Punt

He was a rebel, a flake, a misfit in a game that demands conformity. He showed up for work with bleached hair, a pierced tongue and a right leg that could whale the tar out of the football. In his two years as the Ravens' punter, Greg Montgomery left a mark on the fans as indelible as the tattoos that still blanket his upper body. He wore earrings and painted his toenails black. He practiced skydiving and vacationed in Iceland. Fit in? Montgomery didn't try. "I don't think of myself as a football player," he once told Sports Illustrated.

ATLANTA -- Sean Starner's tenuous four-week reign as the Maryland punter is most likely over.That means Brooks Barnard, a former Broadneck High star and walk-on, redshirt freshman, probably will take over the punting against Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C., next Saturday.Terps coach Ron Vanderlinden is expected to make the move official in the next couple of days.Vanderlinden stopped defending Starner on Thursday night after he played a major role in the team's demoralizing, late first-half fade in what turned out to be a 49-31 loss to No. 9 Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

There was no shortage of opinions on why the Ravens special teams have looked so sickly throughout the preseason.Corey Harris pointed to the annual parade of rookies, many of whom have little chance to make the final roster, who play on coverage and return units. Tyrell Peters mentioned communication problems and the challenge of learning a new system under a new position coach. Tony Vinson blamed the ills on a lack of focus and discipline.What in the world has happened to that once-respectable group known as the Ravens special teams?

Instead of punting out of trouble, Severn punted into it against Loyola yesterday.After upsetting Mount St. Joseph two weeks ago and not committing a single turnover, the host Admirals (1-1) couldn't get off a punt in the first half, leading to three Loyola scores, a 28-point halftime deficit and a 41-14 loss to the Dons (2-1).Loyola of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference converted three botched punts and a fumble into four touchdowns and added a fifth score before intermission to humble the B Conference Admirals.

COLLEGE PARK -- The 3-1 Maryland football team is looking for someone who can punt the ball at least 40 yards or more, and all interested persons should report to the Terps' practice field immediately."

INDIANAPOLIS -- In a dawning era of quick-fix football, the Indianapolis Colts made the quantum leap from also-ran to playoff contender yesterday.They achieved legitimacy with a searing second-half comeback that riddled the Dallas Cowboys, 34-24, before a raucous RCA Dome sellout crowd of 56,860 and a national TV audience.Down 14 points in the first half, the Colts outscored the Cowboys 31-7 over the final 32 minutes of the game, riding a wave of big plays from their big playmakers -- quarterback Peyton Manning, running back Edgerrin James and wide receiver Marvin Harrison.

It was obvious how much this game meant to both football teams at City and Poly.Not just because it was the 111th meeting in this storied rivalry. For the first time in recent memory, both teams entered the game with losing records, and each was searching for a hint of normalcy on which to end their seasons.Poly got something to hang its helmets on, beating City, 38-20, yesterday at PSINet Stadium, and in the process, the Engineers (5-5) found comfort in knowing they finished the 1999 season at .500.

Saints' return men vs. Ravens' Bennie ThompsonThe New Orleans Saints are the fourth-worst scoring team in the NFL, which means they probably will need excellent field position to make a dent in one of the league's top defenses today.That's where Ravens special teams standout Bennie Thompson comes in.As one of the keys in the Ravens' kickoff and punt coverage units, Thompson will have his sights set on two targets -- kick return man Dino Philyaw and punt returner Eddie Kennison.Philyaw, a third-year player out of Oregon who stands 5 feet 10 and weighs 205 pounds, ranks sixth in the NFC with a 23.7-yard kick return average on 36 kickoffs.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- They entered the game with 16 penalties in their first two games, and the Ravens continued a disturbing trend with seven more against the Jaguars yesterday, at a cost of 54 yards. This time, their special teams produced the day's biggest clunkers.Just after Jacksonville scored the game's first points on a 52-yard run by Fred Taylor midway through the first quarter, Jermaine Lewis appeared to give the Ravens a shot of adrenalin with a 50-yard return to midfield. Bring it back.

Running backs Priest Holmes and Errict Rhett ran hard but weren't a factor because the Ravens got behind so early in the game. Fullback Roosevelt Potts had an average day blocking, and he can do better. -- CQuarterbacksJim Harbaugh tried to make big plays under pressure, but his effort was too late. He needs to be more consistent on his throws and at times showed his rust. Eric Zeier was off the mark on a lot of passes, especially timing routes to Floyd Turner. -- DReceiversJermaine Lewis had a decent game with six catches, but the Ravens should have gotten more out of the physical talent of Michael Jackson in one-on-one matchups with the Green Bay cornerbacks.

When Navy quarterback Ricky Dobbs stepped onto the field with slightly more than two minutes to play and his team facing a three-point deficit against Temple, the fans inside Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium cheered. For as poorly as the Midshipmen had played Saturday afternoon, they still had a chance and they now had the quarterback who led an improbable fourth-quarter comeback against the Owls on this same field almost a year ago to the day. But Dobbs, who did not start and was intended to be the emergency quarterback because of an injured right knee, couldn't spark a stagnant offense with his arm. Navy's final offensive snap ended with Dobbs being sacked and Temple, behind a huge performance by freshman running back Bernard Pierce, held on for a 27-24 victory before an announced crowd of 28,305.

Working its option offense to near perfection, No. 8 Poly moved the ball seemingly at will Friday night against Baltimore City rival Dunbar. In the end, however, it was big plays by the No. 13 Poets that proved the difference in Dunbar's 22-18 win. Despite allowing 438 yards of offense, the Poets used a blocked punt return by Quinton Brown, a 74-yard punt return by Aaron Haynes and a 96-yard run by Nathan Ayers to continually stay one step ahead of...

offense PASSING Com. Att. Yds. TD INT Rat. BENGALS C.Palmer 18 31 271 1 1 84.2 RAVENS Flacco 22 31 186 1 2 70.1 RUSHING Att. Yds. Avg. TD Lg. BENGALS Benson 27 120 4.4 1 28 C.Palmer 5 18 3.6 0 8 Scott 1 3 3.0 0 3 Leonard 1 1 1.0 0 1 RAVENS Rice 14 69 4.9 0 21 Flacco 1 9 9.0 0 9 L.McClain 2 6 3.0 0 5 McGahee 1 -2 -2.0 0 -2 RECEIVING No. Yds. Avg. TD Lg. BENGALS Ochocinco 7 94 13.4 0 21 Henry 3 92 30.7 0 73 Leonard 3 30 10.0 0 10 ...

COLLEGE PARK -- Maryland field-goal kicker Nick Ferrara says he has been punting for years. But the freshman had never started a college game as the punter until Saturday. Ferrara, subbing for the injured Travis Baltz, could hardly have performed better. Ferrara's first punt traveled 61 yards, pinning Clemson at its 4-yard-line. His second punt went 53 yards and was angled toward the sideline so that it could not be returned. That was important because Clemson is among the nation's best teams at returning punts and kicks.

It all happened so fast. Kyle Delahooke was preparing to punt late in the second quarter of Navy's game at Pittsburgh last Saturday night, but the ball slipped out of his hands and fell to the grass. The Navy junior acted quickly - and as it turned out, incorrectly - as the Panthers' Shane Murray, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound linebacker, closed in on him. Delahooke, a former soccer player, kicked the ball off the ground. Delahooke was whistled for an illegal kick. That 15-yard penalty - plus the 8-yard loss on the fumble - gave Pittsburgh the ball at Navy's 15-yard line.

COLLEGE PARK -- Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen seems not to have firmly decided on a punt returner. Friedgen first selected sophomore safety Kenny Tate for Saturday's game. But Tate was replaced in the second quarter by Tony Logan and Anthony Wiseman. Tate seemed tentative on whether to catch a punt early in the game and had fumbled a week ago. Tate returned in the third quarter. He made a good running catch on his second return of the half and drew a 15-yard interference penalty on Middle Tennessee State.

Ravens punter Sam Koch was so focused on the ball that he never saw Jon McGraw coming, never saw where the ball went after it left his foot or who ended up with it in the end zone. But Koch had a pretty good idea none of it was good. "I was very surprised," Koch said after the Ravens escaped their misadventures on special teams Sunday with a 38-24 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. "I think I heard it hit something, and then I didn't know what to do. I didn't know where it went." McGraw not only blocked Koch's second punt of the day early in the second quarter, but he also recovered the ball for a touchdown that gave Kansas City life.

Quarterback B Joe Flacco started out hot, but he cooled down in the second half. The game-winning touchdown pass to Mark Clayton was a beauty, but Flacco also threw high several times, especially in the second half. Running backs A As a unit, all three halfbacks ran hard and were extremely effective. Willis McGahee gave the offense a spark in the second half. Le'Ron McClain should be handling the ball in short-yardage situations. Offensive line A This group started off slowly, especially run-blocking.

The circus used to be the Greatest Show on Earth, but that was years ago, back when you could watch elephants balancing on tiny stools without a PETA demonstration breaking out and a juggling clown on a unicycle was considered quality entertainment. Now the Greatest Show on Earth is an NFL game. Where else can you see such a breathtaking combination of artistry, athleticism, pageantry and raw violence, the kind of paramedics-are-standing-by violence we Americans seem to crave? But does that mean the NFL is perfect?

COLLEGE PARK - - Gary Douglas still has three running backs ahead of him on the Maryland depth chart. He knows there are only so many rushing plays to go around. But Douglas, a redshirt sophomore, got 17 carries during Sunday afternoon's scrimmage, taking advantage of the touches by running for a game-leading 122 yards and impressing the head coach. "He has probably more elusive moves than any running back we have," coach Ralph Friedgen said after the scrimmage at Byrd Stadium. "Where his problem has been is pass protection."