|
Jan. 30, 2000 By Mark Alesia SportsLine Senior Writer |
ATLANTA -- He was a Super Bowl Most Valuable Player waiting to happen, the
man most responsible for Tennessee's comeback.
But like the rest of the Titans, when the confetti started flying, he had to watch the St. Louis Rams celebrate a 23-16 victory in Super Bowl XXXIV.
"It was one hell of a ride," George said. "From Buffalo, to winning at Indianapolis, to beating Jacksonville three times, to getting here. It was one hell of a ride. It will always be special to me. We just fell short. We just didn't make enough plays to win it. That's just the bottom line."
George had touchdown runs of 1 and 2 yards, the last of which cut the Rams' lead to 16-13 with 7:21 remaining.
But early in the game, he and the Titans struggled. Tennessee had three times as many rushing attempts in the second half as it did in the first. In the first half, quarterback Steve McNair was only 5-of-14 passing for 65 yards, which hardly helped matters for the Titans.
"When they take away your run, they usually leave something open," George said. "But we weren't making plays in the passing game for us to be effective. In the second half, we said we were going to hunker down and run and see what we can do."
Titans coach Jeff Fisher said the team wanted George to become more involved in the second half.
"That is how Eddie has played this year," Fisher said. "Eddie wanted to carry the load, and it appeared for a while he was going to do just that, except we gave up that touchdown. We had a minute, 54 seconds left. We had to put the ball in the air."
For much of the second half, it appeared that the Titans were wearing down the Rams' defense. George seemed to be getting stronger as the game progressed.
"In the first half, we were passing the ball more than we would have liked, but in the second half we tried to take charge and do things the way we wanted to do them," Titans tackle Brad Hopkins said. "We thought it was only a matter of time before they were broken."
George liked the Titans' chances of pulling out the game in overtime.
"I was counting on it," he said.
 | |
| Titans RB Eddie George pushes his way past Rams DT Jeff Zgonina for the TD.(AP) |
But the game ended on Kevin Dyson's reception one yard short of the end zone.
Much was made going into the game about George finally being recognized as one of the league's elite running backs. Everything about him was explored, including his military school background and his mother's decision to send him there. People know him better now. They know him as a Pro Bowl back who came up big in the Super Bowl.
"I'm going to take the best out of this," George said. "I am not going to be down. This is something I am going to build off of."
It might not even be his last Super Bowl.
"We'll be back," George said. "Maybe we'll be back next year."