From the ground up

Running ball is foundation of game plan

By Peter May, Globe Staff, 2/1/2002

EW ORLEANS - There are many, many things you can find here, ranging from drop-dead jambalaya to cheesy Mardi Gras beads to voodoo lounges to things that are not suitable for publication in a family newspaper.

The Patriots have a more mundane mission: They'd just like to find their running game.

Three days of practice at Tulane University and countless film sessions and meetings have been devoted to this rather basic pursuit. The team that ran roughshod over the Dolphins and Panthers in the last two games of the regular season has been unable to keep it up in the playoffs against the Raiders and Steelers. They know they can't afford a three-peat in Sunday's Super Bowl.

Patriots players, coaches, and reasonable people everywhere are quick to point out, quite accurately, that there were mitigating circumstances in both postseason games. The Raiders game was played in a driving snowstorm, making it difficult, if not impossible, for both runners and blockers to get any traction. The Patriots gained 68 yards on the ''ground'' that night, with Antowain Smith accounting for 65. (The Raiders gained only 77.) The New England offense did not start to move until Tom Brady went into the no-huddle attack and started throwing short passes from the shotgun formation.

The Steelers were merely the NFL's best defensive team against the run, and the Patriots altered their game plan accordingly. They gained only 67 yards rushing all afternoon, on 25 carries. ''We were looking to throw it a little more and then maybe run it at the end of the game,'' coach Bill Belichick said.

But when the Patriots needed to get some yardage on the ground and eat up the clock in the fourth quarter, they succeeded. Smith had a big 19-yard run just after the two-minute warning that sealed the deal.

It may be unrealistic to expect anything like the rushing efforts against Miami (196 yards) or Carolina (102 yards). The Rams aren't exactly pushovers on the line of scrimmage.

St. Louis's rushing defense was second in the NFC and third overall. Their total defense ranks third in the NFL. They allowed 11 rushing touchdowns all season and an NFC-lowest 77 rushing first downs. They did not allow an opposing rusher to gain 100 yards all season (88 was the highest, done by the Giants' Ron Dayne and the Lions' James Stewart).

''If everyone runs to the football and fills the gaps, we should be all right,'' said Bill Kollar, the Rams' defensive line coach. ''We've done a solid job all year against the run.''

It is realistic to say that if the Patriots don't have some success running the ball Sunday, there's a good chance they will leave The Big Easy without the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

''We have to do a better job than we've done in the last two weeks, unquestionably,'' said Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia. ''That will be a big thing for us. For us to be an effective team, we have to run the ball. Whatever that translates into, we have to do it.''

If they don't, the Rams offense will be on the field. And you know what that means.

''You have to run the ball, especially against the Rams,'' said fullback Marc Edwards. ''You've got to try to keep their offense off the field. It's no great mystery. Everybody says the same thing every week.

''When you run the ball effectively, more often that not, you're going to win the game. There have been games this season where we lost the yardage battle but won the rushing battle and won the game very, very convincingly.''

The Patriots rushed for an average of 112.1 yards a game during the season, 13th in the NFL. Smith had four 100-yard-plus performances, and the Patriots were 4-0 in those games.

The running burden, initially, will fall on the shoulders of Smith, who has been banged up for a while but is reasonably healthy and looking forward to playing. He had only 36 yards against the Rams in the Nov. 18 meeting in Foxborough but came on strong at the end of the season.

''Smith is a hard guy to bring down,'' said Kollar. ''He runs heavy. By that I mean he can just run over you.''

''If we want to have any chance, we've got to run the football effectively because it sets up so many other things,'' Smith said. ''Mainly, it keeps their offense off the field. But it's got to start with me. If we can get something going with the running game, that will make it that much easier for us.''

Smith was asked if he had any recollection of the 1991 Super Bowl, in which the heavily favored Bills were upset by Bill Parcells's Giants in part because of New York's ability to control the ball. He said he watched the game.

''That's what we have to do,'' he said. ''They kept the Bills off the field. If we can control the line of scrimmage and run it well enough, things could work out in our favor.''

The Rams are expecting the Patriots to use screens and split screens liberally to advance the ball as an adjunct to their running game. Kollar said his film work showed the Patriots had run plays like that 13 times in the last four games.

''They do that,'' he said, ''when they want to get the ball into a playmaker's hands.''

Agreed Grant Wistrom, the Rams' defensive end, ''They're going to try to do everything they can to get the ball into Troy Brown's hands. That is something we're preparing for.''

The Rams also are preparing for a battle at the line of scrimmage. Kollar called the New England offensive line ''aggressive and very physical'' and said Smith and the runners ''will be a good test for us to see if we can wrap them up.'' Wistrom said stopping the run in this case ''is a lot easier said than done. They do a very good job.''

They're going to have to do a really good job Sunday night. The alternatives are too scary to contemplate.