McGinnis helps Cards to big upset

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Posted: Tuesday January 05, 1999 11:20 AM

Our first postseason unsung coach is Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Dave McGinnis, whose team went into Dallas and beat the Cowboys, no small feat since they have only beat them once in the past 17 tries and haven't won a playoff game since 1947.

Most NFL people felt the Cardinals had some offensive weapons, but the defensive effort was not anticipated. Arizona held Dallas to the second-worst offensive output of any wild-card team with 260 total yards. Also, the Cards held the Cowboys to 96 yards rushing, not bad from the team ranked 21st in opponents' rushing yards per game playing Dallas, which was 7th in rush yards per game.

The most impressive area for McGinnis' defense was in their pass coverage, they gave up 3.1 yards per pass attempt best of all the wild card defenses. Arizona was the 17th-ranked defense coming into the game in this catagory playing the 5th-ranked offense.

Kudos also go out to Miami Dolphins offensive line coach Larry Beightol. The Dolphins have claimed all year that they are going to be a running team, but with many offensive linemen injured and lacking the services of a big power back to fit into the power zone run scheme, they've had a tough time meeting that goal.

Beightol is known to teach so well, so this season has been frustrating. But on Saturday, he had most of his linemen healthy, and the Dolphins -- last in the NFL in average gain per rush and the 24th in rushing yards per game -- did a fine job against a Bills defense ranked 5th in opponents rushing yardage. Miami rushed for 124 yards, a touchdown and a 2-point conversion, and on a third-and-3 late in the game Karim Abdul-Jabbar ran 18 yards to set up the TD that secured the game. As a pass-blocking unit, Beightol's linemen only gave up one sack in 34 pass attempts.

I couldn't believe the 49ers signed defensive end Charles Haley out of two years of retirement just before Sunday's game. Can Ronnie Lott be far behind? With their defensive line beat up with injuries, the Niners signed Haley and sent him out into a playoff game. He had two assists, one pass defensed and made Brett Favre throw an interception. Now he moves on to play the Falcons, where it's possible he may rush 44-year-old Steve DeBerg. Just imagine Reggie White showing up in 2002 putting on his pads and getting 2 sacks in the Super Bowl. Why not?

A few reserve defensive linemen filled in for key injured players this weekend and came through in the NFL's single-elimination tournament -- in Jacksonville, Eric Curry helped fill the void left by injuries to Jeff Lageman, Don Davey and Renaldo Wynn; in Arizona, Rashod Swinger filled in admirably for Eric Swann; and in Miami, young Kenny Mixon stepped in for Jason Taylor, who was lost for the season last week.

 

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