European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 30, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A sunday december 30, 1990 the stars and stripes ,. Quot by a Quot a pane 19 comirnentary28 ways to see nil m w that the nil playoffs Are almost upon us it s time to reflect on what probably will happen. For instance. 1. Two teams will struggle for 58 minutes to a 10-7 score featured by a Rock ribbed pass Rush but in the last two minutes resorting to exotic defences each team w ill be scored on twice. The coaches will Sec no correlation Between the scoring and defense but will Hail instead the a two minute Drill Quot of the victors ignoring the fact the Mack san Nett cops Drill defense will have far More to do with it. 2. The pfc will win the super bowl 40-10. 3. Fans who stood in the Snow or sleet All night to get tickets will be treated to two to four minutes of a quarterback falling on the football or knee Ling out the clock causing old timers to mutter darkly a Johnny Unitas never fell on a football in his  4. A team with five 9.4 sprinters at the flanks and a 62-percent passer at the when will get to the 5-Yard line and Send a 180-Pound running Back hurtling into the Middle of two tons of massed Mastodon in defense three times and have to Settle for a humiliating Field goal. A. A a a. A. 5. If the run and shoot Offe Jise gets to the final or even close to it 21 of the 2�?~ftteams will go to it next year. A. 6. The Best quarterback will win the super bowl not necessarily the Best team. If Joe Montana gets the Ball in the last 30 seconds needing Only a Field goal to win. Go Home and beat the traffic. Its Over. 7. Two coaching staffs will work round the clock for a week designing offensive or defensive schemes and elaborate zones and confusing splits but three or More games will be decided because nobody can fall on a Tumble see the nationals Frank Deford for details a Quot r. A it8. Be glad the Philadelphia eagles made the play offs because Randall Cunningham with the football is magic Johnson bringing the Ball up court Gene Kelly dancing in the rain or Willie Mays with a 3-and-2 count. What you came to see. Jim Murray we 9l three out of five overtime game. Make that five out of live a will be decided by a Field goal. Which Means the game will be decided by the Coin flip because defending teams will forget that the goal line in that situation is their own 35 and not the one. La. The Buffalo Bills everyone a favorite to go to the super bowl wont. 11. The crowd will be a Factor in at least three games which Means the visiting quarterback has to face not Only 11 hostile players but also 70,000 full throated fans but the officials who would penalize a player who roughed up a quarterback Quot for unsportsmanlike conduct lets the customers rough the quarterback All they want. 12. The new York giants won t lose to the 49ers again. A a a. A 13. With six wild card teams the chances Are Good one of them will be a super bowl contender and maybe both will. The stat that the raiders Are the Only wildcard team Ever to win the super bowl will be brought up 711 limes during super bowl week. 14.  gets in the playoffs it will win or lose at least one game with Only two seconds remaining 15. If Washington gets in the playoffs. Joe Gibbs 1 will out coach the Guy across the Field from him a unless that Guy is Don Shula. 16. Mike Ditka will blame the press if his quarterback throws five interceptions. 17. Mike Ditka Squar Terbuck will flirt it wive interceptions. Mike Ditka will throw a Tantrum. 18. There la be a lot of red faces around the league if the Dallas cowboys find their Way into the playoffs. 19. Games won against new England should not count in computing eligibility for the Phi dolls. Games won against Atlanta should count Only one Hall beating Denver Al sea level should count As a lie. 20. Kansas City will Surprise a lot of people but then it already Lias. 21. It to Jackson gets in a Suptei bowl the other 21 players might As Well play with a bag overt lieu Heads. �?T22 if Cincinnati Falls by the Wayside again should t Boomer 1 Siason be called Bullet i  a 23. If the Pittsburgh Sloe Lees get in the a Lavotus  Chuek Noll at least smile Onee in a while he always looks As if he just heard Lus House was on fire. 24 when the Buffalo Bills Are in the game the Best player in the Field will be a defensive end Buee Smith thinks he a the Best player in the game and i agree with him  moves we Haven i seen since Deacon Jones ii the he cd slap were still Legal he d make every tackle. 1 be almost does anyway. 25. If Joe Montana completes a bomb to Jerry Rice look for the announcers to talk learn edly about How he Quot Reid the defensive set when the truth of the matter is. Joe just said in the huddle,.�?ook, everybody out for a King  2 p another announcer Willsay a Coiner Bank Quot blew the coverage Quot when the truth is. No one running Hack Ward can run As last As Jerry Rice tunning Forward 27. At least one game will be played in life to neat cuing weather. Not the players the tans of. 28. The super bowl which has been Wii 17 of the. 24 times by a a Grandfather franchises . Teams existing before the formation of the american football league the figure is 20 out of 24 it you throw out three of the Minno Soia Vikings losses to inc upstarts will lose its mystique if the a a other league does no to get More competitive. The fuels of the matter Are that of the truly old line football families Only the redskins rams and eagles have lost in the super bowl in the last six super bowls the count has been the establishment pfc 240, the new kids on the Block acc 82,11 that a a contest so was Germany against the Low countries. A to to anger Tim Quot four in 1 by Dave Goldberg a football writer a a who a going to win the super Bow a a the Guys ask. ,. A it Quot. This is about teams that 17 weeks ago were Given a Chance to win the super bowl and wont. And Why holdouts Are one reason a Kevin Greene and half the rams line backing. Corps Keith Jackson of the eagles who started 2-4, blowing All but their wild card chances Don Majkowski of Green Bay and most of Cleveland a linebackers but the giants had seven defensive starters h6d out and Lawrence Taylor did no to show up until three Days before the open or a yet they re 12-3. Green Bay and Detroit each is 6-9. They were expected to be better this year especially the packers who were 10-6 last year but that a when they played a last place schedule and got four last minute wins from Majkowski. / Quot the following Are the real disappointments a teams that were supposed to have super bowl potential and did no to los Angeles rams 540 a these Guys went to the pfc title game last year and were viewed As the second Best team in football entering the season. A the key a John Robinson said in training Camp a is How the Young Guys piay.�?�. The rams took Many of their Young Guys with the draft choices they got in the Eric Dickerson Trade. No Good. Cleveland Gary showed Promise As a running Back he also has fumbled 11 times some got Hurt such As defensive end Lin bucker Byron Smith and defensive Hack Darryl Henley. Henley went Down m the last exhibition As did Jerry Pray the hams Best cover Guy and the defense never lived up to expectations. The key was Greene a holdout. He was going to be a defensive end it the Tiew 4-3 but never got the work in. About the Only game the defense play ii Well was san Francisco a first loss when. Robinson played a Nickel throughout and confused Joe Montana. A Minnesota 6-9 a everything seemed wonderful with a team that for the previous a two years had More pro bowlers than anyone and was Amro hib hive favorite to win the pfc Central nearly everyone got signed and Mke Lyhn the general manager took the team to a p re season happiness Camp in new Mexico to get rid of the bad vibes that had plagued the Vikings the year before. Then came the third game of the sea son a 19-16 loss in Chicago in which quarterback Wade Wilson went Down with a Thurnby in titty. That w a s t h e first of five straight losses by a. Total of 35 Points leaving the Vikings at 1-6. Keith Millard the a Fly a Best defensive player a year ago Tore up a knee during the slump and was lost for the season. _ Rich Gannon looked of m w Olsoni s place at quarterback but Herschel Walker was a mystery even with four Guys Jerry Burns Mark Quot Trystman Tom Moore and to amp  calling the plays instead of just Sel Telker. Then came Lynn a resignation to head the new world league five straight wins Walker s re emergence sort of and a shot at a playoff sch but the Vikings folded m the Quarter and lost to the giants Meadowlands lost two More and. Wait till next year. A a Denver 4 u i he 50-lb Blowout at the super bowl started. The decline. You could feel it in training Camp. T Only got worse. Coach pan Reeves missed 10 Days with a heart ailment and injuries hit almost As fourth at the soon As the season started knocking out three fourths of the secondary at one time. They started 2-1, then outgo inc Buffalo 410 to 107 in Buffalo a but lost 29-28 when a blocked kick and two interceptions led to three Bills touchdowns in 1 17 of the fourth Quarter. A the next week they lost at Home 30-29 to horrid Cleveland on a last second Field goal. Those two defeats Begum a string of nine in 1 1 games creating a depression in Denver a a it a amazing Quot former 49crs coach Imd television analyst Bill Walsh it said during a trip to Denver. A i went to buy shoes and i he clerk told me that sales were bad because the Broncos were  a a a. A Cleveland 3-12 a losing Thiee acc title games to Denver in four seasons finally did the Browns in. The Guy who got the most time on Browns High Light love Ligon clips every sunday was owner Art Model looking disgusted or walking out of the owners Box. This one was predictable. The Browns lost both offensive tackles to retirement in training Camp the linebackers were holdouts everyone was aging and recent drafts had been bad Mike Junkin Clifford Charlton lawyer Tillman. There was also the Trade of ear1 nest by net to Washington for Mike Ali Plant a a my biggest regret a said the hands on movies a coach Bud Carson knew the problem �?o1 can twin with this offensive line a he said in training Camp. Carson was gone after the ninth week replaced for the interim by Jim Shofner. The culmination came last week Whert the Browns fumbled on each of their first three offensive plays in a 35-1 loss to Pittsburgh that was 35-0 Only because the Steeles stopped playing offence in the second half. Quot Herschel Walker vikes stumbled. Tor-6 stat