European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 27, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 18 b the stars and stripes sunday october 27,1991 today a pro football pass Happy bears try saints by Austin Wilson new Orleans apr Chicago a Effort to open up its offence has t met with Universal approval but bears coach Mike Ditka said he a committed to continue trying. A we get a lot of criticism up Here no matter what you do. Everybody does. You re right some Days and wrong some Days Quot Ditka said. A a we be made a concentrated Effort to try to open up the attack and balance it out with run and pass a he said. A a we re pretty Chicago 5-2 has run 209 times this season and passed 223 times a a bit of a departure from Chicago a past breakdown but still a Long Way from the run and shoot. New Orleans 7-0 has rushed 223 times and passed 195 times. The bears and the saints meet sunday in the Louisiana super dome in a rematch of the wild card playoff game won by Chicago 16-6 at Soldier Field last season. A we Are not running the Ball nearly As much As we have in ,�?� Ditka said. A but we be made a conscious Effort in to run the Ball More than we passed. If you make a conscious Effort to run it you la probably do it better. A i done to regret what we re doing at All. We said we were going to balance out the attack and we be tried to. Whether people agree with that or not i can t worry about the new philosophy is certainly different from what the bears did to the saints in january. Chicago pounded out 189 Yards on 43 rushes and passed 26 times for 176 Yards. A of course nobody s run the Ball on the saints this year anyway so what would make anyone believe we could do it Quot Ditka said. The saints defense is ranked no. I in the nil but that record has been compiled against teams with average offences or below. Seattle ranked no. 12 offensively in the league is the most productive attack the saints have played. Saints coach Jim Mora said he expects Chicago to try Chicago 5-2 at new Orleans 7-0 7 p. M. Get on seb-7v and Afn-7v a Dalles 5-2 at Detroit 5-2 10 . Get on seb to and an to to establish the running game from the opening Kickoff. A i Hope we can defend it better than we did in the playoff game because they gashed us a Mora said. A they controlled the the bears defense is ranked no. 7 in the nil and Chicago has played two of the most potent offensive units in the league a Buffalo no. I and Washington no. 4. Both the Bills and the redskins went into the game against Chicago undefeated and emerged the same Way although Buffalo has since been Defeated. Offensively Chicago ranks no. 13 in the nil and new Orleans is 19th. Bears inside linebacker Mike Singletary said those rankings Don t mean much. A a they re very Good at executing what they want to do a he said. A they have a lot of patience and their defense allows them to have that kind of patience a to just keep pounding and trying to make something work. If it does no to work go away from that and come Back to it new Orleans is a 6-Point favorite but Mora said that does t matter to him one Way or the other. A i done to pay any attention to Point spreads a he said. A absolutely the saints will be without inside linebacker Vaughan Johnson. He underwent magnetic resonance imagery tests of his left knee monday the tests were inconclusive but he cannot play sunday. Saints fullback Craig Heyward did not play last week because of a hamstring pull and his replacement Buford Jordan suffered a bruised knee against Tampa Bay. Heyward was questionable and Jordan was probable for sunday. Quarterback Bobby Hebert was listed As questionable after being held out last week with a bruised right shoulder. And tight end Hoby Brenner was questionable with a knee Bruise. Steve Walsh got his first Start of the season against Tampa Bay in Relief of Hebert. For the bears offensive tackle Ron Mattes was doubtful with a pulled hamstring and running Back Nea Handerson Chicago a leading ground gainer was questionable also with a hamstring injury. Harbaugh works on silent count Lake Forest Iii. A in addition to facing an undefeated team in new Orleans Chicago bears quarterback Jim Harbaugh said his team will also have to Deal with the noise in the super dome which could hinder play calling. A we ii definitely have a communications problem playing in a domed stadium a Harbaugh said. A we can to eliminate it but we can definitely Deal with the bears have been practising a silent count allowing Center Jay Hilgenberg to snap the Ball at his own discretion. Chicago has yet to adopt a no huddle offence. A we can do anything we want but we would like to give the saints a Little bit of everything and make the a unsure of what we re going to do a Harbaugh said wednesday. A a they la just have to keep their eyes peeled on hilgenberg.mr. Smith meets or. Sanders in Detroit by Harry Atkins Pontiac Mich. Apr Jimmy Johnson and Wayne fonts both get a Little of their own Medicine this week. They both have to devise a defense to Stop one of the a Fly a Best running backs. Most coaches will Tell you it can to be done. Emmitt Smith plays for Johnson at Dallas. Barry Sanders plays for Fontes at Detroit. Smith leads the pfc with 701 Yards and Sanders is second in the conference with 666 Yards. Sunday they la be on opposite sides of the Field when the Lions 5-2 Host the cowboys 5-2 at 4 . A if you spend a lot of time thinking of ways to Stop Barry Sanders you a be in an insane Asylum because he can to be stopped a Johnson said. A the Way to contain Barry Sanders is to not let him have the football. A Barry Sanders is going to be Barry Sanders. We just have to deny him those Long Smith is currently averaging 100.1 Yards on 21.1 carries per game this season. At that rate he would eclipse the 1,000-Yard Barrier in game 10. A you done to want to make a living trying to Stop Emmitt Smith a Fontes said a but with Dallas Smith Isnit the Only thing you have to worry about. The cowboys have an outstanding quarterback in Troy Aikman and he just makes Smith even the cowboys Are returning to action following an open week. They will be looking for their fifth consecutive Victory. But the Lions now know that coming off that Bye week can he Tricky business. Lasi week the Lions fresh off their Bye were clobbered 35-3 in san Francisco. The 49ers racked up 505 Yards in total offence while limiting Detroit to 207 Yards. Sanders was held to Only 26 Yards on seven carries. A i look for us to play better a Fontes said. Quot actually i thought our offence played of. But once we got behind we got into a passing game. That a a game you can twin. A Johnson knows exactly what Fontes is talking about. Last year the 49ers Hung a 24-6 defeat on the cowboys in Texas stadium. A when we played san Francisco a year ago we Only had the Ball 40 plays and Emmitt Only had six carries a Johnson said. A when san Francisco is really playing Well they can do that to a football against the 49ers, Detroit Hud the Ball Only 14 minutes 56 seconds. Contrast that with the cowboys last game. Before the break Dallas rolled up 376 Yards in. A Fulg 2 to hear the opposing coaches Tell it neither Dallas Emmitt Smith left nor Detroit a Barry Sanders can be stopped. Pfc Central. Dallas is second in the pfc East. Obviously the Prospect of a matchup Between twi the a Fly a Premier running backs has caught on v the paying Public. The game is a sellout in the 80,4 seat Silver dome. This is the first Lions sellout since a monday n game with the los Angeles raiders on dec. 10, e it s the first non monday night sellout since a 1 game against the bears. Total offence against Cincinnati marking the sixth time in seven games this year the cowboys have gained 300 Yards or More. A i think this is a Muke or break kind of game a lion offensive tackle Lomas Brown said. A this is the most Pivotal game of the season. We re playing Dallas while the Chicago bears Are playing the new Orleans the Lions and bears Are tied for first place in the
