When Eddie George looks back on an outstanding NFL career, he won't have too many fond memories of running past Ray Lewis into the end zone..
The Tennessee Titans (12-4) will seek to snap a five-game losing streak against Baltimore (10-6) in a first-round AFC playoff game Saturday. The biggest roadblock in the Titans' path to the Super Bowl is Lewis, the NFL Defensive Player of the Year and one of the fiercest competitors in the game.
During their five-game run against Tennessee, the Ravens limited George to one touchdown and an average of 55.4 yards rushing per game. As much as it pains him to say so, George admits that Lewis had pretty much had his way.
"Definitely, and he has a Super Bowl ring, too," George says. "They've had our number the past couple of years. They have a great team; they have some great athletes over there."
Throughout a stellar career in which he's run for 10,009 yards and gone to four Pro Bowls, George has been tormented by Lewis in much the same fashion Joe Frazier was badgered by Muhammad Ali and the Boston Red Sox remain bedeviled by the New York Yankees.
"Me and Eddie have been going at it since Day 1. We were drafted together, came out in the same year," Lewis says. "He started better because his team was playing better, but that changed a few years ago."
Baltimore's reign over the Titans began in 2000, when the Ravens became the first visiting team to win at Tennessee's new Nashville home. Two months later, Lewis' plucked a screen pass from George's hands and rambled 50 yards for a touchdown to clinch a 24-10 victory that sent the Ravens to the AFC championship game.
Titans tight end Frank Wycheck, who's been witness to all the Lewis-George confrontations, compares it to a winner-take-all prize fight.
"Eddie is a competitor, and those guys have had some classic heavyweight battles over the years," Wycheck says. "Obviously we've come up short as a team, but Eddie prides himself as being one of the best. Going up against one of the best has to get his juices flowing and get him motivated."
Because Baltimore and Tennessee are no longer in the same division, they don't play twice a year anymore. But the rivalry remains intense -- just like the one between Lewis & George.
"It's always going to be special. It always has been," George says. ``He's beaten me the last five times, and here it is an opportunity for us both in the playoffs. That's what it's all about.''
Lewis says, "It's always been a good, heated rivalry; we get at each other pretty well. So it should be exciting once again."
Most Valuable Players
Star quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Steve McNair reached the individual pinnacle of the NFL on Friday when they shared AP's NFL Most Valuable Player award.
In just the third tie since the award began in 1957, the premier passers each received 16 votes from a panel of 50 US sports writers and broadcasters who cover the NFL.
Manning and McNair led their teams to 12-4 records, with Manning's Indianapolis Colts edging McNair's Tennessee Titans for the AFC South crown by winning both games against the Titans.
New England quarterback Brady finished third with eight votes, followed by Baltimore running back Lewis, the AP Offensive Player of the Year, with five. Kansas City running back Priest Holmes got three votes, and Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis, the AP Defensive Player of the Year, received two.
Manning and McNair make it three straight years a quarterback has been selected most valuable player. Oakland's Rich Gannon won last year and Kurt Warner was the 2001 MVP.
The other ties came in 1997 (Brett Favre and Barry Sanders) and in 1960 (Norm Van Brocklin and Joe Schmidt).
Comeback Player
Jon Kitna's comeback in 2003 mirrored the Cincinnati Bengals' resurgence, earning him the AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year award Friday.
For Kitna, who at one point in the 2003 season was on the verge of being benched, it was a reward for his perseverance. The seven-year veteran had his best professional season in his third year in Cincinnati, where the Bengals went 8-24 before he quarterbacked a turnaround to an 8-8 mark this season.
"My whole life, I never had anything handed to me," Kitna said. "Nobody thought I was `the guy.' I was always a pretty good athlete, but I was never one that people clamored about or anything like that. My personality ended up helping me.
"In this league, very few people are going to have things handed to them. The majority of people have to fight for it."
Kitna fought off a huge field of contenders for the award. He edged Dallas quarterback Quincy Carter in wide-open balloting that saw 15 players receive votes from a nationwide panel of 50 sports writers and broadcasters who cover the NFL.
Kitna got eight votes to seven for Carter and six for Baltimore tackle Orlando Brown. Carolina running back Stephen Davis and Kansas City safety Jerome Woods were next with five each.
After struggling in the opening game against Denver and seeing Cincinnati start 0-3 and 1-4, it appeared coach Marvin Lewis was ready to replace Kitna with top overall draft pick Carson Palmer. Lewis elevated Palmer from third string to backup quarterback.
But Kitna responded and the Bengals won six of their next seven games to surge to the top of AFC North. They wound up second in the division to Baltimore.
Kitna was the only quarterback in the league to take every snap this season and threw a career-high 26 TD passes, second in the AFC to Peyton Manning. He had four three-touchdown games.
"Finally people started to see our team as something serious," said Kitna, 31. "You look back and say there's certain things you'd like to have done differently, but it was great for Marvin and his first year and what we're trying to build.''
Success was not something new to Kitna, who started 33 games in Seattle over four seasons and took the Seahawks to the playoffs in 1999. But when the Seahawks didn't re-sign him after the 2000 season, he went job-hunting and wound up in Cincinnati.
Not until this year did things go well again for Kitna, who was not drafted out of college (Central Washington, then an NAIA team).
"Ever since he came out of college, he's overcome the odds," Bengals offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski said.
Kitna is the first Bengal to win Comeback Player and the third quarterback in the six years the award has been presented.
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