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Law schooled Patriots All-Pro cornerback burned on key Jaguars TD
Posted: Sunday January 03, 1999 06:52 PM
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Ty Law raced up the left side of the field, stride for stride with Jimmy Smith. The All-Pro cornerback simply had to knock the ball down, as he had done so often, to keep the momentum with the Patriots. Smith, though, ran a little farther and made a diving catch in the end zone of Mark Brunell's 37-yard pass. Just like that, the Jaguars, whose 12-0 halftime lead had been cut to 12-10, were back in control. "It's only one play," Law said after Jacksonville's 25-10 wild-card playoff win Sunday. "They say that doesn't win or lose a game, but as far as I'm concerned, that was a turning point." Law led the NFL with nine interceptions, matching the total for his previous three NFL seasons. As unlikely as he was to give the momentum back to the Jaguars, so was backup quarterback Scott Zolak unlikely to take it from them. Zolak completed just 5 of 16 passes for 39 yards in the first half. But in the second half, the substitute for injured Drew Bledsoe led New England to a touchdown and a field goal, completing 11 of 15 passes for 116 yards on those two drives. "We were only down 12-0. This team's pretty good under adversity. I got my rhythm," Zolak said. "We were getting rolling." Amazingly, they were doing it without Bledsoe, who missed his third straight game with a fractured finger, and their top wide receiver, Terry Glenn, who has a broken ankle. And on defense, starting linebackers Ted Johnson and Todd Collins were sidelined. But another of their top players was healthy: Law. And, as he lined up opposite Smith on a first-and-10 play early in the fourth quarter, he didn't expect to get beat. In fact, Miami's Oronde Gadsden was the only receiver to beat him for a touchdown all season. But Brunell had the wind at his back and Law lost the footrace with 12:24 left in the game. "Mark Brunell threw a great ball and Jimmy Smith made a great catch. [Smith] just played the ball longer than I did," Law said. "I just slowed up at the end, because I thought it was an underthrown ball." "He had an extraordinarily, extraordinarily good year," coach Pete Carroll said of Law. "It took a great play to beat a great player." Trailing 19-10, the Patriots still had more than 12 minutes left to get back in the game, but Zolak, starting the first playoff game of his eight-year career, couldn't get the momentum back. Their remaining four possessions ended with Zolak losing the ball on a fumble, an interception and a fourth-down sack, and Tom Tupa punting. "I was bad in the first half, better in the second," Zolak said. "We came back and rallied, but ran out of gas." None of the Patriots, though, would blame the loss on injuries that, at different times in the season, forced 11 opening-day starters to the sidelines. "I'm not even talking about it. It's so obvious," Carroll said. "To see Drew sitting on the sidelines and Teddy [Johnson] over there, there's no words for it. We've been dealing with it." Rarely, though, did they have to deal with Law not coming through. "That one of the first times I've seen Ty get beat all year and Jimmy Smith beat him," linebacker Chris Slade said. "It's not like Jimmy Smith is a scrub." That didn't matter to Law. All he knew is that he didn't do his job and it hurt his team badly. "That's a Pro Bowl guy over there and he made a great catch," Law said. "He ended up with five catches, but that one catch is what everyone is going to remember. I'll shoulder the blame for everything."
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