Bly has turned into quite a pick

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

EW ORLEANS - Word gets around. Reputations get established. A guy has this or that. He can't do this or that. He's cocky. He talks trash. He can play, but ...

Dre' Bly, the Rams' extroverted defensive back, can play, but ...

On that issue, lately anyway, there's really no debate. There may have been some before this year, when he was an admitted hot dog who yearned to make the Big Play, sometimes at the expense of the Little Things. Not anymore.

The Bly who will take the field tomorrow night against the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI is, well, almost Algonquin Clubish compared with the same lad of a year ago. Good thing, too, for him and his team.

He led the Rams in interceptions (6) despite starting only four games. He was in on 45 tackles, recovered a fumble that turned into a touchdown, and, late in the season, became the team's primary punt returner as well.

''Last year, I feel, I didn't play up to my expectations,'' Bly said. ''So I took it upon myself in the offseason to change a few things.''

So he did. He saw himself slowing down (relatively, of course) and lost five pounds. He got married and had a son, Trey. (The son's full name is Donald Andre' Bly III; Dre's is Donald Andre' Bly II.) He came to camp with a renewed sense of purpose, according to secondary coach Ron Meeks. And he watched and followed veteran newcomer Aeneas Williams, whose disciplined, focused style rubbed off on the brash 24-year-old.

Williams knew of Bly. He had followed him in college, when Bly was a three-time first-team All-American from North Carolina. No one in the Atlantic Coast Conference had done that since Herschel Walker 16 years earlier. Williams knew the player. He didn't know the person.

''The plays he made in college, I mean, I couldn't figure out why he was not a top 10 pick,'' Williams said of Bly, who went in the second round of the 1999 draft, 41st overall. ''I could only speculate until I got here. I realized with the talent he has, if he would only work on the small details of the game, that his potential would soar. He's like a little brother to me. That's how I've always looked at him.''

The estimable Williams, the more responsible Bly, and the no-nonsense Meeks, newly arrived to coach the defensive backs, combined to have a dramatic effect. The new Bly is still cocky, still can talk trash, but he's got a reason to. He's been a valuable member of the vastly improved Rams defense.

''He's always been a playmaker, a little bit of a gambler,'' said Meeks, a defensive backs coach with four teams over the last decade. ''A lot of people don't realize that Dre' is always looking for the big play and sometimes he's not disciplined enough to stay in his area of responsibility. He avoids his area of responsibility to make the big play. What we tried to do this year was make him disciplined and make him stay in his area of responsibility, that big plays would come to him. And he has done a good job with that.''

You want big plays? Of his six interceptions, two were returned for touchdowns, two were in the end zone, a fifth was at the 1-yard line, and the other stopped a scoring drive in Rams territory. One of the TDs was a 93-yarder against the Lions, the other a 56-yarder against the Falcons.

''It's really nice,'' Bly said of the team's defensive about-face. ''Last year, we were the laughingstock of football. It was the `Greatest Show on Earth' for the offense and the `Worst Show on Earth' for the defense. This year, it's nice to be finally getting that respect.''

Bly generally comes in as a fifth defensive back and has returned both kickoffs and punts this season. (Patriots fans might remember Bly returning a punt 2 yards in the Nov. 18 game at Foxboro Stadium.)

Meeks said he's still working on Bly's tendency to, uh, overdo it on the celebration front. Asked if Bly has a little bit of hot dog in him, Meeks smiled and said, ''No question about it. But there's nothing wrong with some of that, as long as the player doesn't take it overboard. I'm an advocate of what Dre' is all about. But I also have to stay on him to the point where he understands he has to be disciplined and stay within our defense.''

Bly said that's no longer a problem or an issue. He is zoned in on the Patriots and, like many of his teammates, supremely confident in his and their ability to finish what they started last July.

''From Day 1, everything we've been doing has led up to this game,'' he said. ''We know who we are and what we are. You can play a physical game or you can play a finesse game, play whatever you want - we'll beat you. We're about getting wins. We're never scared. If we do what we're supposed to do, we'll be fine.''