Page 8/The Battalion/Thursday, August 4, 1988
‘Stagger Lee’ to sit bench in Bills’ game
HOUSTON (AP) — The best-
known play in the Houston Oiler
playbook may not be used Thursday
night against Buffalo in their NFL
exhibition opener in the Astrodome.
If Coach Jerry Glanville splits
three blockers out wide in front of
running back Mike Rozier, any cas
ual Oiler fan will know the play.
It’s “Stagger Lee,” the star-crossed
play that led to the Oilers’ 34-10 loss
to Denver in last year’s NFL play
offs.
“The only problem with that play
is we had to describe it so much with
its options that we just about told all
of our options,” Glanville said.
“Stagger Lee” gained notoriety
before a national television audience
on the Oilers’ first series from their
own four-yard line.
Rozier fumbled a lateral from
quarterback Warren Moon, and the
Broncos’ Steve Wilson recovered at
the Oiler one-yard line, setting up
Denver’s first touchdown.
Denver scored twice in the first
quarter and the Oilers never recov
ered but Glanville still defends the
play.
“I promise you no one in football
knew what we were doing off of it,”
Glanville said. “We ran that play
more in Pittsburgh. That’s exactly
how we won the game and no one
asked me about it then.
“We kept running it after Pitts
burgh. But now we were questioned
so much about it, I think we told too
much about it. That’s the bottom
line.”
Glanville, who thrives on calling
the unexpected, could have a new
“Stagger Lee” planned.
“I’m sure we’ll use it again,” Moon
says slyly. “It just depends on who
we play.
“It didn’t work that one time. It
was a crucial time, a crucial game,
and a crucial point on the field.
“But it worked in other games so
I’m sure you’ll see it again.”
The Oilers likely will be more in
terested in looking at their new play
ers Thursday night than devising
new alternatives to “Stagger Lee.”
There is a battle for the backup
quarterback job between Cody Carl
son and Brent Pease.
Defensive end Sean Jones, ob
tained in an off-season trade from
the Los Angeles Raiders, is challeng
ing last year’s starter, Richard Byrd.
Michigan State running back Lo
renzo White, the Oilers’ No. 1 draft
pick, will be in uniform.
The team’s second- and third-
round picks, cornerback Quintin
Jones and punter Greg Montgom
ery, remained unsigned.
Starting cornerback Patrick Allen
also is a contract holdout.
Buffalo Coach Marv Levy will
start backup quarterback Frank
Reich against the Oilers instead of
starter Jim Kelly, still recovering
from an ankle injury.
It will be homecoming for two
Bills draftees, safety John Hagy
from Texas and Oklahoma State
running back Thurman Thomas,
who played high school football at
Sugar Land Willowridge.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. CDT.
Pokes jostling for starting positions
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP)
— Tailback Herschel Walker and
quarterback Danny White will sit out
the Dallas Cowboys’ preseason
opener against the San Diego Charg
ers Saturday night, Coach Tom
Landry said Wednesday.
Landry didn’t want to take the
chance of losing either to injury.
Neither played in Saturday’s intra
squad scrimmage.
Steve Pelluer, whom Landry
tabbed going into camp as the team’s
No. 1 quarterback, will start for the
Cowboys in the 6 p.m. PDT game at
Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.
Tailback Darryl Clack and full
back Timmy Newsome will be in the
backfield with Pelluer, Landry said
Wednesday at a press conference.
Landry said No. 1 draft choice Mi
chael Irvin and second-year veteran
Kelvin Martin will split time at
fianker Saturday night. But Martin
will start, Landry said.
“Kelvin Martin has been our most
improved receiver during training
camp,” Landry said of the former
Boston College star, who who was
used primarily as a punt returner
during his rookie season. “I’d just
like to see him go out there, give him
a chance to start the game.”
Martin, 5-9, 163-pounder who
was Dallas’ fourth-round pick last
year, caught three passes for 98
yards, including two 45-yard recep
tions that set up touchdowns.
“If he (Martin) can maintain this
level, he has a chance to compete for
more than a punt returner’s job,”
Landry said.
Landry also praised Irvin, the for
mer Miami star who was the 12th
player selected in the draft.
“I don’t know whether he’s (Mar
tin) ahead of him (Irvin),” Landry
said. “Irvin has been playing very
well also. They’ll be splitting time,
but I think Kelvin has earned the
chance to start.”
The makeshift defensive lineup
that Landry had to devise due to va
rious injuries will include starters
Ron Burton, Steve DeOssie and
Garth Jax, left to right, at linebacker.
“They’re our only experienced
linebackers,” Landry said.
With Ron Francis mending a sep
arated shoulder, Landry is leaning
towards starting second-year veteran
Robert Williams at right cornerback,
over third-year man Manny Hen
drix. The other returning defensive
backfield starters — cornerback Ev
erson Walls, strong safety Bill Bates
and free safety Michael Downs —are
also slated to start Saturday.
On the competition between
strong safeties Bates and Vince Al
britton and free safeties Downs and
Victor Scott, Landry said:
“We said before we came into
camp that almost every job is open. I
don’t think Herschel’s is, but most of
them are. All four of those safeties
are good players. We’ll just see who
comes up to the level that they were
at last year, and see who’s going to
end up playing for us.”
Both Bates and Downs have
worked hard in camp, Landry said.
“Just because we opened the job,
it doesn’t mean that they are going
to be released tomorrow, because of
the competition,” he said.
Up front, 1987 No. 1 draft pick
Danny Noonan will play at right
tackle, with Randy White still being
held out of practices because of a
neck injury. Kevin Brooks, who
Landry says is the most improved
Olympian kills two
in driving accident
BRANDON, Fla. (AP)—Olym
pic diver Bruce Kimball told po
lice he’d been drinking before his
sports car hit a group of teen-ag
ers, but officials said Wednesday
they have not concluded the acci
dent that killed two and injured
six was alcohol-related.
While the Hillsborough
County sheriffs department con
tinued its investigation of the ac
cident, speculation about the
cause centered around an arrest
affidavit in which Kimball, 25, ad
mitted to drinking four beers ear
lier Monday evening.
Shortly before 1 1 p.m. that
night, police said, Kimball lost
control of his 1984 Mazda RX-7
as he drove down a dead-end
road and ran through a crowd of
30 to 40 teen-agers gathered at a
meeting place called “The Spot.”
Kimball, a silver medal winner
in the 1984 Olympics, was
charged with two counts of vehic
ular homicide and released on
$10,000 bond. The former Uni
versity of Michigan star was given
a blood-alcohol test, but authori
ties said it might be several days
before the results are received
from a state laboratory.
“We said originally it was possi
bly (alcohol-related),” Hillsbo
rough County Sheriff’s spokes
man Jack Espinosa said. “But how
much is the question. That’s what
the blood-alcohol test will tell us.
How much, and whether alcohol
was the cause.”
Witnesses said it was not un
usual for cars to approach “The
Spot” at a high-rate of speed. Po
lice estimate Kimball was travel
ing between 70 and 90 mph when
his car hit at least three parked
cars and plowed into the teen-ag
ers who were sitting on thecarsor
standing in the street.
“He went by us so fast thatthe
wind from his car set off the mo
tion detector on my car’s burglar
alarm,” said John Austurius.
The Tampa Tribune reported
some witnesses told the newspa
per Kimball climbed outofhiscar
after it skidded to a halt and
asked if everyone was all right.
When he saw bodies scattered
about, Kimball reportedly fell to
his knees and pounded his fist on
the pavement and moaned,“Why
me . . . why me?”
“There were body parts strewn
up and down the road. That’s no
exaggeration,” paramedic Dan
Kilcrease said. “It looked likethev
had stepped on a land mine."
One witness said it appeared
the right front tire of Kimball's
car blew out.
“All that’s under investiga
tion,” Espinosa said. “We re try
ing to find out what happened."
Kimball, a top prospect for the
1988 U.S. Olympic team, wasnoi
injured. Two other divers in the
car with him. Chuck Wade and
Collen “Cokey” Smith, also es
caped serious injury.
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U.S. Diving, the sport’s govern
ing body, issued a statemem
Tuesday, saying there was noth
ing in the organization’s rules
that would prevent Kimball from
competing in the Olympic Trials
Aug. 17-21 in Indianapiolis.
Kimball is the son of Michigan
and three-time U.S. Olympic div
ing coach Dick Kimball.
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veteran this summer, will man the
left tackle spot. Left end Ed Jones
and right end Jim Jeffcoat are also
set for Saturday.
On what he’d like to accomplish in
early pre-season games, given that
Walker won’t play much, Landry
said:
“We’re evaluating personnel all
the time. That’s our biggest objective
this summer. We have so many of
fensive linemen to look at. We have
so many wide receivers and quar
terbacks.”
“Offensively, we have almost a
whole team, other than tight ends, to
evaluate. Hopefully, we’ll come out
with the right decision at the end.
Defensively, you don’t have that
many options.”
Strange returns to course
that spurred successful yea
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Curtis
Strange will be back at Colonial
Country Club Thursday to defend
his St. Jude Classic title, a
championship which may have
marked a turning point in his career.
Last year’s victory at Memphis was
one of three PGA Tour wins that
propelled Strange to the No. 1 spot
on the 1987 money list with a record
$925,941. It was the second time in
three years the former Wake Forest
All-American was the tour’s top
money winner with a record total.
Strange got down in two shots
f rom the 18th fairway during la
year’s final round to take then
and has built upon that victory.
He defeated Nick Faldo in anil
hole playoff to win the U.S.
last June and thrust his name
the ongoing debates about whois
world’s top golfer.
The U.S. Open win, Strange's
major victory, was his 12thtrium|
in the past five years and his
the 1980s.
“I have confidence in my
and 1 work hard at it,” Strange San
“And I expect a lot out of myself.
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