Quick Kicks
Was it vintage 1972?
Dick Anderson brought the champagne. Nick Buoniconti hustled over as soon as his plane arrived from New York. Jim Mandich dropped by from the broadcast booth.
In a luxury suite at Pro Player Stadium, they and other members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins once again toasted perfection Sunday.
With the New York Giants’ 20-16 victory over Denver, the Dolphins’ 17-0 mark more than a quarter-century ago remains the NFL’s only unblemished season.
“I say if you can make it, you’re welcome,” running back Mercury Morris said. “But we have no company.”
Each season since 1991, Anderson has kept a bottle of champagne ready for when the NFL’s last unbeaten team falls. When that team loses, Buoniconti and quarterback Bob Griese join him for a toast.
With the Dolphins playing host to the New York Jets on Sunday night, the stadium seemed the perfect place to celebrate.
Thirteen players from the 1972 team still live in the Miami area, as do coach Don Shula and several former assistants. For them, and others scattered around the country, that 17-0 season remains a source of pride.
Sprewell would be proud
Not many in the NFL play at a higher emotional level than Kevin Greene. But that intensity got the best of the 14-year veteran linebacker Sunday.
Greene attacked assistant coach Kevin Steele on the sideline in the first half of the Carolina Panthers’ loss to the Washington Redskins.
The Panthers trailed 21-3 early in the second quarter when head coach Dom Capers and Steele began to address the defense on the bench.
When Steele waved an arm near Greene, he jumped up, grabbed Steele’s jacket with two hands, starting yelling and pushed him backwards about 10 feet. The two had to be separated.
“One of the reasons Kevin is a good player is that he is an emotional guy,” Capers said. “But (he) knew he was wrong.”
It is unclear if Greene would be fined, suspended or both by Capers, who said he would take appropriate action soon.
Greene was near tears over the incident when he talked to reporters in the locker room.
“I lost my composure in the heat of the moment,” Greene said. “It’s an emotional game and I will apologize to the entire team tomorrow.”
Quinn gets in
For the second straight week, the Jacksonville Jaguars offense stood in the huddle, looked at the quarterback and wondered.
Who is this guy?
This time, it was third-string rookie quarterback Jonathan Quinn, taking the place of another unknown, Jamie Martin, after Martin left Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Oilers with a sprained knee.
Quinn threw for 107 yards as the Jaguars lost 16-13 to the Oilers.
Martin, from Weber State, entered the season having thrown just 34 NFL passes in an uneventful career that has spanned four-plus seasons. That’s 34 more passes than Quinn, a third-round draft pick out of Middle Tennessee State.
The last word …
“When the ball was in the air it looked huge. It looked like the Hindenburg. I knew I was going to catch it.” New York Giants receiver Amani Toomer, whose 37-yard TD catch handed Denver its first loss of the season.