LITTLE ROCK — Montana: NFL QBs snap to it
Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana says quarterbacks can't ride Shotgun to the NFL.
"It's a fun offense to play in as a quarterback," Montana said.
"You've always got the ball in your hands, and seven times out of 10 you're throwing it. But it really doesn't help the guys going to the next level.
"You can see the evidence with the guy in San Francisco [Alex Smith] and with a guy as talented as Vince Young [Tennessee Titans]. There are problems when you have to get up under center all the time.
"You have a kid at Texas Tech [Graham Harrell] who threw for nine million yards," Montana said, "but no one would take a chance with him. Why's he in Canada? When you're in an offense where you've only taken the ball out of the Shotgun ... unfortunately, those guys have allstruggled when they got to the NFL."
Montana played in a conventional offense and passed for 40,551 yards and 273 touchdowns in 15 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs.
He doesn't think the NFL is ready to embrace the spread offense.
"I guess you can never say never," Montana said. "But I thinkthere will always be a fine line.
In the spread in college, you may play against some good teams... but they aren't all great players.
Then the NFL takes all the great players, puts them together, and it's a little tougher to run.
Everyone is so big and strong." Zen master
Los Angeles Lakers Coach Phil Jackson, who turned 64 last week, is heading into thefinal year of his contract with no discussion of an extension.
"When I suggested that set up a situation that would be a lameduck situation, they said that they hoped theduck wasn't lame," Jackson said. "We'll see how the season goes." Snooze time
"We're long overdue to have golf in the Olympics," Tiger Woods said.
"Amen," wrote Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle. "I don't know how many times I've been at the Olympics and said,'It's fun watching Usain Bolt in the 100, but oh, how I long for the thrill of watching 'Pacedrag' Harrington take six minutes to read a 4-foot putt."' He said it
Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle: "Usain Bolt won his final race and says he'll take a long vacation. When you live in Jamaica, where do you vacation? Akron?" Comeback
Larry Coker led Miami to a 12-0 record and a national championship in 2001, his first year as head coach, and had a 60-15 record in six seasons before being fired in 2006.
Now, Coker, 61, is in charge of a start-up program at Texas-SanAntonio, which won't play until 2011.
"I've been in the palace. I've been with kings and wealth, and I was able to hold up that crystal ball as a champion," he said. "Then there is the other side of the desert."Quote of the day "We didn't really believe
we could come in and win the game." Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino, explaining why the Razorbacks lost 35-7 to No. 3 Alabama
Sports, Pages 26 on 09/27/2009