Thus far, Titans' perfection pales
Nov. 16 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Leave it to the New England Patriots to take all the fun out of something.
Even without Tom Brady, and even with the resultant four New England losses in 10 games, spoilsport Bill Belichick and the Pats have killed what should be a major buzz in Tennessee. The Titans are looking to add another zero to their unbeaten record, trying to make it 10-0 today at Jacksonville.
More Jerry Magee Columns
Nov. 9 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
At least no one hurt in locker switch: About to play a winless opponent for the second straight game, tempestuous coach Jack Del Rio is back to his old tricks, coming up with odd ways of keeping his Jacksonville Jaguars motivated. Last week's loss to previously winless Cincinnati made the Jags 3-5.
Nov. 2 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Mirror image reflects badly on both: Don't stop me if you've heard this before. Like, every day for the past two months. Today's topic is a team in tumult, a team still trying to find itself at the halfway point, a team that's making it look like a .500 record might win you another AFC West title.
Oct. 26 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Disaster at every turn for Chiefs: The Kansas City Chiefs are getting pounded this year. Pounded. Teams are beating K.C. to beat the band.
Oct. 19 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Haslett still can deliver 'good shot': “I figured it was him or me,” Haslett told reporters Monday. “He was going to run me over or I was going to get him. I got a good shot on him. . . . You see those coaches that get toppled. That wasn't going to be me. He's not that big (6 feet, 179 pounds). It's no big deal.”
Oct. 12 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Fewer holding penalties this season: Let's make this clear right up front, right where the offensive line meets the defensive line, where the dynamic dance of giants takes place with every snap. Where fingers are curled into a fist for head-slapping, but also opened up for clutching jerseys, then for pointing.
Oct. 5 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Gates is in line for Gonzalez's glory: At this rate, in five or six years or maybe 10 years, it could be Antonio Gates going through all this. For better and worse. Mostly better.
OAKLAND, Sept. 28 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Oakland memories, and fade to black: Excuse me. This is where I get off. In Oakland. End of career, if what a newspaper guy does can be called a career. I would call it a joy. But newspapers aren't going so well and I am not so young and thus it is goodbye from Oakland and Gertrude Stein, you had it all wrong.
Sept. 21 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Tomlinson at common turning point: Mostly opinions, all mine: We have seen the best of LT. He has thrilled us, but running backs who have been exposed as long as he has to the trauma that running backs absorb tend to find that their skills are not eternal.
Sept. 14 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Issues facing Young aren't surprising: A man who has experienced the most vaulting sort of success comes into the NFL, and now there are no huzzahs for him, only failure and questions and humiliation.
Sept. 7 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
For openers, it's thrills and emotion: Another opening, another show. Opening games in the NFL are somehow different, with their heightened expectancy and the element of uncertainty that accompanies them. What they are is thrilling. I know they are for me.
Sept. 4 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
NFL defenses catching up in electronics at last: High tech is making a further incursion into blocking and tackling. Nothing, it seems, is safe from it.
Aug. 31 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Big stadiums = big-ticket item, shutting out working folk: Some phrases stick in the mind. This one is lodged in mine: “Sturdy lads from the mill towns.”
Aug. 24 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Paul Brown would frown at son's move: It must have occurred to you as it did to me after Mike Brown stunningly, and I think wrongly, returned Chris Henry to the good graces of the Cincinnati Bengals: his father would not have done that.
Aug. 17 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Is Toronto ready if Buffalo shuffles on?: I'm worried about the Buffalo Bills. How about you? No? A pity. I don't think I would be exaggerating by saying I cherish Buffalo, where football is important to a population willing to suffer to attend games in the terrible cold of winter in western New York.
Aug. 10 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Favre soap opera elicits memories of Johnny U: For more than 15 years, the quarterback had been working in the same town and it had been good there for him, where he had the status of a demigod, only now he was moving with his mastery and his pride. Particularly his pride.
Aug. 3 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Glamorous 'Boys perfect for 'Knocks': It's not as if Terrell Owens is going to be going one-on-one against some sprite who expresses her expertise by teetering atop a balance beam. On second thought, in a way, it is.
July 27 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Tagliabue should not impact hall: A touchy matter, this. Reference is to Jack Kemp's candidacy for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and, more particularly, Paul Tagliabue's support of it.
July 6 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Football wants Favre, but do the Packers?: Walk into the Green Bay Packers' Lambeau Field dressing quarters in recent seasons and you would not have seen Brett Favre. His was a place apart, in a little room set aside for him exclusively.
May 8 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
It's early, yes, but rank Pats No. 1 . . . and Bolts No. 2: Seven different teams have represented the NFC in the past seven Super Bowls, which suggests how markedly matters can change from year to year in the NFL.
April 29 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
On draft day, NFL's GMs played 'deal or no deal': Let's get into the mathematics. Of the 252 selections in the NFL draft, 32 were compensatory picks, which cannot be traded. That leaves 220.
April 28 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Clubs try to utilize 1-2 punch with RBs: Pittsburgh's extraordinarily talented Willie Parker is 27, in the prime years of his career and has averaged 1,337 yards over the past three seasons. Yet the Steelers used a first-round pick to select another running back, Rashard Mendenhall of Illinois.
April 23 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Dolphins make OT Long No. 1, spoil draft buzz: It wasn't the butler who did it, it was Bill Parcells. An action most foul. The league's mystery story had much of its intrigue eliminated yesterday when the Miami Dolphins announced they have reached a contractual accord with Jake Long and on Saturday intend to make the Michigan offensive tackle the NFL draft's ranking selection.
PHOENIX, Feb. 5 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Manning-Tyree fever was catching: When he got back to his hotel room in the wee hours, Eli Manning was weary, but not so weary that he did not turn on a television set.
Jan. 27 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Novel idea: Giants need to sit on ball against Pats: In order to win a football game, a team can have a marvelous quarterback, but even a Tom Brady is helpless unless he has the football. Try getting it against the New York Giants.
