they beat the 6-5 Steelers, 16-12.... Terry Donahue, 49er general manager and former UCLA coach, on quarterback Tommy Maddox, whose most recent starts came in the Arena Football League and XFL: “I don’t think [this opportunity] would have happened for him without the XFL. That league gave him a chance. He had exposure on the big field again. That helps a lot more than playing in an arena.... Arena ball is great, fun to watch the players compete, but it’s a more difficult transition for a player to go from arena ball, than a league like the XFL or NFL Europe.”

AFC SOUTH--Don’t be surprised if someone in Nashville writes a sad country ballad about Tennessee’s special teams. Through four games, the Titans have allowed three touchdowns on punt returns, and opponents twice have recovered onside kicks.... Tennessee linebacker Keith Bulluck on the team’s bumpy start: “Those movies where everything goes wrong for a person--I feel that’s where we are right now.” ... The Colts had a bye last week, so Peyton Manning spent Sunday in New York working the CBS “NFL Today” halftime show. It was the same day Kurt Warner and Vinny Testaverde were hurt, Kordell Stewart was benched, Akili Smith was horrible, Jay Fiedler had four passes intercepted, and David Carr’s sack total climbed to a league-high 26. “Tough day for quarterbacks,”

Manning said. “I’m glad I was in the booth.”

AFC WEST--Oakland’s Rod Woodson has had a storied career, but clearly he still has something left. The 37-year-old free safety recovered three fumbles against the Steelers in Week 2, then last Sunday returned an interception 82 yards for a touchdown against Tennessee. “You could be the wisest man on the planet, and if you can’t step on the field and produce then there’s no value to you being there,” he said. “You have to produce.” ... Did you know that Kansas City running back Priest Holmes went by his middle name, Anthony, for his first two seasons at Texas? He switched to Priest because the Longhorns already had a cornerback named Tony Holmes. It was a good move, if only because the team had an offensive lineman named Octavious Bishop, so they had a bishop blocking for a priest. Please, hold your applause.

NFC EAST--The new field at Texas Stadium will make its debut Sunday for the Cowboy-Giant game. The artificial turf is called RealGrass, and players love it. Imagine watering your lawn for three hours, then squishing across the gushy surface. That’s how soft the field feels.... Last Sunday, Philadelphia’s Brian Dawkins had a sack, an interception, a fumble recovery and caught a touchdown pass, becoming the first NFL player in history to do all that.... Baltimore and Washington aren’t too far apart on the map, unless you’re talking defenses. Under Marvin Lewis, the Raven defense was consistently among the league’s best. But Lewis is defensive coordinator in Washington now, and the Redskin defense is ranked 30th against the run, 24th in points allowed and 27th overall. Lewis has said he doesn’t plan any major shakeups.

NFC NORTH--Brett Favre was sacked four times against Carolina last Sunday, and, in an upset, none of those sacks were faked. The Packers are 0-4 against the spread this season.... Detroit’s Desmond Howard had a 70-yard kickoff return against New Orleans last Sunday, and his teammates got a little too excited. Defensive end Robert Porcher celebrated by giving him a head slap that felt vaguely like a love tap from a Ford Explorer. Porcher is 6 feet 6 and weighs 266; Howard is 5-10 and 188. “It’s the way guys celebrate in the NFL,” a dizzy Howard told reporters. “It just so happened I was coming off a neck injury, so it wasn’t the proper way to celebrate at that time.... It hurt.” It was an accident, of course, and Porcher felt terrible when he saw Howard icing his neck on the sideline. “I came over to him and said, ‘Hey, are you doing all right?’ ” Porcher said. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, but somebody smacked the hell out of me.’ ”

NFC SOUTH--Atlanta’s defense hasn’t scored a touchdown in 34 games. Sunday, the Falcons play the Buccaneers, who have scored three touchdowns on interception returns this season. That said, the Falcons’ Michael Vick is the only quarterback with three or more starts who has yet to have a pass intercepted.... Being reduced to a spectator against the Saints is especially painful for Pittsburgh quarterback Kordell Stewart because he grew up in New Orleans, and his family still lives there.... The Saints have fallen behind 20-0 twice the past two weeks. They scratched back to beat Chicago, but couldn’t do the same against Detroit.... Tampa Bay quarterback Brad Johnson on excitable Coach Jon Gruden, a former quarterback at Dayton: “He takes a shower after the game, too, now. He thinks he’s playing. In practice, he calls the play in the huddle as if he’s the guy. He’s kind of reliving his past--or the past he didn’t have.”

NFC WEST--The 49ers have lost to the Rams six consecutive times and have been outscored by an average of two touchdowns in those games. If they win, the 49ers go up on St. Louis by 3 1/2 games, but a loss would be a devastating psychological blow. The 49ers say they don’t plan to make any major changes on defense in facing quarterback Jamie Martin: “We don’t anticipate them changing their offense,” Coach Steve Mariucci said. “They didn’t change their offense when Trent Green got hurt a few years back and a guy named Kurt Warner took it over and did very well.” ... Warner, out with a fractured pinkie, says he’ll be back sooner than 10 weeks from now. Dare to doubt him?