NEWS
By RICK MAESE | December 28, 2008
Fifty years ago, an undersized defensive back named Andy Nelson climbed into a car alongside a 25-year-old, fresh-faced quarterback. Was it a Pontiac? A Chevrolet? Tricky thing about time: Just as easily as it can help shape a legacy, it can fade a memory. Nelson and his friend drove together to Memorial Stadium, where they would catch a bus to the airport, where they would board a plane for New York, where they would make history just a couple of days later. If there were only a way to get into his head.
NEWS
By Mike Klingaman | October 2, 2008
Milt Davis knew how to read people - both on and off the football field. As an All-Pro defensive back for the Baltimore Colts, he outfoxed receivers, twice led the NFL in interceptions and helped the club win two world championships. As a pro scout, Davis judged prospects with the best. But it was his touch with everyday folks that will be remembered most, those who knew him said. "When you did your goodbyes with Milt on the phone, the last thing he'd say was 'Be noble,'" said Ernie Accorsi, former Colts general manager.
NEWS
By BILL ORDINE | April 25, 2008
Tomorrow's draft will mark the 25th anniversary of what, in my opinion, was the greatest NFL draft of all time - except in a few places, notably in Baltimore. Many football fans recall the 1983 first round as the The Great Quarterback Draft - the one that produced John Elway, Dan Marino and Jim Kelly, Hall of Famers all. Three other quarterbacks were selected in that first round - Ken O'Brien, Todd Blackledge and Tony Eason - and even among that lesser group, O'Brien was a Pro Bowl selection and Eason took a team to the Super Bowl.
NEWS
By Mike Klingaman | January 6, 2008
He is the Barack Obama of football, a fresh-faced comer whose rapid rise has put him smack in the crosshairs of Baltimore's coaching search. Three years after retiring as a player, is Jason Garrett ready to run the Ravens? Those who know the Dallas Cowboys' offensive coordinator say he is. Garrett, a Princeton graduate, has the smarts, the savvy, the winning smile. He knows when to teach - and when to learn. He is, they say, the brain without the Brian. See the clipboard in his hand?
NEWS
By RICK MAESE | October 5, 2007
This summer, for the first time in decades, Ernie Accorsi didn't have to worry about training camp. He didn't have to worry about the NFL draft, the salary cap, the combine or the depth chart either. With a little extra time on his hands, the newly retired Accorsi hopped into his car and hit the road for a 4,200-mile tour of the Midwest. He visited Commerce, Okla., to see where the Mick grew up. He saw the Field of Dreams diamond in Iowa. And caught a Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field.
NEWS
By Ken Murray | April 25, 2004
Twenty-one years after he lost John Elway, Ernie Accorsi found Eli Manning. The New York Giants can only hope the two quarterbacks deserve to be linked in the same sentence one day. Accorsi, the Giants' general manager, acquired Manning yesterday after a calculated gamble and some nifty maneuvering in the first round of the NFL draft. Unable to agree on terms of a trade with San Diego before the draft, Accorsi had to watch the Chargers take the Mississippi quarterback with the first pick.
NEWS
By KEN MURRAY | November 23, 2003
Ernie Accorsi remembers the ill will created in 1977 when Baltimore Colts wide receiver Roger Carr stayed out of camp until the week before the season started. "Players were anonymously sniping at him," said Accorsi, the New York Giants general manager who worked for the Colts back then. "We had a chance to win. We had won two straight division titles. We put him in the game [at Seattle] and his touchdown put the game away. "He caught a bomb from Bert Jones. I think there were 45 guys hugging him on the field.
NEWS
By THE NEW YORK TIMES | January 5, 2003
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - If hurt has to look like something, it may look the way Kerry Collins did after Super Bowl XXXV. Ernie Accorsi, the New York Giants' general manager, approaches Collins in the locker room and sees his face. What do you say to a quarterback who throws four interceptions in the biggest game of his life? Accorsi pats Collins on the back and beckons Collins' agent into the room, circumventing rules, figuring Collins needs someone to talk to. Wellington Mara, the Giants' co-owner, walks over to Collins to console him. "We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you," Mara says.
NEWS
By Jon Morgan | October 20, 2002
It was simultaneously endearing and appalling, this idea of requiring a potential mate to pass a test of football trivia as a condition of matrimony. The concept forms a climactic scene in the movie Diner, when a character solemnly submits his fiancee to a rigorous exam on Baltimore Colts history. The bit delightfully conveyed the struggle between maturity and immaturity that is the crux of the film. It is one of the most memorable scenes in the movie, which was released 20 years ago and made pop culture heroes out of a clique of Forest Park High School grads upon whom the film was loosely based.
NEWS
By Jon Morgan | January 12, 2002
If the Ravens should stumble in the playoffs, they will have someone to blame besides the quarterback for failing to win back-to-back championships: Bert Bell. It was Bell, then the owner of a woeful Philadelphia Eagles club, who in 1935 suggested the radical idea of a reverse-order draft. To strengthen weak franchises, the last-place team would pick college players first and the first-place team last. The scheme devised by Bell, who went on to be NFL commissioner, became a first for a professional sports league.