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Sun shines on Florida Saturday games take spotlight in divisional playoffs
Posted: Friday January 14, 2000 07:47 PM
The Sunshine State takes the spotlight for the divisional playoffs this weekend, with both Saturday games being hosted in the state of Florida, and three of the four teams involved in Saturday's two games coming from the state. Looking back to last weekend for a second, I think the shocker in the Miami Dolphins' first-round upset of the Seattle Seahawks is that a lot of people had already written off Dan Marino yet again. Every time you try to put dirt on Marino's coffin, he kicks it off, pulls the stake out of his heart and just keeps on going. Everyone has been talking about the running game and defense keying the upset win in Seattle, but Marino led Miami on an 85-yard drive for the go-ahead touchdown, and 84 of those yards were on his right arm. To win the game, the Dolphins still turned to Marino in crunch time. Against Jacksonville, the Dolphins want to run the ball 35 times, and stay in the game into the second half. That way they could possibly get into another situation where Marino can try to win it for them late in the game like he did last week. Jacksonville will likely take a page out of Miami's game plan to counteract the numerous injuries that it has on offense. Brunell is hurt, the offensive tackles are both hurt, so look for the Jaguars to try to hammer the ball at Miami and then let their defense try to come up with the big play. Dolphins defensive end Trace Armstrong could be a big factor working on Brunell's blindside against banged-up right tackled Leon Searcy, but Jacksonville still has enough to get the job done. Miami will run press coverage with its corner on the outside against Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell, but the Jaguars can counteract that by getting quick outside releases, and using darting crossing routes that even the best press coverage cornerbacks find hard to stay with in man-to-man coverage. I like Jacksonville at home in a close, low-scoring game. So much value is being placed on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defense being the deciding factor in Saturday's NFC divisional game, but there is one big element working against them. That would be the Oakland Raiders' 45-0 thrashing of Tampa Bay on Dec. 19 at Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland. If I'm Norv Turner, I would pull out those tapes and run a similar scheme to what the Raiders used against the Bucs, because Washington's personnel is similar to the Raiders'. On defense, I see a resurgence of the Washington team since Bill Arnsparger joined the staff as a consultant midway through the season. I just don't see Tampa Bay scoring a lot of points in this game. The two defenses should cancel each other out, and with Washington's superior firepower on offense, I like the Redskins in an upset. On Sunday in St. Louis, the two hottest offenses will face off in a game that may be the complete opposite of Saturday's low-scoring game in Tampa. Both the Vikings and Rams play a wide-open style, have incredible receiving talents, great running backs, and skilled quarterbacks, so what will make the difference? St. Louis' defense has better playmaking ability, with leading sackman Kevin Carter and veteran cornerback Todd Lyght both capable of stepping up to make big plays. Jeff George has a history of being cavalier in the pocket, and he carries the ball low when he senses trouble. I think the Rams could exploit this tendency, and if the ball comes out, St. Louis could get an easy score. I think that the Rams' offense has an advantage with their incredible depth at wide receiver, as even third and fourth receivers Az-zahir Hakim and Ricky Proehl can make big plays. But I expect rookie wideout Torry Holt to come up with a big play, since the Vikings can't afford to double up on Isaac Bruce, or pay too much special attention to Marshall Faulk out of the backfield because of the depth at receiver. I think this game could turn into a shootout, but I like the Rams winning it pretty convincingly. I think that the two dome teams win on Sunday, with St. Louis taking care of Minnesota convincingly, and Indianapolis ending the Titans' season before a raucous crowd at the RCA Dome. Ron Meyer, a former NFL head coach, is a pro football analyst with CNN/SI and appears weekly on CNN's NFL Preview. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.
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