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| College: North Carolina State |
Height: 6-0 |
| Born: June 5, 1976 |
Weight: 190 lbs. |
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Torry's Take: It was a matter of time
By Torry Holt
Special to ABC Sports Online
The Silverdome is a hostile environment. As I mentioned last week, you can get overexcited and anxious, and have a tendency to get out of what you're doing on the offensive side of the ball. That's what happened to us on our first couple of possessions. Once we settled in and got comfortable, we were able to work it out and make things work.
|  | | Torry Holt caught four passes for 74 yards, and a touchdown. |
The Lions' coverage scheme is not aggressive. It allows the receivers to get up on the cushion and basically run any type of route that you want to run. Not to take anything away from Detroit, because they are a good defensive football team, but they do have some soft spots in their defense. Our thing was to try and exploit that as much as possible. If that meant throwing it 10 or 15 times in a row, we were going to do whatever it took in order to move the ball and score some points.
We knew coming into the game that we would have an opportunity to move the ball through the air. If we could hold their big guys up front -- they have a great defensive line -- then we knew we could continue to get open and make plays.
They tried to blitz in the red zone, and we knew that was one of their tendencies, and we were able to take advantage of that with the touchdown pass to Az Hakim.
I caught four passes for 74 yards and one touchdown. The TD was a new play that coach Martz had put in for me, called "Big Torry." We repped it a couple of times in practice. It's a route I've been running for the last three years.
We had called our last timeout of the first half, and my touchdown was the first play from scrimmage after the timeout. That's the mentality we have. We're going to strike. We're not going to wait around to see how the other team adjusts. We're going to stick to our game plan and come at teams and force them to adjust to us.
I went deep and had Jeff Robinson at tight end underneath me. The cornerback decided he wanted to take Robbie on the underneath route and left me one on one with the safety and I was able to beat him. Kurt (Warner) threw a nice ball and I was able to get under it for the score.
It was basically a deep corner route. Kurt says nobody runs that route better than I do. It was one of those plays, where after a timeout, the defense is probably thinking something quick and short to try and get back in the rhythm. But Coach Martz's mentality is that we want to put points on the board quickly.
My hat goes off to the defense, though. They're building confidence week in and week out. They feel like they're one of the top defenses in the NFL, and they take pride in that. They want to go out there and show the people and the league that they are good.
They had a good game, with Dre' Bly getting the interception and the touchdown, Grant Wistrom had a great game up front, and the sleeper was Leonard Little, who came out and played real well for us.
Those guys are just flying to the ball. They're understanding the scheme and going out and executing it.
Now let's talk about Marshall Faulk. Don't get twisted with the numbers. He's still a big part of our offense, and he was a big factor Monday night. What are teams going to do, double Marshall or bring eight into the box? That allows us to be one on one on the outside, and all we have to do is step up and do our jobs. And we've been doing that. We've been preparing ourselves well for whatever is going to happen during the games.
Just because Marshall doesn't put up 100 yards on the ground, or he only gets 80 yards in the air, doesn't mean he wasn't effective in the game. His presence makes everything effective, which allows us to do our jobs extremely well.
But we showed people that even when Marshall doesn't get big runs or score a lot of touchdowns, that we still have enough guys that can step up and get it done.
Next week:
We have the New York Giants coming in, and it will be a tough game. This is what any team wants -- a tough schedule that builds character. It brings the team closer together, knowing that you have tough games week after week.
The Giants are definitely a good football team, a physical team. We played them last year and they played us tough. We know we have to come out and be focused on the task at hand, and I think we will. It's another challenge for us. They are the defending NFC champions. They're playing with a great deal of pride and confidence. They will have their chest out, for sure. But we feel good about what we're doing, and it should be a classic matchup.
Hopefully we can cause turnovers and limit our mistakes like we've been doing, and come out with a "W."
Week 4 wrapup:
I actually didn't get to see any of the games on Sunday. We were in the air on our way to Detroit, so when we got into town I only got to catch the highlights.
Things looked pretty interesting across the league. Baltimore looked dominant, and Cleveland looked strong after beating the Chargers.
I really respect what Cleveland is doing. That organization is trying to turn the corner. The players are buying in to what Butch Davis has brought to the table. They're going out there on Sundays, having fun, and getting it done, and that's the most important thing. I wish those guys continued success throughout the season.
Game balls:
Terrell Owens. He had a good game against Carolina with eight catches for 118 yards and two TDs.
Shaun Alexander. Shaun rushed for 176 yards against a good Jacksonville defense.
Deltha O'Neal. The Denver cornerback had four interceptions against my old teammate, Trent Green.
Finally, to the Rams defense. Our group held the Detroit Lions to a goose egg. They deserve a game ball.
St. Louis wide receiver Torry Holt contributes a weekly column throughout the 2001 season for ABC Sports Online. Click here to go to Torry's official web site, www.torryholt.com.
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Eric Dickerson talks with Kurt Warner following his 286-yard, 3-TD performance.