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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1997)
Green Bay gets spotlight, but Pats could get glory ■ SUPER BOWL: It could come down to whose defense is best in Sunday’s NFL title game The Associated Press NEW ORLEANS — The NFL’s best late-season defense will be on display in the Super Bowl. It may not be the Green Bay Packers. They allowed the fewest points and yards during the regular season, but the New England Patriots’ defense has held its two playoff opponents to just three field goals and its last seven opponents to only four touchdowns. In the last four minutes of their 20-6 AFC championship game win over Jacksonville, the Patriots forced three turnovers. Afterward, defensive end Willie McGinest spoke up for a defense that was vulnerable to long passes early in the season and was blown out 34-8 by Denver in the 11th game. “No one’s been giving our defense the respect that we de serve, no matter who we play,” he said. “We’re the no-name defense, but we get the job done and that’s all that counts.” McGinest, in his third pro season, doesn’t have the noto riety of Green Bay defensive end Reggie White. And free safety Willie Clay, whose in terception with 3:43 left stopped a potential tying drive by the Jaguars, isn’t an All-Pro like Packers’ strong safety LeRoy Butler. Yet in their last seven games, the Patriots have al lowed 73 points, just one more than the Packers. Green Bay’s offense, led by Brett Favre, is more dangerous than the ones the Patriots faced in the play o f f s against Pittsburgh and Jack sonville. The Packers were the NFL’s highest scoring team. But New England’s confi dence and cohesion on de fense have grown dramatically since the loss to the Broncos. The Patriots haven’t allowed more than 300 yards in any of their seven games since then. “It was kind of a rude awak ening for us,” middle line backer Ted Johnson said. “It seems like we still can’t stop talking about that Denver game, but from that point on we’ve improved in all phases. “Expectations grow and, with that, everybody on our side of the ball feels like, ‘hey, we did it last week, we’ve got to do it again.’ ” Head coach Bill Parcells says the return of injured play ers in the secondary and a pla toon system in which players divide time at a position and keep fresh, has helped. Packers’ receiver ready for game ■ GREEN BAY: Split end Antonio Freeman is very much on the ball after early season failures The Associated Press NEW ORLEANS — Antonio Freeman cringes at the memory. In the biggest game of his life, he dropped the ball. Then he dropped it again. And again. Three times against the San Francisco 49ers on Oct. 14, Green Bay’s second-year split end missed flawless throws from Brett Favre, who lost his favorite receiv er, Robert Brooks, to a season-end ing knee injury on his first snap. “Brooks went down early and it kind of put all the pressure on me at once,” Freeman said. “And 1 think it kind of got the best of me.” So, Favre turned to Don Beebe, who had 11 catches for 220 yards, and the Packers won 23-20 in overtime. With the bye week that fol lowed, Freeman had plenty of time to think about his eight drops through seven games. And he had plenty of time to consider coach Mike Holmgren’s assurances that despite all that, he was going to be Favre’s go-to guy, with all of 39 receptions in the NFL. Freeman flew home to Balti more and had a heart-to-heart with his older brother, Clarence III, who had attended the game. “He’s in the Marines. He’s a drill instructor. So, you know he has a way of saying things,” Free man said. “And being his brother, I don’t really see too much of that. But when he saw my confidence slip, he went into that mode. That’s what best friends are for. “It was just some kind of way he said it and it really dawned on me that, hey, I can really be as good as I want,” Freeman said. The message was simple: wal low in your failures or use them as kindling to turn your career around. “Are you going to stick your head in the dirt? Or are you going to say, ‘OK, I dropped five balls. I’ll have to live with the criticism and I’m going to become better’? “And when he told me that, it really rang a bell in my head. People are going to talk about those dropped balls, but let’s make them forget that,” Freeman said. “My biggest problem sometimes in my game was lack of concentra tion,” he said in his typically can did style. “I just got back to basics, running the routes, looking the ball in, watching it go into my arm.” But Freeman’s trying times weren’t over. In his first game back against Tampa Bay on Oct. 27, he broke his left forearm, had surgery and missed a month. The time off actu ally helped. "I was determined to come back not only as a better player, but a big-play guy,” Freeman said. Returning with a cumbersome cast, Freeman was just that — catching 25 passes for 452 yards and four TDs during the Packers’ 4-0 December run. He finished with a team-best 56 receptions for 933 yards. General manager Ron Wolf, whose savvy pickups this year in cluded Beebe, Desmond Howard a My biggest problem sometimes in my game was lack of concentration. I just got back to basics, running the routes, looking the ball in, watching it go into my arm. —Antonio Freeman Green Bay Split End --55 and Andre Rison, said those addi tions pale next to Freeman’s ar rival. “Probably the best move that happened didn’t have anything to do with Ron Wolf. It had to do with the injury to Robert Brooks, and that’s the emergence of Anto nio Freeman,” Wolf said. Rison was plucked off the waiv er wire during Freeman’s absence and thrust into the flanker posi tion. In the six games they have been paired as starters, Freeman had 60 passes thrown in his direction compared to Rison’s 24. “I remember this summer I came across a magazine, and it said that I would more than likely be the starter at split end,” Free man recalled. “And I told some one, ‘Split end? They don’t catch the ball. “All we do is run. I’d better get my legs ready. The flanker catch es all the balls.’ ” Except when the split end is a second-year sensation who learned his lessons well, thanks to some brotherly advice. Today you may need us. TO QUIT SMOKING Smoking Cessation Workshop Wednesdays 3:30-4:30 p.m. January 22 to March 5, 1997 Health Center, Medical Library I Free to UO students Call 346-4456 to register TO GET HELP Coverage Open 7 Days a Week 8am-6pm Except Tuesday (open 9am) and Sunday (open 10am) After-hours information and advice call 346-2770 Here for you. THE HEALTH CENTER • 13TH & AGATE • 346-2770 • http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/ UOSHC/
