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Tempers wound up as the clock wound down
Williams says official stepped over the line on conduct penalty
By Lee Rasizer And Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News
November 20, 2006
An unnecessary roughness call that punctuated San Diego's final touchdown Sunday night was only worsened by another Denver penalty on cornerback Darrent Williams for unsportsmanlike conduct.
But Williams maintained that while looking for an explanation on the flag on teammate Ian Gold, line judge Byron Boston became combative and even cursed at him, which drew Williams' ire.
Williams' version of events was seconded by safety Nick Ferguson, who said Boston "crossed the line" during the incident.
Williams said he was about to walk away after Gold's penalty was explained when Boston approached him.
"I'm walking over and the other ref came over and said, 'You shut the (bleep) up," he said.
Williams was incredulous, when he said Boston added that he also played football before.
"So I said, 'I don't give a . . . you know what I'm saying? That's when he threw the flag," Williams added. "You tell me you played football? I don't care. What does you playing football have to do with officiating our game?"
Ferguson said he's never seen a similar incident during his seven-year career.
"That wasn't the only initiating thing that happened. But I can't say certain things for risk of being fined by being honest about what happened."
Ferguson said Williams responded to the expletive from Boston by responding, 'Why are you talking to me like that?' "
To which he claimed Boston shot back, 'You guys have been (complaining) all night,' " before adding the comment about himself playing football.
"Obviously, there's rules in this game where if a player says something to a referee then we're fined. We criticize a ref we get fined," Ferguson said. "But you've got to figure we're all men too. And you can only allow yourself to be talked to by someone on the street or someone who's supposed to be officiating a game for so long before you have to say something to them. Respect is a two-way street. You cross that line and say something to me and I say something to you, then I'm wrong? You tell me?"
Williams doesn't believe the league will believe the version of events he and Ferguson are portraying.
"It was all about defending ourselves. He was treating me like some kind of kid."
LAST RETURN: The Broncos had just over a minute for a miracle comeback try, down eight points and with no timeouts, in the fourth quarter. Nate Kaeding kicked off to Cecil Sapp, who inexplicably fielded the ball heading for the end zone and tried to run it back. He tripped and fell at the Denver 2 with 1:10 left.
Sapp said he was going to take the ball out no matter what, "just because we had a minute left and we wanted good field position . . . but the kicker kicked the ball in the right spot at the right time."
Sapp was the seventh player to have the ball in his hands off the tee this season on kickoff returns. His 53-yard runback to the San Diego Chargers' 47-yard-line led to a Jason Elam field goal to open the second half. It was the first return past midfield in a regular-season game for any Denver player on a kickoff since the season-finale in 2003. That's a span of 41 games without a Broncos runback crossing midfield.
But that late mistake, and poor coverage by Denver's kickoff and punt coverage units, killed the Broncos. Michael Turner averaged 36.5 yards on kickoffs, and coach Mike Shanahan promised special teams changes.
"I don't think we did our job because we had breakdowns here and there," Sapp said.
NOT READY: After a week of Shanahan saying Tatum Bell was the starting running back and Bell saying he was ready to play, Bell was inactive for Sunday night's game, the second time over the last three games that turf toe has kept him out of the lineup.
Mike Bell started at running back and finished with 90 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns. Damien Nash, who was on the Broncos practice squad just eight days before Sunday's game, finished with 52 yards on 10 carries and three receptions for 36 yards.
"When your name is called you've got to show up . . . ," Nash said. "That's what you have to do."
UNDER REVIEW: With the Broncos special teams struggling mightily at the moment - the Chargers started six drives outside their own 35-yard line, four outside their own 40-yard line - Shanahan said he didn't know yet if he would use more starters on the team's return and coverage units.
"I don't know what we're going to do, but we're going to have to do something to be more productive," Shanahan said. "
The Broncos' special teams will practice today - the remainder of the team won't have to be on the practice field.
LOW BLOW: San Diego defensive tackle Igor Olshansky was thrown out of the game on Denver's final drive when he hit a Denver offensive lineman Tom Nalen with his fists after a play was blown dead for offsides. San Diego was penalized 15 yards, and Olshansky received a severe scolding by San Diego coach Marty Schottenheimer along the sideline.
"He is a terrific young man, but there is no appropriate action that could create the kind of act that he did," Schottenheimer said. "He recognizes it. He's a young player. The guy apparently cut him low. I don't know. But you can't ever react that way in that situation. You're going to lose, every time."
ETC.:The Chargers are the first team in league history to overcome deficits of at least 17 points in back-to-back weeks . . . The Chargers have also scored 70 points combined in the second half of their last two games . . . With four touchdowns Sunday, LaDainian Tomlinson now has 102 for his career, making him the fastest player to 100 in league history. Tomlinson did it in 89 games, faster the previous record of 93 games held by both Emmitt Smith and Jim Brown . . . Broncos tight end Tony Scheffler was a game-day inactive for the second consecutive week . . . The NFL is expected to announce in the next couple days that the Broncos game against the Seattle Seahawks on Dec. 3 will be moved to prime time as part of the new flex-scheduling option given to NBC for its Sunday night broadcasts. With the Chargers game last night and this Thursday's game at Kansas City also factored into the equation, the Broncos will have three straight night games for the second time this season. They went 3-0 in that previous stretch from Sept. 24-Oct. 15. . . The Broncos wore their blue jersey-blue pants combination for the third time this season after going 2-0 with that look previously.
Brad Byler contributed to this report.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nfl/article/0,2777,DRMN_23918_5157380,00.html
Williams says official stepped over the line on conduct penalty
By Lee Rasizer And Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News
November 20, 2006
An unnecessary roughness call that punctuated San Diego's final touchdown Sunday night was only worsened by another Denver penalty on cornerback Darrent Williams for unsportsmanlike conduct.
But Williams maintained that while looking for an explanation on the flag on teammate Ian Gold, line judge Byron Boston became combative and even cursed at him, which drew Williams' ire.
Williams' version of events was seconded by safety Nick Ferguson, who said Boston "crossed the line" during the incident.
Williams said he was about to walk away after Gold's penalty was explained when Boston approached him.
"I'm walking over and the other ref came over and said, 'You shut the (bleep) up," he said.
Williams was incredulous, when he said Boston added that he also played football before.
"So I said, 'I don't give a . . . you know what I'm saying? That's when he threw the flag," Williams added. "You tell me you played football? I don't care. What does you playing football have to do with officiating our game?"
Ferguson said he's never seen a similar incident during his seven-year career.
"That wasn't the only initiating thing that happened. But I can't say certain things for risk of being fined by being honest about what happened."
Ferguson said Williams responded to the expletive from Boston by responding, 'Why are you talking to me like that?' "
To which he claimed Boston shot back, 'You guys have been (complaining) all night,' " before adding the comment about himself playing football.
"Obviously, there's rules in this game where if a player says something to a referee then we're fined. We criticize a ref we get fined," Ferguson said. "But you've got to figure we're all men too. And you can only allow yourself to be talked to by someone on the street or someone who's supposed to be officiating a game for so long before you have to say something to them. Respect is a two-way street. You cross that line and say something to me and I say something to you, then I'm wrong? You tell me?"
Williams doesn't believe the league will believe the version of events he and Ferguson are portraying.
"It was all about defending ourselves. He was treating me like some kind of kid."
LAST RETURN: The Broncos had just over a minute for a miracle comeback try, down eight points and with no timeouts, in the fourth quarter. Nate Kaeding kicked off to Cecil Sapp, who inexplicably fielded the ball heading for the end zone and tried to run it back. He tripped and fell at the Denver 2 with 1:10 left.
Sapp said he was going to take the ball out no matter what, "just because we had a minute left and we wanted good field position . . . but the kicker kicked the ball in the right spot at the right time."
Sapp was the seventh player to have the ball in his hands off the tee this season on kickoff returns. His 53-yard runback to the San Diego Chargers' 47-yard-line led to a Jason Elam field goal to open the second half. It was the first return past midfield in a regular-season game for any Denver player on a kickoff since the season-finale in 2003. That's a span of 41 games without a Broncos runback crossing midfield.
But that late mistake, and poor coverage by Denver's kickoff and punt coverage units, killed the Broncos. Michael Turner averaged 36.5 yards on kickoffs, and coach Mike Shanahan promised special teams changes.
"I don't think we did our job because we had breakdowns here and there," Sapp said.
NOT READY: After a week of Shanahan saying Tatum Bell was the starting running back and Bell saying he was ready to play, Bell was inactive for Sunday night's game, the second time over the last three games that turf toe has kept him out of the lineup.
Mike Bell started at running back and finished with 90 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns. Damien Nash, who was on the Broncos practice squad just eight days before Sunday's game, finished with 52 yards on 10 carries and three receptions for 36 yards.
"When your name is called you've got to show up . . . ," Nash said. "That's what you have to do."
UNDER REVIEW: With the Broncos special teams struggling mightily at the moment - the Chargers started six drives outside their own 35-yard line, four outside their own 40-yard line - Shanahan said he didn't know yet if he would use more starters on the team's return and coverage units.
"I don't know what we're going to do, but we're going to have to do something to be more productive," Shanahan said. "
The Broncos' special teams will practice today - the remainder of the team won't have to be on the practice field.
LOW BLOW: San Diego defensive tackle Igor Olshansky was thrown out of the game on Denver's final drive when he hit a Denver offensive lineman Tom Nalen with his fists after a play was blown dead for offsides. San Diego was penalized 15 yards, and Olshansky received a severe scolding by San Diego coach Marty Schottenheimer along the sideline.
"He is a terrific young man, but there is no appropriate action that could create the kind of act that he did," Schottenheimer said. "He recognizes it. He's a young player. The guy apparently cut him low. I don't know. But you can't ever react that way in that situation. You're going to lose, every time."
ETC.:The Chargers are the first team in league history to overcome deficits of at least 17 points in back-to-back weeks . . . The Chargers have also scored 70 points combined in the second half of their last two games . . . With four touchdowns Sunday, LaDainian Tomlinson now has 102 for his career, making him the fastest player to 100 in league history. Tomlinson did it in 89 games, faster the previous record of 93 games held by both Emmitt Smith and Jim Brown . . . Broncos tight end Tony Scheffler was a game-day inactive for the second consecutive week . . . The NFL is expected to announce in the next couple days that the Broncos game against the Seattle Seahawks on Dec. 3 will be moved to prime time as part of the new flex-scheduling option given to NBC for its Sunday night broadcasts. With the Chargers game last night and this Thursday's game at Kansas City also factored into the equation, the Broncos will have three straight night games for the second time this season. They went 3-0 in that previous stretch from Sept. 24-Oct. 15. . . The Broncos wore their blue jersey-blue pants combination for the third time this season after going 2-0 with that look previously.
Brad Byler contributed to this report.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nfl/article/0,2777,DRMN_23918_5157380,00.html