Leon Searcy

ATLANTA -- On Monday, Dick Vermeil threw cold water on the first suggestion that Tennessee Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse was the second coming of Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor. "I don't want to offend anybody," the St. Louis Rams coach said, "but to me there was only one Lawrence Taylor, and you better play a few years before you get put into that category." By yesterday, in his fourth day of Super Bowl interviews, Vermeil was happy to play the media game. "Kearse? He's a curse, no question," Vermeil said in perhaps his best ad-lib of the season.

T Leon Searcy vs. DE Rob BurnettTony Boselli gets the big money and most of the attention at left tackle, but Jacksonville right tackle Leon Searcy fills an equally critical role on the Jaguars' much-respected offensive line.Ravens left defensive end Rob Burnett is not short on respect for Searcy, against whom Burnett has competed since 1993. The way their individual battle plays out today could help determine if the Ravens can beat the Jaguars for the first time in team history.The Burnett-Searcy rivalry goes back to the days of the old Cleveland Browns, who drafted Burnett in the fifth round out of Syracuse in 1990.

Will somebody please nudge the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars, those two giddy newcomers over there in the front row, and get them to straighten up?Didn't anyone tell them that NFL expansion teams are sentenced to five years of angst and aggravation before they are allowed to talk about the playoffs?Don't they know they're obliged to honor the legacy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who lost their first 26 games? Or the Dallas Cowboys, who went winless in their first 12? Or the New Orleans Saints, who couldn't find .500 until their 13th season and didn't make the playoffs until their 21st?