Montana Hints He May Play Next Year

His season over, but apparently not his career, Joe said it ain’t so. Once and for all.

Minutes after his team had been eliminated in the first round of the AFC playoffs Saturday, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Joe Montana announced his intention to return for a 17th season. He said it with a straight face, not hesitating to answer the question that in recent weeks had produced silence or vague responses.

The question was simple enough: Did Montana plan to play for the Chiefs next season?

So was the response.

“Oh, yeah,” said Montana, who will be 39 when training camp begins next July. “It’s like asking a fighter after he lost a championship bout if you’re going to fight again. Yeah, you feel bad, but I’m having fun. The game is fun.”

It wasn’t much of a ceremony, but then again, Montana never understood what all the fuss was about anyway. So what if he were 38; he could still throw, couldn’t he? Who cares if he had been injured in recent years; he’s healthy now, right? Saturday’s 27-17 playoff loss to the Miami Dolphins? A crummy way to end a season, but not the proper way to end a legend.

Numbers game

The results are in and the numbers say that the National Football League ended up with just what it was looking for - a more wide-open game. According to director of officiating Jerry Seeman, the officiating is also better.

“I think our Competition Committee has to be pleased that the changes they made last year to open up the game have provided such positive results,” said Seeman after poring over the stats for the regular season.

“Our scoring has gone up 3 points a game (37.4 to 40), we had great results with the changes we made in the kicking game, and I’m pleased with the way our officials have worked.

“There has been criticism because we made some mistakes on some high-profile plays, but when we finished checking out every play and every game, we came to the conclusion that we do not need instant replay.”

In 1991, the last season instant replay was used to help game officials, 550 plays were reviewed and 90 were reversed. According to Seeman, if replay had been used this year, only 49 plays would have been reversed.

There are some fascinating stats within the stats for 1994. There were 224 plays per game and for the first time, 15,000 passes were thrown (15,055, to be exact) yet the number of sacks was the lowest (936) since the 16-game schedule took effect in 1978. The record number of passes helped produce a record number of offensive holding calls (752, opposed to 578 the year before).

The Competition Committee mandated that officials get tougher on pass interference and illegal contact, and they followed orders. In 1993, there were 178 passinterference calls; this year they were up to 216. The most dramatic change came in calling illegal contact. In ‘93, 40 calls were made; this year, there were 117.

The passing game was king in ‘94. A year ago, quarterbacks threw for 300 yards 37 times. This year, that nearly doubled to 64.

Knox doomed

Sources say Los Angeles Rams ownership has made the decision to let go coach Chuck Knox and will make the move shortly, before the team picks up and heads to St. Louis, which should be in the next two weeks.

The list of candidates to replace Knox will include New England defensive coordinator Al Groh, plus the usual suspects mentioned for almost every job: Dennis Erickson of the University of Miami, Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Don Capers, San Francisco offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan and Oregon coach Rich Brooks.

Erickson big in Seattle

Boston Globe columnist Will McDonough:

“After the Orange Bowl, Erickson will become the No. 1 candidate for the Seahawks’ job left vacant by the firing of (Tom) Flores. Erickson is very popular in Seattle because he coached at Washington State before going to Miami.”

McDonough adds that “someone who knows Erickson says that, under the right circumstances, Erickson would love to coach the Seahawks.”

Around the league

Fired as Denver Broncos coach last week, Wade Phillips reportedly has interviewed for the job in Houston, where his father, Bum Phillips, had so many good teams.

Jeff Fisher is still head coach of the Oilers, but his position is shaky.

Buddy Ryan, looking ahead in Arizona: “I made the mistake this year of overrating my offensive players. I thought they were good enough, but I was wrong. I’m going to get myself some offensive players who can play, just like I did last year (in free agency). Our defense is solid. We’re as good as anyone in football. San Francisco’s defense is overrated, and Dallas is only good when they have the lead and can pass rush all the time. Just look at all of the important defensive stats and we were right up there. We need to get a quarterback and some receivers. We’ll look at four or five quarterbacks and try to get the best one.”

MEMO: Longer in the Regional Edition