Sunday, January 16, 2000
Colts, Titans bury 'em by the sack
Kearse, Bratzke two of NFL's best
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
INDIANAPOLIS — The theme of the weekend is offense. The NFL's four playoff games are located in green houses cultivated for points with two in Florida and two in domes. Which means the pass rushers are the only thing standing between their teams and a season dying under an avalanche of scoring.
Especially here in the RCA Dome, where two of the AFC's premier sackers line up today at defensive end in the Titans' Jevon Kearse and the Colts' Chad Bratzke.
Advantage, Bratzke.
Even though the frightening 6-foot-4, 270-pound Kearse sped to a rookie record 141/2 sacks while punching out 10 fumbles, he's going into Bratzke's house. And that means the noise from 56,127 savoring this city's first NFL playoff game gives Bratzke the edge in his bid to sack Tennessee quarterback Steve McNair.
Just ask Rod Jones, the Bengals left tackle who faced both during the season on their own turf. Bratzke got to quarterback Akili Smith twice. Kearse, who flips sides but stays mainly over the right tackle, had his only two-sack road game in the 24-14 win at Cincinnati.
All of Bratzke's 12 sacks came here in the dome, where noise forces opposing offenses to go to a silent count that puts offensive tackles at a huge disadvantage.
All but Kearse's 51/2 sacks came at Tennessee's Adelphia Coliseum, rapidly replacing Mile High Stadium and The Kingdome as the NFL's loudest venues.
“You can never play the man straight up,” Jones said. “You have to get a little tighter to the ball and plus, you're looking out of the corner of your eye to see when the ball is snapped. You can never offset him.”
Jones' advice to the Colts is to run back Edgerrin James at Kearse, but he knows that won't be easy. Kearse is the only finesse player on a defensive line that's allowed one 100-yard rushing game all season, an even 100 by Baltimore's Priest Holmes.
“They have a very active front seven,” said Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. “(We) are going to try to get Edgerrin established, get the running game going. We are a play-action passing team, but at the same time, we can drop back and throw it as well.”
But Manning doesn't throw it nearly as well when he's just dropping back. Ask cornerbacks from Roosevelt Blackmon to Deion Sanders how they've been suckered by Manning's Pro Bowl fake into the Pro Bowl belly of James and turned wide receiver Marvin Harrison into a Pro Bowler.
The Titans' 4-6 Bear defense, which features the aggressive blitzing of strong safety Blaine Bishop appears to be a bad matchup against the Colts. It leaves one-on-one coverage against Harrison, and if Bishop comes up to the line on the run, there's no one to prevent James from breaking a long run if he gets past Bishop with one move.
“But they can come back and play very sound, basic coverages as well,” said former Bengals coach Sam Wyche, a CBS-TV analyst.
Manning's quick release has helped a mediocre offensive line allow a league-low 14 sacks. But tight end Ken Dilger admitted he may have to be kept out of some pass patterns in order to help right tackle Adam Meadows deal with Kearse.
While Kearse has been stopping opposing quarterbacks, Titans head coach Jeff Fisher is the guy who stopped his own quarterback last week in the “Adelphia Miracle,” win over Buffalo. McNair threw just 24 passes for 76 yards and his longest attempt was 15 yards.
Fisher thinks he can win with defense. But two weeks ago, McNair riddled Jacksonville for 291 yards and five touchdown passes.
“He's pretty unique from the quarterbacks we've played,” Bratzke said. “There are a lot of quarterbacks who are scramblers, but he's probably the only one that's a scrambling quarterback but also is as strong as a running back.”
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