Can't anybody around here run?
Paul Zimmerman has covered the
NFL for Sports Illustrated since 1979. His exclusive online
column appears each
Friday.
Posted: Fri September 26,
1997
Terrell Davis' 50-yard touchdown run last Sunday broke the
Broncos-Bengals game apart in the fourth quarter and sent
him on the way to his career 215-yard day. I wanted to see
what really happened on the play so
I ran the tape back a few times. This is
what I
saw:
It was third-and-four, which I guess in today's NFL would
be called a passing down, even though Davis had already
punished the Bengals severely. So Cincinnati was in its
nickel alignment, which meant that its run-defense
instincts went out the window.
The play went off tackle, left. John Copeland, the right
defensive end, a sturdy enough character at 280 pounds, was
playing it soft, in a rush technique, and Tony Jones, the
left tackle, rode him downfield and threw him on his back.
Andre Collins, the
nickel linebacker outside Copeland, took an upfield rush—no
one even had to block him—and got
just close enough to Davis to wave goodbye.
For some strange reason, Reinard Wilson, the Bengals' 1997
No. 1 draft pick, normally a rush linebacker, plays right
defensive tackle in this alignment. On this play he did a
wide looping stunt to his left, leaving a gaping hole which
I assume should
have been filled in some manner by the left defensive tackle,
313-pound Dan (Big Daddy) Wilkinson. But Wilkinson had
worries of his own. Tom Nalen, a very tenacious 286-pound
center, had latched onto Wilkinson in what was supposed to
be a double-team
block. But Nalen didn't need any help: He nullified Big Daddy by
himself.
But what made things even worse for Cincinnati was the fact
that Wilson and Copeland were so far out of the play that
they fouled up the second stratum of defense, the nickel
back and strong safety. At that point the only person left
to deal with Davis
was free safety Greg Myers. About the only thing Myers could
do was to dive at—and
miss—Davis.
I ran this thing again and again, and I still couldn't
believe what I had seen. This was the famous zone blitz
that Dick LeBeau had come over from Pittsburgh to install?
So unsound, so cockamamie. Our high school coach, former
Giants guard Charley
Avedisian, would have smacked us in the head if we used technique
like the Bengals did. Even in a base defense situation
(second-and-four) later in the quarter, I saw defenders
rushing themselves out of position. This allowed Davis to
break a 34-yarder to set
up the field goal that put the game
away.
So, I have to ask, where are the running attacks to punish
this kind of defense?
Pound it,
bury it,
grind it into submission. Throw just enough to keep people from
loading up. The problem is that the old drive-blocking
skill is almost a lost art. Offensive linemen have gotten
too big. They have trouble getting down low and rooting
people out, as we were
taught in the old days, before the telephone and the
automobile. The running game today? is what one old line
coach used to call "mushing," or what Frank Kush
termed "belly-bumping." But even that can be
effective at times,
if you've got an Emmitt Smith or a Barry Sanders tucking in
behind those monsters. Still, I feel that a more
streamlined, athletic line—pulling, trapping,
drive-blocking—would be even
better.
Why do offensive tackles have to be so big? They're
blocking 275- to 280-pound defensive ends on base downs and
usually sleek rush specialists in passing situations. The
thinking, I guess, is that you have to build a wall in
front of the quarterback
with the biggest slabs of concrete you can
find.
The Broncos have a small offensive line, with four of the
five guys under 300 pounds. It's the best in the business.
Their linemen get after people and ride them in the
direction they're going, and Davis cuts back and finds the
creases. The Redskins run
well behind bigger guys, but Norv Turner, along with the
Oilers' Jeff Fisher, is one of the few coaches devoted to
the ground game. Washington runs the lead play with a guard
or second tight end pulling, and Terry Allen hugs the guy's
shoulder and then
makes his break. Very effective. Tennessee has the smallest
center in the business, the agile, 269-pound Mark
Stepnoski, who sets up the traps and counters that help get
Eddie George get all that yardage. Pittsburgh, another good
running team, does
likewise with its Pro Bowl player in the middle, Dermontti
Dawson. So you see, here and there you can find teams that
at least try to get some sort of a running game going. I
just wish there were more of
them.
O.K., enough of this Johnny-one-note. I guess you've
figured out by now that I love the running game. However,
even I'm not blind enough to ignore the fact that you must
have a high level pass-catch operation as well. Otherwise,
defenses will just cram
eight men into the box and stuff your ground attack cold, as
San Francisco did to Atlanta last weekend. But still, if
you run the ball well, and teach it in camp, and draft the
people to make it go, as Bill Parcells once did before he
drafted Drew
Bledsoe, you've got a real
edge.
Which brings us to this week's action, and forgive me,
please, if I don't confine my handicapping strictly to
which team runs better. Too many other variables,
naturally.
The Giants to kill New
Orleans, which doesn't figure, since the Saints are coming off the
Mike Ditka Memorial Victory and New York is still
struggling to find an offense. The Giants will win it with
defense, and the defense Dave Brown and the boys will face
is nothing like the St.
Louis outfit that punished them so severely last
week.
Late Sunday night
I had predicted a Bengals home victory over the
Jets. That was before I saw the tape of Cincinnati-Denver. Yes,
I'm switching. Adrian Murrell will run for 100-plus as New
York springs an
upset.
Washington over
Jacksonville, my preseason AFC Super Bowl pick. This is assuming that
Gus Frerotte has gotten things straightened out over the
bye week. Granted, Mark Brunell was magnificent Monday
night, but I was surprised at the Jaguars' inability to run
the ball. Just another
case of an offensive line that's simply too big and too
immobile.
Philly to upset
Minnesota in the dome. Eagles offensive coordinator Jon Gruden will
have a lot of fun with the vacated zone defense that gave
Brett Favre five touchdowns last week.
Finally
San Francisco, riding the revenge theme, to beat the
Panthers in
Carolina, but—and it's a big but—I'm not sure Steve Young will
make it through this one. That sounds heartless, I know,
but Vic Fangio's whole defensive scheme will be to attack
the tackles, as the Bucs, the Rams, the Saints and the
Falcons all did with great success.
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