Heck, Offensive Line Keep Rice in Check
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| Coach Norv Turner has a word with tackle Andy Heck. (John McDonell - The Washington Post) |
Washingtonpost.com Correspondent
Sunday, December 12, 1999; 9:30 p.m. EST
Throughout the past two decades, the Redskins have had to deal with the type of fierce pass rushers within the division that make a quarterback wish he had eyes in the back of his head. From Reggie White in his heyday and Hall-of-Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor, and more recently the Giants' boisterous defensive end Michael Strahan.
But Sunday, the Redskins faced and neutralized one of the league's emerging pass rushers in Simeon Rice, the NFL co-leader in sacks. Left tackle Andy Heck, an offseason free agent signee who played at W.T. Woodson High School in the early 1980s, was charged with slowing down the Cardinals' defensive end, who entered the game tied with the Rams' Kevin Carter with 13 sacks.
Heck, who has been entrenched at left tackle since opening day, had difficulty with Rice early. Just three plays into the Redskins' first drive, Rice darted around Heck and knocked the football out of quarterback Brad Johnson's hand in what appeared to be a forward pass but was ruled a fumble. Fortunately for the Redskins, the ball had enough forward momentum to flutter into the hands of Stephen Davis four yards downfield. Two plays later, Davis rumbled 50 yards for a touchdown that put the Redskins up 7-0.
In the second period, Rice and left end Thomas Burke delivered a fearsome hit that sent a scrambling Brad Johnson off his feet on third down, forcing the Redskins to punt from deep in their territory. The hit also accounted for Rice's major statistic of the day: 0.5 sack. Meanwhile, Heck and the Redskins had run up 80 yards on the ground and held a 21-3 lead.
"I think Norv does a good job of calling plays that aren't going to put offensive lineman in a bind," said Heck, who conceded the first-half edge to Rice but gave himself the nod in the second half. "From time-to-time, he's going to going to get me some help from a back or a tight end. Very rarely is he going to leave me isolated back there on a pass rusher like Rice. We made plans to cover him up with a few guys and kind of keep him off balance."
Heck says he was isolated on Rice for just under 50 percent of passing downs while he received some type of help the rest of the time. The majority of that help came from fullback Mike Sellers, whose job as primarily a blocking back is to help protect the quarterback.
"He didn't garner much individual attention from us during the week," said Sellers. "He didn't really cause a lot of problems for us as a team. If my assigned guy is not rushing [the quarterback] and Simeon is coming off the corner, I'm going to chip block him."
Rice was quiet for the majority of the second half, save for a third-and-goal play during the fourth quarter in which he forced Brad Johnson into a bad throw that was intercepted in the end zone. But what had the potential to be a big play fizzled out when Arizona went four and out on its next series.
For the game, Rice was credited with just two tackles and his half-sack a pretty successful afternoon for Heck and an offensive line that led the NFC in fewest sacks allowed at 20 coming into Sunday's contest.
"I think he had me off balance early on," said Heck, "But I regrouped and did a better job in the second half. Really, what it boils down to is not so much what he does. It's more helpful to study film of myself than it is of him. You know, 'What did I do last week?' If I'm sound in my technique, it doesn't really matter what the guy across from me does."
For the afternoon, the offensive line allowed only two sacks while opening holes for a ground game that plowed for 226 yards on 46 carries, including 189 by workhorse Stephen Davis. And without Heck at left tackle, things might not have been so easy.
"I think we succeeded by not giving him [Rice] the opportunity to do what he does best," said right guard Tre Johnson. "We were prepared for him, but he's not God. Andy knew what he had to do and he did his job well. He was on his [Rice's] butt all day."
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