homegame

Patriots' Immediate Future

By common consent and the memories of an awestruck young boy and teenager, Jim Brown was the greatest running back of all time-probably the greatest player at any position.

In his nine year career with his Cleveland namesakes, Brown played for only one NFL champion. He only appeared in three title games, in an era when only the two conference champions made the post-season.

In other words, the single most awesome weapon pro football has ever known was not enough to carry his team past the other top teams of his era. The Browns were always contenders, but eight times out of nine, they came up short.

Later on in history, we come to another interesting fact. Only two men have both won the NFL rushing title and gone on to be on the Super Bowl champion, Terrell Davis for the '98 Broncos, and Emmitt Smith for all three of the Cowboys' titles in the '90s. What do you suppose those clubs had that Browns' Browns didn't? Don't all speak at once. Everyone knows the answer is Hall of Fame quarterbacks John Elway and Troy Aikman.

To my youthful sorrow, I saw Sam Huff and the Giants' defense of the '50s and '60s thwart Brown in big game after big game, and learned a primal football truth. Any top-shelf defense can bottle up one running back no matter how great he may be. It's simply a matter of committing enough resources to the task. Unless the 10 other guys on the runner's team, specifically the quarterback, receivers, and whoever's calling the plays, to make the defense pay for its choice. Until Frank Ryan had a career day in the 1964 title game, no Browns quarterback could.

One of the worst NFL rushing defenses in HISTORY committed all its resources to stopping one of the two best backs in the league last Saturday. Neither Trent Green nor Herm Edwards could make the Colts pay, and the Chiefs are history themselves.

LaDainian Tomlinson is the nonpariel back of our era. Philip Rivers is, well, who knows, really? More significantly, throughout his long and distinguished career, there has been no more devout believer in the error-avoidance, safety-first approach to football than Chargers' coach Marty Schottenheimer. It's won his teams a lot of games. It's why January is Marty's least favorite month of the year.

Does that mean your correspondent is ready to blithely pick the Pats over San Diego on Sunday. Not quite. At kickoff, however, the burden of proof will be on the home team, not the visitors.

posted by Michael Gee @ 9:10 AM