On the Bears’ first rushing play of the 1996 season, Raymont Harris followed Tony Carter’s lead block for a 5-yard rushing gain and his team’s first first down of the new season.
To tailback Harris, fullback Carter’s effective block was a godsend.
“I had no idea how good Tony was at blocking until I ran behind him,” said Harris before the game. “Wow! I know I have to step up my blocking.”
To Carter, blocking is just something he does extremely well when he becomes the Bears’ No. 1 fullback due to an injury to another back.
Last year, a broken collarbone shelved Harris for the season on the Bears’ second offensive play of the season. Carter became the No. 1 fullback and blocked well enough to help Rashaan Salaam rush for 1,074 yards as a rookie.
This year, Carter was a backup fullback and special-teams player until Salaam injured his hamstring and knee Aug. 22 in the final exhibition game. So, here in the opener, Carter was blocking for tailbacks Harris and Robert Green.
“Maybe you have to be a little crazy to like blocking,” Carter said before his promotion to the starting lineup. “I like it, though. It’s one of my strong points.”
Bears coach Dave Wannstedt tried Monday to use and juggle the strong points of Harris, Carter and Green to offset the loss of Salaam.
Harris split time between tailback and fullback. Carter blocked. Green and Harris carried the ball. And Harris gained more receiving yardage in the first half than Deion Sanders of the Cowboys.
All week long, Wannstedt insisted that “too much attention is being paid to who will start. Harris and Green are both starters. They’ll both play.”
Harris and Green both started the game. On the second play, Carter replaced Green and blocked for Harris. Late in the first half, Wannstedt returned to his two starters. With Harris blocking at fullback, Green twice ripped successive gains of 6 yards.
All three of these backs can catch, as Harris proved on two blue-plate-special trick plays.
First, Harris evaded Dallas linebacker Darrin Smith on the goal line and caught a 33-yard touchdown pass from wide receiver Curtis Conway. It was the Bears’ first TD of the season and gave them a 7-3 lead.
Then in the final minute of the half, a wide-open Harris slipped from his blocking-back position in punt formation, took a short pass from punter Todd Sauerbrun, and dashed 47 yards into position for Carlos Huerta to kick his 31-yard field goal for a 10-3 halftime lead.
Harris rushed 15 yards in seven carries in the first half. Green gained 13 yards in four carries. And Harris’ 80 yards on his two receptions led all receivers in the game, including Dallas’ Deion Sanders who had 53 yards on five receptions.
Although they began the season as non-starters, Green and Carter are hard to keep out of the lineup.
Green last year averaged 5.3 yards a carry as a valuable third-down back. Carter, in addition to his blocking, caught 40 passes, third on the team behind Jeff Graham and Conway.
“It’s kind of frustrating not starting,” said Carter before his promotion. “You want to be `the man.’ I feel I can run the ball, catch it, and block. They are all my strong points.”
In the fourth quarter, Harris caught his third pass from a third different passer, this time quarterback Erik Kramer. He gained 23 yards and put Huerta in range for the 42-yard field goal that increased the lead to 13-3.
The three catches boosted Harris’ yardage to 103 yards and made him the Bears’ first running back to exceed 100 yards in receptions since Neal Anderson had 102 yards on Nov. 8, 1987, against Green Bay.
