Logo of a football team from the old World Football League, the San Antonio Wings. The team played the 1974 season as the Florida Blazers, then moved to San Antonio for the ’75 season, playing their home games at Alamo Stadium. Their quarterback, Johnnie Walton, led the WFL in passing for the season, and the team finished with a 7-6 record, winning all 7 of their home games and losing all 6 of their road contests.
1989 Topps football card of former NFL defensive end Bruce Smith, a stalwart of the Buffalo Bills’ defense for 15 seasons. After being released by the Bills in 1999, he finished his career in Washington, where he became the all-time career sack leader in league history. Smith is arguably the best defensive lineman in NFL history, as he was an 11 time Pro Bowler and a member of the Buffalo teams that played in 4 consecutive Super Bowls in the 1990s. Smith was voted to the NFL’s All Decade teams for both the 1980s and ’90s. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009, his first year of eligibility.
It’s been two weeks since the New York Giants, for the second time in five years, defeated the New England Patriots to win the NFL title. The game was pretty much just as exciting as the Giants’ huge upset in 2007 when New England came into the game undefeated, but the result was not as unexpected this time. Rather than rehash the game itself, here are some thoughts I’ve had resulting from it:
* In winning his second Super Bowl ring and game MVP award, Eli Manning has removed any doubt that he is an elite quarterback in the NFL. He may never be a record-breaking passer like the Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady types that dominate today’s game, but he’s a leader, a gamer, and has now outdueled Brady in both of their head-to-head meetings.
* This is now the second time the Giants have struggled through a good portion of the regular season, gotten hot at the right time and ridden that momentum to a Super Bowl title. Add to that the fact that Green Bay did the same thing last season, and it makes what Bill Parcells has always said look very prophetic. His philosophy is that the key is to continually try to get your team to improve each game, and do whatever it takes to get that team into what he calls “the tournament”. From there, anything is possible, as the Packers and Giants have proven the last two seasons.
* As passing records fell all year long this season, I’ve often wondered if the days of dominating defenses, like the old Steel Curtain and Miami “No Name” defense, are gone forever. But after seeing the Giants play a decent defensive game once again versus the Pats, I have a feeling that defense will be back in vogue next season.
* Speaking of the Giants’ good defensive showing late in the year, here’s hoping that late season improvement results in New York defensive coordinator Perry Fewell getting some serious consideration for a head coaching job in the future. Fewell did a good job in his short opportunity as interim head coach in Buffalo a few seasons back, and deserves another shot.
* Just like in 2007, the Giants again showed that the key to beating today’s elite passers is to get pressure up the middle on them, taking them out of their comfort zone in the pocket. Whereas the QBs are all adept at beating pressure off the edges by using subtle “step up” movement in the pocket to buy time, forcing them to vacate the pocket disrupts the timing of their precision passing games. So even though the hometown Buffalo Bills have a long way to go to improve their defense, they have two key pieces to their puzzle already in place in interior linemen Kyle Williams and Marcell Dareus.
Classic logo of the newest Super Bowl champions, the New York Giants, used from 1945 through 1949. They were coached by Steve Owen during this era, and made the playoffs in 1946, losing the NFL title game to the Chicago Bears. Some notable players from these years include Charlie Connerly, Mel Hein, Emlen Tunnell, Ken Strong and Jim Lee Howell.
1958 Topps football card of a former Pittsburgh Steeler defensive back who was just elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Jack Butler. Playing in an era when the NFL draft was 30 rounds long, Butler went undrafted, after a stellar college career at St. Bonaventure, but signed with the Steelers and carved out a sold nine year stint, making the Pro Bowl 4 times and grabbing 52 total interceptions. In 2008, he was named one of the top 33 Steelers of all time, quite an accomplishment considering the talented players who’ve played for the franchise over the years.
This Sunday’s Super Bowl game between the New England Patriots and New York Giants looks like it has the makings of a great matchup. If the two teams can play a game anything close to their Super Bowl matchup of 2007, when the Giants ruined the Pats’ attempt at the first unbeaten season since the 1972 Miami Dolphins, it’ll be a game well worth watching. Both teams are solid organizations, well-coached by two disciples of Bill Parcells – Bill Belichick and Tom Coughlin. Circumstances have changed for both teams going into this game. In the Super Bowl XLII matchup, the Patriots were a heavy favorite, boasting an offensive juggernaut led by Tom Brady, who had a record-breaking season. His main target that year was Randy Moss, who had the best season of his career. The Giants barely got into the playoffs, but got hot late in the regular season, and rode their momentum all the way into the big game. In the game itself, the Giants did something no other opponent did that year – they pressured Brady up the middle, took him out of the comfort zone he’d been in all year, and held the high voltage attack to 14 points in pulling off the biggest championship game upset since the Jets beat the Colts in Super Bowl III.
One of the strengths of the Giants going into this year’s game is their pass rush, which is one of the few in the NFL that’s capable of applying pressure with just the front four. The only player who isn’t on that front line from the 2007 team is Michael Strahan, who retired. In his place, however, is an emerging defensive star in Jason Pierre-Paul. The Giants’ secondary is somewhat suspect, but the effectiveness of the defensive line can mask that. The Patriots are not the same high-powered offensive machine they were in 2007, but as long as Brady is directing the attack, they are a threat to win. Two players the Giants didn’t have to deal with in the earlier Super Bowl are tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, who are matchup nightmares for any defense. Although Brady is seeking his fourth Super Bowl title, which would elevate his stature to the Joe Montana/Terry Bradshaw level, don’t overlook the skill of Eli Manning on the other side of the field. Manning won the 2007 matchup with Brady, and has matured into an even better passer and leader than he was then.
How much will the 2007 game affect this year’s Super Bowl? Considering that the Giants have only 16 holdovers from their Super Bowl winning roster of that year, and New England only 7, probably not much. My feeling is that the Giants, although they were a roller coaster team most of the season before catching fire late in the year, are a better team than they were then, while the Patriots are not. For that reason, I’m picking the Giants to win on Sunday, in a tough game in which New York’s more physical presence, on both sides of the ball, will be the difference.
The iconic logo of a football team that plays in the National Football League, the Washington Redskins. This particular logo was used during the team’s golden era in the 1980s and 1990s under coach Joe Gibbs, when they reached the Super Bowl four times, winning three of them. While most multiple Super Bowl winning teams of a specific era are the result of a great coach/quarterback combination, Gibbs managed to win his 3 titles with 3 different QBs – Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien. This era also included some colorful players, including a group of small, fleet wide receivers known as “The Smurfs” and a group of tough offensive linemen dubbed “The Hogs”.
1989 Topps football card of former Washington Redskins’ quarterback Mark Rypien. He was the first Canadian-born player to start at QB in the NFL, and was mostly a journeyman in his long career. His best year was 1991, when he guided the Redskins to a Super Bowl championship, and was named the game’s MVP, the first foreign-born player to win the award. After his football career was over, Rypien was involved in NASCAR as a team owner of the #97 car.
It’s what the Buffalo Bills are most known for nationally – losing four consecutive Super Bowls. During the early 1990s when the team was in the midst of the four straight losses, they were the butt of all the late night comedians’ jokes. All of the “wide right” jokes and the initials B.I.L.L.S. standing for Boy I Love Losing Superbowls; the Hemlich maneuver “choking” posters with the Bills’ logo on them, etc. If you’re a Bills’ fan, it was painful. Looking back, however, the people who really understand the game never laughed at the Bills for the losses, rather, they respected them for completing the journey. Four straight trips to the big game, never accomplished before or since. I distinctly remember a quote from Mike Ditka, referring to the team being labeled a loser – “you’re never a loser until you stop trying”. Certainly, the Bills never stopped trying.
Scott Norwood
Scott Norwood, the kicker who was wide right on the game-ending field goal attempt in Super Bowl XXV, has always been the poster child for the Bills’ losing reputation. But I’ve stated it before, blaming him for the loss, when his career history clearly showed the 47 yard kick was at the top end of his range and was a 50% prospect at best, is not accurate. Norwood was a major reason why the Bills were in the Super Bowl to begin with. If you’ve seen any replays of the game, then it should be clear that there were a lot of other contributors to the loss. To his credit, Norwood handled the loss with class and dignity, and the true fans of the team never really blamed him.
Don Beebe
Sorting through the carnage of the Bills’ Super Bowl failures, there were a lot of examples of the team’s “circle the wagons” mentality, of their never-give-up attitude, and the one that stands out the most is Don Beebe’s running down of Dallas’ Leon Lett, knocking the ball out of his hands as he prepared to celebrate a sure fumble recovery touchdown. The Bills were losing, 52-17 at the time and Beebe had no business hustling like he did to complete the play. But the fact that he did became a focal point for fans, a teaching moment for parents to instill in their children to never give up, no matter how long the odds against you or how embarrassing the situation you’re in. It was a gratifying moment, a few years later, that Beebe was able to get a Super Bowl ring, while winding down his career playing in Green Bay. It was poetic justice, a win for a good guy who years earlier showed the heart of a Super Bowl champion even though his team didn’t win.
Jim Kelly
As the quarterback, and field general, of the Bills’ offense throughout the era that included the four Super Bowl losses, Jim Kelly shoulders most of the blame for those losses. In fact, he didn’t play very well in 3 of the games, and was injured in one of them. Despite the losses, people who know football didn’t blame Kelly or label him a loser. Instead, he was a first ballot Hall of Famer, the ultimate sign of respect for a player. Kelly’s ability was always unquestioned. His toughness was admired. He was a throwback to an earlier era, when quarterbacks were still legitimate football players. And although the fact that he never managed to win that elusive Super Bowl ring probably is a thorn in his side, I believe the losses did a lot to prepare him for challenges he would face later in his life. They gave him perspective. The Super Bowls, ultimately, were just football games, and their importance paled in comparison to what he and his family went through with his young, ailing son. As for his on-the-field accomplishments, I think it’s important to point out that although he never won the Super Bowl, he got his team there four times, and did it in games that included playoff victories over Dan Marino, John Elway and Joe Montana.