THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701260213
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Jim Ducibella
LENGTH: 149 lines
Darren Perry, 28, is a graduate of Chesapeake's Deep Creek High School and Penn State University, where his 15 career interceptions is tied for second-most in school history. He began his career under Joe Paterno as a quarterback. An eighth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1992, Perry led the team with six interceptions and was a unanimous selection as the team's rookie of the year. Since then, Perry has been a fixture at free safety in the Steelers' defensive backfield, twice leading the team in interceptions.
Three years ago, Perry founded Intercept for Care, in which he and other members of the Steelers' secondary donated money for each interception they made to the Chesapeake Care free clinic.
Here are his comments on the game, plus five Patriots to watch:
ON THE GAME: ``I can understand Green Bay being the favorite, but I also think New England has a great chance to win. The more people knock them, the more those guys are going to feed off it and use it as a battle cry. How many times have we seen one team be a huge favorite over another and yet something strange happens? A lot.
``I also think there's something to the talk about giving Bill Parcells two weeks to come up with a gameplan. We played those guys in the playoffs after they had a week off and it was amazing. They went back and found every single little thing teams had used with success against us all season, even back to the fifth game of the season against Kansas City. They have great minds on that staff. Don't underestimate them.
``They did a lot of things we didn't expect. Green Bay can expect to see some of that, too. We'd go over to the sidelines and when we had a moment to think about what had just happened, we were like, `Oh, they're running that play Jacksonville used against us.' Only by then, it was too late.''
PERRY'S FIVE PATRIOTS TO WATCH: RG Todd Rucci - ``He's going to have to handle Gilbert Brown, Green Bay's huge defensive tackle. If he can block him one-on-one, they can use Keith Byars and Ben Coates to nick away at Reggie White, who you can't block one-on-one, before they go out in pass patterns. Since Coates is so important to the Patriots' offense, I would think Byars would be the one most likely to chip away at Reggie White. So I guess you could say that what kind of game Byars plays depends on what kind of game Rucci has on Brown.''
TE Ben Coates - ``His matchup will be with Packers strong safety LeRoy Butler. If Coates has a big day, New England's chances of winning increase significantly. He loves to push off, run the short routes that keep drives going. On third downs, he'll be on the line of scrimmage, run down the field 8-10 yards, then lean into you before turning to make the catch. He's so big that it amounts to a pushoff - not legal - but it gets him open on a consistent basis and it's one of the reasons he's a terrific tight end.''
CB Ty Law - ``Actually, both of New England's corners are going to be crucial today, because Antonio Freeman and Andre Rison are good weapons for Brett Favre. Law isn't a speed burner and my suspicion is New England will play a lot of single `corner 2' defense, meaning there will be a safety assigned to give him help deep. Ty's a big-play player.''
CB Ricky Reynolds - ``Used to be with Tampa Bay, he's a savvy veteran who has been around. He doesn't take a lot of chances. He's a good, solid cornerback who understands the game and shouldn't be suckered by any new wrinkles the Packers throw in.''
MLB Ted Johnson - ``One of the first people Bill Cowher mentioned in our first meeting in preparation for the Patriots was Ted Johnson and what Bill said was that we had to account for Johnson at all times, because he made play after play after play otherwise. They're going to try and get him caught up in their finesse game, faking the screen one way and throwing it the other. How he reacts to that will be one the key aspects of the game.
``Notice I didn't mention Chris Slade and Willie McGinest. I think those two guys are givens.''
PERRY'S PICK: Green Bay, close.
William Fuller, 34, is a graduate of Chesapeake's Indian River High School and the University of North Carolina, where he was a three-time All-American. Since becoming a professional football player, he has played for Philadelphia Stars of the USFL, the Los Angeles Rams, the Houston Oilers and the Philadelphia Eagles. A four-time Pro Bowl selection - including all three seasons he has been with the Eagles - Fuller has 91 1/2 NFL sacks and has been one of the league's most consistent defensive ends.
He is known throughout the NFL for his charity work, most notably his involvement in the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, for which he sits on the international board of directors.
Here are Fuller's comments on the game and five Packers to watch.
ON THE GAME: ``I think New England will move the ball and I think they'll have opportunities to score. A lot's going to depend on what Green Bay does with the ball. They have the type of offense where they can control the ball, regardless of how much they score. If they score early and continue to score, it could be a blowout.
``I think Green Bay has a good defense, but I wouldn't exactly put them in the great category. I know they ended up being the No. 1 defense, but so much of that depends on your offense and how much ball-control they have. If I'm only on the field 20 minutes a game, I ought to be fresh. Not taking anything away from Green Bay's defense, but their offense is the major key to this game.''
FULLER'S FIVE PACKERS TO WATCH: QB Brett Favre - ``A lot of what he does is by timing and it's tough to get to a quarterback like Brett. It gets frustrating for a defense after a while. Obviously, you still want to get some pressure on him and you can't do it unless you blitz. The only team I saw that had success blitzing against them was Dallas - and they had those two outstanding cornerbacks, who were able to play a lot of man-to-man. If you're going to blitz Favre, you better have a great secondary, because you put a lot of pressure on your corners, even your linebackers.
``Having said that, the Patriots have Willie McGinest and Chris Slade, two speed rushers who can give any team fits. And Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick are going to devise a scheme where they're going to get some pressure on Favre. If they let him sit back there, he'll eat them alive. I'm sure they're studying that Dallas tape, because the key to the game is get pressure on Favre.
``You've also got to shut down the running plays; that's what makes it difficult. That's what happened to the Carolina Panthers. I don't think they underestimated Green Bay's running game, but they obviously felt the key was getting to Favre. I don't disagree.
``If you allow those guys a two-way goal, meaning they get their passing and running games off to good starts, it's almost impossible to ever stop them.''
FB Edgar Bennett - ``He's a tough runner. He gets the tough yards up the middle. He runs hard, high-knee action. Can be very difficult to tackle once he gets up a head of steam. Underappreciated by the fans.''
RB Dorsey Levens - ``He's the quick guy. They send him out on pass routes. He and Bennett complement each other real well. Both are very good running backs, but when I think of Bennett I think power. When I think Levens, I think speed and quickness.''
WR Antonio Freeman - ``I was surprised how many passes he caught after (Robert) Brooks went down. He's been stepping up his game year after year after year. He's had a tremendous amount of success once they lost Sterling Sharpe. He really took his game to another level. It was like he said, `Hey, I can be another Sterling Sharpe. I can lead this football team.' And he's done it.
``Some people said that he caught the ball into his body too much. But wearing that cast kind of keeps him from doing that. It makes him concentrate on using his hands more and he's done better at it.''
TE Keith Jackson - ``He still runs real well. He's real smart. He knows how to read zones, split zones, take it up on a post pattern. The thing he does best, maybe, is run routes. You look at the tight ends in this league. It's not the ones with the great speed that kill you. It's the ones who are smart, who know how to push off, know how to break routes. You look at Brent Jones from San Francisco, you look at Keith Jackson and Mark Chmura. Those guys don't have a lot of speed, but it's their smarts, their awareness. They know what to do when they see a safety rolling up one way that there's only a linebacker responsible for you. Or that there's a defensive lineman dropping out, hooking up with you, and you adjust your routes accordingly. Both of their tight ends do a heck of a job, but Chmura's just coming back, so who knows how effective he's going to be.''
FULLER'S PICK: Green Bay ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
Darren Perry
William Fuller