Nfl’s Labor Peace Threatened By Cap

The “labor peace” that the NFL likes to brag about is now labor unrest, largely because the owners have discovered that the salary cap they got in return for free agency isn’t necessarily the road to more riches.

So for the immediate future, there will be no two-year extension of the labor contract for 2000 and 2001, something Paul Tagliabue tried hard to achieve. It’s not because the union is balking, but because of internal factors that range from Jerry Jones’ challenge to revenue sharing to Art Modell’s move of the Browns from Cleveland to Baltimore.

To make the problem clearer, even with a split of TV money almost $40 million per team - and a 60-40 split on gate receipts, there is a disparity of more than $50 million between the top team in revenue (Dallas) and the bottom (Tampa).

It’s not necessarily big market-small market. It’s more like good stadium-bad stadium. But most important, it involves the way unshared revenue affects the salary cap.

If Jones makes money in a separate deal with Nike, half of it is applied to the team’s gross revenues, raising the cap for everyone in a way that forces teams that don’t have ready cash to spend what they don’t have - both to stay competitive and to meet minimum cap requirements.

If rich teams like the Jets and Giants decide to go the route of the Cowboys and 49ers and spend millions in signing bonuses for prime players, they’ll be far more able to than less affluent teams.

Chop, chop

It was the early 1980s when, minutes before the Broncos were going to play coach Bill Walsh and the 49ers, then-Denver coach Dan Reeves confronted Walsh about plays San Francisco allegedly used that included chop blocks.

Reeves even told Walsh that he had inserted a similar play just for the 49ers game and if Walsh ran one of the illegal blocks, he would respond with a matching play.

A former 49ers assistant, who requested anonymity, said Walsh was fuming. But there was no chop-blocking in that game.

Today, Reeves’ Giants play Oakland. The Raiders have drawn the ire of several teams because they have allegedly incorporated chop blocks into some of their blocking schemes.

A chop block occurs when one offensive player engages a defensive player high while another offensive player blocks that same player low.

The tactic is considered one of the cheapest plays in football and was banned following the 1991 season, partly because of an injury to Detroit nose tackle Jerry Ball, who now happens to play for the Raiders.

If Oakland chop blocks, New York defensive players plan to retaliate.

“It’s all intentional,” said Giants defensive lineman Keith Hamilton. “They’ve been flagged for it a couple of times. … If they want to keep it clean, we can keep it clean. If they want to play dirty, we can play dirty. I can definitely play dirty.”

The most recent team to complain about the Raiders was the Bengals, who lost to Oakland last Sunday. Bengals coach David Shula confronted Oakland offensive line coach Joe Bugel at halftime after Raiders center Dan Turk had been penalized for a chop block. Shula filed a complaint with the league.

Ironically, it is an ex-Raider who had the most memorable objection to a chop block: Howie Long once ran off the field and went after the offensive line coach of the opposing team. Earl Legget was the Raiders’ defensive line coach at the time. Legget now coaches for the Giants.

Butt Nate …

Dallas Cowboys guard Nate Newton explains the secret behind his team’s success: “The secret to this offense - and I’m serious now - is that all the linemen have nice butts. Some of us have fat ones, some of us have flat ones, but they are all nice, strong butts.”

Drip, drip, drip

The Chicago Tribune obtained a “Media Relations Action Plan,” written by a local public relations firm, which includes directions on how to leak stories, and to whom. The firm’s client? The Chicago Bears.

The stories to be leaked involved the Bears’ push for a new stadium.

In one instance, a reminder was written to leak a story about the Bears’ potential interest in moving to Los Angeles or Baltimore.

Marino moves in

Miami’s Dan Marino needs 38 yards passing against the Patriots today to break Fran Tarkenton’s record for yards passing (47,003).