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Posted: Wednesday September 29, 1999 12:02 PM

Hooked Up  

The Colts' young Manning-Harrison duo showed signs of greatness against San Diego

By Peter King

Harrison burned the Chargers for 13 catches and 196 receiving yards, both career bests. Peter Read Miller

"Hey," Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison said to quarterback Peyton Manning last Saturday night, "we got the signal, right?" "Got it," Manning said. Then the two men made a funky hand signal, like the kind a kid makes to gain entry to his secret tree house club. This was at the Colts' hotel in San Diego, and the NFL's hottest couple was making sure everything was in order for the following day's game against the Chargers: If on Indianapolis's first play from scrimmage Manning saw standard four-across coverage in the secondary, with cornerback Terrance Shaw man-to-man on Harrison, Manning would give his wideout the hand signal, and instead of running a quick curl, Harrison would get outside Shaw and run a go pattern.

That's precisely the coverage that Manning saw. He waggled his hand. Harrison ran the go. Manning threw a perfect rainbow. The completion went for 46 yards, and the best passing day in Colts history was under way. Despite getting popped after almost all his 54 pass attempts by a San Diego defense that ranked first in the league in '98, Manning threw for a club-record 404 yards, bettering the mark of 401 set by John Unitas in 1967 against the Falcons. Harrison finished with 13 catches for 196 yards, both career bests, including a 33-yard touchdown reception. Indianapolis rallied from a 19-10 third-quarter deficit to win 27-19.

While many fans and much of the media have been preoccupied with the collapse of league powers in the season's opening weeks, the Colts have been quietly building one of the league's most exciting new aerial connections. In fact, Manning, Harrison, running back Edgerrin James, wideouts E.G. Green and Jerome Pathon, and tight end Ken Dilger are arguably the best set of young skill-position players in the game.

Through Week 3 Manning and Harrison had connected 28 times for 422 yards and six touchdowns. Most impressive was the pair's Week 2 torching of one of the league's best cornerbacks, Ty Law of the Patriots. A month after signing a seven-year, $50 million contract extension, Law was burned by Manning and Harrison for three first-half touchdowns.

"We have been rewarded for our work," the 6-foot, 180-pound Harrison said after Sunday's game. Indianapolis coaches like him because he's not selfish and doesn't make much of statistics he has piled up in losses. "When Peyton and I were together in our off-season program for 10 weeks, we always did extra things," Harrison says. "The scramble drill, a lot of patterns, getting our timing down. It's gotten to the point where he looks at me a certain way, and I know the ball's coming."

Adds Manning, "Marvin and I have a bond, a feel that's hard to describe. We go to dinner. We hang around. We spend extra time on the practice field. Even when Marvin's the second or third read, I know I can count on him to be open. The best thing about Marvin is if an 18-yard route is called, I know he's going to go precisely 18 yards. He knows when he gets 15 yards downfield that I'm itching to throw, or I might be struggling back there. The ball's going to be in the air before he turns, and he knows that. Even when a play breaks down, we each know what the other's doing."

Perfect example: In the first quarter on Sunday, three Chargers flushed Manning from the pocket. Harrison saw what was going on and knew he had to get open. "Most times when we'd practice in the off-season, there'd be a break and I'd say, 'O.K., Marvin, scramble drill,'" Manning says. "While the other guys were resting, Marvin and I would run a couple of those plays, where the pocket breaks down and I throw to him on the run." On Sunday that play netted 10 yards and a first down, putting the Colts in position to score their first points, a 35-yard Mike Vanderjagt field goal.

Taken by Indianapolis with the 19th pick in the 1996 draft, Harrison says he came out of Syracuse wanting to prove he was better than the three wideouts selected ahead of him (Keyshawn Johnson, Terry Glenn and Eddie Kennison). "It's something that motivates me every day," Harrison says. "I'm still not getting the respect I deserve around the league, but I'm lucky to have such a good quarterback to help me and the rest of this team accomplish great things."

Every day, it seems, people around the Colts see more to like about Manning. On Sunday it wasn't just the 404 passing yards or the 12-yard scramble he made for the go-ahead score; it was also playing with poise and brilliance down the stretch after having been pummeled repeatedly. On the clinching touchdown drive -- with Indy up 20-19 but facing a third-and-seven from its 45 with 4:30 to go -- Manning threw a 13-yard completion to Pathon, the third wideout. The pass was so low that players and coaches on the San Diego sideline began motioning that the ball hadn't been caught, and Chargers coaches in the press box began looking at the replay on their TVs to determine whether they should challenge the call.

Manning got sandwiched on the play and never saw how it ended. Yet he was immediately up and sprinting to the line of scrimmage, calling a play with no huddle. "All I heard was the crowd booing and the Chargers yelling it was incomplete," he said. "So I knew they might call for a replay. If it got overturned, that would have been deadly for us because we would have had to punt, and they would have had plenty of time to drive for the winning field goal or touchdown. So I yelled for our guys to get to the line. I just yelled, 'Run the draw! Run the draw!' We ran a quick count, and I handed it to Edgerrin before they could stop the game for a replay call." Four plays later Manning threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to wideout Terrence Wilkins, and the Colts had an eight-point cushion.

Dressing by his locker after the game, Manning was honored to be mentioned in the same sentence as Unitas, but he preferred to talk about his sidekick Harrison. He recounted the scramble play once more and why making something happen on the run is so vital to the success of a quarterback and receiver. Then he turned to a reporter and said, "Like Montana to Clark, you know?"

We know. Soon everyone else will know about Manning to Harrison, too.

Falcons' Woes Mount:  
Last Season Looks Like a Mirage

The Falcons, 0-3 after a 35-7 loss to the Rams, are looking more and more like one-year wonders. Quarterback Chris Chandler is as fragile as bone china, and superback Jamal Anderson is out for the season after injuring his right knee. Almost as disconcerting to Atlanta fans is that the team doesn't have a first-round draft pick in 2000. That went to the Ravens so that the Falcons could select tight end Reggie Kelly in the second round of the '99 draft.

Atlanta might look back on the trade to draft Kelly, a backup who has yet to catch a pass this season, as a monumental mistake. When healthy, Chandler has been among the league's most productive quarterbacks, but he has been plagued throughout his 12-year career by injuries, and on Sunday he aggravated a hamstring injury he sustained in the opener. Backups Tony Graziani and Danny Kanell don't appear to be the answer, meaning that if the first-round pick turns out to be a high one, the Falcons could have blown a shot at a franchise quarterback such as Purdue's Drew Brees or Louisville's Chris Redman.

On top of all that, there's grumbling in the locker room. Players are peeved at coach Dan Reeves for suggesting that Anderson's injury might be traced to a training-camp holdout. Anderson didn't report until Aug. 11 and suffered the injury during a Sept. 20 game against the Cowboys. Some defensive players have also quietly questioned whether the club has its priorities in order when it comes to signing players to long-term deals. Defensive-line chemistry was disturbed in mid-September when tackle Travis Hall, who had three years left on his contract, was handed a seven-year, $52.5 million extension while end Lester Archambeau, the club's '98 sack leader, who is in the final year of his contract, waits for an offer.

The Falcons have two sacks in three games, and on Sunday former Arena League quarterback Kurt Warner passed for four touchdowns and ran for another score. "I told the guys in the huddle that they couldn't stop us," Warner said afterward. "I felt like I was back in Arena Football." Ouch.

Panthers Running Game:  
Biakabutuka's The Man

Before Sunday, Panthers running back Tshimanga Biakabutuka, the eighth pick in the 1996 draft, who had been hampered by injuries, could have been labeled a bust. Then he rushed for a career-high 132 yards on eight carries in a 27-3 rout of the Bengals, breaking off touchdown runs of 62 and 67 yards. Still, coach George Seifert plans to continue rotating his backs. He says he'll play Biakabutuka in the first and third quarters against the Redskins on Sunday, with Fred Lane playing the second and fourth. Seifert believes that the two are comparable in ability and that alternating them keeps them fresh.

The Panthers are in the express lane to nowhere. But Biakabutuka, who was averaging a robust 6.6 yards a carry even before his big day, has clearly passed the marginal Lane. When every yard is so precious for Carolina, it's ridiculous that the team's most potent offensive weapon isn't on the field for every snap.

Biakabutuka isn't pressing the issue yet. "The object is to win games, not be a superhero," he says.

Dispatches:  
Frustration Grows for Moss

Last week Vikings coaches worked with Randall Cunningham on quickening his delivery -- perhaps to head off complaints from wideout Randy Moss. Those close to Moss say he is getting miffed about Minnesota's lack of a deep-passing game. Cunningham has underthrown Moss often this season, and in Sunday's 23-20 loss to the Packers, Moss had little impact, catching two passes for 13 yards and a touchdown....

The Rams made a great hire when they lured quarterbacks coach Mike Martz from the Redskins and made him offensive coordinator. Martz attacks defenses more aggressively than predecessors Mike White and Jerry Rhome, he had quarterback Kurt Warner well prepared to take over after the season-ending injury to Trent Green in August, and he formed a tight bond with oft-injured wideout Isaac Bruce. After the Rams improved to 2-0 with the win over the Falcons, coach Dick Vermeil gave Martz a game ball....

Sources close to the process say that of the 30 or so prospective buyers of the Jets, Cablevision chairman Charles Dolan (beaten out by Al Lerner for ownership of the Browns) and Arizona real estate magnate Sam Grossman (who lost the Redskins to Daniel Snyder) will probably duke it out....

Early Rookie of the Year ballot: 1. Redskins cornerback Champ Bailey. "As good as [quarterback] Brad Johnson's been on offense, that's how good Champ's been on defense," says Washington coach Norv Turner. 2. Colts running back Edgerrin James. Might be the best back to enter the league since Terrell Davis in 1995. 3. Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse. He sped around Browns right tackle Orlando Brown for three sacks in Week 2 and had seven tackles against the Jaguars on Sunday.

The End Zone:  
Another Sapp In the Making

On the locker of Bucs defensive tackle and early NFL sack co-leader Warren Sapp is a sonogram image of Sapp's expected son, due March 8, 2000. Written underneath: NEW QB KILLER.

The Buzz  

1. Identity Crisis Entering the season it seemed that Treadmills would have been a more appropriate new name for the Tennessee franchise than Titans. After all, when known as the Oilers, the club had hit nothing but dry holes, finishing 8-8 in each of the past three years and folding whenever the going got tough. But not on Sunday in Jacksonville, where, in a battle of AFC Central unbeatens, the Titans rallied from a 17-7 fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Jaguars 20-19. The 3-0 start was the first for the franchise since 1991.

2. Magic Act You can look at the 2-1 Packers one of two ways: They're lucky they're not 0-3, or they're a gutsy bunch with one of the best clutch players of this era. Bringing his team from behind in the last two minutes for the second time in three weeks, Brett Favre threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to wideout Corey Bradford on fourth-and-one with 12 seconds left to stun the Vikings 23-20.

3. Look Who's Back Deion Sanders is scheduled to resume his dual role of cornerback-punt returner for the Cowboys on Sunday, when Dallas plays host to the Cardinals. Sanders has been idle for five months following surgery on his left big toe.

Issue date: October 4, 1999

 

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