|
|
|
Mariucci: 'It was the right thing to do'
|
 |
 |
|
Andy Reid once told me something about Steve Mariucci that always stuck
in my mind.
"Looks like a nice guy, he is a nice guy, but...," said Reid, before
hesitating.
|  | | Terrell Owens celebrates his second-quarter touchdown against the Cowboys at midfield. |
But what?
"Tough guy," Reid said. "Tough guy from a tough wrestling family in
Michigan."
Reid and Mariucci coached together on Mike Holmgren's staff in Green Bay.
They have since become head coaches in the NFL, Reid with the Philadelphia
Eagles and Mariucci with the San Francisco 49ers.
It took a tough guy to do what Mariucci did this week with Terrell Owens,
who was excused from the team for a week and fined a game check ($24,294) for
his antics Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys.
"It was the right thing to do," said Mariucci. "It wasn't something I
enjoyed doing. It was something I needed to do."
Consider Mariucci's options. He could have let Owens off with a slap of
the wrist, say a $5,000 fine. Or he could have simply given him a verbal
reprimand and let the league deal with the problem. (A league official
indicated the 49ers hit Owens harder than the NFL might have, but applauded
the action).
See, Owens is arguably the 49ers' best offensive player. He is their
go-to guy and has relegated future Hall of Famer Jerry Rice to No. 2 status
on the receiving corps. He was able to "celebrate" twice against the Cowboys
because he caught a pair of touchdown passes.
Not many coaches, I don't think, suspend their star player for
celebrating a couple of touchdowns. Jimmy Johnson wasn't afraid to admit that
he always had a different set of rules for his stars.
The 49ers' win over the Cowboys was their first this season, and only
their second in the last 16 games. They play a "winnable" game at home
against the Arizona Cardinals. Owens' presence in the lineup certainly would
have enhanced Mariucci's chances of getting another rare win in a painful
rebuilding stage for this once-proud franchise.
"Some things," Mariucci explained to me, "are just bigger than one game.
I have too much respect for this organization and the players on this team ... too much respect for the league ... too much respect for the game to not take action."
Mariucci actually laughed about his full head of dark hair turning streaks
of white at 44. "Over the past year, I've really earned these," he said.
Marty Schottenheimer is certainly in Mariucci's camp. Who can forget his
similar decision when All-Pro linebacker Derrick Thomas embarrassed the team
on a Monday night game against the Denver Broncos in 1998? Thomas was
suspended for a game and lost his game check.
Thomas took his disciplinary action like a man. He accepted
responsibility. As of Tuesday, Owens was hardly contrite in a telephone
conference call with the media, again saying that he felt he did nothing
wrong and could possibly repeat the performance.
"What is this guy, a moron?" an exasperated Schottenheimer asked Tuesday
on NFL 2Night. (I love the coach).
|
“ |
Some things are just bigger than one game. I have too much respect for this organization and the players on this team ... too much respect for the league ... too much respect for the game to not take action. ” |
|
|
— 49ers coach Steve Mariucci on WR Terrell Owens' TD "celebrations" against Dallas |
Owens' lack of contriteness is probably why he's in the mess he's in.
49ers' sources say that Mariucci was feeling slightly better about what
happened when Owens took it upon himself to apologize to the team in a closed
locker room after Sunday's game. But Owens declined to humble himself in
public. Quite the contrary.
"He (Mariucci) told me to handle it with class, (that) I should go in the
end zone and act like I've been there," said Owens. "But I'm my own person. I
bring my own emotion to the game, and I can't let him take away from it."
Asked by a reporter if he would do it again, Owens replied, "Definitely."
Mariucci and general manager Bill Walsh were aghast at the comments. A
49ers' source say the two men sat down Monday morning with Owens and gave him
an opportunity to recant the comments. Owens refused, saying they reflected
exactly how he felt, according to the source.
Walsh said, "He talked himself out after four or five minutes." Then the
GM and coach lowered the boom on what essentially is a one-game suspension. Walsh ultimately had two more meetings Monday with Owens and felt better about the receiver's attitude.
"He was very contrite in the last meeting," Walsh said Monday night. "I
think you'll see that when he has his (telephone) press conference tomorrow."
Oops. Owens sounded as defiant as he did Sunday -- what had to be a deep
disappointment, although hardly a surprise to those inside the 49ers'
organization where Owens has developed a reputation as a "high maintenance"
player. In other words, he is a player who needs a lot of attention for a
variety of problems. They also have wanted him to emulate Jerry Rice's style
of class when he scores a touchdown.
"They've told me since I've been here but ... that's the way I play,"
said Owens. "I think they want me to follow in Jerry's footsteps, act with
class. Jerry has the style of game he plays, I've got my style of game that I play."
Walsh said he "is never shocked by anything I see, but I must say I've
never seen anything like what I saw Sunday."
Walsh admitted he was hoping this disciplinary action would "turn Terrell
around. He's a real talent. He plays hard. But he almost needs something to
shock him into the reality of life."
I don't know how Walsh and Mariucci will react to Owens' latest defiance
(Tuesday's presser). He just signed a new contract last year, so the salary
cap almost precludes them from trading him or even releasing him because of
the implications.
"That is the thing that makes things so difficult in the league these days,"
said Schottenheimer. "You don't really have very much leverage as a head
coach. You may have made all those decisions but ... there's no means by
which you can get rid of the player. That's where the thing is all out of whack."
Mariucci himself knew that life in San Francisco might even be tougher
than most cities. He could have walked away from a contract extension and
sought greener pastures as the 49ers moved into the era of their own
accountability. His two-year coaching record was 25-7 after the '98 season.
Now it's 30-22. He knew it was coming.
"I did not want to run from it," Mariucci said. "I wanted to deal with it.
It's going to take a couple of years, and I knew it was going to hurt, but
I'm OK with it -- even though you never go into any game accepting defeat."
Just as Andy Reid said, it takes a tough guy to set aside his ego and
pride and do what's best for a team rather than what's best for him. Somewhere in there, Terrell Owens could learn a lesson from his coach.
|
|
|
|
