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Thursday, August 31, 2000 By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
Quarterbacks don't come much bigger than Kent Graham, built more like a tight end at 6 feet 5, 240 pounds.
Steelers Notebook:
Columnist Bob Smizik:
He's a big man. Or, if you're a Baltimore Ravens linebacker, a big target.
The ravenous Ravens defense was constructed from a blueprint of the Steelers' Blitzburgh packages of the mid-1990s, when they led the NFL in sacks and swarmed and confused and mangled quarterbacks.
Marvin Lewis, the Ravens' defensive coordinator, coached the Steelers' linebackers back then, and he has put together what might be the nastiest and best defense in the NFL.
And Sunday, they likely will tee off on Kent Graham.
"Well," Baltimore Coach Brian Billick said, "the conventional thinking says, obviously, if you have a quarterback in the pocket who isn't as mobile as another, that there's certain things you do."
You come after him, especially when a rookie starts his first game at right tackle and another starts his first game at wide receiver.
"They very well could," said Graham. "I think they will hold true to what they've done in the past, and they're a blitzing defense and they'll mix it up, so you have to be real sharp in all situations."
The Ravens had the No. 2-ranked defense overall in the NFL last season. They were second against the run and sixth against the pass. Their 49 sacks ranked fourth in the AFC with end Michael McCrary (11.5) and linebacker Peter Boulware (10) leading the pack.
They have Tony Siragusa in the middle of the line, Ray Lewis at middle linebacker and Rod Woodson at safety. They have Jamie Sharper at outside linebacker and Chris McAlister at cornerback.
The only team on the Steelers' schedule with a defense close to it is Washington, which ends the home season for them at Three Rivers Stadium.
But with the blitz comes opportunity.
"If they choose to blitz," Graham said, "that will give us an opportunity to make some plays, hopefully, some big plays. We'll just have to try to take advantage of it."
In order to do so, his young receivers, rookie Plaxico Burress and Troy Edwards, must recognize their assignments in blitz control. They must know which players are blitzing and adjust their routes accordingly. If they do it correctly, big pass plays could result. If they fail, interceptions, sacks and other calamities will occur.
"That's something that's going to be crucial for us," Graham said. "Hopefully, I'll be able to control some of that up there myself as far as clarifying things for the receivers."
Burress and Edwards had their difficulties against vanilla defenses this summer. What will they do in a real game against the Ravens, who love to disguise what they're doing before the snap?
"If we don't recognize the blitz and pick it up," Burress said, "they're going to blitz you on every play.
"That's probably the hardest thing I've had to learn so far -- running and knowing who to break your route off of. Because they can bring everybody, but if they don't bring the right person, you keep your route on.
"Everybody has to know who to break off of. Baltimore, they'll put everybody on the line and when the ball is hiked, everybody backs off. You have to run and be looking. It's very hard when you have to look in and see them blitzing when they have pressure right in your face."
Graham has a reputation as an immobile quarterback, but the sack statistics don't back that up. The more mobile Kordell Stewart was sacked 22 times last season and had 275 passing attempts. Graham was sacked 26 times and had 271 attempts.
That's not dramatically different, considering their contrasting styles.
"I think we're going to go out there and look for a guy who's going to stay in the pocket," Woodson said. "He can throw the ball, he's a good reader, he's a big guy, he can see over the line, and he's a patient guy.
"I think you have to be very smart in the way we play the game. Any quarterback, given the right situation, can scramble and make a first down."
Graham smacked his right fist into his open left hand to emphasize his next point.
"Well, there's an element of being very aggressive and attacking people. If they're going to start blitzing us, we're going to do some things and try to take advantage of that. Those are the opportunities when we can go deep.
"Hopefully, with our receivers and the talent we have, we have the ability to win one-on-one. It will be interesting to see how the game plays out in the first quarter and how they're going to play us."
The Ravens like to blitz to stop the run as well. Halfback Jerome Bettis, when he's not running, must pick up one of the blitzing linebackers.
"I figure it's feast or famine," Bettis said of the Ravens' blitzes. "It's one of those things, when you catch them, it's big. But when they catch you in terms of their scheme, then they get you.
"There's going to be some wins and losses. It's not going to be one of those games where it's 2-yard, 2-yard, 2-yard. It's going to be bang or bang.
"There's going to be one side or the other that's going to get the big bang.
"They always stunt, stunt, run-blitz. They do that to stop the run, primarily, and then they dare you to throw the football, and so many times it's hard to throw the football. The teams that have been able to throw the football against them have beaten them."
Throwing and catching footballs have been the Steelers' biggest concerns of the summer. Sunday, the Ravens' defense will let them know how they've done.
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