The man who laid out Big Ben

By Darrell Laurant  |   Wednesday, October 25, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

Atlanta Falcons
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Whatever else Atlanta Falcons DE Chauncey Davis does this NFL season -- and with John Abraham out for the next three to four weeks after abdominal surgery, he may be doing a lot -- he'll be remembered for one play.

It came early in the third quarter of Atlanta's chaotic overtime victory over Pittsburgh, and involved Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. After struggling early in the season, Roethlisberger was having by far his finest game of 2006 in the Georgia Dome, completing 15 of 20 passes for 235 yards and three touchdowns before halftime.

Then, on second-and-9 from the Steelers' 31, "Big Ben" misfired on a pass to Hines Ward along the right sideline. Falcon D-linemen Davis and Patrick Kerney arrived just as he released the ball - he and Davis banged helmets. Roethlisberger lay unconscious on the turf for several minutes before finally being led off, looking more than a little dazed.

The reaction from both coaches afterward was predictable.

"I'm not going to be judgmental," said Steeler coach Bill Cowher. "The league will handle that."

No flag was thrown on the 6-foot-2, 272-pound Davis, however, and he said afterward he felt the hit was clean.

His coach, Jim Mora, agreed.

"First of all," Mora told the Atlanta Constitution, "the helmet-to-helmet rule is if the quarterback is in the pocket and he's not moving. As soon as the quarterback starts to duck -- after Ben threw, he started to duck -- you can't hold a defensive player responsible for that any more, because it's not a stationary target he's aiming at."

Roethlisberger was quite stationary afterward. But it did appear that the helmet-to-helmet contact was more a glancing blow than straight-on contact.

By game's end, Roethlisberger was back on the sidelines, albeit in street clothes, and tests for a concussion indicated no lasting damage. He may even play against Oakland on Sunday.

"We'll have to see how he feels," Cowher said.

And now, for better or worse, Chauncey Davis has a rep. A second-year man out of Florida State, he first popped up above the radar when he returned a recovered fumble for a touchdown against the Jets last season. As a rookie, he had 31 one tackles and a sack. He had already sacked Roethlisberger once in Sunday's game before knocking him out of action.

With Abraham sidelined once again, Davis will team with Kerney and Rod Coleman on the defensive line against Cincinnati this week.

Davis is known for his sense of balance and his low center of gravity. He learned the former, he said, as a high school hurdler in Auburndale, Fla.

"I was a pretty big guy to be doing the hurdles," he said, "but I got so I liked it. I did a 14.9 (for the 100-meter hurdles) before I was done."

In football, he played running back and linebacker, and was something of an in-between size when he graduated from Auburnbdale. Two seasons at Jones Junior College in Mississippi both toughened him and beefed him up, and he started for the Seminoles as a senior. Atlanta took him in the fifth round.

"The lowest man always wins," Davis has said about his playing style.

On Sunday, Ben Roethlisberger lost.

Get more information on Atlanta Falcons personalities, courtesy of RealFootball365.com
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