Aussies put best foot forward
They grew up playing Aussie rules football. Now they're NFL punters who claim that Aussies rule.
"There's more and more Australians heading over," says Darren Bennett, the two-time Pro Bowl choice who was born in Sydney, educated in Perth and punts for the Minnesota Vikings after nine years with the San Diego Chargers.
The wave of incoming fourth-down specialists isn't exactly tidal, yet non-native kickers such as Pete Gogolak (Hungary), Jan Stenerud (Norway), Garo Yepremian (Cyprus), Gary Anderson (South Africa) and Morten Andersen (Denmark) turned soccer backgrounds into long and successful NFL careers.
Mat McBriar seems to have secured a position with the Dallas Cowboys, doubling the ranks of punters from Down Under. Nathan Chapman's chances of making it a threesome look slim, though he could end up on the Green Bay Packers practice squad.
The adjustment to a different ball and the sequence of taking the snap and executing the punt with pressure coming isn't easy, even for players like Chapman, who played American rules football in Australia last year for the Queens land Rangers and was named the Gridiron League's outstanding special-teams player. The Aussie game, in which players kick on the run, builds strong legs but not the technical prowess and directional skills required in the NFL.
"It's such a fine process of mechanics," says Chapman, who averaged 38 yards on three punts in Green Bay's second preseason game. "It's nice to stand out here at practice and kick a ball when there's no one around, but it's when everyone's rushing at you that you need to be switched on in the mind."
Green Bay's loss of Josh Bidwell as a free agent to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers set off the club's round of auditions, and Chapman, while more than a curiosity, wasn't ever the leading candidate. The Packers gambled in the April draft and traded up to select B.J. Sander in the third round but have been disappointed in his performance. They signed 15-year veteran Bryan Barker this week after auditioning several other punting elders.
Bennett says Chapman needs to stay patient and continue to hone his game. There's generally a lost year involved in the search for steady work.
Consider McBriar. Bennett helped hook him up with a former Chargers coach, June Jones, and McBriar played for Jones at Hawaii for three years. Last season he went to training camp with the Denver Broncos, was traded to the Seattle Seahawks and gained enough of a reputation before his release to get a look from Dallas.
"I spent the first year on practice squad, and it was probably the best thing that happened to me," Bennett says. "I was 29 at the time, and I said to coach (Bobby) Ross, 'I'm too old to be on practice squad.' He said, 'you can punt until you're 40.' Ten years later, he was right."
Wrong Thoughts
NASHVILLE, Tenn.--> Eddie George thought his NFL career would end when he retired in four or five years as the Tennessee Titans' career rushing leader.
He still might get a parade someday, and the Titans may even retire his No. 27. But he said Wednesday that he is too busy playing with his new team -- the Dallas Cowboys -- to think about what he calls a business decision.
"I have no animosity toward the organization,” he said in a conference call with reporters in Tennessee.
"It's something that happened. It's a business. I understand that. I had some great years there. I have some great memories, George said.
"That's how I choose to think about the situation rather than be bitter about it, and I'm not going to put forth the energy to thinking bad thoughts or be negative toward anybody. It is what it is, and I'm moving on to another situation.
Ironically, George will be playing his former teammates Monday night, when the Titans visit the Cowboys. The otherwise meaningless game offers George a chance to say the goodbyes missed in his shocking release on July 21.
The Titans had talked with George for months about a pay cut to help them with the salary cap. He refused and was released a week before teams headed to training camp.
Hasty departures aren't unusual in the NFL, and George immediately landed a deal with the Cowboys. If George had been released in March, his departure wouldn't be an issue now.
"The timing of it wasn't ideal,'' George said. "It had to be done. I had to take the cards that were given to me and play the hand.''
The move came so quick George had to have some of his belongings shipped to him in Oxnard, Calif., where Dallas held training camp. He had little time for talk.
Titans coach Jeff Fisher said they spoke as friends after the release.
"We wished each other well. We didn't have to go back and rehash what happened. Everybody knew what happened,'' Fisher said. "We were just kind of shocked at the fact that it happened and went on from there. We told him we'd be crossing paths four to six weeks from when we released him.''
George did call a couple of Tennessee's offensive linemen. He told them he didn't make the comments criticizing the Titans for not investing in better linemen. He said Wednesday he hopes to visit with them at the team hotel before the game.
Right guard Benji Olson left George a message but hasn't heard back. Olson jokingly dabbed at his eyes with a T-shirt and said he guessed the two weren't as close as he thought.
"I think people are starting to come to the fact that's just the way the business is,'' Olson said.
George has found time in recent weeks to talk with close friends like Titans cornerback Samari Rolle, the best man at his wedding. The topic of conversation usually involves family and how George is settling in with the Cowboys.
"We don't talk about whether it was right or wrong what the Titans did,'' left tackle Brad Hopkins said. "We don't talk about whether he's going to get us back being a Cowboy.''
The Titans haven't missed a beat on offense without George. Second-year back Chris Brown has helped the running game look better than it has in years in the preseason with 107 yards on just 16 carries, nearly a 7-yard per carry average.
George has 11 carries for 40 yards, a 3.6-yard average, for Dallas. That includes a 23-yard rush last week against Oakland.
Cowboys coach Bill Parcells was noncommittal when asked about George's status during training camp.
"Well, if he takes his shirt off he looks like a male model ... embarrassing the rest of the players around here,'' Parcells said.
As jarring as George's release was, Hopkins said NFL players are used to sudden changes and losing close teammates for business reasons. He listed players like former defensive tackle Henry Ford as just one of several players let go in recent years.
"These are names that kind of go under the radar. But when you've got a big one, one you definitely think should retire a Titan, then it becomes more pertinent,'' Hopkins said.
Minnesota defensive end Kenny Mixon's
MINNEAPOLIS --> The NFL on Wednesday rejected Minnesota defensive end Kenny Mixon's appeal of a two-game suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy.
Mixon, who hasn't missed a start since signing with Minnesota two seasons ago, will be eligible to return to the Vikings' active roster Sept. 21.
In November, Deephaven police pulled Mixon over and found he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.19 percent, nearly double the state's legal limit of 0.10 percent. It was his third arrest for drunken driving in 16 months.
In March, Mixon was sentenced to 30 days in the county workhouse and 60 days of home monitoring. The jury also found him guilty of possessing an open container of alcohol and driving with a revoked license.
Mixon also was sentenced to 216 hours of community service, and the court ordered him to pay $3,100 to a panel that educates the public about the dangers of drunken driving.
He had 62 tackles last season, including a career-high five sacks.
Williams doesn't rule out eventual return
MIAMI --> Retired running back Ricky Williams says he contacted the Miami Dolphins this week at the request of his agent but has no plans to rejoin the team anytime soon.
Williams didn't rule out a return but made it clear that given his contract and the state of the coaching staff, "It's not in my best interests to play football right now," he told The Miami Herald in a story published Wednesday night on the newspaper's Web site.
Williams has acknowledged testing positive for marijuana three times, which means he likely wouldn't be allowed to play this season, even if he decided to come out of retirement.
Williams is in Australia and said he plans to travel to India soon for a "couple of months." He said he contacted the Dolphins after they sent him a letter last week seeking repayment of $8.6 million by Monday.
"I didn't call them to see if I could come back. I was just causing a conversation to happen," Williams said. "They sent me the letter and [my agent] told me it's in my best interests to call them."
Asked if he was prepared to pay the money back or return to the team by Monday, Williams said, "That's really up to the Dolphins about the money. ... This whole thing gets crazier by the day."
Williams' agent, Leigh Steinberg, didn't return calls seeking comment. Coach Dave Wannstedt declined to comment.
"I'm only commenting about the players on our team," Wannstedt said.
Retirement papers Williams filed with the NFL last month aren't binding. But because he was in the league's substance abuse program, he can't return for one year without penalty. Williams has said he's a three-time offender in the program, meaning the penalty would be a suspension that would prohibit him from playing this season.
Williams, who led the NFL in rushing in 2002, stunned the Dolphins when he decided to retire a week before training camp started at age 27
Rose Bowl backers stunned by news
PASADENA
Some of those involved in trying to bring an NFL football team to the Rose Bowl reacted bitterly on Wednesday to news that the league is turning its attention to Anaheim.
The unpleasant emotions of being stunned by the NFL's decision last year to commit $10 million to exploring Carson have been rekindled.
"After we've gotten the discussions back on track, yet again we are faced with the unexpected and unexplained steps by the NFL that's going to cause ourselves and many others to reconsider just how realistic it is to work with the league,' said Bill Thomson, vice president of the Rose Bowl Operating Company.
Pasadena Councilman Victor Gordo lambasted the NFL.
"If the NFL wants to Mickey Mouse around, they can do that. If they want to play serious football, they should refocus right back on Pasadena,' he said. "Anyone who doesn't think the NFL is going to turn over every stone, look under every blade of grass, is kidding themselves. They are shopping around to see if they can get a better deal.'
But, Gordo added, "You can't compare Disneyland, the Coliseum and a dump site to football in the Arroyo Seco on a Sunday afternoon.'
Rose Bowl General Manager Darryl Dunn tried to take the news in stride.
"We have always known all along that we weren't the only site they were talking to,' Dunn said. "Nothing changes.'
