Sir Purr
Well-known member
- Mar 16, 2019
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FOX: “The Rams were super, super explosive on offense. But we were very competitive on defense, so we felt pretty good about everything going into the game. Actually, for three quarters we throttled ‘em pretty good. We had a bit of a lead and then they came roaring back.
“There was a fourth-and-4 and they picked it up, and that was a turning point in the game. They came back to tie the game. It went back and forth. Then in the first overtime, John Kasay kicked a field goal, and I thought we had won the game. But they called delay of game, believe it or not. (And after being moved back 5 yards, Kasay subsequently missed a 45-yard field-goal attempt). So we went back at it again.”
HENNING: “The game went back and forth to such an extent as no other game I’ve ever been involved in. There was a time when we won the game and they took it away from us. We kicked a field goal and they said time had run out – but the time had run out because they, the officials, didn’t stop the clock to switch the balls. And John kicked the field goal and we all thought we had it won.
“Then they moved us back five yards and John had to try to kick it again. Whatever it was, after that point in the game, there became a determination about our team that was really discernible. You could cut it with a knife. It was both our offense and our defense. I mean, I don’t want to demean them – but they played above their heads for the rest of the game from that point on.”
Smith even got gouged in the eye in the fourth quarter, forcing him to wear a visor for the rest of the game.
SMITH: “Travis Fisher (of the Rams) – he was a corner from Central Florida. He was pressed up and he went to jam me. He jammed me in my eye. I was having a hard time seeing, so they put the visor on me. There were a lot of things going on in that game that just weren’t supposed to happen.”
HENNING: “We went through the first overtime, back and forth. And then when they stopped the clock and got rearranged for double-overtime, there was a period of time that you don’t usually have during a game. And the conversation between myself and Jake came up about this play.
“I said, ‘Jake, what do you see? How far over is the safety going?’ And he says, ‘They’re really trying to cover over the top.’ They were a heavy Cover-2 team. That’s why we had the play in in the first place. They were trying to cover Steve over the top, so he wouldn’t go by the short guy and catch the ball in the hole. Because if he catches the ball in the hole, nobody’s going to stop him. So basically they were trying to cheat the coverage and double-team Steve – play him from the inside out and then have the safety over the top of him, so we wouldn’t hit him in the hole there.
"Well, Jake then went to Steve and explained that to him. And Steve says, ‘Hey, I’ll turn that guy. I’ll go inside and up and turn that guy.’ So Jake comes back to me and says, ‘He thinks he can do it.’ And I said, ‘OK, go for it.’"