Scifres needs to get a grip
Mike Scifres has seen the replay, but he prefers to look away. It’s not a gruesome knee twist that has him averting his eyes, not a snapped limb or a helmet-to-helmet hit.
It’s Tony Romo’s botched hold at Seattle, the one that ended the Dallas Cowboys’ season.
Scifres plays for the Chargers, so seeing Dallas eliminated doesn’t mean much to him. It’s just that he too is a holder, and staring at Romo’s gaffe is a little like staring into the sun.
“To see a game end like that, no one likes to see that,” said Scifres, who doubles as one of the league’s best punters. “I don’t have any personal feelings for him. But I feel bad that he was in that situation and that’s how it ended.”
Although he’s a reliable holder, Scifres had a similar miscue this season. A snap got away from him in the fourth quarter of a 16-13 loss at Baltimore, causing the Chargers to abort a 52-yard field-goal attempt. It’s something Scifres would like to forget yet knows he needs to keep in the back of his mind.
“I took my eyes off it and it went straight through my hands,” he said. “It’s always a bad feeling because the kicker’s counting on you to get the ball down. When you don’t get that done he doesn’t get his opportunity to do his job. That comes back on you.”
Chargers kicker Nate Kaeding did his job well enough to earn a trip to the Pro Bowl. With 136 points, he set a team scoring record and finished second in scoring among NFL kickers to Chicago’s Robbie Gould.
There’s far more to the job of holding than meets the eye, Kaeding said.
“He’s got to catch the ball 100% of the time,” he said. “You see some of these receivers in the league who are wide open and they don’t catch it 100% of the time.... You can’t look past it, that’s for sure.”
-- Sam Farmer
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation that could help keep the 49ers in San Francisco by giving the NFL more say in team moves.
Feinstein’s bill would ensure that team owners would not run afoul of antitrust law in seeking to block team moves, as happened in the early 1980s when the league tried to block the Oakland Raiders from moving to Los Angeles. Her legislation would create an antitrust exemption for league rules that require three-quarters of clubs to approve team moves.
The 49ers announced in November they planned to move to Santa Clara.
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Tim Lewis was fired as the New York Giants’ defensive coordinator, a move that will give embattled Coach Tom Coughlin two new top assistants in a likely make-or-break season.... Former Giants coach Jim Fassel interviewed for the Oakland Raiders’ head coaching vacancy.... Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt will get a second interview for the head coaching job of the Arizona Cardinals.... Georgia Tech Coach Chan Gailey will be interviewed for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ coaching job.... The Denver Broncos hired former Green Bay defensive coordinator Jim Bates as assistant head coach/defense, and promoted defensive backs coach Bob Slowik to defensive coordinator.
