Article: As Usual, Gannon is Near Perfect

[xRaider]

By Michael Wilbon
Monday, January 20, 2003; Page D01


OAKLAND, Calif.

For the first 15 passes, the ball never touched the ground. Rich Gannon completed his first 10 and Steve McNair completed his first five. And those first three drives, all of which resulted in touchdown passes, told us how in control, how resourceful and even masterful the starting quarterbacks were going to be with a championship on the line. Gannon, maybe the greatest late bloomer in recent NFL history, was so hot, so close to perfect that his team didn't even bother running the first three quarters. There's never been anything like it; the Raiders simply didn't hand off the football. They called a running play once on the first drive, then didn't hand it to a running back again until the fourth quarter.

Why bother? Why should anybody else touch the ball when you've got the NFL's most valuable player -- Gannon -- and he's delivering every pass between the numbers on the break and picking his spots to dash out of the backfield, too? Gannon threw three touchdowns, ran for the clinching touchdown in the fourth quarter, hit Jerry Rice on those slant passes we've seen him catch for nearly 20 years, hit Tim Brown on the little sideline tap dances we've seen him catch for 15 years.

Yes, Gannon is driving a Maserati, and he knows he can take every turn perfectly, even with pedal to the metal. He completed 29 of 41 passes in the 41-24 AFC championship game win over Tennessee; at least five passes were dropped. Gannon deserves to be the MVP because McNair, who has been too injured or beat up to practice most of the last two months, was up to the task of beating the Raiders. If he'd gotten the slightest bit of help from his mostly inept teammates, or any kind of average effort from the Raiders, it might have been one of those quarterback duels to remember always. Tennessee might have made this interesting for more than three quarters.

After chasing McNair the entire game, Raiders linebacker Napoleon Harris said: "When Steve had to make the right throws he did. When he had to resort to his mobility he did. It was like a heavyweight fight, with him and Rich trading blows. Steve kept them in the game. We had to change [the pass rush] because of him. We started with a spy and a three-man rush early, but that wasn't enough . . . Without him playing like that, we'd have been able to jump on them."

Even so, Gannon was too much to overcome, and in passing for 286 yards he carried Al Davis, the ringless Tim Brown and all of the black-and-silver-clad Raiders nation to the Super Bowl for the franchise's first trip there in 19 years. Even though there is one huge test left, against Tampa Bay and the best defense in football, Gannon performed the way the great quarterbacks perform here in the Bay Area. From Lamonica to Stabler to Brodie to Plunkett to Montana to Young, Gannon is threatening to make himself worthy of their company.

The Raiders ran only 17 times, and Gannon had eight of those, probably none of them designed. "We felt we wanted to utilize Rich's ability to throw the ball," Coach Bill Callahan said. "We have a lot of weapons at our disposal. And we wanted to put some perimeter pressure on the Titans and continue to throw."

That made Tennessee's ability to hang in there even more impressive. Gannon completed his first 12 passes for 157 yards, but the Titans were as sharp, tougher in their approach. McNair, while not perfect throwing the ball as Gannon was early, was downright inspirational the way he led the Titans. It was like John Elway in his prime. And just as Elway, through the first three-quarters of his career, had few offensive teammates anybody would pick from a talent pool, McNair doesn't have much help now.

Gannon was throwing to Rice and Brown, a pair of likely first-ballot Hall of Famers. McNair was throwing to Derrick Mason, Drew Bennett and the valuable but hardly feared Frank Wycheck. Yet, McNair had his team ahead 17-14 with 2½ minutes to play in the first half. But his team quickly betrayed him. There's no other way to put it. If a quarterback ever deserved to curse his teammates, this was one of those times. The Titans had the lead, the ball, and simply needed to kill the final minute-plus of the first half, then would receive the opening kick to start the second half. What more could a visiting team ask in a championship game?

But Robert Holcombe fumbled on a simple, basic handoff, Gannon threw a touchdown pass to Doug Jolley, and just like that the Raiders had reclaimed the lead, 21-17 with 60 seconds to play in the half. And it got crazier. Tennessee's John Simon fumbled the ensuing kickoff with 49 seconds left, and the Raiders went up 24-17 on a field goal as the half expired. The Titans' deficit should have been 11 points, except that Oakland's Jerry Porter dropped a letter-perfect touch-lob in the end zone. The meltdown was completed on the first possession Tennessee had in the third quarter. McNair marched the Titans down near the Oakland 20, but got sacked from the blind side on a serious blocking error. And since place kicker Joe Nedney had injured his right knee making a kick-save tackle earlier in the game and couldn't attempt a 51-yard field goal, the Titans had to punt with nothing to show for the drive.

The difference between McNair and Gannon in this game was reminiscent of the difference between Jim Kelly and Elway at times during their Hall of Fame careers. Kelly had Thurman Thomas and Andre Reed and sometimes James Lofton to throw to. Elway had what's-his-name at receiver, tight end and sometimes running back. On a third-down pass the Titans desperately needed, McNair hit a guy named Eddie Berlin not only in both hands, but the chest, on a 40-yard pass. Berlin dropped it. McNair's 194 yards passing and 53 yards rushing on five carries don't begin to tell of his impact on the game.

Gannon, on the wrong side all these years when it came to teammates, is on the right side now. After all those years with the Vikings and Redskins and Chiefs building toward much of nothing, sitting on the bench too much of that time for a player with that arm and those feet, Gannon now plays with the angels, Rice and Brown. Nimble Charlie Garner is just the back Gannon needs. His line allowed Tennessee not a single sack. He didn't wait all this time, hold the clipboard all those Sundays to let this opportunity slide, even if it meant passing or running virtually every play . . . just as long as he had control of the ball and the ballgame.

[silvernblack10]

Damn, i dont know why im replying to this, but this game was AWESOME. That year was so damn awesome not countin the SB

[Raider3:16]

In the 30 years as a fan. I never ever will forget it.

[Rhode Raider]

That was the last good game we've seen from our beloved Raiders.

[HOFBoundBrown]

I have faith in Rich, I believe that he is worthy of his starting position.

[Bleed]

WTF? SUP? With Wilbon. "WAS IS NOT IS". I have hopes and dreams as well, and one hope and dream is that the Raiders wake the F-up and lose this guy NOW or on June 1st. Anybody notice that Gannons PROBLEMS started WHEN JON LEFT OAKLAND?

[Magnusblitz]

Wait...so Gruden was the coach of the Raiders in the 2002 season until the Super Bowl?

Could've fooled me.

[Bleed]

Gru was the coach in the 2002 season, yes, more or less, his entire coaching staff was still in place and THEY used the same play book, are you still unclear as to why we lost the SB. Do you remember the start of the 2002 season? Thats when Rich started his hold out/contract scenario, which in my opinion is going on today. If the report is true that he is asking for money, its understandable, he's one yr older, has a sick child, and is trying to get all he can. All i'm saying is let the Glazer family give it to him, and lets move forward.

[HorrorSCope]

Grudog wasn't the coach and we would have never passed anything like that if he were here. Question is can Gannon be this perfect again? If it does that will not be Turner ball but Gru/Cali ball. Which from reading Raider fans they want to run the ball a lot more.

[Bleed]

The only reason i want a power runner is to protect Rich. I mean we had that in 2000 IMO, and it worked. The biggest mystery in the Gru era was why we moved away from that plan the next season....to me anyway. One more thing, i hope the new and improved, better than ever Rich Gannon, does not try and RUN again, if he does Turner better put a stop to it.

[HorrorSCope]

"i hope the new and improved, better than ever Rich Gannon, does not try and RUN again"

If the guy can't run he will never be "better than ever" that even above arm strength is why he's not the same person, but geeze he's 62 years old!

[Bleed]

I poster asked the Q? Is Gannon the next Plunkett? No, Rich is the next George Blanda!