Bickering With Bill
Cleveland Browns coach Bill Belichik and Minnesota Vikings receiver Cris Carter exchanged words during the fourth quarter of their game Saturday, and Carter ripped Belichik after the game.
“I just wanted to let him know that he can’t talk to me that way,” Carter said when asked about the argument. “That’s probably part of the reason his team is in the position it’s in, because of the way he treats people.”
The argument started when Cleveland linebacker Mike Caldwell was called for a late hit on Carter.
Call him ‘Minnesota Stats’
Along with his first two NFL touchdowns, Vikings running back Charles Evans also had a career-high six catches.
Evans was ready to spike the ball after his first TD, but he tossed it to the official instead. “I said, ‘No, I’m going to give it to the ref, because I’ll be back,”’ Evans said.
Moon’s milestone
Warren Moon’s two TD passes gave him 28 for the season, breaking the Vikings record of 26 set by Tommy Kramer in 1981.
Moon also tied Y.A. Tittle in ninth place on the NFL’s career list with 242 TD passes.
Notable
Minnesota’s Carter finished with eight catches (103 on the season) for 124 yards to join former Green Bay receiver Sterling Sharpe (1992-93) as the only players in NFL history with at least 100 catches in consecutive years.
San Diego receiver Tony Martin had seven catches for 57 yards in the Chargers victory over Arizona, giving him 1,019 yards, his first 1,000-yard season.
Browns receiver Andre Rison, a disappointment this season with just 39 catches entering Saturday’s game, didn’t start because he was late for a team meeting Friday.
He had one catch for 49 yards to set up a first-half field goal and didn’t play in the second half.
Chargers quarterback Stan Humphries had gone 147 attempts without being intercepted, fourthlongest in club history.
Against Arizona, he had four interceptions.
San Diego rookie Aaron Hayden started his second straight game in relief of the injured Natrone Means and gained 84 yards on 24 carries.
NFL follies
The Chargers failed on a fake field goal from the Arizona 34 with 5:21 left in the game, setting up Arizona’s final TD.
Holder Gale Gilbert, the backup quarterback, ran an option play to the left and pitched the ball to kicker John Carney, who fumbled. Aeneas Williams recovered.
“We should never have pitched the ball,” Chargers coach Bobby Ross said. “It was that kind of day for us. Our biorhythms must have been off.”
On their own
The Fox telecast of San Diego’s win didn’t include a play-by-play announcer. Instead, analysts Jimmy Johnson and Terry Bradshaw were on their own.
“It was exciting and I had a great time,” Johnson said. “Sure, we had some glitches, but maybe we’ll get better after we do more games.”
One glitch came early in the fourth quarter when Johnson, signing off for a commercial break, said, “The score is 17 to 28 with the Chargers leading.”
After the break, he did it correctly.
, DataTimes