Favre can look at history to know it's time to fold 'em
Acquired for a sixth-round draft pick, Dickerson made his final national TV appearance as a backup in a September 1993 Monday night game against Pittsburgh. Less than a month later, the Falcons traded him to Green Bay where he flunked the physical. Quick question: Any idea whom the Falcons gained in return? Try running back John Stephens. I remember that name about as much as I remember Dickerson taking orders from Jerry Glanville. Few stops were harder on Dickerson than the last one.
Warren Moon
He was good in Houston. He was good in Minnesota. He was OK in Seattle. And he was finished in Kansas City.
Why Moon chose to hang on for two years as a backup with the Chiefs only he knows. I mean, here was a guy who excelled in the CFL and the NFL, and now he's called on to take snaps for the scout team? Give me a break. Life after football can't be that hard to accept. In two years he played in only three games, and that's not how you want to be remembered.
Moon should've left after his second season with the Seahawks when he had 11 TDs and eight interceptions. But pro football is a passion, and it's as hard for some guys to leave it as it is for the city of Philadelphia to start a season without a Donovan McNabb debate. So Moon went from one of the top quarterbacks in the game to holding a clipboard for Elvis Grbac. Fortunately, Moon quit after the 2000 season, but what took so long, Warren?
Bruce Smith
"Mr. Smith Going to Washington" was a great movie and a not-so-great move. Until the former Buffalo star showed up with the Redskins he was a virtual lock for 10 sacks each season -- missing only twice in his previous 14 years; once when he sat out all but five games. Then Smith spent four years with the Redskins, failing to reach double figures in each of his last three years.
In the end, he hung around long enough to set the league's career sack record, and it came with a tackle of Giants quarterback Jesse Palmer in early December 2003. Smith was 40 by then, a backup who had little left -- unless, of course, it was a suggestion to owner Daniel Snyder on how to improve the coaching. Smith didn't enhance his reputation by going to Washington; he enhanced his numbers, and that's OK. I'm all for records. But I know at least one coach who couldn't wait to see him leave, and that's not how you want to be remembered ... is it?
