European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 06, 1995, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday january 6, 1995 sports the stars and stripes Page 29 a i love the nil playoffs it s the time of year when you separate the contenders from the frauds of when you embrace the teams with championship Mettle c and throw out the overrated the tin men Ana Wayne forties. The first weekend of the playoffs always give you stuff nobody could have predicted like Bill Beli Chick beating his Chest in Cleveland like Barry Sanders failing to gain one net Yard in 13 carries like Hall of Farmers Joe Montana Marcus Allen and Derrick Thomas blowing it for the chiefs like the chicag bears. When the playoffs started 11 of 12 teams looked As \ if they belonged in the Field and one did t. That one was the bears. The bears were the Only team in the playoffs without a pro bowl player the Only team in the playoffs that scored fewer Points than it allowed the Only team in the playoffs whose Ros Ter was dominated by players who ought to be on somebody practice Sauad. This is a team that lost a Home game to the Vikings by 28 Points a Home game to the packers by 27 on the night Gale Sayers and Dick Butkus had their jerseys retired no Les Sand at Green Bay by 37. _1 virtually everybody Mohe two deep squad was Cut Loose by some other team people like running backs Lewis till Mari and Robert Green and receiver Jeff. Graham just in terms of Talent you d Trade the Beng als roster for the bears roster every Day of the week. These Guys Aren t even worthy of being called a bears they re simply the bears. " still they went up to Minnesota and kicked the Vikings Butts sunday in a playoff game pro bowl score Vikings 5, bears 0. Playoff score 35-18 Chicago. Yes the Vikings As a group played like a Bunch of chumps. Even worse they displayed absolutely no sense of urgency weren t angry afterwards did t cuss or tear stuff off the locker room Walls. But the bears were the flip Side of the Coin prepared Tough under control Des Perate Resolute poised. You can just Tell they love Michael Wilbon commentary playing for their coach Dave Wannstedt who assisted in Dallas Long enough to understand that credit fro the outside world even from within nil circles is earned not to be handed out randomly. I told our Guys after the pro bowl voting came out. That the Only Way you get any respect at this Point of the season is to get into the playoffs. You be got to earn   v a it s too bad what awaits the bears. You know the 49ers, at the stick. Perhaps you be heard of the Georgia tech is. Cumberland game Back in the leather helmet Days. Final score 222-0. That s what the bears Are looking at one of those games where its 28-0 nine is before the offence has run a dozen plays. Heart is Good but the 49ers have that and Steve Young to Jerry Rice too. Poor courageous upstart cuddly soon to be smashed4ike-a-Bug  you re looking for Cinderella try the pack ers Down in Dallas. I m not saying the pack is going to beat the Cowboy but they could. They really  Aikman has been Ordinary All season and we Don t know if emm to Smith is healthy enough to be Emmi Tsmith. And that would be big trouble in big d because the packers have some defense. Reggie White is play ing As Well As he did in Philly. Bryce Paup Terrell Buckley Leroy Butler George Teague and sea Jones Are serious very serious what they did to Sanders is scary. Before we get car ried away though let me pick up on two familiar re Frains Wayne Fontes ought to be fired and Barry Sanders Ain t now nor is he Ever Gonna be emr Hitt or nine men on the line of scrimmage. You know How Many times Sanders touched the Ball against the pack a total of 16. Hey Wayne get him the foot Ball or get out that s half As Many As he should have which is Why Fontes should be told to clean out his locker. In the Rush to deify Drew Bledsoe the Guy who was forgotten All season was Brett Favre whose 33-touch-Down, 14-interception season was Light years better than Bledsoe s. If Emmitt is Gimpy if Aikman is woozy if the cowboys Are off their form one bit Favre and the defense Are going to wreak havoc with our liners cowboys pfc championship plans. Another quarterback due unlikely Praise at this time of year is and i can t believe i m saying this Vinny Testaverde. All of a sudden he s not turning Over the Ball he s making great decisions he s Mak ing every read finding the passing lanes. If he does throw interceptions Cleve land can beat not Only Pittsburgh but anybody else left in this thing. Pitts Burgh Cleveland is going to Brett Favry. I Don t care if Emmitt Smith is going against a combi nation of the 72 dolphins the steel curtain and the 85 bears he s going to get More than minus 1 Yards in13 carries. I d bet my life on it Don t Tell me Sanders is anybody s player of the year when he can t gain a Yard Henri counts. You know who Sanders is Dominique Wilkins that s who. Highlights galore too Many disappointments when it counts and any coach worthy of employment should have figured out How to throw a pass to his Best player or line him up wide if the other team is going to put eight be a smash Mouth wind howling off the Lake two teams who Dpn to much like each other blast from the past. A by it la be the total opposite of Miami san Diego out West. Early on i decided to Root this postseason for the old geezers Montana Moon and Marino. Vivell two Are out. Only Marino remains. The problem is the dolphins Are looking an awful lot like the 80s Broncos when John Elway was a one Man team. Whatever the dolphins do it seems is Riding on Marino s Arm. The dolphins Don t have Cleveland defense or Chicago s resolve but they re going As far As Marino takes Hern which probably won t be past the chargers. The Washington pm it s Hoard against horde at Pittsburgh by Barry vv1lner _ Pittsburgh a three into one works Fine for the Backfield of the Pittsburgh steel cars just As it was sup posed to for the Cleveland Browns. The three headed monster Barry Foster Bam Morris and John l. Williams that carried the Pittsburgh Steeles to the Best running game in the nil should provide a big Edge Over Cleveland s one Nuin gang. Except that Leroy Hoard the Browns top rusher and no. 3 receiver is in the pro bowl and none of the Steeles a Rev  _ in " _ Cleveland s Eric Metcalf also is going to the pro bowl but Only As a kick re Turner. For the Browns the focus is on Hoard who ran 209 times for 890 Yards the Best numbers of any Back in sat urday s acc playoff game 6 30 . Sat urday on an to and radio. I think it was a result of just wanting to get the running game going and just sticking with one Guy and the coaches just pretty much made the decision Hoard said there still Are a lot of times where Earnest or Eric will come into the game and play a lot but you know for the most part i m pretty much the Guy in  Earnest byner carried 75 times but for Only a 2.9 average and his blocking is suspect. Metcalf is used almost exclusively on third Downs or in passing situations and rushed just 93 times for 329 Yards. He did have -47 receptions but that s Only two More than Hoard who gained nine More Yards than Metcalf As a receiver. Tommy Vardill started at fullback for the first five weeks then was lost for the season with a knee injury. So generally Hoard has been the Man. Leroy Hoard. Leads Browns attack especially in the second half of the sched ule after being benched for a while. I Don t know what made them change their minds because you know i played pretty Well the first week in Cincinnati lie said of a 92-Yard Effort. Then 1 did t really play that much for five or six weeks. I d on t really know what brought on that decision but it was just a matter of i prepared every week to play and when i got the Opportunity i was Able to help the. Team. Win.". The Steeles three prime time Barry  Steeles 3-Headcd monster combined for nearly All. Of the team s league leading 2,180 Yards Rushing and 136.2 per game average the first time Pittsburgh led the league since the Days of Franco Harris and Rocky Olcier. Think about it said Williams who spent eight years As a Premier Back in Seattle before joining Pittsburgh As a free agent this season. At the end of the game you Don t have one Guy who has been doing All the work and is tired. It takes a toll out of one Guy. We have fresh ices which makes it a whole  to make the extra Yard or take the extra step. The thing is we have the largest depth with Barry and Bam and  we might have two Guys in the Backfield who do two different things on every Down and that s Tough for a  Williams carried just 68 times but gained 317 Yards a 4.7 average that easily led the Steeles. He came to Pittsburgh knowing he would not be the feature Back Foster owns that role when he is healthy and would be used mainly As a blockers then Morris a third found pick out of Texas tech quickly developed As Fos Ter s backup. When Foster was injured on the first play against Cincinnati on oct. 7 16, Morris got the Call. The next week he v set a team record for Rushing by  against the giants. Whenever Foster is healthy he starts _ As he will of saturday. But Morris Gener ally got plenty of playing time and when both were Hurt against Philadelphia Wil Liams came in and played Well. Williams also led the Steeles with 51 receptions. Barry is the Guy who. Gives us the impetus offensive coordinator Ron Erhardt said. Bam comes in to spell what we re going with Barry to give him a breather. Barry has the expertise the experience to run this offence. Bam is in the learning stages and has done a hell of a Job with it really. A lot of coaches go a lifetime and never attain that Type of game added Erhardt a ground oriented coach who helped the giants win two super bowls with that  s the Best running game i be had from the standpoint of the Power game