BALTIMORE -- He was the other running back in the game, the player with too many hits on his body that could not longer pound inside as he once did. They said Eddie George had supposedly had his heart taken away from him, courtesy of too many shots by Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, rendering him the NFL's version of the Tin Man.
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| Eddie George takes all the punishment the Ravens can dish out.(AP) |
The Titans beat the Ravens 20-17 Saturday in an AFC wild-card game when Gary Anderson nailed a 46-yard field goal with 29 seconds left, much to the dismay of the 69,452 at M & T Bank Stadium, but this game really was decided by two other things.
One was George's ability to run on the vaunted Baltimore defense, despite dislocating his shoulder in the second quarter. The other was the Titans shutting down the Ravens running, which means Lewis.
George ran for 88 yards on 25 tough carries, often ending those runs with violent collisions with Ray Lewis. The Titans, meanwhile, limited Jamal Lewis to 35 yards on 14 carries; not too bad considering he just concluded a 2,000-yard rushing season.
"It shows you what playoff football is all about," said Titans coach Jeff Fisher, whose team broke a five-game losing streak to the Ravens and will play either Kansas City or New England next week. "You have to be able to run it and stop the run."
This was the Titans, circa 1999. That year George's running carried them to the Super Bowl. But in the years since, the Titans have become quarterback Steve McNair's team. They are now more of a pass-first team, and McNair was named co-MVP because of it this season, although the way he played against the Ravens might inspire this little ditty: Co must go.
McNair was intercepted three times, never got in a groove, and made running the ball a high priority.
That meant George had to step up. But after eight years of 300-plus carries, this didn't appear to be the same Eddie George. He looked slowed to the hole most of 2003, leading to talk that he was on his way out.
But you don't question a player's heart. Not with a playoff game in the balance. Maybe Ray Lewis made a major mistake in questioning George's heart. There's one thing we know about George: He will play hard and tough, no matter what the circumstances.
"He is a warrior," said Fisher.
"Eddie is the ultimate competitor," said Titans tight end Frank Wycheck. "I'm sure he took it as a big-time challenge. All that talk about how Ray Lewis stole Eddie's heart was all a bunch of crap. He was focused as well. He knew it was going to be an epic battle today."
When it was over, George ran to the locker room repeating over and over again loudly these two words: Now what? He later said he directed those at Ravens fans who didn't treat him too kindly as he left the field, but it appeared to be more a shot at any media member or players named Lewis who had doubted him.
George said the Ravens' slighting of him did not make it personal, but playing with a dislocated shoulder sure made it look that way. George dislocated the shoulder while tackling safety Ed Reed after he intercepted a McNair pass.
"I was real nervous for a minute," George said. "I didn't know exactly what happened. I was trying to get it back in while I was on the ground, but it was still dislocated."
George had the shoulder popped back in, then had it X-rayed, and once it was determined there were no bone chips or strained ligaments, he put it in a harness and returned for the second half, gaining 44 of his 88 yards.
The personal battle he had with Ray Lewis, who was magnificent in defeat with 17 tackles, was worth any ticket price. The two, who are friends, spent the day pounding on each other, their violent thuds resonating on the field.
"It's like two trains colliding in the night," said Wycheck. "Those are big-time collisions."
After one Lewis necktie tackle, the two jumped up and got in each other's faces, their gums flapping.
"I asked him if he had a great New Year," George laughed.
"It was just competitive, jumping up and screaming like everybody does," said Lewis. "It ain't nothing. Eddie is going to fight. I'm going to fight. It's always a competitive rivalry between me and Eddie. It turned out to be another classic again today. Yeah, I like Eddie. I hang out with him in the offseason. Now on the field, I don't. In between those lines, no, I don't like Eddie."
The Titans defensive players don't think too highly of Lewis. They think his pregame dancing routine is a bit much.
"It's good if he wants to be the backup dancer for Jay-Z or something," said Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth. "But this is football. Just play football."
Those Titans defensive players also felt they were being disrespected because nobody was giving them a chance to stop Lewis, the NFL's leading rusher this year. They finished the season ranked first in run defense, having shut down three of the top big backs they faced this season, yet nobody thought they could slow Lewis. That irritated them.
Playing much of the time with eight-man fronts, they essentially dared the Ravens to beat them through the air. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz also made sure his players stayed put on the backside, limiting those cutback runs Lewis uses so successfully. They were not about to let Lewis beat them, and the results were a career-low in rushing yards for the Pro Bowl runner. The Baltimore offense scored just one touchdown, the team's other score coming on a 56-yard interception return for a touchdown by Ravens safety Will Demps.
"Just because he was a 2,000-yard rusher does not mean he was going to run on us," said Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck. "Man, did people forget we were first in the league against the run?"
One of the Titans' best allies was Baltimore offensive tackle Orlando Brown. He was hit with two personal-foul penalties, the last with 3:01 left in the game that helped the Titans with better field position on the drive to the game-winning field goal. Brown, who was on the field for the first time with official Jeff Triplette since he was hit in the eye with a flag thrown by Triplette in 1999, twice was called for late hits on Jevon Kearse.
Brown was awarded an undisclosed monetary settlement by the league after he was partially blinded by the flag, but it hasn't helped curtail his hothead ways.
"I thought I was a hothead," said Haynesworth. "That guy is bad."
The 15 yards proved to be just enough as Anderson's winning field goal just cleared the cross bar.
"You always get the last man," Brown said. "I should have grabbed myself. They always get the last man."
This was a day of redemption for the Titans. They ended their losing streak to the Ravens, and also saw their veteran running back put to rest the fears that he no longer could put the running game on his shoulders.
It's becoming more and more apparent that rookie Chris Brown will be the Titans' starting back next year as he displays far more pop in the hole. But the playoffs call for veteran players to step up, players like George who have been there before.
Despite severe pain in his busted-up shoulder, the old horse still proved he could carry the wagon. It might not be for an entire season, but these playoffs may be his time to take over again. "We've come up on the short end five times and I was going to put everything I had in me today, not for it to happen a sixth time," George said.
It was everything and then some. Those who say he no longer has the heart are woefully mistaken. He may not have the same pop he once had, but George showed Ray Lewis and the rest of the Ravens defense that the talk of his career being over is premature for now.
The Titans are moving on to the next round, and they can thank an old familiar face for being able to do so.
