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October 10, 2003

Lynn DeBruin's weekly NFL notebook

From: GoMemphis.com, TN - Oct 10, 2003

NOTES . . .

- Coaches have taken to using their laminated list of plays to cover their mouths when sending in instructions. There is some logic to that. Ernie Accorsi, general manager of the New York Giants, was the assistant GM with the Baltimore Colts in 1977 when the team hired Bob Colbert as an administrative assistant. Colbert was a former head coach at Gallaudet, the leading university for the deaf and hard of hearing, and was a professional lip-reader. "We didn't hire him for that reason, but lip-reading was his expertise," Accorsi said. In the 1977 regular-season finale, a do-or-die game against New England, Colbert trained his binoculars on the Patriots defensive coordinator and saw him mouth the words "double safety blitz." "We got that in to (quarterback) Bert Jones and he hit Raymond Chester down the middle for a 78-yard touchdown," said Accorsi, whose team won the division and got into the playoffs with that victory.

Copyright 2003 - The Commercial Appeal is an E.W. Scripps Company newspaper.