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Are you ready for some Super Bowl Overkill? You better be, because that’s all you’re going to get (and it’s all you’ve been getting) this week. Want to know Jerome Bettis’ waist size? Would you like to hear about Lofa Tatupu’s family history? How many married women has Ben Roethlisberger nailed in the Pittsburgh area in the past 2 years? Even if you don’t want to know, you’re going to find out. The Super Bowl is omnipresent; CNN, Lifetime, MTV, The Disney Channel, you name a network, and I’ll show you some excessive Super Bowl coverage.
I touched on this last week, now I’m in full-on Malcontent Mode. This is why real football fans don’t like the Super Bowl. It’s not a football game, it’s a confluence of all things pop culture, culminating in an arbitrary 4-hour event that could just as easily be a screening of Gone With The Wind with a never-before-seen ending where Rhett cries like a baby and collapses in Scarlett’s arms. At this point, it’s like Matt Damon’s “eat a bunch of caramels” line in Good Will Hunting. The attention the Super Bowl attracts from the casual football fan (not to mention the person who doesn’t care about football) pushes the diehards away. Don’t get me wrong, we love football, we want everyone to love football… but this is not football. When the crowd at a Super Bowl party is more focused on the commercials than the game, my friend, that is not a good sign. People that watch the Super Bowl for the commercials are the same people who enjoyed the gopher subplot of Caddyshack: it’s hard to take them seriously. I am not interested in spending the LAST FOOTBALL SUNDAY FOR 7 MONTHS with a group of people quoting Napoleon Dynamite before every play.
It’s the onslaught of the Commercial Fiends that makes Joe Football Fan so disenchanted with the Super Bowl. The Commercial Fiends are everywhere; they’re at your workplace, among your friends, on TV, on the street. They are on the field during the halftime show, they are glued to the set for the pre-game concerts, they are socializing in between plays. It is terribly unfortunate for the guys who live for those 20 football Sundays every year that they can’t live for 21. It’s not fair to the guy in Queens who parks on his couch and criticizes every coaching decision, or the group of friends who tailgate for 3 hours before a game and sway with every snap. It’s a shame for that fan whose nails are bitten down to the quick every Sunday night, or the husband who won’t speak to his wife after an especially tough loss, because she somehow jinxed him by washing his favorite jersey. All of those guys would KILL for another week of football each year. In a perfect world, they would be the only ones allowed to watch/attend the Super Bowl.
And not all Super Bowl coverage is bad; the Pros know what they’re doing. Inside the NFL, Mike and the Maddog, Page 2, NFL Live… anytime you get more of them, you’re doing alright. So when I complain about the media, I am of course not referring to the Peter King’s and Ron Jaworski’s of the world. (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: nobody breaks down a blown coverage by a safety in a Cover 2 like Ron Jaworski.) Even some of the late night talk shows put together some funny material during Super Bowl week.
The biggest upside to the Super Bowl Overkill is the annual return of those 30-minute ‘Super Bowl Memories’ shows with Steve Sabol. If they aired these all year, I would absolutely love it, but since they only resurface for about 10 days in late January/early February each year, they are Must See TV. In honor of that (and in honor of some football game being played this week or something), I thought I’d do a Top Seven Super Bowls of My Lifetime list. I choose 7 instead of 10 because I have only seen 20 Super Bowls in my life (I was too young to remember anything before SB XX) and making a list of 10 (out of 20) would be like making the playoffs in the NBA or NHL: relatively meaningless. Of course, it’s hard to do a list like this and not talk about all the wretched, unwatchable games I’ve seen… that’s half the fun. Screw it, I’ll just rank and comment on all of them.
So here it is:
The Top 20 Super Bowls of the Past 20 Years
The Completely and Utterly Dreadful
20. XXIX: San Francisco 49 - San Diego 26
The Chargers were overmatched. The Niners were up 14-0 in the first 5 minutes… just an out-and-out travesty.
19. XXIV: San Francisco 55 - Denver 10
I remember bickering with Niners fans for 2 weeks, trying to convince them (and myself) that my Broncos were the better team. Deep down, I knew they didn’t have a prayer. That San Fran team might have been the best team I’ve ever seen. Game was over before it started.
18. XXVI: Washington 37 - Buffalo 24
Another truly forgettable Super Bowl. The Redskins had been dominant all year, and the Bills were lucky to beat the Broncos in the AFC Championship (the Steve Sewell Game, as Broncos fans call it). Probably the sloppiest game I’ve ever seen (5 total INT, 7 fumbles). After a scoreless 1st quarter, the Redskins had the game put away midway through the 2nd, with 17 unanswered points. The Bills made the score much closer than the game really was with 2 TD’s late after recovering a couple onside kicks. Yawn.
17. XXXV: Baltimore 34 - New York Giants 7
The fact that this game isn’t at the bottom of the list is huge indictment of how bad the Big Game has been on a year-to-year basis. This one gets a few bonus points because the best player on the field was a Mike (middle linebacker for the non-junkies out there), and that is enough to make a football fan smile… a little.
The Briefly, Mildly Entertaining
16. XXXVII: Tampa Bay 48 - Oakland 21
After the game, several Bucs defensive players said “every play they ran, we ran I practice last week.” Although the Raiders were favorites in Vegas, most insiders recognized the enormous coaching mismatch that favored Tampa Bay, and it was exactly that which proved to be the considerable difference in the game. A few big return plays and the fact that the Raiders just got smoked made this one at least remotely watchable. But really, it was over by halftime. That’s 5 games in a row that were finished after a half… yup, that’s the Super Bowl, ladies and gentlemen.
15. XXII: Washington 42 - Denver 10
One of two sporting events that made me cry. I went over it in last year’s “The Up and Down Saga of a Loyal Broncos Fan” column. It was a game the Broncos were supposed to win, they led 10-0 and had the ball in the 2nd quarter, and then I blinked and it was 35-10. Just thinking about it makes me depressed.
14. XX: Chicago 46 - New England 10
The first Super Bowl I can vividly remember watching. I remember thinking the game was over when Chicago went up 6-3 in the 2nd quarter… and it was. Bonus points for The Fridge scoring a touchdown; minus points for Walter Payton not scoring one.
The Competitive-But-Decisive Beatings
13. XXIII: Denver 34 - Atlanta 19
For some reason, my memory of this game is kinda fuzzy. The Falcons turned the ball over and missed a short field goal early, and Rod Smith torched Eugene Robinson--who had been arrested for soliciting a prostitute the previous night--twice (once for 41 yards to setup the Broncos first TD, and then again for an 80-yard TD that made it 17-3 and essentially finished the Falcons). Best moment: The Greatest Quarterback Who Ever Lived running off the field with the game ball, pumping his fist and high fiving guys on the sideline.
12. XXVIII: Dallas 30 - Buffalo 13
Now at least we’re out of over-by-halftime territory. Although Buffalo took a touchdown lead into the break, the entire world knew the Cowboys would eventually steamroll them. Thurman Thomas--probably the biggest choker in Super Bowl history--fumbled on the second play of the 3rd quarter, and James Washington took it to the house to tie the game. After that, Emmitt Smith ran roughshod over the Buffalo defense and carried the Cowboys to a comfortable 17-point win. Ho-hum.
11. XXI: New York Giants 39 - Denver 20
The first sporting event ever in which I was screaming at coaching decisions and complaining about bad breaks. To this day, I have no idea why Reeves ran a sweep to Sammy Winder on 3rd and goal from the 1, with the score 10-7 in the second quarter. Of course the play failed, of course Karlis missed the short field goal (and then missed another one right before half). Either way, I don’t think they could have held off the Giants in the 2nd half; that team was LOADED.
The Exciting, Almost-Nail-Biters
10. XXXIX: New England 24 - Philly 21
In a landslide, this was the worst 3-point game ever played in football history. There was not nearly as much suspense as the score would indicate; nothing was ever in REALLY doubt. Even when the Eagles tied it late in the 3rd, nobody suspected that they could win. Maybe if Andy Reid had lit a fire underneath his offense and the Eagles had hurried up a little on their last touchdown drive, maybe then McNabb would’ve had more than 45 seconds and no timeouts to lead them down the field for a game-tying field goal. Or maybe it’s just that God doesn’t want T.O. to win a title. (Gulp.)
9. XXVII: Dallas 52 - Buffalo 17
This may seem out of place this high on the list, but if you ask Joe Football Fan to recount his most vivid Super Bowl memories, this game invariably comes up. Of all the Super Bowl blowouts, of all the games that were, as Mike Francesa would say, “non-competitive,” this one separates itself. It’s not that the Cowboys were that much better than the Bills, they just played a much better game. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, went wrong for Buffalo that night. 4 INT’s and 8 fumbles (5 recovered by Dallas) is about as bad a day as you can have. Their mark of 9 turnovers may never be topped. Most people forget that Buffalo actually led 7-0 early on, before getting ambushed. There were so many enjoyable angles in this game, that’s why, despite the score, it was one of the more memorable contests in Super Bowl history. Buffalo was coming off an improbable run in the AFC playoffs (highlighted by their 35-point comeback over Houston), they also made history by losing their 3rd straight Super Bowl (a record they would add to the following year), the Cowboys were not only an All-Time team, but they were just scratching the surface of a dynasty that would win 3 titles in 4 years. You had Alvin Harper dunking the ball on the uprights after a touchdown (the first guy ever to do that), OJ Simpson doing the coin toss--his last public appearance before… you know. And who can ever forget The Leon Lett Play. Sometimes blowouts can be fun, this was one of those times.
8. XXX: Dallas 27 - Pittsburgh 17
A decent game but a dull game… mostly because the 2 head coaches involved were Bill Cowher and Barry Switzer, who coincidentally also finished last and 2nd-to-last in that year‘s Mr. Personality contest. Much like the Pats-Eagles game last year, this was a bit lacking in the drama department, despite being decided in the last 4 minutes. More memorable than the game, for me, was the fact that this year marked my first foray into the world of Super Bowl Gambling as I won 20 bucks from my friend John, thanks in large part to Jay Navacek scoring the game’s first touchdown. The Cowboys took a 20-7 lead in the 3rd, but you didn’t get the feeling they had a knockout punch in them. The Steelers hung around, forcing the Cowboys to go 3-and-out after having a 1st down on the Pittsburgh 47. They drove down for a field goal, then surprised everyone by kicking onside and recovering it. After a touchdown and a Dallas punt, the Steelers had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead… and then Neil O’Donnell single-handedly paid for Larry Brown’s (not the basketball coach) children’s education.
7. XXXI: Green Bay 35 - New England 21
A much better game than the score indicated that featured the most big plays of any Super Bowl. Anytime a kick returner dominates a game, you can be assured of a few highlight reel-type plays. It wasn’t just MVP Desmond Howard (who had 3 big returns, including a 99-yard TD that put the game away in the 3rd quarter), Favre threw 2 bombs for TD’s, Bledsoe hit Terry Glenn deep for a score. It was a barrage of points and plays for a while, but the game lost a great deal of momentum in the 2nd half. Still, it was quite entertaining, and it was great to see Brett Favre win one… I mean, he just has so much fun out there.
The Exhilarating, High-Intensity Thrillers
6. XXXVIII: New England 32 - Carolina 29
A very strange game with a very exciting finish. For the first 20 minutes of the game, neither team could get in rhythm offensively. After a blocked Vinatieri field goal (the second failed attempt of the game for Mr. Automatic), Carolina had the ball at their own 27. But Jake Delhomme gave the ball right back with a fumble. The Pats converted the turnover for 7 with 3 minutes left in the half… but the scoring had only just begun. Carolina countered with a 40-yard TD pass to Steve Smith, only to have New England take it right back down their throats on 6 plays to regain the lead 14-7 right before the half. Carolina managed to kick a 50-yard field goal as the clock expired, after a bad squib kick and a 20-yard run by Steven Davis, keeping the game close for the 2nd half. After another scoreless quarter, the Pats seemed to have the game on ice after a Brady TD pass made it 21-10. Nobody expected the Panthers to fight back, but they did exactly that. On the 6th play of the ensuing drive, DeShaun Foster broke a 33-yard run for a TD and got his team right back in the game. Here’s where John Fox panicked, and consequently may have cost his team the game. With more than 12 minutes to play Fox gambled and went for 2, when he probably should have just kicked the PAT and been done with it. The Pats marched right back down the field, but in a rare brain fart, Tom Brady threw a bad pick in the endzone. Carolina then went for the jugular and struck on an 85-yard bomb 3 plays later… but, forced to go for 2 again, only managed 6 points, giving them a tenuous 22-21 lead, whereas 2 PAT’s would have made the score 24-21. Everybody forgets this now. What a shocker, the Pats responded with another TD drive of their own, and converted on the subsequent 2-point attempt… something they would not have down had the score been 27-24 instead of 27-22. Thanks to Fox’s gaffe, the Pats’ lead was 29-22, not 28-24. The Panthers did manage to tie the game (on a slant to Ricky Proehl that I predicted after Rodney Harrison left the field one play earlier.) with less than 2 minutes to play. John Kasey kicked the ensuing kickoff out of bounds--something that has somehow been glossed over in the history books, he should have been RIPPED for that--and much of the suspense was pretty much sucked out of the stadium. Brady, Vinatieri… what do you think happened?
5. XXIII: San Francisco 20 - Cincinnati 16
Joe Cool. One of the enduring moments from this classic only became public knowledge after the fact. As the San Francisco offense took the field with the ball at their own 8, down by 3 points, with 3:10 left in the game, Joe Montana stepped into the huddle after soaking in the situation, looked over his teammates’ faces and pointed to the sideline. “Hey, look, there’s John Candy.” In the most tense predicament in any of their careers, Joe Cool was checking the stands for celebrities. After all, this was Joe Montana, of course they were going to pull it out. For most of the contest, it was a war of attrition. The Niners moved the ball well, but the Bengals defense was stingy in and around the red zone, keeping their team in the game. Late in the 3rd quarter, Cinci special teams star Sanford Jennings scored the game’s first Six with a 93-yard kickoff return. Game on! San Fran wasted no time returning the favor with a Jerry Rice touchdown. The Bengals executed a 10-play drive to setup a Mike Breech field goal, but left Joe Montana with WAYYYY too much time on the clock. Although he was almost intercepted twice on the drive, Montana marched his team down the field with relative ease, keyed by a 27-yard cross to Rice on 2nd and 20. The score to John Taylor was about as perfect an ending as you could ask for: star QB throws game-winning touchdown pass in the Super Bowl, after leading a 92-yard drive with his team trailing. It’s one thing to lead your team 37 or 53 yards to a game-winning field goal with the game tied, it’s quite another to go 92 yards for a touchdown when your team is behind. And that’s why Joe Montana is Joe Montana. (And it’s also why John Elway is John Elway… but that is neither here nor there.)
4. XXXVI: New England 20 - St. Louis 17
While ESPN Kool-Aid drinkers love to anoint this game as the Greatest Game Ever Played, I’m not so sold. Don’t get me wrong, it was a tremendous football game with an emotional backdrop, but it is a full notch below the truly Elite. In my mind, that night in New Orleans will forever be linked with the Yankees-Diamondbacks 7-game classic in the World Series just months before as the 2 events that re-energized the sports world after 9/11. Also, the matchup was a true David v. Goliath affair (although the Vegas line of 14 was absolutely ludicrous when you consider how tough the Pats had played the Rams earlier that season). The Pats registered the first big blow of the game when Ty Law picked off a 10-yard out pass by Warner and took it to the house. Like in their Super Bowl win 2 years prior, the Rams moved the ball well in the first half, but could not get the ball in the endzone. Another turnover by Warner (a fumble at the NE 45 returned by Terrell Buckley into Rams territory) led to a Pats touchdown right before halftime. 14-3 New England.
(Note: Bonus points because this game featured the perfect halftime show... it was actually one of the most memorable moments from the whole night, as U2--the Official Band of Good Causes--performed “Where the Streets Have No Name” in front of a scroll of all the names of those who lost their lives on 9/11.)
The 3rd quarter was more of the same: a St. Louis turnover in their own territory led to 3 more points for the Pats. Despite having virtually no offense all game, the Patriots had the 14-2 Rams by 2 touchdowns. Finally the Rams kicked their offense into gear, climbing to within a touchdown on a 12-play, 77-yard drive with 9 minutes remaining. A few punts later, the Rams tied the game up on a Warner pass to Mr. Big Play Ricky Proehl. With a minute and a half left, John Madden was adamantly telling the world that the Pats should kneel on it and play for OT… and considering how futile their offense had been all game, Madden was probably right. Brady executed a vintage Charlie Weis drive of dink-and-dunk passing all the way down to the St. Louis 30, setting up Adam Vinatieri’s game-winning kick. Exciting? Yes. The best ever? Please. Not even close.
The Unforgettable, Gut-Wrenching Epics
3. XXXIV: St. Louis 23 - Tennessee 16
(Now we’re at the top of Mount Olympus. These top 3 games are head and shoulders above all other comers, and I will not argue about it.)
Part of what makes a Super Bowl dramatic a dynamic back story. The Rams-Titans clash had the Hollywood-scripted, rags-to-riches tale of grocery store clerk-turned-NFL MVP Kurt Warner, not to mention the pending retirement of head coach Dick Vermeil. In general, both teams were extraordinarily likeable, the players were all likeable: Warner, Marshall Faulk, Steve McNair, Eddie George, Torry Holt, Frank Wycheck, Jevon Kearse. Best of all, neither team had even so much as made the playoffs in years (both teams had relocated to new cities in the mid-90's), so there was no stink of “I’m sick of these guys” anywhere to be found.
The game lived up to the love fest lead-in in every way. It was one of only 2 Super Bowls ever to be played without a single turnover, so anyone who critiques the quality of play is sorely mistaken. The Rams controlled the play in the first half, racking up more than 200 yards in the air. However, each time they reached Tennessee territory, the offense stalled and had to settle for 3 field goals. On their first drive of the 3rd quarter, the Rams finally broke through on a Warner-to-Holt TD, making the game 16-0 and leading most to think it was over.
That’s when the Titans dug deep. 12 plays, 66 yards, 7 minutes, touchdown. A missed 2-point conversion kept the score 16-6, but the tide had turned, and the Titans brand of smashmouth football had taken over. The Rams went 3-and-out and the Titans came back and did the exact same thing: 13 plays, 79 yards, nearly 8 minutes, and another touchdown. (This TD goes down as one of the 10 most memorable plays in Super Bowl history, as Eddie George somehow kept his legs driving to get those last 2 yards.) Once again, the Rams went 3-and-out. (In the last 22 minutes of the game, the Rams held the ball for a whopping 2 of them.) The Titans started the drive from about midfield and, on Steve McNair’s back, willed themselves into field goal territory to tie the game at 16-16 with 2:12 left. On the Rams’ very first play of the ensuing drive, game MVP Warner hit Isaac Bruce on an adjustment route down the sideline for a 73-yard, momentum-shifting score. I remember Al Michaels talking about how tough it would be for the Titans to rev it up again after a deflating play like that. But the Rams D was completely wiped. The Titans grinded one first down after another, but also grinded down the clock. Steve McNair turned in one of the great clutch performances you’ve ever seen, breaking out of the pocket, salvaging broken plays. On the game 2nd-to-last play--a 3rd and 5 from the St. Louis 26, McNair made the 3rd Greatest Play in Super Bowl History, as he escaped a sack back at the 40 (he broke 2 tackles on the play that no other player, especially a QB, in the league could have broken) and scrambled back to the line before hitting Kevin Dyson at the 10. We all know what happened on the last play, and it was incredibly dramatic (Mike Jones' tackle probably the best clutch tackle the sport has ever seen), but it was that McNair scramble one play earlier that vaults this game into the rarified air of an EPIC.
2. XXXII: Denver 31 - Green Bay 24
Call me a homer all you want, but nobody can deny that this Bowl was a glorious heavyweight slugfest. Just 2 juggernaut teams trading punches for 60 minutes. And there was so much at stake. You want back story? YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE BACKSTORY! How about Brett “The Gunslinger” Favre and the Titletown Packers going for back-to-back Super Bowls? How about the Broncos in danger of becoming the first 5-time loser in Super Bowl history? How about a 13-point underdog trying to pull of an unthinkable upset. And then of course there was John Elway, my childhood idol. John was at the tail end of a first-ballot Hall-of-Fame career that had seen him fall short of a title 3 times. He hadn’t just fallen short, he had been embarrassed (although in fairness, those teams had no business being in the Super Bowl were it not for Elway… but I promised myself I wouldn’t turn this into a Marino-Elway debate, so let’s just drop it.). No player wants to retire with the “couldn’t win the big one” stigma. John was battling his legacy, his ghosts, and most importantly, a Green Bay Packers team that had smoked the Broncos one year earlier in December.
I can still see the common room of my dorm at boarding school, just littered with Pats fans rooting against the Broncos--probably because we had destroyed them twice in the past two seasons, the first one featuring Shannon Sharpe’s Pantheon “Call the National Guard” quote. The Packers took the opening kick and carved up the Denver defense, mixing the run and pass perfectly, capping the drive with a 22-yard strike from Favre to Freeman. “Here we go again,” echoed all the way around the world. The Broncos got up off the mat and fired back with a touchdown drive of their own and the battle was joined. Tie game #1. They then seized Sweet Lady Mo by picking off Favre 2 plays later, and converting it into a 1-yard bootleg by Elway for a touchdown. Another turnover by Favre led to a Denver field goal and it was 17-7. Favre and the Green Bay offense would take the field on their own 5 with 7:38 to play in the half, desperately needing a spark. What they got was one of the best, most efficient drives you’ve ever seen. They picked the Denver secondary apart to the tune of 17 plays, 95 yards, 7:26. Although the Broncos went into the half with the lead, it was the Packers who had all the momentum.
Battling a migraine that had cause him to miss the 2nd quarter, Broncos star RB Terrell Davis fumbled on the first play from scrimmage of the 2nd half, sending Packer fans into a frenzy. Again, when the world expected them to fold, the Broncos held their ground and kept Favre and Co. out of the endzone. Tie game #2. After the two teams exchanged punts, the Denver offense had 1st and 10 from their own 8. Elway marched his team down the field like General Sherman toward Atlanta; Davis ran effectively, and Elway hit Ed McCaffrey for a 36 yard pass over the middle. Toward the end of the monumental, 13-play, 92-yard campaign, The Greatest Quarterback Who Ever Lived made the 2nd Greatest Play in Super Bowl History as he helicoptered over LeRoy Butler to get the first down on 3rd and 6 from the Green Bay 12. After the play he shot back up, pumped his fist and let out a fired-up scream. When John made that play, Super Bowl XXXII became the Broncos game to win. The Packers battled right back, however, going 85 yards in 5 plays. 24-24, tie game #3. The Broncos gained the edge in field position via series of punts (2 by each team). With 3:27 to play they had the ball at midfield. A couple big plays and the Broncos had 2nd and goal from the 1 with less than 2 minutes left. Knowing they couldn’t stop the run (and more importantly, it wouldn‘t even be practical from a clock management point of view), and that they had a Hall of Fame QB to bring them back, the Packers let Davis walk into the endzone, giving the Broncos the lead. Favre had one last flourish in him, leading the Pack all the way to the Denver 31. On 4th down, John Mobley batted down a pass to Mark “Stat Rape” Chmura and the Broncos victory was sealed. “This one’s FOR JOHN.”
1. XXV: New York Giants 20 - Buffalo 19
When you think of the words “Super Bowl” you think larger-than-life. You think of the best teams playing the highest quality football on the largest stage with the grandest backdrop in the closest of competitions. You think of contrasting styles clashing, momentum swaying to and fro, two great teams leaving it all on the field. You think of January 27, 1991: Super Bowl XXV. The Best Football Game Ever Played.
The setting was without a doubt, the most dramatic, emotionally-charged in sports history. Just days after declaring war with Iraq, the United States focused on an event that is arguably the single most symbolic representation of the American way of life (good and bad). The largesse, the grandeur, the stealth bombers flying overhead before the game, 75,000 fans so overcome with complex emotions that many in attendance and watching on TV couldn’t handle the moment and were reduced to tears… not out of joy or sadness in particular, just out of the sheer magnitude of the moment. Whitney Houston‘s--and it’s not like I’m a Whitney Houston fan--rendition of out national anthem was among the 5 most riveting musical moments I’ve ever witnessed… even if it was prerecorded.
Oh yeah, and there was a football game too. And what a game (like with the Titans-Rams game, this one featured 0 turnovers--always a sign of a well-played game). The slow-em-down, grind-it-out, New York Football Giants and the air-it-out, no-huddle, K-gun offense of the Buffalo Bills met in the ultimate irresistible force-vs.-immovable object battle. The Bills entered the game as 6-point favorites off a 51-3 thrashing of the Raiders, while the Giants won an absolute classic in San Francisco 15-13. The Giants held the ball for 5+ minutes on their first drive (something that would become a running theme) and netted a Matt Bahr field goal to take the early lead. The flashy Bills wasted no time in retaliating with a drive of 66 yards on 5 plays… but only had the ball for a minute and a half. Still as Buffalo tied the game at 3-3, and conclusion-jumpers around the globe were predicting a huge performance by the souped-up Bills offense, given the ease with which they had moved the ball on that drive. That’s the way the entire game would move: the Giants moved the ball in slo-mo, the Bills in fast forward… but each style was equally effective. On the Bills next possession, they again moved the ball unencumbered right down the field, this time reaching the endzone. Then, after a Buffalo safety--on a play where Giants QB Jeff Hostetler somehow held on to the ball in his own endzone, preventing a touchdown--the Bills had a chance to put their foot on New York’s throat, leading 12-3 with the ball in good field position.
And that’s where the pendulum swung back in the direction of the G-Men. Myron Guyton got to Jim Kelly on 3rd and 10 and forced a bad pass. On that 3-and-out, the Giants showed they could contain Buffalo’s high-powered attack… by hitting them in the mouth. With a newfound confidence, Hostetler led an 87-play march in final 3 minutes of the half, culminating in a great lob to Steven Baker “the Touchdown Maker” in the endzone to get the Giants back in the game before half. 12-10 Buffalo.
Feeding off the momentum, New York took the opening kickoff of the second half and proceeded to break Buffalo’s back with--is everybody listening--THE MOST IMPORTANT DRIVE IN SUPER BOWL HISTORY! 3rd and 8 from their own 27: an 11-yard pass from Hostetler to scatback Dave Meggett, where Meggett made a nifty juke to get the first down. 3rd and 1 from their own 47: a memorable run off left tackle by game MVP Ottis Anderson for 24 yards, punctuated by the unforgettable, how-is-that-legal uppercut of Cornelius Bennett. Devastating plays to a Buffalo defense that seemed to be on the field for the entire game. But they were just the appetizers. On 3rd and 13 from the outskirts of field goal range, Hostetler found WR Mark Ingram over the middle, 8 yards short of the first down. And that’s when Ingram made The Greatest Play In Super Bowl History. He juked, he fought through a tackle, he spun, fought through another tackle. With James Williams dragging him down with every ounce of his being, Ingram impossibly stayed on his feet and dragged Williams 4 extra yards to get the first down by a matter of inches. Without rival, the gutsiest play by a wide receiver you will ever see. The Giants pounded the ball into the endzone 5 plays later to take a 17-12 lead. Drive totals: 75 yards, 14 plays, 9:29. Just typing the numbers doesn’t do it enough justice, so let me try NINE MINUTES AND TWENTY-NINE SECONDS.
The Bills were reeling, but they still had a few bullets left in the clip. On the first play of the game’s final quarter, All-Pro Buffalo RB Thurman Thomas broke a 31-yard TD run (thanks to some bad tackling by the Giants secondary), reclaiming the lead in the name of the Buffalo Bills, 19-17. As had been the case all game, the Bills scored quickly, the Giants ate up clock. Undaunted, Hostetler led yet another back-breaker by the Giants offense. The way they bore down on the Bills defense was overwhelming. Mostly on runs up the gut, Big Blue got all the way down to the 3, before settling for a chip-shot field goal to regain the lead 20-19. After both teams punted the ball, the Bills found themselves down by 1, with 1st down at their own 10, with 2:16 to play. Kelly led his offense down to the Giants 30, with 8 seconds remaining. Perhaps they should have run another play to make the field goal attempt shorter for Scott Norwood (who had only kicked 1 FG 47-yards or longer in his entire career), but Marv Levy chose to kick it with 8 seconds in case of a bad snap. Probably not the right decision, but a defendable one.
Either way, it all came down to one play. Unlike other great Super Bowls, where one team was driving for a tying score, or one team was going for a winning kick in a tie game, Super Bowl XXV was going to be decided on the last play. There was no safety net, no chance of overtime. In 5 seconds, one team would be celebrating, and one team would be crying. If Norwood made the kick, the game would have been the best ever, if he missed, it would have been the best ever. The drama in the moment--and the resulting euporia/heartbreak--was unparalleled. 15 years later, to an arbitrary observer, the result of the kick doesn’t matter. The fact that it came down to a do-or-die kick was the great, but what made the game so remarkable was the sum total of the blood, sweat and tears left on the field by those 2 teams. In the moments after the final whistle sounded, the gridiron looked like the day after the Battle of Antietam.
If Sunday’s game is 1/100 the experience of Super Bowl XXV, then we’re in luck.
Fellow Owners:
Now that Train is engaged will his reign end? History and recent history (see Engels/Gates drafting of Davis) would indicate yes. More time with your fiancee/wife = less time with the stat sheet. Speaking of which, I never really understood why Tynes doesn't dominate this league year in and year out (answer: Rae and Shannon #169).
Also history has shown that others drafting for you (Loaf 2004, Train 2005) has proven effective. Does that mean it is finally JQ's turn? Davis got a flight to Canada out of Vegas but did he also secure the more prestigious QFFL title? Does JQ get to go to Vegas next year if he wins?
So many questions, so few answers. Who is this year's Sam Gado, Neil Rackers? Will TO be a beast or a burden? Can we get the naked Lions assistant coach to join us and Shannon Sharpe (#170) in Vegas next August?
All I know is that I'm sure that I will receive some funny emails (see Ted & Olde) in the coming weeks. Hopefully the race is as tight as the 20-year-old coouchie that Kleinberg regularly has eating Jell-O shots on his boat.
What I'm trying to say is...supplemental draft is over - make the changes yourself and set your line-ups.
Good Luck except when you are playing PRO.
Qmish Jr.
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