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| | | | | | | |  Monday, December 25, 2000
Frozen Moment: A new "Prime Time" emerges
By Marc Connolly
MondayNightFootball.com
LANDOVER, Md. -- Once upon a time, a transcendent athlete named Deion Sanders used to make noggin'-shaking, physics-defying interception returns for touchdowns. Especially on a forum like Monday Night Football. Kids all over America replayed his deft moves at recess the next day. Those days are seemingly gone.
|  | | Samari Rolle returns the football 81 yards following his interception during the second quarter on Monday. |
So if that type of SportsCenter highlight couldn't come via ol' "Prime Time" on Monday night (or ever again), at least another former FSU Seminoles cornerback came to his aid to electrify a nation during Tennessee's 27-21victory over Washington.
Desperately trying to close the 13-7 gap before halftime, Brad Johnson forced a ball to Albert Connell within field goal range with just 10 seconds to go on a third-and-1 from the Tennessee 34. His underthrown ball was violently snatched out of the air by Samari Rolle at the 19, thus beginning one man's long journey to a storied 10-yard parcel of land he'd previously never seen with the ball in his grasp.
With the pigskin in tow, Rolle darted up the right sideline before swiftly confusing center Mark Fischer with an Ali shuffle and a sidestep towards the middle of the field. Behind a conglomerate of blockers in pantone blue, the third-year corner patiently glided across FedEx Field with his free left arm cocked at the elbow in Deion-esque fashion while looking for a hole.
In the back of his mind was something that's been pile-drived into his head like a Roger Clemens steamball.
"Once we get a play, turnaround and get a block and hopefully great things can happen," said Blaine Bishop, who led the Titans D with seven tackles. "It's something that the coaches preach all the time."
Most of the sermon comes from the stern mouth of Gregg Williams, Jeff Fisher's defensive coordinator.
"In that situation, a turnover isn't good enough," said Williams. "We want to score. We work on laterals. We work on scooping and scoring. We work on those things daily."
Though the halftime gun had sounded, there was no reason for Rolle to think of such razzle-dazzle as he surveyed a myriad of options. That's when Eddie Robinson got a little weary of what Rolle would choose to do next.
"I saw when he was around midfield that if he had cutback to the left I could have led him around (to the end zone)," said Robinson, a vastly underrated linebacker. "Samari has been known on his returns to run to darkness."
Making the correct decision toward the light instead, Rolle hard-stepped on the Redskins logo at the 50 and fifth-geared it up the left side of the field.
"When I turned upfield, somebody knocked Brad Johnson out of the way," said Rolle.
"That was you," replied one reporter, on Rolle's lazy right arm-flicker to drop the Redskins QB.
"Oh".
Laughter ensued.
"I saw a bunch of my teammates running by me," continued the Miami Beach native. "I was winded by then."
With Robinson and Henry Ford sweeping a path for him ahead, the only question was whether Washington's athletic offensive tackle, rookie Chris Samuels, was going to get a paw on him around the 10-yard mark. That's when a flash of a No. 23 jersey came out of the shadows like a rabid wolf.
"I thought he was the last guy so I gave it my all," said Bishop, who joked that it was the most he's run on one play since high school. "I think he was honing in on Samari, so I didn't give him a chance to use his weight on him."
Flatten him is what he did. It was the type of block that puts an X-and-O junkie in heat.
"That's why he's our defensive captain because he plays that way every single snap he's on the field. It was very visible on that play," said Williams. "All his life, Blaine Bishop has been told he's not good enough to play and he keeps proving people wrong every single day of his life."
Robinson mentioned his end-to-end spring to finish the job.
"It was Blaine and I just hustlin', man," said Robinson. "That was the last guy, so I think he was more tired than me and Blaine, so we double-teamed him and got Samari in the end zone."
As Al Michaels yelped, "Can he go all the way? He does," Rolle easily galloped into the end zone for his first career score. He became the first defensive player to return an interception for a score to end the half since Carnell Lake pulled the trick for Pittsburgh in 1996. There's no way Lake ran the 100-something yards that Rolle did in the madcap gallop that made one expect to see the Stanford band towards its conclusion.
"I was exhausted, totally and completely," said Rolle, after displaying his 4.3-40 speed. "The guys set up great blocks, especially when I got down to the sidelines. They knocked out three guys for me, so I thanked them for that play after I got in."
"It was one of the best plays I've ever been a part of," said Robinson, still in awe hours later.
He'll see it again soon enough.
"I can't wait to see the play on film," said Williams. "I saw three guys completely de-cleated on that play. That'll go down in our film library as how you're supposed to do it. All 11 guys turned that into a team effort on that score."
It was almost too fitting to see Rolle chalk up another INT with -- whom else? -- Deion Sanders as the man he was marking in the final moments of the game. The proud Noles, who each wore No. 2 for Florida State, embraced shortly thereafter.
"He told me he was proud of me," said Rolle.
A passing of the guard, so to speak, as Greg Favors put best as he b-lined it to the locker room.
"We got a new Prime Time."
Marc Connolly is a senior writer for ABC Sports Online.
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Samari Rolle picks off Brad Johnson and takes it 81 yards the other way for the score.