European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 27, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Sunday december 27, 1992 sports the stars and stripes b Page 25 Rush hour Duel hits Astrodome Bills oilers game matches talented Thomas White by Michael a. Lutz Houston apr buffaloes Thurman Thomas and Houston a Lorenzo White Are hybrid nil running backs. A a they run when they can catch a pass now and then and do whatever is necessary to keep the offence moving. Their run catch skills fit nicely into game plans and help break open games. Thomas Ideal game is to have lots of rushes and catch one pass. White Longs for his Workhorse College Days when 40 carries per game were common at Michigan state. But they be adapted to the offences that will try to outscore each other in the Astrodome tonight. Thomas has Learned to catch passes and White has Learned to Block. Buffalo 11-4 will be assured of the acc East title and the Home Field advantage throughout the acc playoffs if it beats the oilers. Houston 9-6 is in the playoffs As a wild card entry. Thomas and White could play a big part in the outcome. A you have to be a receiver As Well As a runner a a Buffalo coach Marv Levy said. A i think a Back that can catch in today a game is a notch above even the finest of Thomas has been the leagues Premier total yardage Man for the past three years leading the league. He has five straight 100-Yard Rushing performances and the Bills Are 27-2 when Thomas gains 100 Yards. A a he a been magnificent a Levy said. A a he san extremely intelligent player. He learns his assignments and the changes you make and pass schemes and complementary routes As Well or better than any Back in be Ever been White is held in similar esteem by Oiler running Back coach Frank Novak. A the looks to me like he a ready to play Early in the game a Novak said. A the starts Well right away and As the game goes on he gets stronger too. But maybe its because he a getting a lot of Contact Early in the White Seldom blocked or caught passes As a College tailback. Its a necessity in the run and shoot. Bills Thurman Thomas and oilers Lorenzo White match their run catch skills in tonight s game at Houston. File Apan seb radio and television 2 . Get monday he battled for playing time through his first four seasons. A Thurman came into a situation where they needed a runner right away a White said. A for me 1 had to wait. Finally they had to make a Choice last season and they chose Lucky for the oilers they did. White has gained 1,160 Yards Rushing and caught 55 passes for 619 Yards. He has caught More passes As defences geared to Stop the Long throws. A it comes now to taking the intermediate routes and get the six and eight Yard pickup and keeping the drive alive a White said. A you look at san Francisco that a what they Are doing today. A then All of a sudden they Send Jerry Rice deep and its a big one. You can control the Ball like that Anil that involves me too. They can come Back to me for the 5-6 Yard Thomas would prefer to have the Ball tucked into his midsection. A a in a rather carry the Ball 40 times and catch one pass a he said. A a in be been a running Back All my life. Catching the Ball and running downfield is something in be had to work Thomas realizes the Bills must run and pass Well against the oilers who have improved steadily on defense to their current no. 4 spot in total defense. The Bills tried to establish the run in last weeks 20-lb Victory Over new Orleans. A against the oilers we have to worry about the inside and outside Guys a Thomas said. A it will be difficult if we just get one thing going. We have to get both things going to keep them Hawks Flores looks beyond finale Seattle coach Tom Flores. Says hell be Back by Jim Cour Seattle a Seattle sea Hawks coach Tom Flores says he has no regrets. Coaxed Back onto the sidelines by sea Hawk owner Ken Behring for a hefty raise Flores has suffered through a coaching Nightmare As the sea Hawks have lost a franchise record 13 games. That season ends on sunday when the Seattle 2-13 faces the playoff bound san Diego chargers 10-5 in the kingdom. Through it All the Man who coached the los Angeles and Oakland raiders to a pair of super bowl championships in the 1980s has managed to keep his sen Sean seb radio and television 10 . Get today of humor. He still can laugh at himself. A there were Points of the season where i thought i was stupid but not for coming Back Flores said with a Grin. A i done to look Back. I did it. I accepted it. Ill fulfil my commitment and see if i can get this team despite some Media conjecture to the contrary the 55-year-old Flores says he will be Back in his dual capacity As coach As Well As president of the sea Hawks next season. Behring brought mores in to run the sea Hawks front office in february 1989, after he chose not to renew general manager Mike Mccormack a contract. He then gave Flores a five year contract and a raise from $500,000 to $1 million to succeed Chuck Knox As Seattle a coach last Jan. 6. The owner wanted Flores to put some zip into Seattle a offence which he considered to be too conservative under Knox. Flores wanted to install a deep threat passing offence but that Hasni to happened. Instead Seattle a offence has been won t Kneel at Elway time by Doug Tucker Kansas City to. A the last time John Dway broke his heart Marty sch Ottenheimer got Down in his Knees. Never again. Its not that sch Ottenheimer is predicting an end to he Elway curse that seems to haunt him and his teams. Sundays game Between Elway a Denver Broncos and cd Ottenheimer a Kansas City chiefs will Settle the u cos final wild card spot just the sort of important showdown that a provided the setting for some of Elk ayes most memorable last minute heroics. But a fans letter got the chiefs coach thinking bout that subconscious move he used to make at the climactic end of games when he would squat Down in most a kneeling position on the sideline who learn and seb radio at 7 . Get today studying the action on the Field. That a the shot the television cameras caught last october when Elway directed a two touchdown rally in the last five minutes to lift the Broncos Over the chiefs 20-19, Elway a ninth Victory in 10 meetings with sch Ottenheimer teams. A i got a letter about 6-7 weeks ago that indicated that when i get into that squat position i get into occasionally that psychologically. Its sending a message that in a not in control of the situation a Schottenheim or said. A a in be had a couple of occasions recently when i started to go Down into that position but i remembered the letter and stood Back up. A i done to know if they re right or not but you Don t want to pass up any Opportunity to do what a the chiefs 9-6 go into the game with wildly fluctuating possibilities. If they win and san Diego loses to Seattle then Kansas City has its first acc West championship since 1971. If the chiefs and chargers both win san Diego is division Champ and the chiefs Are the wild card. If the chiefs lose to Denver then the Uron cos 8-7 take the of cd a last wild card berth and the chiefs go Home. The Elway sch Ottenheimer Story began in the mid80s when the Broncos twice beat sch Ottenheimer a Cleveland teams in the acc title game. It has continued unabated since sch Ottenheimer changed teams. Sch Ottenheimer was 0-3 at Cleveland is. Elway and he a 1-6 in Kansas City
