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The franchise Eddie George makes the Tennessee machine run
Posted: Tuesday January 11, 2000 11:09 AM
By John Donovan, CNNSI.com NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The room is stoked. At first sight of the tall, good-looking bald man walking through the doorway, the chant begins. It rises through the restaurant until most of the people in the place -- old men, youngsters in football jerseys, waitresses, waiters, bar patrons with beers in hand -- are joining in. "Ed-die, Ed-die, Ed-die, Ed-die." It is a rare public appearance in Nashville for Eddie George, the Tennessee Titans' running back hero, and the good people of Middle Tennessee are absolutely letting him have it. He smiles and signs and poses for photos for the better part of 45 minutes. He answers a few questions on a radio show. And, all the while, Eddie George is looking for a hole, one just big enough to get him out of this place. "That stuff's pretty cool," a quiet George says the next day, "but ..." But the fact is, that stuff gets to be too much for Eddie George sometimes. He has other things to do. Films to watch. Gameplans to study. Workouts. The playoffs. This is no time to start letting all the praise get to you.
The thing about George is he can do it, too. He can carry a team on his muscled back like few other backs in the league can, even if people tend to forget it. It has been George, after all, who has kept the offense chugging along while quarterback Steve McNair has slowly matured. George has started every game in his four-year career, all 64 of them. There have been other constants on this team, to be sure, through three straight 8-8 seasons. None has meant more than George. "Eddie brings us a little something," says Reese. "He brings us that ... toughness. In his mind, he can go out and gain 200 yards every week, if you give him the ball. And I'm not so sure he's wrong." George may not be considered the best back in the NFL, but there are plenty of arguments to be made why he should be. He's one of only four backs to run for at least 1,200 yards in each of his first four seasons. (The others are Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson and Barry Sanders.) The 6-foot-3, 240-pound George is among the strongest and most durable backs in the league, a punishing runner who has averaged more than 300 carries a season every year he's been in the league.
"I don't like tackling him," Saints cornerback Ashley Ambrose said earlier this year. "A guy like that gets in the secondary ... Look at me. I'm 180. I'm trying to bring that guy down by myself and it's tough." Still, people wonder about George. He has been criticized for wearing down, even with his fanatical attention to fitness. In the second half of each of his first three seasons, his average per carry dropped significantly.
He had one string, from late last season into the early part of this one, where he went 12 straight games without gaining 100 yards. In his first three seasons, only five of his 18 100-yard games came in the second half of the season. And you know what? George hears all the criticism. He even agrees with much of it. "I haven't had that big year yet. I've been consistent, but I haven't had that ...," says George, his voice trailing off. "I'm not going to sit up here and say I don't strive for that. It can happen. In due time. But, right now, it's like 'Why should I be mentioned along those lines?'" Still, it's what George has brought to the Titans that makes this team one of the biggest threats in these playoffs. He is what makes the offense run, he is why McNair gets his opportunities to create. Opponents know, simply, that to stop Tennessee, they have to first stop George. And the Titans know that to win, they have to get George in a groove. They are 13-0 when he carries at least 27 times. "I'm not a Jerome Bettis-type runner," George says. "I'm quick enough and strong enough to miss hits, too. My style is not getting a lot of punishment." "When the situation is right, I do what I can do." This season, George's critics have been silenced, mostly. He has upped his yards-per-carry almost a full yard in the second half, averaging a gaudy 4.6 per. Four of his five 100-yarders came in the final eight games. He is as fresh as he's ever been at this point of the season. So when he walks out on the Adelphia Colisuem field this weekend for the Titans' first playoff game since 1993, with the chants of 67,000 Tennessee fans ringing in his ears, Eddie George will be expected to do what he has done for this franchise for the past four years. Carry them as far as he can.
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