Coaches Take Their Chances

Echoes of USC Coach Pete Carroll’s bold decision to go for the winning touchdown in last month’s Notre Dame game -- instead of kicking the safer, easier, game-tying field goal -- are still reverberating in the NFL.

Thus, Tampa Bay Coach Jon Gruden called off his kicker and went for it last week, beating instead of tying the Washington Redskins.

Earlier this month, Kansas City Coach Dick Vermeil ran the ball on fourth and goal at the one-yard line, beating instead of tying Oakland.

That is not customary behavior in pro ball, but it may become a trend.

And that will draw the approval of most sports fans. The cry, “Go for it,” is universal.

Traditionally, coaches never listen, knowing it’s a lot safer to play for a tie.

A typical coach likes to say the team has worked too hard for him to throw away a tie and take an uncertain shot at winning.

Carroll apparently changed that mind-set.

When the coach of the nation’s No. 1 college club acts, even pro coaches follow.

Colts vs. Bengals

The Indianapolis Colts, 9-0 and shooting for 19-0, will go for win No. 10 today at Cincinnati, where the 7-2 Bengals had last week off while the Colts toyed with 1-8 Houston, 31-17.

So both quarterbacks, Peyton Manning of Indianapolis and Carson Palmer of Cincinnati, are well rested even though, against Houston, Indianapolis Coach Tony Dungy kept Manning and running back Edgerrin James in the game for every Colt pass and run.

Dungy’s taking no chances on getting upset, which in any case seems unlikely in the Colts’ remaining schedule, with the possible exception of the Pittsburgh game Nov. 28.

That day, much will depend on the status of Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

For the second week, Roethlisberger, who has had recent knee surgery, was among the missing last Sunday as the Steelers beat Cleveland, 34-21.

Replacement Charlie Batch, who was playing well, broke a hand in that game, which brought back Tommy Maddox, who hasn’t played well lately.

Everything seems to be falling into place for Manning.

Bears vs. Panthers

The Chicago Bears will carry a five-game winning streak into the most difficult portion of their 2005 schedule today, a stretch run that begins with Carolina at Soldier Field.

That’s a windy place, where, nonetheless, organized Bear Coach Lovie Smith showed San Francisco the other day that he has some good ideas about most things:

* Because a rookie has replaced his injured passers, Smith hit the 49ers with a quick-snap running-play offense.

Taking off repeatedly before the 49er defense could read the formation -- and remember the plays Chicago uses in that formation -- Smith’s ballcarriers ran 40 times for 172 yards.

A third-stringer, scatback Adrian Peterson, gained 120 of those yards as the replacement for his two injured predecessors.

* Because the wind was fierce even for the Windy City, Smith put cornerback Nathan Vasher back to cover missed 49er field goal tries.

And Vasher, after lining up as if to rush the kicker, raced toward one wind-blown kicked ball just before it blew way, got it in time, and returned it 108 yards, the longest touchdown play in NFL history.

On Vasher’s circuitous scoring route, the Bears blocked him along as if they had practiced the play since training camp. Clearly, Smith has transferred his character to his players.

Eagles Need Owens

The Dallas Cowboys won a 21-20 game Monday night for one overriding reason: Terrell Owens was nowhere in sight.

A few days earlier, their opponent, the Philadelphia Eagles, had canned him -- their best receiver, the NFL’s best receiver, and with Donovan McNabb one of the Eagles’ two best players -- not for poor play but for insubordination.

So in the second half against Dallas, the Eagles had offense enough to reach scoring position only twice, when, with a rookie trying to fill Owens’ position, they were held to field goals both times.

If they’d had Owens, their leading touchdown maker, they might well have made seven points there instead of three, at least once.

And in the long haul, rolling even one seven would have been sufficient.

Alternatively, in 60 minutes of running the ball 36 times for 181 yards, they could have moved into field-goal position at least once more had McNabb been throwing to Owens as usual.

Why Run?

The Philadelphia coaches were proud of that running game, which was applauded by everyone who loves running games, but the Eagles are a passing team with the NFL’s best pass offense whenever McNabb and Owens are out there.

This team didn’t run much even last year when it played in the Super Bowl.

Through most of Monday’s second half, the Eagles, as their lead rose gradually from 14-7 to 17-7 and finally 20-7, thought they had the game in hand, as did many of their fans, but that’s a naive assumption.

Most pro clubs have the resources to make up 13 points in 30 seconds, as the Cowboys did in the fourth quarter on a long touchdown pass and a long pass-interception return.

In the end, the Eagles were left to contemplate the dismissal of Owens in the midst of a season when his contribution has been sparkling.

He also talked too much and often acted foolishly, prompting Eagle Coach Andy Reid to announce, “We’ve eliminated the distractions.”

Reid said that before the game. He might have added that the Eagles had also eliminated the touchdowns.

Joey Can Pass

The Detroit Lions will have a shot at a two-game winning streak today at Dallas if their coaches continue giving quarterback Joey Harrington a simplified game plan.

Some said that Harrington finally had a big game against Arizona when he led the Lions to a 29-21 victory. Actually, Coach Steve Mariucci finally had the good game.

On first-down plays, Mariucci had the Lions throwing, the kind of plan that helps any passer.

Two of Harrington’s three touchdown passes to Roy Williams were thrown on first down on a day when he completed 22 of 32 for 231 yards.

Detroit’s chance to keep winning rests on a coach’s view of the risks and pluses of first-down passing. He clearly has pass-offense talent, including the two wide-receiver Williamses, Roy and Mike.

Broncos in Top Three

The Denver Broncos (7-2) are about to replace injury-devastated New England (5-4) as one of the NFL’s top three teams, joining the Colts and Steelers.

In their next three starts , the Broncos, who won at Oakland last week, 31-17, will be at home to the New York Jets today, at Dallas on Thanksgiving Day, and at Kansas City 10 days later.

By then, the final results of Coach Mike Shanahan’s reclamation project of the year -- quarterback Jake Plummer -- should be in.

Shanahan has seemingly made a new man of Plummer, using simplified game plans that have reduced Plummer’s once-awesome interception rampages to, recently, an even more awesome zero.

The win at Oakland was fueled by the individual brilliance of Denver’s two starting wide receivers, Rod Smith, an 11-year veteran who is on the small side, and 6-foot-3 Ashley Lelie, who in his fourth NFL season has settled in.

Breaking open the game in the second quarter, Smith and Lelie set records for fabulous play. First, Smith, carrying a Plummer pass to a 27-yard touchdown, ran a genuine hook-and-go pattern, making a 360-degree turn before sprinting down the sideline for the catch and go. Most modern receivers today sort of feint the hook-pass turn

Then, with time running out, Lelie, the most consistent of the NFL’s modern long-ball receivers, caught a big one along the sideline to set up Denver’s second field goal, which appeared to deflate the Raiders at halftime.

Run or Pass?

The Seattle Seahawks are also winning because, in part, they have likewise simplified their pass offense, a change that quarterback Matt Hasselbeck has been asking for.

There are two ways to do that -- give the receivers fewer patterns and the passer fewer options -- and both changes were in evidence Sunday when the Seahawks drove the Rams from the NFC West race, 31-16.

After years of mostly falling out of contention under Coach Mike Holmgren, the Seahawks have somehow come together as a solid, potentially conference-champion team.

They’ve learned how to integrate Hasselbeck’s pass plays with Shaun Alexander’s runs.

When the Seahawks line up their offensive team, opponents don’t seem to know whether a run or a pass is imminent.

That is the optimal way to play offensive football.