Rushing to victory
Paul Zimmerman has been covering the
NFL for Sports Illustrated since 1979. His exclusive online
column appears each
Thursday.
Posted: Thu, September 11,
1997
Last Sunday, as I sat in the Giants Stadium press box and
watched the Bills' pass rush take the Jets apart, a
personnel man and
I got to talking about pass rushes—and pass
rushers.
"They're the most highly prized commodity in
football," he said. "You'll latch onto anybody
you think might help your rush. A pass-rush specialist can
be an absolute thug, with two or three police appearances
scheduled, but in our meetings you'll hear,
'Oh, he's not such a bad guy.' If it were an offensive
lineman, he'd be on the next plane
out."
 Age doesn't matter, either. The Eagles just picked up
Richard Dent; what is he, 36 now? Jumpy Geathers was 37
this summer and his legs are completely shot, but he still has that forklift move, so the Broncos signed him (Geathers is on injured reserve).
I once asked Bill Walsh what he thought was the key to
football. I expected him to talk about quarterbacks reading
defenses or something like that, but without hesitation Mr.
Offensive Football Genius says, "A pass rush late in
the
game."
But for some reason, teams
still choke and put up that terrible "prevent defense"
when they're trying to sit on a lead. The worst thing about
the prevent, other than the fact that it gives the
quarterback soooo much time, is that it's a passionless
defense manned by people who don't
have confidence in themselves:
O.K., guys, let's get out there and
PREVENT!
You saw it Monday night, when the Raiders went with a pure
three-man-rush, prevent defense (I didn't think
anybody actually used that thing anymore) against the Chiefs. You
know what happened at the
end: Elvis Grbac threw a 33-yard touchdown pass with three
seconds left and ripped the heart out of the
Raiders.
You wanna pick a winner? Pick the team that can rush the
passer over the one that has a problem protecting the
quarterback, particularly if the quarterback isn't exactly
what you'd call
solid.
With that in mind, I'll give you a rather strange upset
prediction:
Baltimore will knock off the
Giants in the Meadowlands. The Ravens can bring it with Rob
Burnett at one end and Michael McCrary at the other. They
move top draft pick Peter Boulware all over the place, and
he'll rush like crazy, too. Jamie Sharper, their other
rookie outside 'backer, is
active. So is the guy in the middle, Ray
Lewis.
The Giants' offensive line? It's an accident waiting to
happen. I think Baltimore will give Dave Brown the full
treatment, and he will have, shall we say,
difficulty handling
it.
Two greenies started at quarterback last weekend, and both
won. Steve Matthews, Jacksonville's third stringer, looked
terrific against the Giants. His last serious action came
for the Scottish Claymores against the Frankfurt
... the, uh, Frankfurt whats? The Frankfurt-Ers? Galaxies?
Monsters? (Never could learn all those World League
nicknames.) Anyway, it was way back in the spring of '96.
Meanwhile, Jim Druckenmiller, the 49ers'
No. 1 draft pick, looked
very shaky against St. Louis, but the Rams couldn't take the
game when the Niners tried to give it to
them.
So why does a guy off the street do fine and a top draft
pick, playing for one of the league's showpiece teams,
struggle? What have we been talking about here?
Can the O-line handle the rush or
not?
The Jaguars handled it just fine. The Niners looked the
same as they did against Tampa Bay: overmatched. They've
brought in bigger guys to help their pass blocking, but
that has just weakened their running game, which has
traditionally relied on
quickness and movement up front. And teams that once bull-rushed
their smaller linemen against the 49ers now run stunts at
the bigger guys, and San Francisco has trouble handling
them.
Steve Young is the announced starter for Sunday's game in
New Orleans, but who knows? If I were the Niners I'd hold
him out for another week, but they never listen to me. I
think the
Niners will beat the
Saints—with or without Young—but if the line
once
again doesn't hold up, and Young gets another head shot
... well, a great career could be
over.
FIVE QUICK
PICKS
Kansas City over
Buffalo The Chiefs, who looked none too solid in Monday night's
win, will beat the Bills, who are coming off a great
defensive performance against the Jets. I'm taking K.C.
only because the game is in Arrowhead, a place that spooked
the Bills even in their
Super Bowl
years.
New England over the
Jets The Patriots, who are positively delirious about this
matchup, will ruin Bill Parcells's return to New England.
Again, take a look at the pass rush versus the O-line: New
England's outside rusher, Chris Slade, is one of the best,
and most underrated,
in the
business.
Green Bay over
Miami The Dolphins were handed a gift victory last week in
Tennessee, thanks to Al Del Greco's missed field goal. I
like Fritz Shurmur's defense better than Dan Marino's
offense, which has lost its punch on the ground and now
relies on short, snappy passes
over the middle. (Hey, can somebody please tell me
why Brett Favre takes so long to get his arm warmed
up?!?)
Eagles to upset the
Cowboys This is a very shaky pick. Once again I went into the
season underrating the Cowboys' defense, which could turn
this game. Sorry, but I'm not sold on Ty Detmer and ...
there he goes
again ... Philly's offensive line. But call this a hunch pick.
If the Cowboys are still feeling the effects of the Arizona
heat, well, they could blow two in a row.
Finally, my favorite team in the NFL:
Tampa Bay to give me three
straight. I've picked them in an upset each week, and this week, I
like them to beat the unbeaten Vikings. Cinderella by the
Bay. They have a swarming defense, Tony Dungy is a terrific
coach, and Trent Dilfer hasn't thrown an interception this
year. Oh, yeah,
let's not forget the Bucs' offensive line, which has offered
Dilfer solid protection from pass rushers. And we know how
important
that
is.
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