QB glory days are (really) here again

BY AARON LICHTIG

MIKE FIALA/NEWSMAKERS

With all of the hype surrounding the Ravens' and Giants' defenses, most fans forgot (until Collins' incredible performance last week) that their teams even had quarterbacks, or even offenses. During the week leading up to the divisional playoffs, I couldn't find many mentions of either quarterback in the national media.

If you take ESPN's word for it, the Super Bowl won't be a fun game to watch. The defenses are just too good. I wouldn't be surprised to see them suggest that the Giants punt on first down. Instead of offense-versus-defense football, maybe they'd like to see Ray Lewis and Michael Strahan put on those bush-league sumo suits and wrestle at midfield, synthetic bellies hanging over the specially designed Super Bowl logo.

COURTESY NFL.COM Quarterbacks Kerry Collins (above) and Trent Dilfer have their sights set on a Super Bowl victory.

As good as these defenses are, neither one matters. That's right—the most important players in this game will not be the ones doing the tackling. This game will come down to two men, and they won't be the defensive coordinators. Collins and Dilfer deserve to be where they are, and one of them will be the key to bringing the championship back to his ancient, stodgy owner.

Collins, while still not the most polished of NFL quarterbacks, is, like his coach Jim Fassell, the kind of guy you would want with you in the proverbial trenches—or the real ones. The Collins who left the Panthers, the Collins who essentially quit in midseason, isn't the real Kerry Collins. The real Kerry Collins is the man who led the Panthers to the NFC title game as a second-year player, the one who put together a perfect drive in the final two minutes against Illinois to preserve Penn State's perfect record in 1994. Giants General Manager Ernie Accorsi knew this. Before he re-signed the embattled Collins as a free agent, he consulted twice with the oracle of offense, Joe Paterno, who assured him that Collins was the man who could take his team back to Lombardi-land. And after his record-setting, 381-yard, five-touchdown performance against the vaunted Vikings on Sun., Jan. 14, more than a few former Collins-bashers would agree.

I'm not going to get Plutarchian here—Dilfer and Collins are certainly not leading parallel lives. Dilfer is everyone's good guy, a family man involved with the United Way, Athletes in Action, and the Big Brother/Big Sister Program, whose past is not marred by DUI arrests and ugly racial incidents. But he, like Collins, has spent the majority of his NFL career haunted by his enormous potential. Dilfer finished the 1999 campaign in Tampa having passed for a paltry 1,619 yards, with 11 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He was let go by the Bucs and found a new home in Baltimore, Mary., backing up the erratic Tony Banks. And after Banks "led" the Ravens to zero touchdowns in five games, Dilfer stepped in and put more points on the board. He didn't turn the ball over, he didn't make mistakes, and his teammates responded. In the conference finals, he proved that he could lead a balanced attack and, with his 96-yard completion to Shannon Sharpe, also make the big play. In short, he proved that he is a leader.

Don't get me wrong—it's nice to see defensive players getting some recognition. The halcyon days of the defensive dominance of players like Lawrence Taylor, Mark Gastineau, and Mike Singletary are here again. It's nice to see Ray Lewis' mug on magazine covers instead of another pretty-boy snapcaller. The quarterback still runs the show, however. In the NFL, even this year, good offensive play will always defeat stellar defensive play, and the key to offensive success, unless you are the 1997 Detroit Lions, is the quarterback.

While Steve McNair and Kurt Warner's aerial skills and overly embellished scrambles are exciting to watch, Dilfer and Collins are the guys that I'd want to have in my huddle. The defenses will carry both teams, but the deciding factor will be the play of the quarterbacks, who will both have to have the games of their lives. The ideal scenario would be to have the game turn into a 53-52 shootout, with both quarterbacks throwing for over 400 yards. But the defenses are tremendous, and a 3-2 score is probably more likely. But the quarterbacks will still be the ones who decide the game, not Lewis and Strahan. Unless they do that sumo thing.

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