PETER KING'S NFL INSIDER

IS IT WORKING?

The NFL and its players' association like to trumpet the
effectiveness of the league's drug-testing program. But if this
is the most comprehensive and stringent substance-abuse program
in major league sports--and it may well be--then the sports
world is in pitiful shape when it comes to ensuring that its
players are drug-free. Why? Because in the NFL it's simple to
beat the system. Each year the 1,590 players are randomly
tested, most of them once and only once, for drugs ranging from
over-the-counter products to marijuana, amphetamines, cocaine
and steroids by the league's independent testing agency. That
urinalysis occurs between May 1 and Aug. 20. Unless a player
tests positive then, he is subject to retesting only if 1) he
has tested positive in the previous two years; 2) he has
admitted to a substance-abuse problem (as in the case of Green
Bay quarterback Brett Favre); or 3) he behaves in an aberrant
way in the view of a doctor chosen jointly by the league and the
players' union.

Those who don't fall within these criteria enjoy a window of
seven to 10 months in which drugs can be used undetected. It
takes up to four weeks for all traces of marijuana to leave the
system; cocaine takes three days and anabolic steroids two. Thus
a player who stops using these drugs by early April--and stays
clean until his test--has nothing to worry about. In fact, one
current veteran who formerly smoked marijuana and now claims to
abstain from drugs and alcohol tells SI, "The partyers on our
team used to have one last blowout about two months before we
knew we'd be eligible to be tested. Then you just had to be
careful during the season."

As street-smart as today's NFL players are, you can be sure that
many know just how long it takes for various drugs to go
undetected by urinalysis. Doug Allen, who oversees the drug
policy for the NFLPA, insists that the league does have random
screening. "Between May 1 and mid-August we do," he says. But
that's only 16 weeks each year. Players can indulge in whatever
drugs they want, as long as they don't draw the league's
attention, for up to 48 straight weeks.

"I'm not saying the policy is perfect," Allen says. "You could
go out right now and drive drunk and not get caught. But it's
worked very effectively for people who have had problems. It's
had an impact and saved people's lives. There are a vast number
of players in the league who do not use any substances, and they
shouldn't be subjected to people knocking on their door some day
in the off-season and telling them to piss in a bottle."

Fine. But for any drug-screening program to be truly
comprehensive, there has to be an element of surprise. The
limited testing schedule means that only the addicted and the
brazen are likely to get caught. If the NFL and the players'
union don't expand the time for the random testing from 3 1/2
months to 12, they're only paying lip service to their boast of
a drug-free league.

MIDWEST MISERY

The Giants had a very, very hot hand in the draft from 1979 to
'84. With seven first-round choices they selected five Pro Bowl
players--linebackers Lawrence Taylor and Carl Banks, defensive
backs Mark Haynes and Terry Kinard and quarterback Phil
Simms--who became mainstays of the powerful Giants teams of the
'80s. But now the Giants are heading for their second straight
awful season, and their collapse is largely due to the
widespread failure of their No. 1 picks over the last decade.

What is peculiar about New York's very, very cold drafting hand
between 1986 and '95 is the Midwestern flavor of its flops. In
eight of those 10 drafts, the Giants' top choice came from
either a Big Ten school or Notre Dame. Does management think
more of football in that region and hold its players in higher
regard? "Absolutely not!" retorts G.M. George Young, who has
been the gatekeeper of New York's draft choices since 1979. "I
don't pay any attention to where they're from. I didn't look at
Jarrod Bunch or Tyrone Wheatley and see Michigan under their
names."

Four of the eight Midwest picks were abject disappointments:
Eric Dorsey (Notre Dame, 1986), an inflexible defensive end;
Eric Moore (Indiana, 1988), a psychologically fragile tackle;
Bunch (Michigan, 1991), an underachieving fullback; and Derek
Brown (Notre Dame, 1992), a soft tight end. Two others--wideout
Thomas Lewis (Indiana, 1994) and running back Wheatley
(Michigan, 1995)--have yet to make any impact.

Mark Ingram (Michigan State, 1987) was a serviceable wideout,
but he only once exceeded 50 catches with the Giants; he's now
in Philadelphia. And center Brian Williams (Minnesota, 1989) has
developed into a solid starter, but he didn't win the full-time
job until his sixth season. Meanwhile, the two non-Midwestern
selections--quarterback Dave Brown (Duke, 1993) and running back
Rodney Hampton (Georgia, 1990)--have lived up to their
first-round billing.

Of all the ill-advised picks, the one that most deeply haunts
the Giants is Derek Brown. Ray Handley, the coach who succeeded
Bill Parcells in 1991 and floundered for two seasons, was in the
draft room that day. He favored Clemson defensive tackle Chester
McGlockton, who has since reached Pro Bowl status with the
Raiders. But management gave the nod to Brown.

HIDDEN GEM

Packers defensive end Sean Jones sat in front of his locker
shaking his head last Jan. 14. Dallas had just ousted Green Bay
from the playoffs for the third straight year thanks to
quarterback Troy Aikman, who completed 21 of 33 passes for 255
yards and two touchdowns. "We've gotta get guys who know how to
play in these games," Jones said.

Consider Jones's prayers answered. Of all the off-season deals
done by the 30 NFL teams, none may have more impact than the
Packers' trade with Seattle on June 27, in which they obtained
free safety Eugene Robinson, 33, for defensive lineman Matt
LaBounty, 27. With the health of fourth-year safety George
Teague in question--he hasn't been the same since a thyroid
problem sapped his strength before the '94 season--Green Bay
needed to bolster its last line of defense, and it did.

At six feet and 195 pounds, Robinson is a ferocious hitter as
well as a natural leader and a competent cover guy (42 career
interceptions). Despite a painful Achilles tendon injury last
year, he started every game and made 105 tackles. The
acquisition of Robinson may have appeared only in the small
print of most newspapers, but it will be worth headlines come
January when it fortifies Green Bay for a Super Bowl run.

GOOD INVESTMENT

Packers backup tight end Jeff Thomason spent his off-season in
California thinking about when he'll no longer have an off-
season. For several days apiece he observed a lawyer in Santa
Clara, a stockbroker in the Bay Area, a produce farmer in
Salinas Valley and winemakers in Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Napa
Valley. "I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my
life after football," says Thomason, who has a psychology degree
from Oregon but now has little interest in that field.

Thomason's search began with a little push from Invest in
Yourself. It's a career-planning business in San Jose headed by
sports agent Bob LaMonte, a former teacher and football coach
who has watched retired players struggle to find second careers.
"If you don't give players a plan for their lives while they're
playing, they're going to hit the wall when they leave the
game," LaMonte says. "It's just a question of when."

The Packers hired LaMonte and his staff last year. In the
preseason all players who wanted to use the service were tested
to determine their interests, values and long-term goals; each
then received a profile that suggested future lines of work for
them to explore. Thomason's future? After returning from
California, he spent weekday nights in Milwaukee studying for
the LSAT and thinking about a legal career. "If that doesn't
work out, I'll look into vineyards more seriously," he says. "At
least now I have a plan."

A TV TIP

With the NFL's television contract expiring after the 1997
season, look for CBS to persuade broadcast-committee big shot
Jerry Jones to install a Thursday-night game that will give the
Eye a 17-game schedule starting in '98. The players will love
it, because the salary cap, which is tied to league revenues,
will skyrocket.

STOKING THE FIRE

Before the 1995 draft, here's how one NFL team graded the
personal traits of UCLA wide receiver J.J. Stokes according to
its five-point scale (1 being poor, 5 excellent): desire, 1;
stability, 3; work habits, 1; intelligence, 2.

"Confident, smug," the club's scouting report read. "Used to
getting by on minimal effort. Tries to cut corners. Makes
excuses when things don't go his way."

The Niners, who traded four high picks to get Stokes at No. 10,
quickly began to form a similar opinion. Stokes had a lax work
ethic ("The coaches did pull me aside and tell me I had to step
it up some," he says), which didn't square with the hardworking
49ers vets. After breaking his right hand in the preseason,
Stokes settled for a 38-catch rookie season.

But now Stokes has seen the light. After the Niners cut wideout
John Taylor loose in the off-season, Stokes joined workaholic
Jerry Rice in his spring regimen of hill running in Portola
Valley, Calif. "He's the best," says Stokes, "and I wanted to
see what he put himself through to be the best." They ran short
bursts, sprints and long endurance tests. Now Stokes says, "The
team will get the opportunity to see the real J.J. Stokes this
year." If so, he'll make that other team eat its scouting
report.

COLOR PHOTO: TOM LYNN Unlike most players, Favre can be tested year-round. [Brett Favre]

COLOR ILLUSTRATION: ILLUSTRATION BY STEVE WACKSMAN [Drawing of Miami Dolphin player wearing too-short uniform and twirling football on finger]

COLOR PHOTO: PETER READ MILLER Will Wheatley prove to be yet another Giant draft mistake from the Big Ten? [Tyrone Wheatley]

COLOR ILLUSTRATION: ILLUSTRATION BY STEVE WACKSMAN [Drawing of singer Michael Jackson in uniform and holding football in gloved hand] COLOR PHOTO: PETER READ MILLER Aikman gets better as the stakes get higher. [Troy Aikman]

COLOR PHOTO: PETER READ MILLER After a sluggish '95 debut, Stokes used the Rice regimen to shape up for '96. [J.J. Stokes]

BIG GAMES: THE CALENDAR

September

Sept. 1: Raiders at Ravens

The NFL returns to Baltimore for the first time since 1983, when
the Colts vanished in the middle of the night and reappeared in
Indianapolis. Memorial Stadium will be the home of the Ravens
until a new stadium is completed in 1998.

Sept. 15: Colts at Cowboys

The what-might-have-been bowl for the Colts. In the final
seconds of last season's AFC Championship Game, Indianapolis
fell short when quarterback Jim Harbaugh's potential
game-winning Hail Mary fell to the Three Rivers Stadium end-zone
turf. Had the pass been caught, Indianapolis, not Pittsburgh,
would have faced Dallas in Super Bowl XXX.

Sept. 29: Panthers at Jaguars

The league's two newest franchises meet for the first time in
the regular season. Last year they enjoyed unprecedented success
for NFL expansion teams: The Panthers ended the year with seven
wins, and the Jags had four. The old record for first-season
expansion wins had been three.

October

Oct. 13: Ravens at Colts

Baltimore at the Colts? Sounds strange, doesn't it? In the
spring Indianapolis owner Bob Irsay was willing to listen to
offers from Baltimore owner Art Modell for the rights to the
Colts' name and logo. No deal was reached, and the new franchise
adopted its Poe-etic moniker instead.

Oct. 27: Cowboys at Dolphins

Dallas's Barry Switzer and Miami's Jimmy Johnson meet for the
first time in the NFL. They last clashed on Jan. 1, 1988, in the
Orange Bowl, when Johnson's Miami Hurricanes beat Switzer's
Oklahoma Sooners for the national title. Switzer leads their
head-to-head series five games to three.

November

Nov. 10: Cowboys at 49ers

Last season, when the 49ers failed to reach the Super Bowl,
marked the first time in three years that the winner of this
regular-season matchup failed to bring home a championship ring.

Nov. 18: Packers at Cowboys

Will this become the NFL's new marquee matchup? When the
up-and-coming Packers made it past the Niners and into last
season's NFC Championship Game, the mood around the league
changed. If this Monday-night game is for home field advantage,
a loss would put the Cowboys in arctic Lambeau Field come
mid-January.

Nov. 28 (Thanksgiving Day): Chiefs at Lions, Redskins at Cowboys

At the annual NFL owners' meetings this spring, Chiefs owner
Lamar Hunt suggested the idea of rotating the Thanksgiving Day
games to give two different teams each year a chance to host the
holiday event. The Lions might want to go along with the
suggestion. Their record on Thanksgiving is a very unferocious
28-26-2. The Cowboys, on the other hand, should not give up that
home-cooked turkey without a fight. Their prefeast record is
19-8-1.

December

Dec. 23: Lions at 49ers

The regular-season finale pits two of the league's top
star-studded offenses against one another on a Monday night. In
their Week 4 matchup last season, the Lions broke a five-game,
10-year losing streak to the 49ers when Jason Hanson hit a
32-yard field goal with 1:12 to play for a 27-24 victory. It was
the Lions' first win of the season and the Niners' first loss.

NAME GAME

The NFL has some big names these days, and we're not talking
about Deion Sanders or Dan Marino. There are a number of players
in the league whose familiarity to the general public has
nothing to do with their accomplishments on the football field
and everything to do with the fact that they share a name with a
celebrated individual from another walk of life. While pondering
this, we got to wondering what might happen--good and bad--if
the more well-known member of these nominally equivalent pairs
were to take to the gridiron instead.

Michael Jackson, king-of-pop wideout, Baltimore Ravens

Upside: Moonwalking skills readily adaptable to elaborate TD
celebrations; years of experience adjusting crotch.

Downside: Insistence on wearing only one glove makes catching
balls in cold weather difficult.

Pat Riley, well-groomed defensive end, Chicago Bears

Upside: Gel-hardened coif makes stylishly effective helmet.

Downside: Can't figure out how to get thigh pads under Armani
suit.

Anthony Edwards, thespian wideout, Arizona Cardinals

Upside: Performance as grace-under-pressure physician on ER
instills confidence in teammates.

Downside: Performance as dork in Revenge of the Nerds instills
confidence in opponents.

James Brown, godfather of offensive tackles, Miami Dolphins

Upside: Energy level makes him hardest-working man in pro biz.

Downside: Sequined lame jumpsuit and matching cape violate NFL
uniform regulations.

Tony Bennett, crooning linebacker, Indianapolis Colts

Upside: Teammates love listening to him sing in shower.

Downside: Teammates hate looking at him sing in shower.

Henry Ford, automaking defensive end, Houston Oilers

Upside: Visionary whose intuition and cleverness make him a
tough opponent.

Downside: Born in 19th century. Is dead.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, skyhooking tailback, Miami Dolphins

Upside: Unparalleled downfield vision.

Downside: Finding uniform that fits.

SUPER STAR

Troy Aikman won't even turn 30 until Nov. 21, but in just seven
NFL seasons he has probably earned himself a bust in Canton.
Hall of Fame voters favor clutch players and winners, and Aikman
has been both so far in his career. His most amazing statistic:
He has been very good in the regular season--the NFL's
seventh-rated quarterback of all time--but better in NFC playoff
games and even better in his three Super Bowls, all Dallas wins.
His career postseason passer rating of 104.3 is second only to
Hall of Famer Bart Starr's 104.8. Aikman looks puzzled when all
this is brought up. "The only thing I can think of," he says,
"is that our whole team is on top of their game a little bit
more in the Super Bowl. But I really can't think of anything
else." We can: Aikman is the best clutch passer of his day,
maybe ever.

Breakdown of Troy Aikman's Career Passing Statistics

Games Att. Comp. Pct. Yds. TDs Int. Rating W-L*

Regular
Season 98 2,713 1,704 62.8 19,607 98 85 83.5 60-38

NFC
Playoff
Games 9 270 183 67.8 2,340 16 8 102.1 8-1

Super
Bowls 3 80 56 70.0 689 5 1 111.9 3-0

* Cowboys' record in games in which Aikman played

HOT LIST

For better or for worse, this is the stuff people will be
talking about this season.

1. A Team Poe-ssessed

Baltimore chose Ravens as its new nickname to honor a deranged,
twisted man who brought our worst nightmares to life. Apparently
calling the team the Modells would have been too obvious.

2. Neil's Deal

The Jets paid $25 million for the guy who lost the Super Bowl.
Would that make Jim Kelly worth $100 million?

3. Nashvillains

They're trying to steal the Oilers and bring football to a town
where they still think a naked bootleg is something that could
land you in the pokey.

4. (Two) Pointless

The two-point conversion has been used once in two years to
decide the outcome of a game. That figures. The last innovation
NFL coaches embraced was Sansabelt slacks.

5. Decision '96

With a quarterback duel between disappointing Heath Shuler and
inconsistent Gus Frerotte, fans in the nation's capital are
hoping for a third-party candidate.

6. Scales of Justice

Deion Sanders was arrested in June for fishing on private
property. He thought incarceration was part of the Cowboys'
off-season conditioning program.

7. Jolly Jaguar
Tom Coughlin, the no-nonsense coach of Jacksonville, has
reportedly lightened up considerably. He's lowered the fine for
heatstroke to $500.

8. Home for the Holidays

You think the Saints will be playing in the Super Bowl in New
Orleans this January? Yeah, and look for a topless Bob Dole to
lead a Mardi Gras parade in February.

9. Rhodes Scholar

Philly's Ray Rhodes, last season's coach of the year, takes
football advice from his Sega-playing daughter. Now we know Mel
Kiper Jr.'s secret.

10. Rated PG (Particularly Greedy)

There's a film in the works that's based on the life of a sports
agent. It's a takeoff on Alien: The characters are hideous
creatures who feed off other life-forms.

MILESTONES

These marks are within reach in 1996:

--If the Bears can put together a 10-win season, they will become
the first team in league history to win 600 regular-season games.

--With 1,000 yards rushing this season, Detroit's Barry Sanders
and Buffalo's Thurman Thomas would become the first players to
reach the 1,000-yard mark in eight consecutive years. They
currently share the record of seven with Eric Dickerson.

--Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith can break Walter Payton's
NFL career record of 110 rushing TDs with 15 more this season
(Smith had 21 in 1994, 25 last year).

--With 18 more catches, Marcus Allen of the Chiefs will become
the league's career reception leader among running backs. His
total is currently second, behind Roger Craig's 566.

--Redskins kicker Eddie Murray can break the NFL record for
consecutive PATs by hitting his first seven attempts. The record
is held by Tommy Davis, who made 228 straight for the 49ers from
1959 to '65. Murray's last miss came on Dec. 11, 1988, when he
was with the Lions.