By Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
NASHVILLE, TN - JANUARY 10: Cornerback Samari Rolle #22 of the Baltimore Ravens intercepts a pass alongside wide receiver Justin McCareins #19 of the Tennessee Titans in the second quarter during the AFC Divisional Playoff Game on January 10, 2009 at LP Field in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
The thousands of man hours devoted to game-planning for the Baltimore Ravens in these NFL playoffs haven't exactly been the defining illustration of time well spent.
The Miami Dolphins and the Tennessee Titans, proud possessors of some of the best football minds in the industry, brainstormed into development two viable attack blueprints the Ravens instantly snatched into the shredder known as Rex Ryan's defense.
Genius is great, but it gets trumped by fumbles and interceptions every time, and surely Mike Tomlin and his staff have noticed that the Ravens already have knocked the ball loose seven times in these playoffs, recovering three, and passed the time between fumbles by intercepting the ball five times.
"The team that makes the least mistakes will win," Hines Ward explained to a glut of media this week. "The winner is whoever doesn't turn the ball over."
That, of course, is fixed analysis, which has nothing to do with the Ravens, whose 337 takeaways since 1999 are the most in the NFL over the past 10 years, whose 34 takeaways topped the league in 2008, whose three forced turnovers at Tennessee put them in the AFC championship game Sunday at Heinz Field.
"I hope I've done a good enough job, or at least that's my thought process right now, that it's innate," Tomlin said of the ball-protection imperative. "Still, that's not going to keep us from stating the obvious. We'll point out that this is a team that rips at the football, and that January football is decided by turnovers."
From a coaching standpoint, few aspects of a game with this urgency can be more discouraging than the fact that no amount of planning can overcome the devastating results of a ball dispossessed.
Jeff Fisher's Tennessee staff put a brilliant plan in place, one that resulted in the Titans outgaining the Ravens by almost 2 to 1, but no amount of specialized preparation could keep the ball in Alge Crumpler's hands when Baltimore's Jim Leonhard crashed into him at just the right spot to trigger an ejection.
"I didn't see replays of the Crumpler play," Steelers tight end Heath Miller said, "but it looked like he had the ball tucked away pretty good. These guys are always trying to rip the ball out. If you're in any traffic at all, you've got to put two hands on it."
Crumpler was separated from the ball at the Ravens' 6. If he scores, Tennessee wins.
LenDale White was separated from it at the Ravens' 15. If not, Tennessee likely wins.
Leonhard smacked into Titans' quarterback Kerry Collins, sending his pass fluttering into the hands of Ravens cornerback Samari Rolle at the Ravens' 9. Without that, Tennessee likely wins.
Tennessee lost.
None of this is to suggest any carelessness on the part of the top-seeded Titans. Remember, the Dolphins, who'd given the ball away a league-low 13 times all season, opened the playoffs with five giveaways against the Blackbirds. It's not so much that people who are trained to protect the ball suddenly forget their training. It's more a matter of the ball coming loose from raw violence or raw fear, or both.
Dec. 14 in Baltimore, Santonio Holmes fumbled twice, Ben Roethlisberger once. The Ravens recovered two of the three. The Steelers negated that by intercepting two of rookie quarterback Joe Flacco's passes on a day his passer rating was a season-low 22.2.
Inside Heinz Field Sept. 29, Roethlisberger threw one of Baltimore's league-leading 26 interceptions, but the Steelers' LaMarr Woodley recovered James Harrison's forced fumble and ran it into the end zone.
So, in two games, the takeaway-giveaway tussle between these teams is even. Should it tip either way Sunday, well, see the Ward quotes above. Avoid the statistics, if you're wondering which way it might tip.
"Those guys can get the ball out," said running back Gary Russell. "Once you take your mind off the ball for a second, they'll rip it out of there."
The Steelers are 9-0 when they prevail on the turnover issue.
"From our perspective with [wide receivers coach] Randy Fichtner, we practice ball security every day," said Nate Washington. "I mean from the spring. Ball security is just part of who we are, part of what we do. It's not something we have to think about."
"You have to pay a little more attention to detail this week," Ward warned. "Actually, a lot more attention to detail. The Ravens do a great job of trying to rip the ball out. You don't want to give them an easy touchdown because of it."
All things being equal, touchdowns have been next to impossible when these teams met this year, and the Steelers are 2-0. Any game in which Baltimore safety Ed Reed runs into the end zone, however, is another matter.
Gene Collier can be reached at gcollier@post-gazette.com.
First published on January 16, 2009 at 12:00 am
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