Vermeil Backs Banks Despite Poor Showing
Fans can bash Tony Banks all they want. But Dick Vermeil isn’t close to benching him.
The St. Louis Rams’ second-year quarterback has become the favorite target for fans in the TWA Dome and on sports-talk radio frustrated by the team’s 2-5 record. Banks has completed a league-worst 48.4 percent of his passes and produced zero touchdowns the last 10 quarters.
During Sunday’s 17-9 loss to Seattle, Vermeil said the coaching staff never discussed switching quarterbacks because Banks, despite the lack of tangible results, was playing well. And backup Mark Rypien, he’s noted the last few weeks, isn’t known as a mobile quarterback.
“Rypien might have had a hard time even getting up,” Vermeil said. “He’s not an avoid guy. Tony got the (stuffing) knocked out of him a few times.”
Vermeil backed off a little bit on Wednesday, saying Rypien might be an option if the offense continues to struggle.
“He’s a machine,” Vermeil said. “If he was running our offense we would have a larger package.”
Pats face daunting task
The New England Patriots don’t need high-decibel threats from their former coach Bill Parcells to grasp their predicament. The Patriots’ new coach, Pete Carroll, lets them know in a quieter way how urgent their situation is.
The Pats have lost two of their last three games and have a Monday night date with Green Bay, the team that beat them in the Super Bowl. They follow that with three road games against teams with winning records.
“He got his point across extremely well” after Sunday’s 24-19 loss at the New York Jets, New England quarterback Drew Bledsoe said. “The perception that he’s a nice guy and is just going to let things slide is extremely inaccurate. So it really wasn’t all that different than what we’ve been through in the past. He’s not the same as Bill. He’s not going to yell just to be yelling but he expresses his point very directly.”
Raiders aren’t overconfident
After beating the team with the best record in pro football, it would be within reason to expect the Oakland Raiders to be bursting with confidence.
In fact, after taking the previously unbeaten Denver Broncos on Sunday 28-25, the Raiders could be forgiven for feeling a little overconfident.
Not so, say the players on a team that has struggled to a 3-4 record.
“There’s no reason to be overconfident,” offensive tackle Lincoln Kennedy said. “We don’t even have a winning record yet.”
McNair shows flair
Steve McNair is no longer the worst-rated quarterback in the AFC. During the Tennessee Oilers’ current two-game winning streak, he has three TD passes and hasn’t thrown an interception.
“I feel more comfortable in the system, and the more and more I feel comfortable with it, the more I can do,” McNair said.
McNair has raised his quarterback rating more than 10 points to 71.8. Now he’s ahead of San Diego’s Stan Humphries (70.5) among AFC quarterbacks.
Around the league
Although the Kansas City Chiefs play in the 25th-smallest market in the NFL, they are about to lead the league in attendance for a fourth consecutive season, owner Lamar Hunt said. … Paul Justin will start at quarterback in place of injured Jim Harbaugh when the Indianapolis Colts play at San Diego on Sunday.