Kerry Collins : Who is Kerry Collins ?
NASHVILLE - The last time Kerry Collins faced Baltimore in the playoffs, he was the quarterback for the Giants who were playing the Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV.
It was not a memorable performance. The Ravens clobbered the Giants. As a matter of fact, Collins probably would like to wipe the memory out completely.
"My memories are we played against a good team and a good defense. Nothing more than I thought it was unfair that they let them play with 15 guys," Collins joked when asked about it earlier this season. "They were good. We were ready to play. I put a lot of that game on me. I threw four interceptions and just did not play very well."
Eight years later, Collins has a chance to dash the Ravens' postseason dreams when he leads host Tennessee (13-3), the AFC's top seed, against sixth-seeded Baltimore (12-5) in a divisional playoff game Saturday afternoon.
Oddly enough, the Titans were 13-3 and the top seed in the AFC in 2000, but lost to Baltimore in the playoffs. The Ravens went on to beat Collins and the Giants in the Super Bowl.
Collins certainly doesn't want a repeat of that not-so-super performance against the Ravens.
"Obviously, I've got a lot more experience," he said. "I think I appreciate it more knowing that I am in my 14th year. I know opportunities don't come along like this all the time and this may be my last best opportunity. So, I'm trying to take advantage of it the best I can."
He thinks the Ravens' defenses from this year and 2000 are similar.
"It's hard to say that any defense is better than the one I played in the Super Bowl in 2000. They were phenomenal," he said. "This defense is certainly very good in their own right, but that defense I think will be the best I've ever played."
The Titans and Ravens have two of the best defenses in the NFL. Tennessee had the second-ranked scoring defense, allowing 14.6 points per game, while Baltimore had the third-ranked unit, giving up 15.3. Baltimore was second in total yards allowed (277.1) while Tennessee was tied for fifth.
Collins will have to find a way to thwart Ravens safety Ed Reed, who had two interceptions against the Dolphins last week, including one that he returned 64 yards for a touchdown.
"The guy is doing what he's done his whole career - find the ball. He's extremely smart," Collins said. "He studies, you can tell. He knows your tendencies and plays to them. I think that's what puts him in a lot of positions to make plays. He's a guy who you've just always got to know where he is."
Kerry Collins, who took to the Giants to the Super Bowl after the 2000 season and started this year as a backup in Tennessee, entered the game looking to become the first quarterback to lead three franchises to postseason victories.
In his way stood the Ravens’ defense, which had intercepted Miami quarterback Chad Pennington four times in Baltimore’s wild-card victory last weekend.
Collins became the Tennessee’s starter early in the season, after the implosion of Vince Young. On Saturday, he led the Titans (13-4) down the field on their second drive of the game against the defense that was supposed to beat and batter him.
He found running back Chris Johnson on a swing pass, and Johnson juked and shifted up field for 28 yards. He found receiver Justin Gage on a comeback route for another 20-yard gain. Johnson capped the drive with an 8-yard touchdown dash, stretching the ball across the goal line for a 7-0 lead with 4 minutes 45 seconds left in the first period.
The Ravens (12-5) struck back immediately. Quarterback Joe Flacco, a rookie who has not played like one, launched a deep ball down the right sideline on third down. The home crowd held its breath while the ball seemed to hang in the air, and gasped when Derrick Mason settled underneath for a 48-yard score that tied the game.
History loomed between the teams, as always.
During the 2000 season, The Titans compiled the N.F.L’s top regular-season record, secured the No. 1 seed in the A.F.C. and played a wild-card team in Baltimore, at home, on the second weekend of the playoffs. Sound familiar?
In that game, the Ravens harassed place-kicker Al Del Greco, blocking two field-goal attempts and forcing him to miss a chip shot as the Titans lost. In the Super Bowl that season, the Ravens beat the Giants, who were quarterbacked by Collins.
After the 2002 season, the Titans beat the Ravens in the playoffs, this time in Baltimore. But linebacker Keith Bulluck acknowledged last week that the loss hurt much worse than the later win healed.
The rubber match came Saturday.
The Titans outgained the Ravens by 256-94 in the first half. This came despite the absence of the injured Titans center Kevin Mawae, who helped lead a Tennessee unit that allowed the fewest sacks in the N.F.L. (12). In his place was Leroy Harris, a second-year lineman.
The score remained tied, 7-7, at halftime, largely because of a Collins interception and a LenDale White fumble, both deep in Ravens’ territory. Also because of nine penalties for 69 yards. And possibly because the Titans failed to convert on fourth down in the second quarter instead of attempting a 47-yard field goal.
Those who questioned that decision by Jeff Fisher, the N.F.L.’s longest-tenured head coach, saw the opposite side of things in the third quarter.
After driving to the Ravens’ 28-yard line, the Titans tried a 46-yard field goal. With Del Greco undertones, Rob Bironas missed left by about two feet.
These teams played earlier in the season, the Titans pulling out a victory, also by a 13-10 score, with Collins leading an 80-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter. This game shaped up much like that one, shaped into the slugfest many expected, full of pushing and shoving and obvious mutual dislike. Everything, really, except scoring.
After gaining 72 first-half rushing yards, the explosive Johnson missed the second half for the Titans with an ankle injury.
The teams traded punts, until Flacco threw another bomb late in the third quarter. Chris Hope and Cortland Finnegan, the Titans defenders covering on the play, ran into each other as if imitating a Keystone Kops routine and Mark Clayton hauled in a 37-yard pass.
Four plays later, Matt Stover kicked a 21-yard field goal for a 10-7 Ravens lead.
The Titans came right back, before disaster struck again. Behind Collins and Gage, who had connected nine times for 126 yards by the drive’s end, the Titans moved to the Raven’s 13.
Collins found tight end Alge Crumpler in the right flat, but when the lumbering Crumpler attempted to hurdle a defender, safety Jim Leonhard popped the football loose. The Ravens took over at the 1 and Flacco narrowly avoided stepping out of bounds before Baltimore punted the ball back from the end zone, with the Titans taking over at the Ravens’ 42.
The Titans used that field position to set Bironas up for a 27-yard field goal, which he sent through the uprights to tie the game at 10-10 with 4:26 left in the fourth.
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It was not a memorable performance. The Ravens clobbered the Giants. As a matter of fact, Collins probably would like to wipe the memory out completely.
"My memories are we played against a good team and a good defense. Nothing more than I thought it was unfair that they let them play with 15 guys," Collins joked when asked about it earlier this season. "They were good. We were ready to play. I put a lot of that game on me. I threw four interceptions and just did not play very well."
Eight years later, Collins has a chance to dash the Ravens' postseason dreams when he leads host Tennessee (13-3), the AFC's top seed, against sixth-seeded Baltimore (12-5) in a divisional playoff game Saturday afternoon.
Oddly enough, the Titans were 13-3 and the top seed in the AFC in 2000, but lost to Baltimore in the playoffs. The Ravens went on to beat Collins and the Giants in the Super Bowl.
Collins certainly doesn't want a repeat of that not-so-super performance against the Ravens.
"Obviously, I've got a lot more experience," he said. "I think I appreciate it more knowing that I am in my 14th year. I know opportunities don't come along like this all the time and this may be my last best opportunity. So, I'm trying to take advantage of it the best I can."
He thinks the Ravens' defenses from this year and 2000 are similar.
"It's hard to say that any defense is better than the one I played in the Super Bowl in 2000. They were phenomenal," he said. "This defense is certainly very good in their own right, but that defense I think will be the best I've ever played."
The Titans and Ravens have two of the best defenses in the NFL. Tennessee had the second-ranked scoring defense, allowing 14.6 points per game, while Baltimore had the third-ranked unit, giving up 15.3. Baltimore was second in total yards allowed (277.1) while Tennessee was tied for fifth.
Collins will have to find a way to thwart Ravens safety Ed Reed, who had two interceptions against the Dolphins last week, including one that he returned 64 yards for a touchdown.
"The guy is doing what he's done his whole career - find the ball. He's extremely smart," Collins said. "He studies, you can tell. He knows your tendencies and plays to them. I think that's what puts him in a lot of positions to make plays. He's a guy who you've just always got to know where he is."
Kerry Collins, who took to the Giants to the Super Bowl after the 2000 season and started this year as a backup in Tennessee, entered the game looking to become the first quarterback to lead three franchises to postseason victories.
In his way stood the Ravens’ defense, which had intercepted Miami quarterback Chad Pennington four times in Baltimore’s wild-card victory last weekend.
Collins became the Tennessee’s starter early in the season, after the implosion of Vince Young. On Saturday, he led the Titans (13-4) down the field on their second drive of the game against the defense that was supposed to beat and batter him.
He found running back Chris Johnson on a swing pass, and Johnson juked and shifted up field for 28 yards. He found receiver Justin Gage on a comeback route for another 20-yard gain. Johnson capped the drive with an 8-yard touchdown dash, stretching the ball across the goal line for a 7-0 lead with 4 minutes 45 seconds left in the first period.
The Ravens (12-5) struck back immediately. Quarterback Joe Flacco, a rookie who has not played like one, launched a deep ball down the right sideline on third down. The home crowd held its breath while the ball seemed to hang in the air, and gasped when Derrick Mason settled underneath for a 48-yard score that tied the game.
History loomed between the teams, as always.
During the 2000 season, The Titans compiled the N.F.L’s top regular-season record, secured the No. 1 seed in the A.F.C. and played a wild-card team in Baltimore, at home, on the second weekend of the playoffs. Sound familiar?
In that game, the Ravens harassed place-kicker Al Del Greco, blocking two field-goal attempts and forcing him to miss a chip shot as the Titans lost. In the Super Bowl that season, the Ravens beat the Giants, who were quarterbacked by Collins.
After the 2002 season, the Titans beat the Ravens in the playoffs, this time in Baltimore. But linebacker Keith Bulluck acknowledged last week that the loss hurt much worse than the later win healed.
The rubber match came Saturday.
The Titans outgained the Ravens by 256-94 in the first half. This came despite the absence of the injured Titans center Kevin Mawae, who helped lead a Tennessee unit that allowed the fewest sacks in the N.F.L. (12). In his place was Leroy Harris, a second-year lineman.
The score remained tied, 7-7, at halftime, largely because of a Collins interception and a LenDale White fumble, both deep in Ravens’ territory. Also because of nine penalties for 69 yards. And possibly because the Titans failed to convert on fourth down in the second quarter instead of attempting a 47-yard field goal.
Those who questioned that decision by Jeff Fisher, the N.F.L.’s longest-tenured head coach, saw the opposite side of things in the third quarter.
After driving to the Ravens’ 28-yard line, the Titans tried a 46-yard field goal. With Del Greco undertones, Rob Bironas missed left by about two feet.
These teams played earlier in the season, the Titans pulling out a victory, also by a 13-10 score, with Collins leading an 80-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter. This game shaped up much like that one, shaped into the slugfest many expected, full of pushing and shoving and obvious mutual dislike. Everything, really, except scoring.
After gaining 72 first-half rushing yards, the explosive Johnson missed the second half for the Titans with an ankle injury.
The teams traded punts, until Flacco threw another bomb late in the third quarter. Chris Hope and Cortland Finnegan, the Titans defenders covering on the play, ran into each other as if imitating a Keystone Kops routine and Mark Clayton hauled in a 37-yard pass.
Four plays later, Matt Stover kicked a 21-yard field goal for a 10-7 Ravens lead.
The Titans came right back, before disaster struck again. Behind Collins and Gage, who had connected nine times for 126 yards by the drive’s end, the Titans moved to the Raven’s 13.
Collins found tight end Alge Crumpler in the right flat, but when the lumbering Crumpler attempted to hurdle a defender, safety Jim Leonhard popped the football loose. The Ravens took over at the 1 and Flacco narrowly avoided stepping out of bounds before Baltimore punted the ball back from the end zone, with the Titans taking over at the Ravens’ 42.
The Titans used that field position to set Bironas up for a 27-yard field goal, which he sent through the uprights to tie the game at 10-10 with 4:26 left in the fourth.
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