Jet Plan Lets Him Air the Difference

Chad Pennington, the New York Jets’ hard-throwing young quarterback, tightened up the steamy Tennessee-Indianapolis divisional race Monday night when he completed all eight of his second-half passes to topple Tennessee, 24-17.

And so, going into the NFL’s top game today at Nashville, the Colts and Titans are locked at 9-3 atop the AFC South. Each had a chance to take over the division lead last weekend, but each lost, the Colts stumbling against New England.

At Giants Stadium, Pennington’s aggressive first-down passing turned back the Titans only because arch-conservative Titan Coach Jeff Fisher kept trying to run the ball with over-the-hill tailback Eddie George.

Not until the Jets had a 14-point lead did Fisher let his superb passer, Steve McNair, open up.

McNair, who had begun the scoring in the first minute with a 59-yard touchdown pass play, showed what else he could have done if Fisher had taken the rest of the night off.

First, McNair, with 12 consecutive pass plays, moved the Titans 73 yards to the Jet three-yard line, where he lost the touchdown only when Fisher sent George back in to buck the ball over, which he couldn’t do.

Then McNair, restricted by an injured leg that kept him from the scrambling that makes him really dangerous, drove Tennessee 50 yards on seven consecutive pass plays to the touchdown that wasn’t enough when an onside kickoff failed.

More of Same

A day earlier, Indianapolis had lost the way Tennessee lost Monday night: by running the ball too much. The Patriots won that one at Indianapolis on quarterback Tom Brady’s aggressive passing, 38-34, in a game demonstrating that they and the St. Louis Rams share three traits in common this season.

The Patriots and Rams both throw some critical interceptions, both keep throwing the ball anyway, and both usually win.

So look for both to ignore turnovers and win again this weekend -- the Patriots over Miami today and the Rams over Cleveland Monday night.

For, at both St. Louis and New England, Coaches Mike Martz and Bill Belichick understand that turnovers are overrated. Consider:

* Last Sunday when Minnesota caught up with the Rams in the second quarter, 17-17 -- after Ram quarterback Marc Bulger’s fifth interception in his most recent six quarters of football -- the Ram offense sailed along anyway, Bulger completing 15 of 20 for 222 yards and an easy 48-17 triumph.

* The same day, at Indianapolis, a 21-point Patriot lead disappeared in the fourth quarter in a flurry of three turnovers as the Colts caught up, 31-31, on Peyton Manning’s three touchdown passes. In the last eight minutes, though, the Colts reverted to their running-play style as Manning kept handing off while Patriot quarterback Brady, disregarding the possibility of more turnovers, kept throwing, and won by four points.

Play Selection Is It

The play-calling was the difference in those final minutes at Indianapolis, ending a struggle that had segued into one of the most competitive and dramatic games of the season. These are the plays that were called:

* With 10:10 remaining, the Patriots, with a first down at the Indianapolis 31, called four consecutive passes and completed three of them -- the last from Brady to 5-foot-9 wide receiver Deion Branch on a fake draw play for the winning touchdown.

* Down 38-34, the Colts, with 40 seconds left and a first down at the New England two-yard line, began with two Edgerrin James runs and followed with a poorly designed and executed third-down pass play before ending the series with another James run to nowhere. No touchdown. No points.

Willie McGinest, the former USC Trojan who on James’ last run lined up as the Patriots’ left outside linebacker, made the winning defensive play. Sneaking along the line of scrimmage, McGinest came in from far outside and, timing his charge exquisitely, stuffed James before the Colt back could get moving.

The Patriots’ four-play defensive sequence on the Colts’ final series is likely to be remembered in Indianapolis as a historic goal-line stand, but it wasn’t that. Rather, considering the Colts’ conservative calls, it was remarkable goal-line folly.

It’s impossible to believe that Manning would have thrown nothing but incompletions if the Colts had come up to first and goal at the two-yard line intending to throw on all four downs -- or, alternatively, to throw twice, run once, and throw again on fourth down. Their great weapon is Manning’s arm, not James’ power.

Schemes Count

Football’s conservatives contend, above all, that schemes don’t win football games, that players do. By schemes they mean strategic plans. A scheme can be a ball-control running-play approach in order to “take time off the clock” and keep the opposing passer off the field. Or it can be, among many other possible approaches, a pass-play plan.

The Colt-Patriot game Sunday was a clear example of scheme against scheme. It wasn’t player against player -- it wasn’t Brady vs. Manning. It was an example of how a team like the Patriots, with the better scheme, outscores a team with the better players. The contrast:

* In the Colts’ offensive scheme, they are telegraphing most of their plays. On early downs, they line up in power formations and run James. On third-down plays, and sometimes on second and long, they line up in a shotgun formation and pass. So defenses meet James with eight-man lines on first down and then shift into pass defenses when, on third down, Manning becomes a shotgun passer. It’s a measure of the excellence of the Colts’ personnel that they’re 9-3 with this goofy scheme.

* In the Patriots’ scheme, when they line up in running-play formations, they pass as often as they run, particularly on first down. And when they line up to pass, they often run -- as they did successfully Sunday at a critical point on third and three. By comparison with Indianapolis, which usually gives James a lead blocker (often the fullback) who thus gives away the play, New England typically benches its fullback. Instead, it deploys an extra receiver, either a second tight end or a third receiver or a running back up on the line as a fourth or fifth receiver.

Against these formations, the Colt defense had to contend, of course, with a Patriot running-play threat Sunday, but it was usually battered with passes as Brady completed 26 of 35.

How They Differ

The difference between Manning and Brady is substantial. And this was a further reason why the high-scoring Colt-Patriot game was memorable. In the end, Manning, who completed 29 passes, had thrown 48 times -- but this was because, as the Colts played catch-up in the second half, his conservative bosses agreed then that he had to throw.

Brady, by contrast, was throwing first to last. His aggressive passing built leads of 10-0 in the first quarter and 24-10 at the half.

If the Colts had let Manning come out passing that way -- while reserving James for, say, part-time work as a second-down counterpuncher -- they would have blown over the outmanned Patriots.

There isn’t a team in the league that could stand up to the Colts if they were passing on first down and other running downs, and, for change of pace, running occasionally on passing downs. Manning and James are that good.

Both differ from NFL counterparts at their positions. For example, James packs more power in his 214 pounds and slips more tackles while barely changing direction than any peer. Forever moving forward, he is the perfect draw-play runner, though he is seldom asked to run draws.

Manning, a brilliant passer, is, without realizing it, a touch clumsy in a passing pocket. He works too hard back there. His feet and hands and even his fingers are always moving. He doesn’t have the same passing motion on every pass. And the problem with such a style is that there are too many things that can go wrong.

Brady, a great athlete, is much smoother. He delivers the ball effortlessly and he’s almost always on target, though his receivers don’t match Manning’s.

Moreover, Brady’s won-lost record is the best in football.

This is a league that’s full of great passers, but Brady, you have to say, is slightly better than Manning and most of the others.

Fumble Argument

An intriguing aspect of the Patriots’ three-turnover explosion at Indianapolis last week is that one of the three misplays was a fumble. In a misguided effort to avoid three consecutive interceptions, the Patriots fumbled the ball anyhow.

There is no reliable data suggesting that in those circumstances, the effort to make a fumble-free run is a safer bet than trying to throw an interception-free pass. When the game is still there to be won by either side, defenses are more alert to the possibility that the ball can be punched out of someone on the offense’s hands.

Coaches keep alive the fiction that a fumble is a terrible mistake, implying that turnovers absolve them of blame for losing.

The truth is, coaches can cure most fumbling problems by teaching their running backs how to hold the ball properly and how to strengthen their arms in the weight room -- and then by following through on their orders. Too often, they simply don’t bother.

Coaches inevitably assert that the number of turnovers is “the most important statistic in football” -- as Seattle’s Mike Holmgren announced just last week.

Fumbles are part of football. They will always be with us, along with kickoffs, long passes, short passes, dropped passes, cheerleaders, sacks, interceptions and everything else that makes football the sport it is.

Ram Pressure

The Rams are still winning their own way in the age of the pass. They win by keeping the pressure constantly on opposing defenses. Ram Coach Martz reasons that he has developed a good pass offense for one reason: to pass the ball

He also pressures defenses with unorthodox plays. Once, while holding a substantial lead, Martz called an on-side kickoff to regain possession and harass the other team with more passes.

To pressure the Vikings last week, Martz, with a 20-17 lead in the second half, called a rarely seen pass play to blow the game open. A double reverse, the slow-developing play ended with a throw from one Ram wide receiver to another, Isaac Bruce to Dane Looker, for 41 yards.

That set up the touchdown that changed the score to 27-17 before Bulger scrambled 12 yards in the third quarter to make it 34-17 en route to the rout.

Ram running back Marshall Faulk, long injured, seemed to have come all the way back with a multiple-touchdown performance that can be reprised in St. Louis’ final four games only if Martz employs him not as a first-down power runner but as receiver and counterpuncher.

Kitna’s Year

The Cincinnati Bengals will discover at Baltimore today whether they can continue to win with Jon Kitna at quarterback. The Ravens, who have joined the Bengals at the top of the AFC North, are notorious for roughing up quarterbacks, usually legally but sometimes any way they can.

Kitna’s revival under a new coach, Marvin Lewis, along with the way Cincinnati has moved up into a contending position this season, has become in many respects the NFL story of the year.

There are legions of critics who thought Cincinnati never could win under any coach and there are legions who thought Kitna never could win anywhere.

Kitna has stuck around, disappointing other coaches, among them Mike Holmgren at Seattle and Dick LeBeau at Cincinnati. But maybe it was they who disappointed him.

A small-college product (from Central Washington), Kitna couldn’t handle Holmgren’s seeming lack of respect nor LeBeau’s seeming disavowals of responsibility.

The more insightful Lewis has handled Kitna just right, showing him what to do, how to do it, how to build up his confidence -- and how to win -- without pressuring him to win or expecting him to win without learning all that.