Trips To Super Bowl At Stake
The NFL's final four are set to square off Sunday in Jacksonville and St. Louis.
In the first game of the day the Tennessee Titans travel to the Sunshine State hoping to post their third win this season over the Jaguars.
That would be no small feat. It is difficult enough to beat a team three times in a season, but the Titans also have to deal with the fact that the home team is 26-13 (.667) in AFC Championship games.
One key for the Titans is getting RB Eddie George over the 100-yard mark for the game. George has topped 100 yards in both of Tennessee's playoff victories and the Titans are 7-0 this season when he runs past the century mark.
Playing at home may be one of the Jaguars biggest advantages. Jacksonville is 32-10 all-time at ALLTEL Stadium under head coach Tom Coughlin, including 2-0 in the playoffs.
The second game of the day finds the Tampa Bay Buccaneers heading to St. Louis to face the Rams in what appears on the surface to be a classic showdown of a suffocating defense (Bucs) vs. a powerful offense (Rams).
Tampa Bay led the NFC in six defensive categories including points allowed, yards allowed, fewest touchdowns allowed and red zone defense. Ironically, the Rams offense led the NFC in each of those categories.
Lost in all this is the fact that the Rams led the NFC in several defensive categories as well. St. Louis had the NFC's stingiest rush defense, recorded the most sacks and picked off the most passes.
What this game may ultimately boil down to is which young quarterback handles the pressure of the big game best. Shaun King and Kurt Warner have a combined 23 games of NFL experience. No other quarterbacking duo facing off in a conference championship game has had so few games of experience under their belts.
The only time these franchises had faced one another in an NFC title game (the Rams were still in Los Angeles), two relatively inexperienced QBs, Doug Williams and Vince Ferragamo, squared off. They had a combined 46 games of experience, which had been the fewest prior to this game.
Here's a look at more notables in Sunday's matchups:
Tennessee at Jacksonville
ALLTEL Stadium, Jacksonville, Fla. - 12:35 p.m. EST
 AP |
"I don't think we'll get any respect until we win the Super Bowl," says Leon Searcy, the Jags' offensive right tackle.
There's something to that. The Jaguars and the Titans come from two of the NFL's smallest markets and don't exactly carry the tradition and cachet of, say, Broncos vs. Dolphins.
But how can they not be legitimate? Jacksonville is 15-2, Tennessee is 15-3.
The Titans And Jaguars Meet Sunday.(SportsLine) RealAudio |
That's because this was a wacky season.
The Jags had a first-place schedule that included such teams as the 49ers, Falcons, Jets and Broncos. But all of those teams plummeted to the bottom. So Jacksonville played only one team that finished over .500 Tennessee, to which it lost twice.
Beyond that, as a fifth-year team, it has yet to develop a national following even though it's made the playoffs four straight seasons and was in the conference title game its second year.
One reason is that it's bordered on all sides by teams with more tradition Atlanta to the north, Tampa Bay and Miami to the south
this was prime Dolphins' territory before the Jags began play in 1995.
The Titans, the former Houston Oilers, went 8-8 each of the past three seasons, playing "home" games in three cities Houston, Memphis and Nashville, where they played at Vanderbilt's stadium. When they finally got their own stadium this year, Adelphia Coliseum, it was the first time in four seasons they had a crowd behind them.
"It's finally our time," says safety Marcus Robertson, one of the nine players left from the franchise's last playoff team the 1993 Houston Oilers.
Who are these guys?
A pretty good sprinkling of well-known players, obscured perhas by the small markets.
The Titans are led by 17-year veteran Bruce Matthews, who has played every position on the offensive line. He's going to his 12th Pro Bowl and this season set an NFL record for most games played by an offensive lineman, a mark that currently stands at 264.
Beyond Matthews, there's Eddie George, the 1995 Heisman Trophy winner and quarterback Steve McNair, the third overall pick in the 1995 draft.
And beyond them is a solid nucleus that includes cornerback Samari Rolle and right tackle Jon Runyan, two emerging stars. And, of course, defensive end Jevon Kearse, the defensive rookie of the year, who set a rookie record with 14.5 sacks.
Jacksonville's best known player, left tackle Tony Boselli, will not play because of knee surgery. Quarterback Mark Brunell had an off season, throwing only 14 touchdown passes, and running back Fred Taylor, who was supposed to be a 2,000-yard rusher in his second year, was bothered by hamstring injuries most of the season.
And while Smith and Keenan McCardell are one of the best receiving tandems in the NFL, they've been overshadowed by the likes of Cris Carter and Randy Moss in Minnesota, San Francisco's trio of Jerry Rice, Terrell Owens and J.J. Stokes and even Keyshawn Johnson and Wayne Chrebet in New York.
Still, whichever team makes it to the Super Bowl will get the glory it thinks it deserves.
"I think it's great. The Dallases, the Green Bays, the Denvers are out," Robertson says. "It's a great time for us to step up."
Tampa Bay at St. Louis
Trans World Dome, St. Louis - 4:15 p.m. EST
 AP |
Whichever team gets its way Sunday will wind up in the Super Bowl.
Don't expect something in between, either. The Rams need the quick strikes when they have the ball and takeaways when they don't. The Bucs need to slow the pace on offense, then force the Rams to do the same thing when Tampa is on defense.
It provides for a classic contrast in styles that will determine the NFC championship.
The Buccaneers And Rams Do Battle Sunday. (SportsLine) RealAudio |
"Defenses have the tendency to want to make things happen. It's third-and-5 and they want to force something, and they line up tight and they get burned. If you make a first down against us, we just line up again. We always want to remain sound. We will take our chances on the next set of downs."
The philosophy is the same when the Bucs have the ball. They like to pound away with All-Pro fullback Mike Alstott, throw short passes to the wideouts and tailback Warrick Dunn, and keep the clock moving. Never will that be more essential than Sunday.
If the Rams get into a fast-break mode, the Bucs don't have the ammunition to combat it.
"We'll go into the game with the same approach," said quarterback Kurt Warner, the NFL Most Valuable Player this season. "Every game, we have to attack the different things the defense is trying to do.
St. Louis Quarterback Kurt Warner On His Game. Courtesy CBS Affiliate KMOV."We've hit a lot of short passes in some games if they don't give us the deep stuff. We adjust, and we still make the plays. We'd love to have the big plays, but the Bucs' defense is not one that gives up big plays."
What the Bucs defense does so well is get offenses off balance. It didn't let Washington establish a running game with NFC rushing leader Stephen Davis last week. It has the speed to negate NFL Offensive Player of the Year Marshall Faulk out of the backfield, whether it's linebacker Derrick Brooks or one of the backs guarding him.
"We have to be fundamentally sound and disciplined and keep the ball in front of us," said Warren Sapp, the league's Defensive Player of the Year. "They pride themselves on the big play. We shut down their running game, and then they turn into a one-dimensional team."
St. Louis Running Back Marshall Faulk Talks About Facing Buccaneers Defense. Courtesy CBS Affiliate KMOV.Not quite. Even if the Rams are forced to throw, they are so explosive especially at home, where they are 9-0 and have so much depth they can win that way.
Against Minnesota, Warner came out hot, including a 77-yard strike to Isaac Holt and a 41-yard screen pass TD to Faulk in the first quarter. Of course, Minnesota doesn't have a defense to match the Bucs and is not equipped to halt big plays.
Tampa Bay has enough speed and savvy on defense to match up well enough with the Rams. But can the Bucs or anyone else shut down this wide-open, sometimes wild attack for an extended period?
"We have great explosion, guys who make plays and make the other guys say, `Hey, I want to contribute, too,"' Warner said. "And those guys feel they can make the plays, too."
St. Louis also has had its share of huge plays on defense. It returned seven interceptions for touchdowns and tied for the league lead with 57 sacks. All-Pro end Kevin Carter led the NFL with 17.
"It is an addiction," Carter said of sacks, but he could have been speaking of any kind of game-turning play. "The rush and the feeling of accomplishment in doing what you are trained to do, helping your teammates win games. It's such an addictiobecause it is an achievement. Just like winning is an addiction."