Conference championship rematches highlight NFL season
September 5, 2003
JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (Ticker) - Donovan McNabb and Steve McNair do not have to wait long to get a crack at the teams that denied them a berth in the Super Bowl.
Rematches of last season's conference championship games along with the return of coach Bill Parcells highlights the NFL's opening weekend.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers closed Veterans Stadium with a 27-10 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC championship game last January en route to the first Super Bowl title in team history.
Now the Buccaneers are the guests in the inaugural game at Lincoln Financial Field, the new home of the Eagles, in a much-anticipated rematch on Monday night.
"I've been preparing for this game ever since the schedule came out," McNabb said. "I'm using it as a motivation factor."
Playing in just his second game since missing six weeks with a broken ankle, McNabb was not ready for Tampa Bay's top-ranked defense, committing three turnovers. Cornerback Ronde Barber punctuated the performance with a 92-yard interception return for a touchdown.
"He's going into this game focused and ready to prove he's the No. 1 rated quarterback in the league," Eagles receiver Todd Pinkston said of McNabb.
McNair, perhaps the NFL's toughest quarterback, ran for two touchdowns and passed for another, but his Tennessee Titans lost to the Oakland Raiders, 41-24 in last January's AFC championship game.
This time, the Titans will host the Raiders Sunday night in the season opener for both teams.
Along with having the playoff game in Oakland, the Raiders also beat the Titans at home during the regular season, rolling to a 52-25 rout on September 29.
Rich Gannon, the NFL Most Valuable Player in 2002, completed 58-of-80 passes for 667 yards and seven touchdowns with no interceptions in Oakland's two wins over Tennessee.
Parcells and Steve Mariucci get to coach the first game with their new teams at home.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones convinced Parcells, a two-time Super Bowl winner, to return to coaching after a three-year retirement.
Parcells will not have to figure out a way to stop electrifying quarterback Michael Vick when the Cowboys host the Atlanta Falcons.
Vick led the Falcons to a 9-6-1 record and a playoff win in Green Bay last season, but suffered a broken right fibula in a preseason game and will be out until October
The once-proud Cowboys are coming off three straight 5-11 seasons. But Parcells has a knack for turning teams around. He won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants, led the New England Patriots to a Super Bowl appearance and took the New York Jets to an AFC championship game.
Mariucci will start his second coaching job in the NFL under far different circumstances than his first when the Detroit Lions host the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
After going 60-43 in six seasons as coach of the San Francisco 49ers, Mariucci was fired following his club's 31-6 loss to the Buccaneers in the NFC divisional playoff last January.
Mariucci began his tenure in San Francisco by taking over a team that went 12-4 the previous season. He has an enormous amount of work to do with the Lions, who went a combined 5-27 the last two seasons under Marty Mornhinweg.
While Mariucci is building around quarterback Joey Harrington, a first-round pick in 2002, and receiver Charles Rogers, a first-round selection in 2003, the Cardinals brought their franchise instant credibility by signing Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time leading rusher.
Smith rushed for 17,162 yards and won three Super Bowls with the Cowboys in the 1990's, but did not figure in Dallas' rebuilding program.
Dennis Erickson succeeded Mariucci in San Francisco and will face high expections. He also gets to make his debut at home Sunday against the Chicago Bears.
All the major pieces remain intact in San Francisco from last year's division-winning team. Erickson, a highly successful college coach, compiled a 31-33 record with the Seattle Seahawks from 1995-98 and never went to the playoffs.
Marvin Lewis and Jack Del Rio will make their NFL coaching debuts.
Lewis leads the Cincinnati Bengals, who host the Denver Broncos, and Del Rio runs the Jacksonville Jaguars, who will visit the Carolina Panthers. Last season, Del Rio served as a defensive coordinator for the Panthers and improved the unit from 31st in the league to second overall.
Funny how it was the downtrodden Bengals who finally gave Lewis his long overdue coaching job. A defensive coordinator for seven years and a linebackers coach for four, Lewis is best known for directing the Baltimore Ravens' record-setting unit in 2000.
Del Rio worked under Lewis as linebackers coach with the Ravens for three years, including the Super Bowl championship team. At age 40, Del Rio is the second-youngest head coach after serving just one year as a coordinator.
Lewis' first head coaching gig came at age 44 and he has the challenge of transforming the NFL's perennial laughingstock. The Bengals have not made the playoffs since 1990 and are an abysmal 19-61 over the last five years. Last season, they finished a franchise-worst 2-14 and yielded a league-high 456 points.
Tom Brady and Drew Bledsoe renew their quarterback battle Sunday when the New England Patriots visit the Buffalo Bills.
Brady took over the starting job when Bledsoe was injured in the Patriots' second game of the 2001 season and never relinquished it, leading the franchise to its first Super Bowl title.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick had no choice but to trade Bledsoe last year after Brady's heroics, but dealing him to an AFC East rival was somewhat of a surprise. That gives Bledsoe an opportunity to play the Patriots twice a year, but last season he again took a backseat to Brady.
In the first meeting on November 11, Brady completed 23-of-27 passes for 310 yards and matched a career-high with four touchdown passes, including a pair to former Bills running back Antowain Smith, in a 38-7 rout. Bledsoe threw for 302 yards, but engineered just one scoring drive. The Patriots exposed Bledsoe's lack of mobility, sacking him four times.
In the December 8 rematch at New England, Brady threw two touchdowns and Bledsoe was intercepted four times in a 27-17 victory for the Patriots.
Bledsoe and Smith are not the only ones playing against their former teams. Nose tackle Ted Washington and Larry Centers, the NFL's all-time leading receiver among running backs, are ex-Bills who signed with the Patriots during training camp
And then there's the story of former Patriots captain Lawyer Milloy. Released by New England on Tuesday after refusing a drastic paycut, the four-time Pro Bowl safety signed with the Bills on Wednesday, Milloy received a four-year contract worth $15 million with a $5 million signing bonus.
In other games matching division rivals, the Green Bay Packers host the Minnesota Vikings; the Baltimore Ravens meet the Pittsburgh Steelers and the San Diego Chargers visit the Kansas City Chiefs.
Kyle Boller of the Ravens will be the only rookie quarterback to start in the opening weekend of the season.
Quarterback Kurt Warner, a two-time Most Valuable Player, hopes to get the St. Louis Rams back to the Super Bowl after an injury-plagued season. The Rams open the season with a tough road game against the New York Giants.
In other conference games, the Miami Dolphins host the Houston Texans, the Indianapolis Colts meet the Cleveland Browns and the Seattle Seahawks face the New Orleans Saints.
