HALL MARKS RETURN OF SOME SPONTANEITY.

Byline: BILLY WITZ

At its core, the NFL is about order. It is defined by rules so cold that Ravens quarterback Chris Redman, whose team wears white shoes, was fined last year for wearing black high-tops to honor late Baltimore icon Johnny Unitas.

Or so absurd as when Tampa Bay's Simien Rice committed the high crime of landing on a teammate when he jumped to block a field goal, an infraction that sealed the Bucs' loss Monday night to the Indianapolis Colts.

It's these sorts of Kafkaesque precepts that lead one to think - ``Well, duh,'' - when realizing the league is run by lawyers. The No Fun League, indeed.

The only professional group with a better appreciation for the NFL (and the importance of order) is the military. It was long ago that comedian George Carlin noted the common nomenclature: field general, bombs, blitz, etc.

Anyone who has suited up for Pop Warner, let alone listened to a college or NFL coach drone, has heard them implore the importance of all 11 men (even if they're boys) completing their specific task if a play is to be successful.

Receivers such as Jerry Rice are lauded as precise route runners, quarterbacks take drops of exactly three, five or seven steps and linebackers are expected to fill specific gaps between the linemen.

The message? That creativity or intuition by the individual must be subjugated for the good of the team.

All of which makes Dante Hall so extraordinary.

In an environment as rigid as Mel Kiper's coiffure, the Kansas City Chiefs' return man has shown the virtues, not seen often enough in football, of allowing exceptional athletes to let their hair down.

Hall has set an NFL record by returning a kickoff or a punt for a touchdown in each of the past four weeks. Nobody had ever done it in more than back-to-back games, and Hall's four scores already equal the NFL's season record.

His past two returns, a 97-yard kickoff return against Baltimore and a 93-yard punt return against Denver, were fourth-quarter game-winners.

Those are just the facts, though. They hardly describe the brilliance of those two runs - the one against Baltimore after a penalty forced the Ravens to kick again and the second, a Houdini-esque escape from at least five Broncos inside his own 7-yard line.

Hall, despite his lilliputian dimensions (5-foot-8, 187 pounds), has not only played like a giant. He's getting treated like a Giant - one named Barry Bonds.

So, how do you pitch to Hall - aggressively, with care or not at all?

Rather than risk directional kicking - an art made trickier in recent years because the NFL (those rules again) mandates the use of harder kicking balls that are tougher to control - teams are not yet ready to consider simply kicking the ball out of bounds.

The Green Bay Packers, who are ranked No. 1 in punt coverage and No. 3 in kickoff punt coverage, say they'll keep the ball in play with short, high kicks when they play the Chiefs today at Lambeau Field. Then they'll cross their fingers.

``It's definitely kind of scary,'' Packers punter Josh Bidwell said.

UCLA coach Karl Dorrell can empathize. He was on the sidelines last year as a Broncos assistant when Hall returned a kick for a touchdown (among his seven in the past 10 games). And this season, Dorrell watched Oklahoma's Antonio Perkins set an NCAA record by returning three punts for touchdowns against the Bruins.

``I learned the hard way,'' Dorrell said. ``You plan to do things, but it's not easy. We weren't going to kick to (Perkins) and unfortunately we did.

``It's hard to prepare for. In any football scheme, there's so much time spent on offense and defense because in a game those units are going to be on the field for 60, 70 or 80 plays compared to maybe 30 for special teams but those can be the difference makers. After the Oklahoma game, we spent about 50 percent more time on special teams.''

As the league hits the one-third mark on its schedule, Hall's impact has been enough to thrust himself into consideration for the league MVP award.

One man who would like to see it is Billy (White Shoes) Johnson, whose jitterbug moves thrilled NFL fans three decades ago as a kick returner for the Houston Oilers and Atlanta Falcons the way Hall is doing it today.

``The way he can change a game, shoot yeah,'' said Johnson, who has been the Falcons' director of player programs for the past 11 years. ``Normally, you have a quarterback or a running back or defensive lineman - somebody playing consistently. But the way he's turned games around, I don't see why not.''

Hall has exploited his quickness, sure hands and creativity in the one area of football where the script can still go out the window - the kicking game.

``It's instinctive,'' said Johnson, a former MVP of the Pro Bowl. ``You have a designed return, but at the same time you have to make adjustments. There's a lot of improvisation going on down there. You don't know where you're going to go half the time. You know where you're supposed to go, but whether you go there or not is a different story.''

For children of the '70s, Johnson - with his white shoes and jelly-legged touchdown dance - was the one kids on the playground aspired to be. And you always looked up from your homework when he dropped back to return a kick.

If Hall, whose aptly contemporary nickname is the Human Joystick, keeps this up he'll do the same for his generation of fans. Namely, showing that a little chaos can go a long, long way.

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

Kansas City's Dante Hall is making opposing coaches spend more time on special teams.

Associated Press

Box:

(1) ON THE GRIDIRON

By Matthew Kredell

(2) HOUSTON AT TENNESSEE

- Daily News wire services