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Freak buster Searcy gives Jaguars hope against Kearse
Posted: Friday January 21, 2000 12:07 AM
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- One of the few bright spots to emerge from Jacksonville's previous meetings with Tennessee this season was the way right tackle Leon Searcy handled Titans pass rusher Jevon Kearse. An underappreciated rock of a lineman, Searcy held Kearse to nine tackles and a sack in two games. The sack came on a Hail Mary attempt at the end of the first half of the second meeting. It was those types of performances that finally helped Searcy emerge from Tony Boselli's shadow and earn his first Pro Bowl trip in eight productive years in the league. But Searcy isn't one to boast about his success against Kearse, especially with a third meeting coming Sunday in the AFC championship game. Nor will he reveal his secret to stopping Kearse. "I just realize that it's important to stop a guy with that type of talent," Searcy said. "I've been telling everyone that it's like playing Michael Jordan. You concentrate all your effort on stopping Jordan and the rest of the guys make the plays." Unfortunately for Jacksonville, that plan worked almost too well in the last meeting, a 41-14 Titans victory. While Kearse was running into a stone wall, linemen like Jason Fisk and Josh Evans were plugging up run lanes, forcing fumbles and getting sacks of their own. Jaguars center John Wade was at a loss to explain how Searcy could have so much success while the rest of the line struggled. "The only thing it might be is that Leon has been in this league for eight years and Kearse has only been here for one," Wade said. "That's a big difference in experience." Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin seconded that opinion. "Leon is a big powerful guy who has outstanding feet and quickness," Coughlin said. "He is a guy who has enough power to be able to hold off a man of that kind of quickness, power and speed. I think you are fortunate sometimes to control him and we've had some success with that." Early in the week, there were thoughts flying around Nashville that the Titans would try to move Kearse, who finished the season with 14.5 sacks, from left to right end. Such a move would get him away from Searcy and line him up against Ben Coleman, who is playing left tackle for Jacksonville with Boselli injured. Titans coach Jeff Fisher has conceded to no such plans. "Jevon's success this year is because we've avoided the temptation to move him, so we're going to leave him there," Fisher said. "He's going to have to study hard and work hard and play his best game to be a factor in the pass rush this week because of the way Leon's playing." Indeed, this is Searcy's time of year. He came over to Jacksonville from Pittsburgh in 1996 and has not missed the playoffs over his career. But he has only been to one Super Bowl, a trip that resulted in a loss. Finally, he is in the limelight -- the best healthy lineman on the Jagaurs roster, the protector of Mark Brunell's blindside and one of the few who has found a way to stop Kearse. It's all great, Searcy says, as long as it's part of a return trip to the Super Bowl and another chance for a title. "I am not on cloud nine about what I did earlier this season," Searcy said. "That's what I get paid to do. Jevon is going to be a big-time star in this league and it is definitely a day at work. He brings out my best game. I've done well against him, but we have lost."
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