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Something Super CNNSI. com's Kirwan likes special teams
Posted: Saturday January 29, 2000 11:28 PM
Just hours before Super Bowl XXXIV, a game that will determine the true team of destiny in the NFL, the "Music City Miracle" Titans or the come from nowhere St. Louis Rams, both can lay claim to that "destiny" thing. But only one will finally prevail. CNNSI.com's NFL Insider, Pat Kirwan , has some thoughts on which it might be and he says this will be a game that could come down to special teams. He spoke with CNNSI.com's Laura Okmin . Laura Okmin : Alright, lets talk about special teams. We saw how big of a factor they can be in 1997 when Desmond Howard won the Super Bowl MVP honors for the Green Bay Packers. How big of a factor do you think it will be come Sunday? Pat Kirwan : I think this is a huge factor in this game. We're going to get the opportunity to see three of the best returners in the NFL right now. St. Louis will have Tony Horne returning their kickoffs. He's the All-Pro kick returner with a 29-yard average. He's also returned two for touchdowns. He's a big factor in this game as a return guy. He has a very unusual style. Look for him to catch the ball, kind of jog for eight yards, set everyone up in their lanes and then explode into his return. It is hard to defend this guy. When it's time to return punts, Az-zahir Hakim will handle that duty for the Rams. He's also a very dangerous player. He's touched the ball seven times in the last two weeks for 82 yards. He's capable of going all the way for a touchdown. Okmin : Now if we were talking about any other team we'd say the Rams have the clear advantage there. But the Titans on special teams are pretty hot, too.
Kirwan : Very hot. Derrick Mason handles both jobs for them and he should handle both jobs. In the last two weeks, he's touched the ball 15 times for 347 yards. Last week he had and outstanding 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown after a safety against Jacksonville. And more importantly, early in that game last week, after the Jaguars had scored first, created momentum and had the crowd on their side. On the next kickoff, Derrick returns that ball up to midfield and takes the crowd out of the game. Tennessee went on to score off that opportunity. He's a very dangerous player and an MVP could again come from one of these three. Okmin : When it comes to cover men, who's the best we got? Kirwan : Well, Anthony Dorsett for Tennessee was the Pro-Bowl alternate as a returner. But now because of injuries, he's a starter and that's going to hurt him as a special teams player. I'm looking at No. 24 Steve Jackson, who had a big play last week. He got down under a punt that Reggie Barlow couldn't handle, recovered the ball for the Titans and made the football field what we call a "mini-field." And Tennessee was able to capitalize and score off that. I'm looking at Steve Jackson a lot this week. Okmin : Last time there was a week between these conference championship games and the Super Bowl, the game between the Buffalo Bills and the New York Giants came down to a last-second field goal. If that should happen on Sunday, whom do you like? Kirwan : If it comes down to a field goal -- and I think it will because that's how close I think this game will be -- I really like Tennessee's chances. Al del Greco has an 84-percent success rate as a field goal kicker this year. For the Rams, Jeff Wilkins is just a little over 71 percent. He's also nursing a bad knew right now and also he missed a field goal last week and he missed one the first time these two played. If it comes down to a field goal, I like Mr. del Greco. Okmin : If it doesn't and special teams kind of cancel each other out with both teams so good and the intangible becomes coaching, who do you like here between Dick Vermeil and Jeff Fisher? Kirwan : Well, first off both of these coaches were on the hot seat going into this season so touché to them that they got in to the Super Bowl and overcome those things. Here are the two questions I have: St. Louis, if you have the lead, do you have a legitimate running game to hold the lead and eat up a lot of clock? Right now, that is not been answered. A lot of coaches don't feel that is a real running game. It's more of a draw scheme. As it relates to the Tennessee Titans, if you are Jeff Fisher, if you are behind by two touchdowns and it's late, do you have a passing game where the ball can go down the field? Right now I don't see that from them. So the coach that brings that element to the table will be the coach in this game Okmin : Alright. In our next report we're going to put Pat Kirwan on the hot seat and hear who his pick is. And we will also talk to Pat about what these two teams both learned from their last meeting in October.
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