European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 11, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Eagles to it ass skins by Dave Goldberg a football writer what we get monday night is the a Fly a two hottest quarterbacks. Randall Cunningham and a Jeff Rutledge. Rutledge who threw for 363 Yards As a Relief Pitcher in the redskins 41-38 comeback win in Detroit last week will be Washington a sixth starter in the last five years when Washington plays the eagles. Given what happened last week a the redskins scored 41 Points and the eagles 48 against new England sunday november 11,1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 19 National football league predictions i it s unlikely Well get a repeat of Washington a 13-7 Victory three weeks ago at Frk stadium. There a quite a bit on the line Here. I although both teams Are More or less out of the pfc East race both have a Good shot at a wild card spot. Both would be in if the playoffs started now. But a Washington win would give it a tiebreaker Edge Over the eagles. On the other hand try the Cunningham Edge which is one reason the eagles Are favored by 2vi Points. Rut a Ledger a history is that he plays Best when he enters in a mid game. As a starter his less than powerful  snakes him prone to interceptions. So. Eagles 34-30. I Atlanta plus 9 at Chicago a to beat the bears you pave to Stop the run. The Falcons Are fourth in the nil in that category but that May be because its so easy to Cass against them that nobody bothers to run. Bears �20-10.san Francisco Minns 10 at Dallas a the 49ers have had a lot of narrow escapes lately. This one wont be. 49ers 31-10. Green Bay plus 7 at raiders a the tajik is Back. At the coliseum. Raiders 23-13. Giants minus 3w at rams a remember Flipper Anderson running into the dressing room with the winning to pass in overtime of the playoffs remember the rams have scored 76 Points on the giants in their last two regular season games revenge time. Giants 24-13. Miami minus 3 at new York jets a these two need their Streak of 50-49 games when the dolphins lphins20i6m at St you on get succeed. Seattle minus 7 at Kansas City a the chiefs were horrible in losing 19-7 at the kingdom three weeks ago. They wont be now. Chiefs 19-7. Indianapolis plus 1 at new England a game of the Day. Raw a the giants and Dave Duerson scoring in mondays Victory Over the Colts will handle the rams sunday. The pats won 16-14 in indy As Robert Perryman rushed 11 times for 31 Yards. Perryman was Cut this a week. Colts 17-14. Denver plus 1v4 at san Diego a even with John Elway. Chargers 17-14. Minnesota plus 3v4 at Detroit a the Vikings got Lucky when Elway got Hurt. They rarely get Lucky on the Road where they be lost eight straight. Or nine. Lions 27-20. Buffalo minus 13 at Phoenix the cards Arentt quite As bad As they be looked the last couple of weeks. But. Bills 24-13 Tampa Bay plus 7 at new Orleans a the Bucsi traditional second half swoon continues. Saints 2010 last week 7-6-1 spread9-5 straight up. Season 55-59-1 spread70-45 straight up. Sack Happy dolphins Cross pm up by Steven wine Miami apr better run defense tighter pass coverage and rising Star Jeff Cross have helped the Miami dolphins become the a Fly a sack leaders. The dolphins have 30 sacks Midway through the season surpassing their total of 24 for 1988 and approaching last year s 39 sacks which tied for 12th in the Teague. Improved pressure from the defensive line has corresponded with an improved Bottom line. Seeking their nest playoff berth in five years the dolphins 7-1 Are tied for the acc East Lead going into sundays game against the jets. While the pass Rush has been More effective this season third year defensive end Cross contends the front three has t really played better. Ill Tell you what a better a we re being put in a s re we can rus the passer More a Cross said wednesday. A i was saying Early in the year that if w could control the run we were going to have a lot of Good stats. The dolphins Are ranked second against the run compared with 25th last year. As a result the opposition Nas raced More second and Long and third Ana Long situations. A. O when we control the run it takes the offence out of a ame plan and makes them do things they done to hif1 a Ross Salt we can have a fifth defensive after Guys More and we can Ine up ant come i Fate a verage has helped too. With Tim Meyer and . Brown As Miami a new comebacks receivers Are needing More time to get open. A if the quarterback can go Back and set and throw the Ball no Rush is going to get there a coach Don Shula said. A if you be got coverage it helps your Rush. There Are some sacks that Are coverage sacks and others that Are just great individual Effort on the part of the rushers a that a where Cross comes in. He trails Only san Francisco Scharles Haley with nine sacks. A a he a got the quickness that when he beats his Man he can get to the quarterback a Shula said. A some Guys can beat their Man but they done to have the quickness to get  Cross has seven sacks in the past five games. Last year he had 10, the most by a Miami player since 1984. A a great athlete a jets coach Bruce Coslet said. A the has a lot of moves and he a very Active. You get one Guy like that who takes some of the heat off the other Guys it makes All the other pass rushers that much  . Turner and Rookie Alfred Oglesby who have started most of the year at the other defensive line spots have Only two sacks Between them. Aside from Cross Miami a Best pass rushers have been backups. In last sundays 23-3 Victory Over Phoenix Reserve linebacker . Junior had two of the teams five sacks to increase his season total to four. End Karl Wilson also has four and defensive Back Siffort Hobley has three both play mostly on passing Downs. Inspired by the sacks the defense is going about its  enthusiastically Cross said. A a it a a lot better when you play the game with emotion a Cross said. A but you need big plays to create  halftime in 1990 by Greg Garber t the Hartford courant it s halftime in the National football league time to catch our breath and assess the season. The big stories Lisa Olson. Zeke Mowatt. Shorter games. The raiders stay in los Angeles. Refs under seige. Byes no labor agreement. Even the schedule is disjointed. With a 17-week, made for to card 20 teams Are at midpoint eight games played. Eight teams Are nine games into the season. Of yes. There also has been compelling drama on the Field. Who will lose first the 8-0 san Francisco 49ers or the 8-0 new York giants they dominate the pfc where Only four teams a collective 28-4 have records better than .500. The rest of the conference is 30-52. If the season ended today 45 Tampa Bay would make the playoffs under the expanded wild card format. It s lonely at the top. Until the raiders lost to Kansas City last week the leagues six Best teams had not lost to the remaining 22, the acc is better balanced. Two divisions Are tied and the acc West is a one game race Between the raiders and chiefs. Age the Miami dolphins a team that aver de 7.5 victories the past four seasons is 7-1. A n a Kab. T.1 _ i _ % j 1 1 4 Miami a defense which Hasni to allowed a Rushing to in 20 quarters is first in the league just ahead of the giants. The dolphins have allowed fewer Points than the giants 93 to 103 and fewer Yards 227 per game to 229.5. Run and shoot the trend of the 1990s has become the fad of 1990. Seattle Indianapolis Detroit Houston and Atlanta a teams that embraced the spread offence before the season a All have five or More losses. Playing off six of last seasons 10 playoff teams do not have winning records. Cleveland 2-7minnesota 2-6the los Angeles rams 3-5denver 3-5houston 4-5 and Philadelphia 4-4 have a Long Road Back to the postseason. The Browns Vikings rams and Broncos already have equated or exceeded last seasons loss totals. Timeout the new Speed up rules Are working. The average game time is 2 hours 59 minutes Down from ast seasons 3 11. A teams average plays per game 73.65 Are Down More than three from last season. Points 20.8oddly enough Are up slightly. Looking ahead of the division leaders Buffalo has the toughest remaining schedule a opponents Are a combined Chicago ft16 easiest first half opponents were 25-32 and is looking at the easiest second 28-37yeah but Jimmy Johnson is 4-21 Cleveland fired Bud Carson 12-14-1 a season after Landing the Browns to the acc championship game. Minnesota a Jerry Burns and buddy Ryan of Philadelphia Are next in line. Giant fans ejected by the los Angeles times Anaheim Calif. A a loud protest when in flight liquor sales were Cut off caused a Pilot headed for John Wayne Airport in Orange county to make an unscheduled Stop to remove 37 unruly new York giants boosters authorities said Friday. The group was kicked off the plane after the Pilot landed m Las vegas nev., thursday. Fri agents arrested one Man who allegedly threatened to strike a flight attendant unless More liquor was served. Northwest airlines spokesman Bob Gibbons said the group called Farrell a sports club of Brooklyn was travelling to Orange county to attend sundays giants los Angeles rams game at Anaheim stadium. Week 10 on an television Miami at new York jets 7 . Sunday new York giants at los Angeles rams 10 . Sunday san Francisco at Dallas 2 . Monday Washington at Philadelphia 3 . Tuesday. Radio Atlanta at Chicago 7 . Sunday Green Bay at los Angeles raiders 10 . Sunday san Francisco at Dallas 2 . Monday Washington at Philadelphia 3 . Tuesday