The battle within the battle

Sporting News, The, Dec 6, 1993 by Terry Frei

Several times, Dent complained to referee Gary Lane. Ruettgers never was called for holding. "Sometimes, you know when you're in Green Bay, you're not going to get the calls," Dent says. "Two times were very, very blatant, and I didn't get the call. He was holding quite a bit at the start, and I did what I had to do to get his hands off me. If the ref won't call it, I gotta do what I gotta do."

The working definition of NFL holding? It's what the official decides is going too far. At that moment. On that play. Virtually anything is permissible if the offensive lineman's hands remain inside the armpits. Grab the numbers? A tackle can get away with that at the point of initial contact. But if a tackle pulls down a pass rusher, especially at the foot of the quarterback and/or the referee, or allows his hands to get outside the trunk structure, then that yellow flag might fly. Might. Same thing when a blocker tries to snag a stunting lineman, preventing him from sliding inside or outside.

Ruettgers never was out of line on Halloween because nothing was called. And because nothing was called, he wasn't out of line. If they'll let you do it, you do it. At the end of the day, Dent was listed with one tackle and neither of the Bears' two sacks. He pressured Favre a couple of times, chasing him out of the shallow pocket once and barely missing a sack. Once, Dent bulled Ruettgers back into Favre, who managed to get the pass away - it was incomplete - before falling. "A couple of times, I thought I had (Favre)," Dent says. "I can't pull him down when I'm being pulled down."

Ruettgers was philosophical. "There were some plays I wish I had done better on," Ruettgers says. "But he's such a great player, and anytime he goes through a game and doesn't get a sack, I think the offensive line has done a pretty good job."

Ruettgers went down, and stayed down for a couple of minutes, with 4:36 left in the game. Diagnosis: A hyperextended knee. During the final minutes, Ruettgers sat on the bench, wearing a hooded parka and patiently explaining how he had gotten hurt to waves of teammates. When the game ended, Ruettgers walked slowly to midfield and talked with a few acquaintances on the Bears. Dent talked with some of the Packers. Ruettgers and Dent didn't talk with each other before peeling off and heading to the tunnels beyond opposite end zones.

Dent spent his routine long cool-down period in the training room. Losses are getting even tougher for Dent, who yearns to play in one more Super Bowl and knows the sand grains are falling. At his locker, he patiently answered questions from some of the few remaining reporters. Of course, Dent says, Ruettgers was holding him. By then, Dent didn't seem angry about it. It's just a fact of life, a reality of this craft.

Dent was the last Bear out of the locker room. At that moment, the clubhouse crew in the Packers' locker room was cleaning up and vacuuming. Only one player remained. Ruettgers, in pain, had spent even more time in the training room than Dent. "I was wearing a knee stabilizer, and I think it saved my bacon," Ruettgers says.