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Sidelines
Kalani Simpson






Men in black and
their bag of tricks

JUNE Jones is telling us how he and Jerry Glanville think alike.

We know that, of course. It's obvious. The black. The aggressive, gambling attitudes. The love of the roar of heavy, high-powered engines.

Yes, we know they think alike.

No. They REALLY think alike.

"Even the Elvis thing," Jones says. "I mean, we're jogging one day, and I said, 'Jerry, were you listening to (the radio) this morning coming in? Some guy saw Elvis!' And we were going down to Memphis for a preseason game. I said, 'We ought to leave some tickets for Elvis.' "

And we thought it was only one of them. But no, they're twins.

But Glanville may have always been just a little bit crazier than Jones.

Today, Hawaii fans know Jones as the guy unafraid to go with the fake punt, no matter what the conventional thinking might call for.

But Glanville is the guy who once called an across the field lateral/double pass "Stagger Lee" play to open a game.

On his own goal line.

It was a playoff game.

So yes, they really are two wild and crazy guys. But only to a point.

It was during his time in the NFL that Jones determined that "special" plays almost never worked. He decided it was better to stick with your specialty, honing it to perfection. It's where he got his "we do what we do" mantra.

"Coaches always try to dream up ways and invent plays during game-planning week, to win the game," Jones says. "And they never work the way you did it, and then you didn't practice the things you should have been practicing."

In fact, he even put together a highlight tape of all the "special" plays that had never worked, one after another. That was enough. Glanville was convinced.

He may have been a little too convinced.

"Jerry wouldn't let us run anything but the five passes we had and the three runs we had," Jones says.

Unfortunately, it was this particular week that Jones and another assistant had come up with their own "special" play. It wasn't a trick play, but it was designed for that particular opponent, Cleveland. It was called "swing screen crack."

It was perfect.

"We had the situation," Jones says.

"So I said, 'OK, Jerry. Jerry! "Swing screen crack" is a touchdown! It's a touchdown!' "

It was a guaranteed touchdown!

Glanville looked at him. "He goes, 'Go ahead, call it. You're fired if it doesn't work.' "

"Let's run 32 draw," Jones said.


See the Columnists section for some past articles.

Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com



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