They Couldn’t Fill His High-Tops

It was a better game and a better league when Johnny Unitas was still backpedaling into the pocket, as the first games since the death of the league’s legendary quarterback reminded us Sunday.

It was a rough-hewn league where men were men and code-of-conduct regulations concerned eye-gouging and groin-kicking, not the style and color of the quarterback’s shoes.

It was a game beloved by the city of Baltimore, which fielded a team that didn’t embarrass the community on Sundays and played in a stadium that belonged to Unitas, and everybody knew it, regardless of what the place was called.

In those days, the Colt quarterback wore high-tops, because nobody was going to tell him he couldn’t, and concluded the last-minute drive down the field with a completion in the end zone to pull out the game in the final seconds.

In those days, the Baltimore quarterback put points on the board--for his team, not the opponent--and never misfired a pitchout so badly that it bounced against the goal-line marker for a safety.

As tributes to Johnny U go, Peyton Manning and Chris Redman might have been better off signing the petition to rename Baltimore’s football stadium after Unitas and leaving it at that.

Manning, quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts, petitioned the league to wear high-tops in Unitas’ honor, only to be told he’d better not, and then was denied again on the game’s final play--his potential game-winning pass knocked down in the end zone as his Colts lost at home to Miami, 21-13.

Redman, quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens, went ahead with the high-tops anyway, flying in the face of a potential fine, which qualifies as a genuine profile in courage in today’s NFL. Redman had the best of intentions--just not the best of connections with his intended receivers.

Redman’s stats on his personal Johnny Unitas Day:

Attempted passes: 38.

Completed passes: 16.

Touchdown passes: 1 (to the other team).

Points produced for Baltimore: 0.

Points produced for Baltimore’s opponent: 9, including a pitchout intended for Jamal Lewis that instead caromed off the goal-line pylon for a safety.

Final score: Baltimore 0, Tampa Bay 25.

Redman played his college ball at Louisville, same as Unitas, who had taken a special mentoring interest in the young quarterback. Redman was making only his second NFL start Sunday, against a Tampa Bay team still riled about losing its home opener a week earlier. With high-tops on his feet and the football in his hand, Redman had only one other thing in common with the old Baltimore Hall of Famer: Unitas scuffled during his early days too.

Manning has been around longer, been to the Pro Bowl, and in his No. 18 jersey is considered the closest thing the Colts have had since Unitas wore 19. He had the right idea, wanting to wear Unitas-style high-tops to honor the memory, but made the crucial mistake of notifying the league ahead of time. Knowing today’s NFL, he should have known better--and after the Colts’ defeat, Manning admitted as much, saying he should have gone ahead without first informing the league.

In today’s NFL, a double-murder suspect can be lauded as Super Bowl most valuable player, but the heir to the Unitas legacy cannot wear high-tops without being hit with a “horrendous fine,” as Manning put it. Manning said he considered putting on the shoes and paying the fine, regardless, but didn’t want the attendant controversy to detract from the leaguewide day of remembrance.

On that issue, Manning took the high road.

Too bad he couldn’t get anyone from the league office to accompany him.

Some words that concisely summed up the day: “We keep tying our shoelaces and stumbling over ourselves.”

Who uttered them?

a) Manning, after throwing three interceptions and having his last-second pass broken up in the end zone by Miami’s Brock Marion?

b) Redman, after carrying the Ravens to their second shutout defeat since moving to Baltimore and watching Tampa Bay linebacker Derrick Brooks return one of his passes 97 yards for a Buccaneer touchdown?

c) NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue?

d) St. Louis running back Marshall Faulk after watching the defending NFC champion Rams fall to 0-2 after losing, at home, to the New York Giants, 26-21.

Incredibly, the speaker was Faulk, who might be the best player in football--and he hasn’t won a game since January.

Remember January? Back then, the Rams were taking bows as the Next Great Dynasty, moments away from adding the heads of the New England Patriots to the trophy case.

Since then, the Rams lost the Super Bowl to the Patriots, all four of their exhibition games, their season opener to Denver and now their home opener to the Giants. Absolutely head-shaking, all the way down to this statistical nugget: the Rams’ Kurt Warner threw two interceptions--one returned for a touchdown by Jason Sehorn, one a horribly underthrown ball that ended St. Louis’ last drive with 1:43 left--and the Giants’ Kerry Collins completed 14 of his first 15 passes and finished the day 22 for 26 for 307 yards.

The Rams now share last place in the NFC West with Seattle--another startling home loser, christening/cursing their new stadium with a 24-13 loss to Arizona. The Rams are lucky not to be two games behind San Francisco, which also lost at home, to Denver, 24-14.

Denver did it the old-fashioned way--relying on hand signals and plays sent in with substitutes because of radio-transmission problems. Bronco quarterback Brian Griese was even reduced to--egad!--calling a few of his own plays, and now probably faces a horrendous fine by the league office.

Unitas would have been proud of the kid. On a day when so many right-meaning gestures went awry, no one managed a better tribute than Griese, getting down and dirty and wistfully low tech.