Blitz

Rocket Science, an unconventional coming-of-age yarn that the Johns Hopkins University grad Jeffrey Blitz filmed in Baltimore two summers ago, will premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival, which kicks off today in Park City, Utah. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous," Blitz said of having his movie open at what has become the dominant festival for American independent films. "Part of that nervousness comes from presenting a film that, until now, has been seen only by a handful of other people, and part of the nervousness comes from the fact that it's Sundance.

1 The Ravens' offense must run inside effectively and control the clock.2 The Ravens' defense has to blitz early and get Rams quarterback Kurt Warner out of rhythm.3 The Ravens cannot let RB Marshall Faulk take control of the game.

Cleveland Browns coach Chris Palmer wasn't surprised that the Ravens were teeing off on rookie quarterback Tim Couch yesterday."I think it's like sharks that see blood. They know that they've got a young quarterback and they're coming hard after him," he said.The Ravens sacked Couch four times and caused a fumble on the Browns' 1-yard line in the second period that set up a touchdown and was the difference in Cleveland's 17-10 loss yesterday.Palmer, though, was still pleased with the progress made by the quarterback, who was the first player picked in this year's draft.

1 Keep rookie quarterback Donovan McNabb guessing with a series of tricky schemes and blitz so he can't get comfortable and get in a groove2 Control the game by running Stephen Davis, the NFC's third-leading rusher, against a Philadelphia rush defense that is ranked 27th.3 Contain Duce Staley, the NFC's second-leading rusher, to force McNabb into passing situations when the Redskins can blitz.

This is the state of defense in the NFL after three weeks in the attack mode: It's a surprise when blitzes aren't the focal point of the defensive package.Everybody's blitzing, especially against the league's young and/or feckless quarterbacks. The Cleveland Browns' Tim Couch already has seen a wide array of blitzes. Same for Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles, Trent Dilfer of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and even Randall Cunningham of the Minnesota Vikings.Cunningham directed the highest-scoring offense in league history last season, averaging almost 35 points a game.

SAN DIEGO -- One of the AFC's slickest passing games meets one of the NFC's stickier pass defenses in Super Bowl XXXII, and the key to the matchup is how well Denver handles Green Bay's assortment of blitzes.The Broncos have had varied success against a full-scale blitz this season. They did not handle it well in a regular-season loss to the San Francisco 49ers. But they more than held their own against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC championship game two weeks ago.The Packers, meanwhile, have used the blitz as a major weapon down the stretch.

150 years ago in The SunMay 19: Signor Blitz -- Magic and Ventriloquism -- Signor Blitz will give his second interesting and amusing entertainment this evening at Brown's Saloon. He bids fair to meet with as much success here as he did in Philadelphia, having drawn good houses there for about thirty nights.100 years ago in The Sun May 16: No longer will the toot of a horn be the curfew that empties Johnson Square, in Northeast Baltimore, nightly of its visitors. This custom has been in vogue for many years, and every night at 11 p.m. the watchman blew a horn, which was the signal for everybody to leave the square.

The Defense of the Nineties has been brewing for a while now, like a high-pressure system on the horizon, waiting to rain on somebody's parade.This season, NFL quarterbacks are getting drenched.Pressure defense these days means more exotic blitzes, more drive-sapping sacks, and more quarterbacks going down. The difference is the pressure often comes disguised in a zone-blitz package that suddenly is the rage of the league."Every film I watch, I see some of it," Gunther Cunningham, defensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs, said of the NFL's latest defensive trend.

The very first customer to walk into Nino Taco left in a huff after his order for a sausage and egg sandwich was nixed.That was 17 years and about 250,000 tacos ago, long before the restaurant lovingly described as a "hole" by owner Nino Blitz became a landmark in Randallstown and a spicy foothold in otherwise bland suburbia.Blitz says she has served an estimated 10,000 loyal customers, who have included former Orioles slugger Eddie Murray, his brother Charles, local television reporters and attorneys who periodically step through the squeaky screen door, open seven days a week in the 9000 block of Liberty Road.

In a chess game played out over 100 yards of prime Texas real estate today, Joe Montana knows what move comes next.The take-no-prisoners blitz.That's the move that made Buddy Ryan famous, the Chicago Bears Super Bowl champions and NFL quarterbacks an endangered species.Today at 4 p.m. at the Astrodome, an AFC divisional playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs (12-5) and Houston Oilers (12-4) will hinge on Montana's ability to beat the blitz.In search of his fifth Super Bowl ring, Montana first must go through Ryan's ravenous Oilers defense.

Third downs - usually a tortuous test of an offense's effectiveness - have been a run-of-the-mill speed bump for the Ravens. After converting 11 of 18 third downs in Sunday's 30-7 victory over the previously undefeated Denver Broncos, the offense ranks third in the NFL with a 48.4 percent success rate on third downs, trailing only the Indianapolis Colts (51.1 percent) and Miami Dolphins (50.5 percent). "We always have a focus on converting third downs and keeping drives going," quarterback Joe Flacco said Sunday.

Pro Bowl middle linebacker Ray Lewis has heard some of the complaints about the Ravens' defense, and he chuckles. The Ravens are ranked No. 8 in the NFL, but some question whether they are getting enough pressure on the quarterback. Or whether they are creating enough exotic blitzes, compared with last season. "The only changes in our defense are the interchangeable pieces," Lewis said. "We've had so many people rotating in and out. But the personality and schemes remain basically the same.

1 Run over the Browns. Whether it's Ray Rice or Willis McGahee, the Ravens should pound the ball against Cleveland, which has the fifth-worst run defense in the NFL. Last season, the Ravens ran the ball a total of 85 times in two games against the Browns. 2 Blitz, blitz, blitz. The Ravens need to get their pass rush back on track this game. Browns quarterback Brady Quinn has been sacked nine times, which is second most in the NFL. 3 Dominate the second half. The Browns have put up a good fight in the first half, but they buckle in the final 30 minutes.

Three single mothers who have for years struggled to find an affordable home will soon become neighbors and first-time homeowners. Each family, all Edgewood residents, will move into newly constructed town houses on a quiet cul-de-sac in Havre de Grace. While their mothers are chatting about the earth-toned carpet, the convenience of an upstairs laundry room and the sleek kitchen counters, seven kids are ecstatic about having bedrooms of their own and are eyeing the second-floor alcoves for computers and TVs. "I tried for 10 years to put my family into a good home in a great neighborhood," said Tina Dunker, whose two teenage daughters were already planning their bedroom decor.

Jeffrey Blitz is one of the most articulate new writer-directors around; he also stutters. So when his documentary Spellbound opened four years ago, he promoted it with e-mail interviews. These days, he says, his stuttering "comes and goes." But for utmost fluidity and ease, another e-mail interview seemed just what the speech doctor ordered to mark his made-in-Baltimore debut feature, Rocket Science. It's set where Blitz grew up, in suburban New Jersey, and it has a stuttering hero, Hal Hefner (Reece Daniel Thompson)

Your mailbox is over its limit, I'm being told, so I'd better get through some of these e-mails and clean out the notebook while I'm at it. A few of you might recall a song by the group the Sweet called "Ballroom Blitz." Here we are, just three days from the Orioles' opener, and we're getting a MASN Blitz. (You turn the tube/and before you can move/it turns into a MASN Blitz.) The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network is putting word out about the new channel for Orioles games in a big way. Over there a billboard, over here a newspaper ad and a sudden rush of commercials on television.

Rocket Science, an unconventional coming-of-age yarn that the Johns Hopkins University grad Jeffrey Blitz filmed in Baltimore two summers ago, will premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival, which kicks off today in Park City, Utah. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous," Blitz said of having his movie open at what has become the dominant festival for American independent films. "Part of that nervousness comes from presenting a film that, until now, has been seen only by a handful of other people, and part of the nervousness comes from the fact that it's Sundance.

Remember Ten-Yard Fight and Double Dribble for Nintendo? What about Tecmo Bowl or the early incarnations of the Madden franchise? They were games built on the premise that fans would pine to manipulate video athletes and vicariously realize fantasies of being Bo Jackson or Larry Bird. All that has evolved into Blitz: The League and NBA Ballers. Both are produced by Midway Games Inc. and assume consumers are entertained by the lifestyles of professional athletes. "I think a lot of people find the off-the-field things more interesting these days," said Reiley Brennan, director of media relations for Midway Games Inc. Midway hired Peter Egan, one of the principal writers who crafted the athlete-story angles that made the canceled series Playmakers one of ESPN's most watched pieces of original entertainment.

For the second week in a row, the Houston Texans managed to turn glee into despair in less time than it takes the opposing pass rush to sack besieged quarterback David Carr. Just as good teams specialize in last-minute victories, the 1-11 Texans are blazing a trail in devising ways to lose in the waning moments. In yesterday's 16-15 loss to the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium, the Texans succumbed while executing a risky defensive scheme after they had taken a two-point lead with 68 seconds left in the game.

A few weeks ago, Dan Marino cried out to defensive coordinators on national television to blitz Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning more often. Consider the wish granted. As Manning pursues Marino's single-season touchdown record, the Ravens will initiate a hunt of their own Sunday night, chasing down the NFL's most dangerous quarterback any way possible. Whether it's sending an extra linebacker, safety or cornerback - or simply giving the appearance of a rush - the game plan is to attack the pocket passer rather than react.