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Monday, January 8
Raiders' depth runs Dolphins out of town
By John Clayton
ESPN.com
OAKLAND, Calif. -- The problem sometimes of riding one workhorse halfback through the playoffs is fatigue. A week ago, Dave Wannstedt rode Lamar Smith 40 times in beating the Colts and jumped on his back to celebrate afterwards.
|  | | Tyrone Wheatley scores a third-quarter touchdown for the Raiders during Saturday's 27-0 victory. |
Maybe it was the sore ankle. Maybe it was 349 carries over 18 long
weeks, but Smith couldn't fix what was wrong with the Dolphins' offense on this clear, crisp Saturday in January in a 27-0 loss to the Raiders. As he rested on the sidelines, Smith must have envied what he saw as the Raiders pounded out long, time consuming drives. As a running back, Smith was outmanned five to one because the Raiders have what they call The Committee.
The Dolphins' offense consists of only one CEO -- a Clearly Exhausted
Operator in Lamar Smith.
"It is better to have a group instead of having one guy carrying
the ball 40 times," Raiders backup halfback Randy Jordan said. "What we do is have everybody fresh. If you give a guy 20 to 30 carries a game, he
eventually runs out of gas. I don't care if you are Superman, if you carry
the ball 30 or 40 times, you are going to be gone."
That's a debatable issue in playoff runs. The Titans want to run
Eddie George to exhaustion to get their Super Bowl rings. The workhorse
system worked for Emmitt Smith, Franco Harris, Larry Csonka ... the list goes on and on.
But what if you don't have Eddie George or those Hall of Fame backs?
The Raiders found out Saturday that they beat the Dolphins because their
"fullhouse" backfield trumped the Dolphins lone "ace."
"They call us 'The Committee,' " halfback Tyrone Wheatley said of
his backfield. "Randy Jordan comes in and he can run it inside as well as
outside. Napoleon Kaufman is the speedster. Defenses never know exactly what they are going to get. Sometimes, I even catch a pass."
The Raiders show why depth in the backfield is so vital. For the
last two months, injuries have decimated them but hasn't slowed their
offense. Wheatley has battled ankle and knee injuries. Kaufman has been
fighting a bad knee for a month and was limited to the sidelines after
reinjuring it after one carry Saturday. Fullback Jon Ritchie's body is so
banged up he's been on the inactive list.
Take three backs off any roster and you usually see the slow death
of a team, particularly in this "The Year of the 1,000-Yard Running Back." The Raiders survived because Jordan is a relentless backup
runner who bangs off tacklers, Zack Crockett is a 240-pound fullback who can block and handle short-yardage carries and Terry Kirby, signed at the peak of Wheatley's injuries, adds versatility.
The Committee combined for 45 carries and 140 yards and one
touchdown. Those numbers are modest because they were playing a physical Dolphins defense. But the Dolphins could muster only 40 yards on 17 carries, Smith being bottled up for four yards on eight carries.
"We have too many options to be honest with you," Gruden said.
"We have so many doggone options I don't know who's carrying what play. We spend half our time ball handling on the practice field to make sure everybody gets a look at the plays that they are going to run."
Backs have egos. Raiders backs have pasts, so they don't have egos.
Wheatley and Kirby, for example, have been cut or traded so they just like
having an NFL home. Jordan, an original signing of the Raiders in Los
Angeles in 1993, bounced over to the expansion Jaguars for a couple of years before coming back. Crockett has been to Indianapolis and Jacksonville before the Raiders.
"We all support each other and there is not any animosity toward
anyone," Wheatley said. "You can never be mad at the system. If you are
mad at the system, then you are also going to be mad at something. This is the NFL. You are going to get cut or traded. I could care less about being in Miami and all that. You grow up and move on."
Considered a first-round bust of the Giants coming out of Michigan,
Wheatley worked through his angry days until he found happiness with the
Raiders. In many ways, the offenses of the Raiders and Dolphins are alike. Wheatley and Smith are hard-hitting inside runners who aren't going to break many long runs. Each team has veteran receivers, many who have been cast off other teams. The Raiders' edge is at quarterback where Rich Gannon finished second in MVP voting and Jay Fiedler gets by on play-action if the running game is working.
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This deal is like a heavyweight fight.
They give one punch. You come back with another
punch. If you start out getting two and three
yards, you are going well ... Eventually if you
keep slugging at them, those gains are going to
turn into four-, five- and
six-yarders. ” |
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— Tyrone Wheatley, Raiders running back |
The Dolphins' running game was effectively shot when Raiders
cornerback Tory James turned Fiedler's third pass attempt into a 90-yard
interception return for a touchdown. Wheatley then kept pounding the ball
into the Dolphins' defensive line on back-to-back field goal drives that
opened a 13-0 lead by the second quarter.
"This deal is like a heavyweight fight," Wheatley said. "They
give one punch. You come back with another punch. If you start out getting two and three yards, you are going well, particularly when you are going against a two-gap featuring those big guys on the Dolphins line -- Daryl Gardener and Tim Bowens. Eventually if you keep slugging at them, those gains are going to turn into four-, five- and six-yarders."
That's exactly what happened. Wheatley loves delivering the initial
blow, much like Smith does for the Dolphins. He gained 56 yards on 19
carries, a modest 2.9 yard per attempt day. The rest of The Committee came in took advantage of worn down defenders.
Jordan, for example, broke through four arm tackles en route to a
9-yard run in the second quarter. Kirby broke through for 11 carries on 37 yards and caught two passes for 35.
That made Gannon's job easy. He only had to complete five passes to
wide receivers in an efficient 12-for-18 day for 143 yards.
"This is the best running back group I've been around," Kirby
said. "Everybody can be a power back because we have some big backs. If needed, we can be scat backs. Coach Gruden does an amazing job keeping everybody involved. That works well because defenses can't get a rhythm on trying to stop us."
Next Sunday, though, they will face a workhorse back in the AFC
Championship -- either George of Tennessee or Jamal Lewis of the Ravens. Kaufman probably won't be a factor because he injured his knee. Can The Committee approach a top team with one of the top running backs?
We'll see.
John Clayton is the senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.
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