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Turning it around Titans' Evans finally makes some noise of his own
Posted: Sunday January 23, 2000 09:26 PM
By John Donovan, CNNSI.com JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Josh Evans has spent this season as a quiet understudy to a rookie star. The relationship is simple: Jevon Kearse gets all the attention. Evans gets to leave early. But Sunday, after his critical sack for a safety in the Tennessee Titans' 33-14 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Championship, Evans wasn't going anywhere. There was just too much to talk about, too much to relive. "After Derrick [Mason] scored his TD, I realized it was the momentum-swinger," Evans said of the third-quarter play. "After that, it was like dogs tasting blood." The dogs, evidently, were the Tennessee defense. And the dogmeat, it seems, were the Jaguars, who were nipped by the Titans for the fourth straight time. On the Titans' second possession of the second half, Tennessee tight end Frank Wycheck fumbled the ball on the Jacksonville 1. The Jaguars took over, and running back Fred Taylor lost a half-yard on first down. Quarterback Mark Brunell dropped back to pass but Evans, coming off the left side of the defensive front, beat Leon Searcy, then fell to his knees while grabbing hold of Brunell. Tackle Jason Fisk helped out on the sack, getting Brunell high and accounting for the safety. "I was so excited, I almost overran him," Evans said of Brunell. "But my big man, Fisk, was there to clean him up." Mason then returned the ensuing free kick 80 yards for a touchdown, and the Titans suddenly led by 12 points. Evans, a fifth-year player out of Alabama-Birmingham, was largely overlooked on the Tennessee defensive line this season because of Kearse, who set a rookie sack record and was named to the Pro Bowl. It's not a big deal for Evans, who had 3.5 sacks to Kearse's 14.5. "Jevon deserves everything he gets," Evans said. "He makes me a better player. I don't worry about getting [noticed]. When teams turn on the film, I know they know I'm coming."
One goofy teamWhen Tennessee general manager Floyd Reese talked earlier this season about the Titans being one "goofy" team, this is exactly what he meant. Goofy in the way that teams never know how the Titans will beat them. Sunday, they did it with Evans' sack (defense), Mason's return (special teams) and 91 yards worth of scrambling from quarterback Steve McNair (offense). That, as coaches are fond of saying, is all three phases of the game. Mason, especially, has been very good this postseason. He had 174 yards on four kickoff returns, counting his 80-yarder, and his 44-yard return in the first quarter set up Tennessee's first touchdown. He's averaging better than 39 yards a kickoff return in the Titans' three postseason wins. "The guys on the kickoff coverage unit did an excellent job blocking for me," said Mason, who froze Jacksonville's Jason Craft with one move, then just outran everybody to the end zone. "As soon as I made the move and made one man miss, I knew I was gone."
Welcome backThe Titans headed back home to Nashville after the game, where they expected to greet a faithful throng at Adelphia Coliseum. Many players and coaches credited the Titans fans for aiding in their win last weekend in the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. Several hundred Titans fans were among the Alltel Stadium record crowd of 75,206 Sunday. They ringed the walls around the field Sunday, and many of the players charged up to greet them. "I guess there [were] about five or six thousand people here despite the fact there were only 2,000 tickets available," Wycheck said. "They have been there for us all season, and they really stepped up in the playoffs." The team will fly into Atlanta on Monday.
The bottom linesWhen they meet the St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl, the Titans again will be playing a team they've already beaten this season. They knocked off St. Louis 24-21 at Adelphia on Oct. 31, holding the Rams scoreless in the first half and using three first-quarter touchdowns of their own to secure the win ... Guard Bruce Matthews, in his first Super Bowl after 17 seasons in the league: "It's like, 'Why didn't I do this a few more times?'" ... The Titans lost two key starters to injuries, both of whom are expected to miss the Super Bowl. Wide receiver Yancey Thigpen broke his right foot, and safety Marcus Robertson broke his left ankle.
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