Broncos-Raiders respect-fest is civil behavior, but is it football?
What in the name of Hollywood Henderson is going on with the NFL?
Henderson? He was a flashy Dallas Cowboys linebacker back in the day who, during a pre-Super Bowl news conference, said of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, “He couldn’t spell ‘cat’ it you spotted him the c and the a.”
Mutual admiration? That simply didn’t fly for most of the NFL’s 100-year existence. There was a time that the run-up to an Oakland Raiders-Kansas City Chiefs game was almost as delicious as the game itself.
“The first thing that comes to mind is hatred,” former Raiders running back Pete Banaszak told me once.
Denver Broncos weeks weren’t official until then-coach Mike Shanahan griped about the $250,000 he claimed Al Davis owed him. The pointed contention of Marty Schottenheimer, who coached the Chiefs and Chargers, that the Raiders would fold the moment you “hit ’em in the mouth,” was a rite of fall.
Present day: Look how the Broncos and Raiders are befouling what was once a beautiful ritual. I mean, really, what were you thinking with this, Derek Carr?
It’s like the Michael Crabtree-Aqib Talib unpleasantries never happened.
Here’s Carr again. You’d swear if he slipped into a cardigan sweater he’d be a dead ringer for Mr. Rogers.
“Von, I say it every time, he’s a walking Hall of Famer,” Carr said during his weekly press conference. “I really hope the fans in Denver, I hope just NFL fans in general enjoy watching him play. We see guys now retire quick, like [Andrew] Luck. I grew up watching Peyton Manning, and he doesn’t play anymore. Those times fly by. I really hope everyone enjoys watching it because he’s a walking Hall of Fame player. The guy literally takes the ball out of people’s hands, me included. He does freaky stuff on the field and you have to respect it.”
Oh, puke.
Miller gives as good as he gets.
“Like I said before, Derek Carr, he’s a great quarterback when you can protect (him),” Miller said. “He’s super smart, he’s going to find the open guy quick. It’s not going to take him a little bit to get to that read, he’s going to do that quick. He’s going to put the offense in great positions to run the ball, pass the ball. He’s the leader, he’s a great quarterback. He’s a great quarterback, and if you put a great team around him, he’s going to be great as well.”
Some day, all this respect and civility will render pro football unrecognizable. When that happens, I’ll blame it on the wrong-headed rules change that outlawed “giving him the business.”
And I won’t be wrong.