Not-So-Famous Jags, Panthers To Exhibit Skills

With the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the backdrop, two teams with few players ever expected to return for enshrinement, will open the NFL exhibition season today at Canton, Ohio (11:30 a.m. PDT ABC-TV).

But the first game ever played by the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Carolina Panthers - the league’s latest expansion franchises - should at least offer the element of surprise. Nothing that happens can be classified as having been anticipated.

The game, to be played after the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, is one of three in an abbreviated first weekend of the preseason. Tonight, it will be San Francisco at Denver, and Buffalo at Dallas.

The game in Canton is the first ever between expansion teams in their maiden seasons.

Steve Beuerlein will start at quarterback for Jacksonville. Beuerlein, 30, was first player selected in the expansion draft from the Arizona Cardinals.

The other three quarterbacks, Mark Brunell, formerly of UW, Andre Ware and rookie Rob Johnson also are expected to see action.

Both coaches tried to downplay the significance of the game, other than its value as a tool that will help them judge talent.

“We’re more concerned about the Panthers right now than we are the Jaguars,” Carolina coach Dom Capers said. “When you don’t know much about your opponent, it forces you to concentrate on yourselves.”

That also will be the case in Denver, where the Broncos will host the 49ers in the first of back-to-back meetings.

“We won’t have a game plan against the 49ers,” Denver rookie coach Mike Shanahan said. “We want to run our base offense and base defense and evaluate our players. We won’t really work against the 49ers, we’ll work against ourselves.”

Shanahan, offensive coordinator when the 49ers won the Super Bowl last season, plans to use quarterback John Elway for about 12 to 15 plays. San Francisco coach George Seifert has the same plan for Super Bowl MVP Steve Young.

In Dallas, the combination of heat and humidity is expected to feel like 110 degrees at kickoff. Both Cowboys coach Barry Switzer and Bills counterpart are planning to use their stars only briefly.

O.J. inquisitors need not bring notepads

Marcus Allen, preparing for his 14th year in professional football, says he has none of the feelings that led to Joe Montana’s decision to retire.

“The game itself is still fun to me,” Allen said after the fourth day of two-a-day workouts at the Kansas City Chiefs’ training camp in River Falls, Wis.

“Now, I’d be a blatant liar if I didn’t admit that we all dread going to training camp,” he added with a smile. “But once you get here and start experiencing the camaraderie, you start feeling better.

“It’s always a roller coaster - you feel good one day, bad the next. But it was that way in my rookie season, too.”

Still looking younger than his 35 years, Allen wasn’t talking like a man considering retirement. The matter will come up eventually - perhaps soon - but right now it doesn’t seem to be an issue in Allen’s life.

Why shouldn’t it? When he’s playing football, nobody asks him about the other pressing issue in his life right now - the question of whether he will appear as an unwilling defense witness in the O.J. Simpson trial.

Allen’s ground rules for training camp interviews are simple: Ask anything about football. Simpson questions, however, terminate the session. A reporter visiting River Falls last year learned this the hard way by making a Simpson-related question his first.

He went home with an empty notebook.

Hey mom, can I go out and play?

Rashaan Salaam says he would be signed and at the Chicago Bears’ training camp now if he weren’t relying on his mother and agent to run the business side of his pro football career.

The Heisman Trophy winner and 21st overall pick has been a holdout during the opening week of camp because his agent, Marvin Demoff, and the Bears have been unable to come to terms.

Demoff says Salaam’s parents want an incentive clause that would pay the former Colorado star more for a successful season. Thus far, the Bears aren’t going for the idea.

“I hope and pray every day that my mother and Marvin are making the right decision,” Salaam told the Chicago Tribune from his Boulder, Colo., home. “I’d take what they are offering if it was up to me.”

Browns’ Johnson could face further suspension

Suspended Cleveland Browns defensive lineman Bill Johnson has a substance-abuse record that might merit disciplinary action from the NFL if he is reinstated, The Plain Dealer reported.

In addition to a June 19 conviction for driving under the influence in Cleveland, Johnson was convicted on April 22, 1994, of DUI in the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, the newspaper said. The two DUI convictions could result in a suspension or fine by the NFL under its alcohol policy. The policy requires that Johnson undergo a medical evaluation by the league because of the second DUI conviction, after which a penalty could be assessed.