In the climactic play of the Super Bowl, John Taylor cut down and across on a post pattern to get open for Joe Montana and give the San Francisco 49ers the go-ahead touchdown. It sounds simple, but it’s not. The post pattern–in which a wide receiver runs straight down, shimmies to the outside with a delicacy that must not diminish his speed, and then cuts on a diagonal toward the goalpost–is one of the most difficult patterns for a defensive cornerback to defend in man-on-man coverage, but the offense must first establish that the defense is in that coverage. Safeties line up deep and in the middle of the field precisely to defend against the post pattern. The Niners made sure that the Cincinnati Bengals would be in single coverage–at least at first–by lining up Taylor and Jerry Rice side by side. Rice was having an incredible day, one that would eventually earn him Most Valuable Player honors, and it was guaranteed that he would receive most of the attention of the Bengals’ defensive backs.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Now, the key to the play was that the Niners circled their running back out of the backfield to a position about halfway between Montana and where Taylor would eventually wind up. (That the Niners’ running backs confused the sides of the field in lining up made no difference; in fact, if it had been Roger Craig and not Tony Rathman running this pattern the Bengals would have been even more certain to bite the bait, as they did anyway.) The running back here acts as a decoy, and he was effective in the role because Montana had been throwing to his backs on this circle pattern all game. Looking at the critical play again and again on replay, one sees the Bengals’ safety standing almost exactly where the pass will eventually wind up, but he abandons this position and comes upfield in anticipation of the pass to running back Rathman. At that point, it was simply a matter of Montana leading Taylor correctly, and he must have done that a thousand times in practice.
Henson, however, is somehow (don’t bother me now with questions, son; I’m writing) an excellent recruiter, and one thing that can be said about him is he teaches a good defense. This season’s Fighting Illini are probably the most talented group of players he’s ever had. Early last week, they made it to the top of the college hoop heap by being the only major team left undefeated across the nation. Of course, they lost their next game to some relatively weak competition at the University of Minnesota, but they had an immediate opportunity to redeem themselves as Bob Knight brought an Indiana team also ranked in the top 20 to Champaign-Urbana last Saturday.
What’s frustrating about this is that the Illini are obviously capable of better. Of course, the recent loss of off guard Kendall Gill has hurt. Gill, the former Rich Central star from the southern suburbs, has long, thin arms that resemble those of the 70s NBA star guard Charlie Scott. Gill broke his foot during the game that clinched the Illini’s number-one ranking, as they beat Georgia Tech. This has thrown the Illini off, but it’s no excuse. Point guard Stephen Bardo remains to run what’s called the offense, and the Illini still have their best weapon, Kenny Battle, a middle-sized but well-muscled player who resembles a small Kenny Norman, quicker and with a better shooting touch.
