Reason to smile

Sporting News, The, Jan 13, 2003 by Brian Baldinger

When Tommy Maddox, a first-round NFL draft pick in 1992, decided he was tired of selling insurance and gave the Arena League a whirl, it was a lark. He just felt like playing football. He wasn't thinking about making it back to the NFL, where he had last played in 1995, or anything else. He just figured that anything in football was better than selling term life insurance at 8 o'clock every night.

In the Arena League, teams throw the ball 40 or 50 times a game and the pace is very fast. The ball is gone in less than 2 seconds after the snap, before patterns even develop. The pace forces quarterbacks to set up and pass quickly. Part of Maddox's problem with the Broncos, Rams and Giants was that he held the ball too long. Arena ball speeded up his thought process. It was great training for him.

I broadcasted Maddox's games with the New Jersey Red Dogs in 2000, when he passed for 64 touchdowns and only 15 interceptions. What I remember most is how happy he looked. He had a big smile on his face, just throwing the football and playing the game. I remember the same smile when he moved on to the XFL and won a championship and was named league MVP. I saw him before this season, when he was preparing for his second year as Kordell Stewart's backup, and there was that smile.

If Maddox had never taken a snap this season, he'd still be smiling, just because he's back in football. But you know how much better Maddox's story has become: replacing Stewart in the third game of the season; playing lights out until almost getting paralyzed in a game at Tennessee; coming back three weeks later; guiding the Steelers to the playoffs. Stuff like this just doesn't happen to guys who have been out of football four years.

It does, though, when you play with a carefree spirit, you have talent and you're surrounded by weapons such as Plaxico Burress, Hines Ward and Antwaan Randle El. That's how Maddox worked his latest magic, that furious comeback win over Cleveland on Sunday.

For Maddox all season, it has been like playing with house money. And that's enough to make anybody smile.

Brian Baldinger, an offensive lineman for 12 seasons, can be heard on Sporting News Radio and seen on Fox Sports. Listen online at http://radio.sportingnews.com.