SEATTLE – Kelly Jennings remembers the moment so well – remarkably well, when considering the geographical and chronological differences.
Jennings was a sophomore at Suwanee High School in Florida in January 1999 when his favorite team, the San Francisco 49ers, hosted a playoff game against the Mike Holmgren-coached Green Bay Packers. Jennings watched in horror as a quiet, up-and-coming 49ers receiver dropped numerous passes and nearly gave the game away.
And then Jennings celebrated when that receiver made one of the most memorable receptions in postseason history, a game-winner while getting crunched between two defenders with three seconds remaining.
That receiver’s name was Terrell Owens, and the 25-yard touchdown reception marked the first great moment of his NFL career.
Tonight, Jennings will try to make Owens’ next postseason memory a more painful one. The Seattle Seahawks’ rookie cornerback will make his second NFL start against a Dallas Cowboys team that features the man known simply as T.O.
“My biggest challenge is to just go out and play my game and not let myself look at the names of the players,” said Jennings, who became a 49ers fan at the behest of a football-mad cousin. “I know that Terrell Owens and (Dallas teammate) Terry Glenn are great receivers, but I can’t let myself get nervous. I just have to look at them like: No. 81 and No. 83.”
In order for the Seahawks to advance in the 2006 playoffs, Jennings may well have to turn in the first great game of his young NFL career. Due to injuries to three Seahawks cornerbacks, the first-round pick from April’s draft will have the unenviable task of trying to contain Owens and Glenn in tonight’s playoff game.
The most obvious obstacle for the 5-foot-10, 178-pound Jennings is size. He’s five inches shorter, and 46 pounds lighter, than the 6-3, 224-pound Owens. Yet Jennings – his teammates call him Slim because of his slight build – is not too worried about the size discrepancy.
“I look back at my games against big receivers,” Jennings said of his days at the University of Miami, “and that’s when I was pretty much at my best.”
While playing at Miami, Jennings spent many a practice going against 6-3, 219-pound teammate Andre Johnson, who is now a Pro Bowl receiver for the Houston Texans.
“Stature-wise, they’re pretty much the same,” Jennings said, comparing Johnson to Owens. “Going against Andre in college pretty much molded me into the player I am today.”
Jennings also performed well in games against big receivers like Pittsburgh’s Larry Fitzgerald (6-3, 221) and Georgia Tech’s Calvin Johnson (6-5, 235).
Now he’s got to face another big receiver, only this one might be the biggest of them all.
“He’s a big, physical guy,” Jennings said of Owens. “He’s good at running routes and has good hands. There’s this intensity that he has, where he wants to get the ball every time. He’s got that confidence about him.”
Jennings was watching when that confidence first came to light in an NFL game. It’s one playoff game he’ll never forget.
“That defined what kind of player he is,” Jennings said of the 1998 playoff game between San Francisco and Green Bay. “When it was crunch time, he was there when they needed him.”
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