No Free Passes in This League

The Carolina Panthers, who in the Super Bowl last winter seemed to be an NFL comer, will see if they can avoid an 0-2 start today in Kansas City.

In a 24-14 game that wasn’t that close, they lost the first one Monday night to a Green Bay team that operated most efficiently in one-back formations.

The Panthers had much the best of the statistics but hardly any passing attack. In the Super Bowl last February, new Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme, uncharacteristically, hit on long passes and nearly upset New England.

When Monday night’s game was on the line, Delhomme, throwing to good receivers Steve Smith and Ricky Proehl, hit only a few key throws. His performance was an indication that his coach, John Fox, needs to bring in a good pass-offense coach.

The Packers won convincingly by threatening through the night with a modern two-front attack mounted by passer Brett Favre and runner Ahman Green.

On Green Bay running plays, Favre was always threatening to throw. A statistical result was 119 yards gained rushing in 33 carries by Green, an average of 3.6 yards a run.

On Green Bay passing plays, Green was a constant threat to run. Favre passed for 143 yards on a 15-for-22 night, an average of 6.5 yards a pass and 9.5 yards a completion.

The way Green and Favre interspersed runs with passes -- while their teammates held off Carolina’s blitzers -- added up to a lesson in how to play winning football. To watch the Panthers, though, is to question whether they’re well enough acquainted with pass offense to get the lesson.

One-Back Time

In the NFL, fullbacks are passe. One-back football is here now, and Clinton Portis will be the back on one of the NFL’s new one-back teams, the Washington Redskins, in the attack on the New York Giants today in Giants Stadium.

Portis, undertaking his first run for the Redskins last week, scored from 64 yards out -- on the third play of the game -- heading left, then, at the line of scrimmage, cutting away abruptly to his right.

In Coach Joe Gibbs’ first game back, that was almost all the offense Washington could muster. But in a 16-10 game, it was enough because the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, after Joey Galloway was injured, played without their top three receivers and their top running back, Michael Pittman.

Gibbs brought one-back football to the Redskins in his first Washington tour, 1981-92. In the same era, Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly rode the one-back to four consecutive Super Bowls. But as a power formation, it had been catching on slowly. Then, on opening night, Corey Dillon and Edgerrin James ran wild for the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts in a game New England won, 27-24. It’s a one-back league now.

Fullbacks Useless

The mystery is why any team uses a blocking back. Even if he makes a perfect block, there are two bodies in the ballcarrier’s way, the blocker and the man he’s blocking. Those bodies just make it harder for a runner to slip and slide into the line.

There’s inevitably a small opening somewhere in the line if a fullback isn’t there shutting out the view. And in Week 1, Portis, Dillon, James and Green all squeezed through little gaps for big yards.

With an extra tight end instead of a fullback, there are always two directions in which to run power plays. Alternatively, when a team attacks with one tight end, one back and three wide receivers, an offense can be even more disruptive.

When wide receivers or tight ends replace fullbacks, they provide the offense with more experienced pass catchers than most fullbacks are, and they’re faster.

It has taken too many teams too long to figure this out.

Can Portis Take It?

The Redskins overused their new tailback in the opener. After beginning the day with his 64-yard touchdown, Portis, who stands 5 feet 11 and carries not more than 205 pounds, ran 28 more times and was pounded a lot on most plays. At that rate, he’ll never last the season.

In the NFC East, teams want to run the ball and beat the stuffing out of ballcarriers, and that is Portis’ fate now.

It was also John Riggins’ fate when Gibbs had him in the 1980s, but Riggins, unlike Portis, was a big, tough guy.

Against the Buccaneers, Portis was usually running on first and second down and usually failing to get a first down, meaning that Redskin quarterback Mark Brunell was usually passing on third and four or more. That is Gibbs’ passing down, but Brunell made no big hits.

In fact, after their early touchdown, the Redskins scored only three field goals. Considering that Gibbs is basically an offensive coach, that wasn’t much offense in a game that could well have ended 6-3 (either way) if not for Portis’ dramatic, broken-play touchdown.

There are two principal Redskin problems. First, Gibbs had so much success as a running-play coach in the 1980s that he hasn’t yet moved into what has become a pass-play century. Second, though backup Patrick Ramsey is Washington’s best bet at quarterback, Gibbs thinks he’s immature. During Gibbs’ first tour, a third-year pro passer normally was immature. Not now.

How to Beat Blitzers

The Denver Broncos, under Coach Mike Shanahan, are focusing more heavily than most teams this year on one strategy: defeating blitzers and other pass rushers.

The cliche is that a pass rush is the best pass defense. Yet, when the Kansas City Chiefs rushed Denver quarterback Jake Plummer on Sunday night, they couldn’t get to him often enough. Shanahan protected Plummer by moving him all over the premises. Before unloading, the Bronco quarterback pulled away on rollouts, some long, some short, or on misdirection sprints, often threatening pass when Denver ran the ball the other way.

Because Plummer threw out of the pocket only about 40% of the time and because, on most plays, the Chiefs never knew which way he was headed, their pass rushers could seldom draw a direct bead on him.

New Bronco Star

The Broncos also confused the Kansas City defense with their running game, which on most big plays was based on what they call reach blocking. On reach plays, Denver’s offensive linemen all rolled left or right at the same time, and when the Chiefs shifted with them, Bronco blockers reached some of them in time to open ample gaps for their new little running back, Quentin Griffin.

As Griffin and other Denver ballcarriers sprinted one way, Plummer sprinted the other -- sometimes with the ball, sometimes without -- meaning he and Griffin were confronting the Kansas City defense from two directions at once.

Griffin, who stands 5 feet 7 and weighs less than 200 pounds, gained 156 yards in 23 carries in his first start replacing Portis. Priest Holmes gained 151 in 26 for Kansas City.

Broncos Win Trade

In the big trade of the year -- offensive star Portis to Washington, defensive star Champ Bailey to Denver -- the Broncos appear to have stolen Bailey, their new shut-down cornerback.

Portis isn’t rugged enough to be the every-down back Gibbs wants with the Redskins.

Bailey fills a need nearly every NFL team desperately feels.

Portis, in his Denver career, ran the ball well for Shanahan.

Bailey, however, at both Washington and Denver, has shown the rare ability to single-handedly shut down any NFL wide receiver.

More than that, Bailey, on important occasions, was assigned to a tight end Sunday night and shut down Tony Gonzalez, a Pro Bowl regular who is often called the best tight end in the league. Bailey also played some offense for Denver and would like to play more.

The Broncos seemed stronger than advertised, notably on pass offense and defense. Their best receiver, Rod Smith, is still at the peak of his game, and at the other end, Ashley Lelie finally seemed to be getting it.