Wednesday, June 28, 2000

Their worst nightmares

The sky isn’t falling for these Super Bowl contenders yet, but if it did, here’s what would happen

By Ron Pollack, editor-in-chief

In any event, today’s subject deals with scenarios that could throw the NFL’s elite teams for a loop. To my way of thinking, the elite teams at this moment are Indianapolis, Jacksonville, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Tennessee and Washington. Here are their worst nightmares.

Indianapolis Colts — A serious injury to QB Peyton Manning. This is so obvious that I don’t even think anything more needs to be said. The other "Triplets," RB Edgerrin James and WR Marvin Harrison, would also be very hard to replace if a major injury struck, but it would be nothing close to what a serious injury to Manning would mean.

Jacksonville Jaguars — With RB James Stewart gone, a major injury to the injury-prone Fred Taylor would be crushing. The next worst thing that could happen to Jacksonville would be if Tony Boselli was unable to successfully come back from last season’s injury. Boselli was the best offensive tackle in the game before he hurt his knee and required major surgery. Don’t bet against him though, as he has a great work ethic. The Jaguars have shown an ability to plug in backups at quarterback and perform well in the Tom Coughlin era, so an injury to Mark Brunell, while bad news, would not hurt the Jaguars as much as most teams. The player the Jaguars can least afford a major injury to on defense is Kevin Hardy, who fits the team’s defensive scheme perfectly and does it all. He may be the best outside linebacker in football.

St. Louis Rams — A serious injury to RB Marshall Faulk would be devastating. The backups are fine as role players, but I don’t see Trung Canidate or Derek Loville being capable of doing all of the things as a runner and receiver that Faulk did last season to make the offense so multi-dimensional. An injury to WR Isaac Bruce would be unfortunate, but Torry Holt is ready to be a star if given the opportunity to catch more balls. If QB Kurt Warner gets hurt or turns out to be a one-year wonder, Trent Green is fully capable of performing at a very high level. OT Orlando Pace is head and shoulders the team’s best offensive linemen and would be very hard to replace if hurt, but he would not be missed quite as much as Faulk. On defense, DE Kevin Carter and CB Todd Lyght are the guys I think the Rams would have the hardest time replacing, but I don’t think either of them is quite as critical to the team’s success as the do-everything Faulk.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers — The worst thing that could happen to the Buccaneers would be for QB Shaun King to play to his level of inexperience. The Buccaneers are so deep everywhere that I don’t know if there could be a season-destroying injury (although Warren Sapp and Keyshawn Johnson would come close). The Buccaneers have a dominant defense, so their offense is the key. They have quality and quantity at wide receiver, running back and on the offensive line. What they don’t have is a sure thing at quarterback. It’s not as if a ton will be asked of King, but if he suddenly starts becoming an interception machine because of his inexperience, the Bucs will be in big trouble.

Tennessee Titans — The Titans’ worst-case scenario would be to overburden DE Jevon Kearse. If they do that, they might make him less productive, not more productive. Kearse was so successful last season because he was put in a position to do what he does best. If I were running the Titans, I would just keep him at one position and keep things basic for him. Injuries to QB Steve McNair can be easily overcome since Neil O’Donnell is a quality backup. An injury to RB Eddie George would really hurt, but Rodney Thomas is a decent backup.

Washington Redskins — The Redskins could have a problem if the Stephen Davis situation results in a holdout that turns ugly and forces the running back to miss some games. It could get worse if he returns far too late and then gets hurt because he didn’t have a training camp to prepare sufficiently. The Redskins need Davis producing at last year’s magnificent rate to become a Super Bowl champion. I’m not buying into Skip Hicks or Adrian Murrell as guys who can get it done for a big chunk of the season as the main man. I think the Redskins can absorb bad news at just about any other spot on offense. On defense, the worst-case scenario would be if Deion Sanders was hampered by injuries like he was last year. For all of their additions on defense, the Redskins need Sanders to return to his dominant play of old. DE Bruce Smith is a big name, but he’s too old to dominate for an entire game. He can still do it in stretches, though. LB LaVar Arrington should eventually become a great player, but he’s just a rookie, so we’ll have to wait and see how good he’ll be right off the bat. If Sanders returns to his dominant form, he will team with Champ Bailey and Darrell Green to completely stifle opposing passing games, which will give the Redskins a championship defense.

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