pakowitz

http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index...7712100510.xml

Sunday March 16, 2003


Jeff Duncan


Kyle Turley was married Saturday in City Park.

Meanwhile, the Saints' hulking left tackle is going through a painful and well-publicized divorce from his employer of the last five years, the New Orleans Saints.

After weeks of silence, Turley finally vented his frustrations during a March 7 radio interview with WWL AM-870's Kaare Johnson. Throughout the 45-minute diatribe, Turley lashed out at the Saints, General Manager Mickey Loomis and even questioned Coach Jim Haslett.

He followed with a similar rant on ESPN Radio's The Dan Patrick Show earlier this week.

A sampling of Turley's invective:

-- On himself: "As a professional, I feel that I am at the top of my game. . . . I've proven myself at every step of this game and at every level. I've played left guard, left tackle, right guard, and I've played it at the caliber that is deserved of the Pro Bowl every year."

-- On Loomis: "What you have, in Mickey Loomis' case, is a bean counter playing general manager. . . . Mickey Loomis does not do a very good job of maintaining a relationship with the players on the team. I really feel, and a lot of players do, that he really doesn't know enough about football to understand what it takes to put together a football team and keep it together."

-- On his relationship with teammates: "It's ridiculous that people even insinuate that my teammates view me as a distraction. The only way that that could have possibly have gotten started is through rumor. There is no merit to that whatsoever. Every one of my teammates would love to have me on their team.

-- On Deuce McAllister: "Deuce is going to be one of the best running backs there ever was in the NFL if he can stay healthy. I'm excited for him and his career. I have the utmost respect for him. I would love to block for him for the next 10 years. But unfortunately, I am not going to have that opportunity."

-- On Aaron Brooks: "As far as I'm concerned, Aaron Brooks is a tremendous quarterback. If his arm comes back healthy, then he will be a great quarterback. I thought his arm actually probably was a little bit hurt toward the end of the season. But that's a coaching decision. Aaron went out there and tried to win games for us. Coach Haslett knew and everybody could kind of see that his arm was not up to what it was at the beginning of the season."

-- On the Saints organization: "It just doesn't seem like this team cares about continuing to keep the players that it needs. . . . Key payers like Joe Johnson, La'Roi Glover, Willie Roaf, Ricky Williams, Chris Naeole, they just seem to be weeded out when it comes to anteing up, and it's unfortunate."

-- On the tumultuous offseason: "They (the Saints) are bad-mouthing me in the media, saying that I'm a distraction. I am nothing but, and for them to say that about me in the media is very damaging to our relationship . . . to the point where . . . it's irreparable. They have shown nothing but a lack of respect and a lack of loyalty."

-- On the future: "I'm really looking forward to moving on, getting somewhere that I can feel really good about, knowing that the owner and the general manager on down to coaching staff really cares about what's going on with their team and their key players. I'm extremely excited about the chance that I have to go out and start over, because it has just snowballed into a bit of a nightmare for me, really."

When contacted Friday, Turley declined to comment further, maintaining a two-year silence on speaking to representatives of this newspaper.

Loomis and Haslett also declined opportunities to respond to Turley's comments.

The harangue no doubt soothed Turley's peace of mind, but it also might have severely damaged his trade prospects.

The NFL is, above all things, a league of control freaks. The last thing owners, general managers and coaches want on their team is a loose cannon firing unsupervised shots, no matter how talented the player.

This week Saints officials said the market for Turley slowed to a trickle. Stay tuned.

ON THE SAINTS BEAT: Coach Jim Haslett spent the weekend with his family in Disney World. The respite was well-deserved. He has spent much of the past two weeks on the scouting trail. Haslett's itinerary: Texas A&M, Miami, Kansas State, Georgia, Tennessee and Clemson. This week he goes to Florida State and Texas. . . .

Tennessee's Jason Witten is at the top of the Saints' wish list at tight end. Haslett attended the Tennessee Pro Day on Wednesday, where Witten (6-5, 256 pounds) ran times of 4.62 and 4.66 in the 40-yard dash. He also bench-pressed 225 pounds 28 times. "Coach Haslett came over to me and said he might like a big ol' country tight end like me," Witten told the Knoxville News-Sentinel. "I told him that would be fine." Witten said the 49ers, the Saints, the Steelers and the Browns are already trying to bring him in for another look. . . .

Wide receiver Donté Stallworth plans to work this offseason with a physical therapist to improve his stretching techniques in order to prevent the hamstring problems that have plagued him in recent seasons. . . .

Wide receiver Kerwin Cook and quarterback Chris Finlen shined for the Barcelona Dragons during an NFL Europe scrimmage against Frankfurt this week in St. Petersburg, Fla. Cook caught three passes for 104 yards, including a 71-yard pass from Finlen, who was 4-of-5 for 83 yards.

AROUND THE NFL: Redskins quarterback Patrick Ramsey was recruited to throw passes to wide receiver Kelly Washington, receiver Leonard Scott and Witten during drills at the Tennessee's Pro Day. Agent Jimmy Sexton of Memphis represents Ramsey, a former Tulane standout, as well as Witten. . . .

One of the eight officials fired this week by the NFL was Bill Spyksma, who ruled that Browns wide receiver Quincy Morgan caught the Hail Mary pass that beat the Jaguars 21-20 this season. . . .

The seven-year, $42 million deal ($6 million average) Peerless Price received in Atlanta makes him the eighth-highest paid receiver in the league, trailing Randy Moss ($9.37 million), Eric Moulds ($6.75 million), David Boston ($6.71 million), Keyshawn Johnson ($6.68 million), Marvin Harrison ($6.0 million), Joey Galloway ($6.0 million) and Isaac Bruce ($6.0 million).

AUDIBLES:

-- "I love quarterback competition. I've seen it bring out the best in the best. I was there when a Hall of Famer was being pushed by a surefire Hall of Famer. In my opinion, there is no one better than Joe Montana, and I personally believe that Joe would not have hit the peak that he hit were it not for the drive created by the competition from Steve Young. So I just see us being blessed, and thank God we have two good guys." -- Browns president and CEO Carmen Policy.

-- "I really don't even want to talk about Cincinnati too much. It's a new day and I'm a Buffalo Bill now. That's all in the past. I can tell you this though, I had a great time in Cincinnati, I had a great five years regardless of what the record shows. I do not regret any time spent in Cincinnati." -- new Bills linebacker Takeo Spikes.