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Unflappable Former pancake king Pace making defensive ends vanish
Posted: Thursday January 20, 2000 09:23 PM
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Orlando Pace performed his usual act of domination in the St. Louis Rams' playoff victory over the Minnesota Vikings. He made another defensive end irrelevant. It had to be a frustrating day for Chris Doleman, trying to get past the mammoth offensive tackle. Doleman finished with a blank statistics sheet -- no tackles, no assists. "Anytime the person I'm mainly concerned about guarding doesn't have any stats, I'm always happy," Pace said Thursday. "I'm real comfortable with the scheme and I'm real happy with the way I've played this year." Charley Armey, the team's director of player personnel, graded Pace's performance as nearly perfect -- 98 percent. "He can dominate anybody he wants to dominate," Armey said. "The big man doesn't say much, but he doesn't miss much, either." Out of respect for Doleman, coach Dick Vermeil backed off just a bit on the usual superlatives. "I don't want to embarrass anybody," Vermeil said. "He did super." The Rams have come to expect this from the first overall pick of the 1997 draft. St. Louis traded up six spots to get Pace, who is headed for his first Pro Bowl, and has never regretted it. "He is the best tackle I've ever seen," said tight end Roland Williams. "He makes it look effortless, doing it time and time and time and time and time and time again. "To see him swat people who are desperately trying to tackle Kurt Warner and be a hero, that just speaks volumes." Pace was well-known for his pancake blocks at Ohio State. He shed weight after his first season with the Rams and added about 10 pounds of muscle after last season. But that's fine-tuning. The main thing that held him back from a recognition standpoint was the Rams' 9-23 record his first two seasons. The NFC West champions are sending seven players to the Pro Bowl this year after having no representation the previous two. "I can't worry about what other people think about me," Pace said. "I'm confident in my ability and my skills and what I can do on the field." Off the field, Pace is a quiet, soft-spoken giant. Reporters have to lean in close to hear what he has to say, and Pace keeps it bland so that he's not a locker room attraction. He has no intention of trading trash talk with Buccaneers defensive tackle Warren Sapp. Pace doesn't dream of scoring touchdowns, or of lining up in the backfield, ala William "Refrigerator" Perry of the Chicago Bears' Super Bowl championship team. "I'm a pretty private guy, and I just like to go out there and get the job done," Pace said. "I'm not really into all the extra attention." Vermeil said Pace's demeanor is markedly different in the huddle. There, he's transformed into a take-charge player. "He can yell, he can scream, he can get in somebody's face and he can be down and upset when things don't go right," Vermeil said. "There's a fierce competitive spirit." This week's opponent appears to be another mismatch. Buccaneers defensive end Steve White had two sacks and 28 tackles in 13 games. Pace played against White, who went to Tennessee, in college and remembers him as a speed rusher. "He's a guy that's going to give a lot of effort," Pace said. "We just have to block to the whistle. We have to contain all those guys and keep them off Kurt."
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