Jan 31, 2000
It is your typical sports' cliche, and only two words at that. But the lesson that the Tennessee Titans took back home with them from their 23-16 loss to the St. Louis Rams Sunday evening is as close to a universal truth on the football field that one will ever see.
Speed kills.
It took practically three quarters for the Titans' bruising running attack to assert itself as Tennessee began to claw out of a 16-0 hole: A deficit that, at the time, looked insurmountable.
But for all that is said about the punishing Titans' offensive attack, the Rams demonstrated once again that a quick-strike big play can be as brutally demoralizing as a 12-15 ground-oriented drive.
After the Rams went ahead 16-0 on a nine-yard touchdown reception by Torry Holt, the Titans scratched their way back into the game with a dose of George between the tackles and Steve McNair's scrambles. Without a playmaker at wide receiver, the Titans required about 20 minutes to knot the game on a field goal by Al Del Greco.
It took the Rams only eight seconds to recapture the lead for good.
For all of the banging and scrapping the Titans went through to make this one of the more enjoyable Super Bowls in recent memories, a 73-yard missile from MVP Kurt Warner to Issac Bruce earned the Rams their first Super Bowl victory.
The Titans' ball-control offense is clearly effective as demonstrated by the wonderful season coach Jeff Fischer and his squad has compiled. Tennessee gets it done with defense, special teams and running the football. The athleticism of McNair only adds another playmaking element to the attack. However, it was an attack that took way too long to get going Sunday night.
The Titans' offense, predicated on controlling the clock, deferred to the Rams in that department in the first half as Warner marched the Rams up and down the field only to settle for field goals. Fischer asked McNair to do way too much in the first half it appeared and never really gave George his required carries in order to keep the ball away from the Rams.
You almost got the feeling that the two teams had made a pre-game agreement to show off their respective attacks in each half with the Titans choosing the second half of action. With just over two minutes remaining, however, the Rams tore up the agreement and ended it on Bruce's reception.
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