Irish Warriors Alternative Guide to Superbowl MVP'S

Superbowl XX MVP Jim McMahon

McMahon. The epitome of controversy. Indeed much of the pregame hype centered around the fact hje was in violation of the league's dress code, wearing a head band on which he had handwritten "Adidas". He then started to wear a head band saying "Rozelle", after then-league commissioner Pete Rozelle. None of these issues though compared to mooning a helicopter flying overhead and other photographers during practice to show off his injured rear end.

Despite the whirlwind of run ins with the law McMahoon still emrged as one of the NFC's top passers that year throwing for a relatively respectable 15 touchdowns and making sure that with all time great Running Back Walter Payton at least it wasn't a one dimensional Offense. He threw for 2,392 yards and 15 touchdowns, while also rushing for 252 yards and 3 touchdowns but it was Mike Ditka's 46 Zone defesne which earned the most attention and was a huge factor in allowing the Bears to go 15-1 and breeze their way to the Playoffs for a first trip to Superbowl 20.

Facing the New England Patriots considered a cinderalla team for making it that far the Patriots set out to shocck the 48.3 million people watching and took the 2nd quickest lead in Super Bowl history when Payton fumbled to set up a Field goal. Despite 15 out of the 19 teams who took the lead eventually won the big game the Bears overcome that stat and jumped out to a 13-3 lead.

On Chicago's next poccession Jim ran a simple 2 yard bootleg for a Touchdown to put da bears up 20-3 as the Patriots Defense ranked 5th in the league in fewest yards allowed struggled to come up with any ways of stopping Chicago's offense. Although to be fair a 23-3 lead should never have happenned with the crontroversy that with 21 seconds left in the first half, McMahon scrambled to the Patriots' three-yard line and was stopped in-bounds. With the clock ticking down, the Bears snapped the ball before the officials formally put it back into play, allowing McMahon to throw the ball out of bounds and stop the clock with three seconds left. The Bears were penalized five yards for delay of game, but according to NFL rules, ten seconds should have also been run off the clock during such a deliberate clock-stopping attempt in the final two minutes of a half; this would have left no time on the clock for the kick.

On the very first Chicago play of the second half Jim used all his agility with the ball on the bears 4 yard line and faked a handoff to Payton, then threw a 60-yard completion to Gault. Eight plays later, McMahon finished the Super Bowl record 96-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to make the Bears lead 30-3. A few plays later, McMahon's 27-yard completion to receiver Dennis Gentry moved the ball to the 1-yard line which set William "the Refrigerator" Perry. Indeed one of the regrets in Mike Ditkas's illustrated coaching career is he didn't use Walter Payton in that situation or indeed for McMahon's Touchdown runs. Payton finished the game with a relatively quiet 61 yards on 22 carries, with his longest run being only 7 yards

Chicago eventually won out with a loopsided 46-10 win McMahon being one of the main difference makers in that gamecompleting 12 out of 20 passes for 256 yards, becoming the first quarterback in a Super Bowl to score 2 rushing touchdowns. For a Quartberback emobroilled with all sorts of of topical issues in Suer Bowl week it seems the game was a happy return after all.

I never cared for him, but he was a decent QB and had a good game here.

Super Bowl XXI MVP Lawrence Taylor

L.T. The greatest Defensive Player in the History of the game with members of the media, former players, and coaches giving him this accolade. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Taylor was a disruptive force at outside linebacker, and is widely considered to have changed the pass rushing schemes, offensive line play, and offensive formations used in the NFL.

Despite a controversial lifestyle such as frequent drug use the majority of GM's during his final North Carolina days including the New York Giants very own George Young who claimed he would be better then Dick Butkus.

"Taylor is the best college linebacker I've ever seen. Sure, I saw Dick Butkus play. There's no doubt in my mind about Taylor. He's bigger and stronger than Butkus was. On the blitz, he's devastating."

In between 1981 LT's rookie year and his first Superbowl appearance needless to say he lived up to George Young's hype with 5 Pro Bowl selections, 1 Defensive Rookie of the Year award and 1 NFL MVP. In 1986 LT had his most spectacular season recording a league-leading 20.5 sacks and became one of just two defensive players to win the NFL Most Valuable Player award (Alan Page was the other) and the only defensive player to be the unanimous selection for MVP. In addition, Taylor won the Defensive Player of the Year Award.

In Superbowl 21 the Big Blue Moon faced John Elway and the Broncos who had overcome adversity the week before with the infamous drive in Clevland. Elway had thrown for 3,480 yards and 19 touchdowns despite having a weak Receving corp but indeed much of the pregame hype centered on how Taylor would be able to hurry Elway's throws or sack him.

Despite the G-Men enduring a 10-9 deficit at the half and a relatively slow start to Superbowl 21 L.T still made a game changing play tackling John Elway as he sprinted out on a rollout, a play which prevented a touchdown and a massive surge of momentum in Denver's favour. Indeed in the second half urged on by Phil Simms having the game of his life and the Big Blue Moon dominating the Denver lime of scrimmage the New York Football Giants were having a field day. For the stat keepers the second half was most notable for the 100th TD in Super Bowl history with Elway's 47-yard touchdown pass to Vance Johnson.

Had it not been for LT's big play tackling Elway as he was galloping towards the Endone Super Bowl XXI could have very have bene different. Indeed this game looked the start of a Superstar career for L.T but unfortunately the Giants fell to 6-9 in the strike shortened season and for a few seasons the mystique was gone.

The great LT! Is that blood on his pants?

Super Bowl XXII MVP Timmy Smith

Of all the Super Bowl alternative MVP'S in this particular thread the one thing that stands out about all of them is a Hall Of Fame or underrated tagg. With Timmy Smith however that was not the case. Playing for only 3 years in the National Football League and having a career plagued by injuries Smith will be remembered for his extradionary Superbowl appearance more then anything especially considerinng it was in his Rookie Season.

Smith was actually lucky to be starting as Running Back considering he was a backup for most of the season to George Rodgers. As hard as it was to believe with the benfit of hindsight all the experts perdicted an easy Denver victory considering the wealth of experience offered. ecause most experts thought Elway was by far a superior quarterback to Williams. Elway had won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award and was selected to start for the AFC in the Pro Bowl, while Williams had played just 5 regular season games. Williams was the first African-American quarterback ever to start in a Super Bowl.

When the 1st quarter ended and Denver exhibiting their dominance once Doug williams returned something seemed to click in Washington's favour. After a 80 yard pass from Doug Williams to Ricky Sanders to cut the deficit to 3. Then Gary Clark on the Skins next drive made a Hollywodd like diving catch in the endzone to give washington a 14-10. It was now time for Timmy Smith to get started.

On Washington's very next poccession Smith who didn't touch the ball up to that point and was making his first NFL start took off Barry Sanders style for a 58 yard Touchdown run. With Elway going3 & out and Washingtons last drive before the Half Smith used his quickness and ability to see through the holes of the linebloccking and burst through the holes of the Offensive Line for a 43 yard gain which set up another Skins TD. In just over 15 minutes Washington outscored Denver 35-0. They scored on 5 consective poccessions inspired by the Hollyowood esque of Doug Williams.

The Second quarter was all about coasting towards the inevitable. Smith who had rushed for 5 carries, 122 yards and a TD never coasted and displayed relentless when he ran the Ball. Eventually wounding up with 22 204 yards on 22 carries he added a 4 yard Touchdown in the 4th quarter just for good measure along with an average gain of 9 yards.

Unfortunately after this super Bowl it was nevr a case of on to bigger and better things with Timmy. With his injury plagued career coming to a close in Dallas Smith took the wrong career path electing to join the crime world where it backfired after being arrested for allegedly trying to sell cocaine to an undercover police officer in Denver in 2005. Released from prison just two months ago it would be a shame if one act of stupidity would overshadow one incredible performance.

On a Super Bowl more so rememebered for Doug Williams rise to fame from being back up in the USFL to Super Bowl Champion only the diehard will rememeber such a one game performance and how big it was in delivering washington it's second World championship. It just goes to show Just goes to show you, one huge, even record setting game in the Super Bowl, does not promise or guarantee future success.

Amazingly, Smith only managed 126 yards during the entire 1987 season and would play just 15 more games in the NFL after his record setting performance.

Do you think he would have made the Hall of Fame if he had not been injured?

His Career Statistics would show that wasn't possible. Shame the URL tag button doesn't work here

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SmitTi00.htm

What do you mean by that URL tag?

You're right. His statistics are nothing to write home about, but I would expect to see some development over the years.

I meant Hyperlink where you insert the URL tags between each Web address.

It was something the Sports lounge had when I linked to my game reports for the Warriors

Check out http://thesportssanctuary.lefora.com/2008/05/19/how-link-websites-effectively-the-sports-sanctuary/

BBCodes, those URL Tags, are not yet supported by Lefora.

Super Bowl XXIII MVP Joe Montana

Joe Cool. The quarterback who never lost his poise even when competing with Steve Young for a starting job during the late 80's. Throughout his career Montana relied on that same poise during his 31 game winning drives to make San Francisco the main dynasty of the 1980's. It started with the Catch and in 1988 Montana was playing at the highest level of his career 2,981 yards and 18 touchdowns, and also added 132 rushing yards.

Despite the Bengals superior regular season record and Esiason's MVP award, the 49ers were heavily favored to win the Super Bowl, mainly because of Montana. Montana had already led the 49ers to 2 previous Super Bowls and both times left with a championship ring and Super Bowl MVP honors.

While Montana had problems during the regular season, he appeared to be playing his best in the postseason, throwing for 466 yards and 5 touchdowns in his 2 playoff games, with only 1 interception.

In Super Bowl 23 despite the notable injury to 49ers tackle Steve Wallacewho was taken off the field with a broken ankle Montana got the offense rolling with a 41 yard field Goal from Mike Cofer. On the Niners next drive Montana saw the Bengals went one on one Coverage realised sam Wyche made a mistake and delivered a pictire perfect to Jerry Rice for a 32 yard gain. Despite the big gain Randy Cross was unable to deliver a perfect snap to Cofer and as a result the Niners had the unwanted record for shortest missed FG in Super Bowl History.

With 1.15 remaining in the 1st half Jim Beech kicked a 34 yard Field Goal tying the score at the half. The two teams went into their locker rooms tied 3 – 3, the first halftime tie in Super Bowl history, and the lowest halftime score since the Pittsburgh Steelers took a 2 – 0 halftime lead over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IX.

On their opening possession in the second half, the Bengals managed to get a sustained drive going, moving the ball 61 yards in 12 plays and taking 9:15 off the clock. Esiason, who completed only 4 of 12 passes for 48 yards in the first half, completed 3 of 4 passes for 54 yards on the drive, including a 20-yard completion to James Brooks and 23-yard and 11-yard completions to Cris Collinsworth, setting up a 43-yard field goal from Breech to give the Bengals their first lead of the game, 6-3. Cincinnati then forced San Francisco to punt, but on the first play of their next drive, 49ers rookie linebacker Bill Romanowski intercepted a pass from Esiason at the Bengals' 23-yard line. However, after a dropped pass by Jerry Rice, the 49ers offense could not get a first down, and they had to settle for Cofer's 32-yard field goal to tie the game.

With 1.00 minute remaining in the 3rd quarter and neither team looking remotely capable of reaching the endzone Stanford Jennings changed the complexion of the game by returning ball 93 yards for a touchdown to give the Bengals a 13 – 6 lead. Jennings would be the second player to return a kickoff for a touchdown in Super Bowl history.

Despite the circumstances being unfavourable to San Francisco an 85-yard, 4-play drive was just the tonic Bill Walsh needed. Rice using his speed as well as his extremely talented Route running turned a potential 6 yard gain into a 31, Roger craig using his downfield vision caught a pass for 40 yards and two plays later rice caught a 14 yard TD. All the attributes that made the Niners so successfuk throughout the Montana and Young years worked on this drive.

Following a missed FG by Cofer the Bengals put together a10-play, 46-yard drive, featuring a 17-yard reception by backup receiver Ira Hillary on third down and 13, along with 21 yards on three carries from Ickey Woods and a 12-yard play-action sideline pass to James Brooks with Jim Beech making a 40 yarder. Cincinnati took a 16-13 lead and the situation looked even better with an illegal block Penalty pushing the ball back to the 49ers 8.

Often a game winning drive is fraught with tension from everyone in the huddle but Montana had been involved in way too many to even think about feeling the pressure from everyone in the stadium and the millions watching Stateside and around the world. To ease the tension Montana pointed into the Stadium Crowd and said " Hey isn't that John Candy". It was the defintion of what Montana was about and this drive illustrated the Joe cool nickname he had earned from Chris Berman at it's finest.

Assuming that the Bengals would expect him to throw the ball near the sidelines (to enable the receivers to step out of bounds to immediately stop the clock), Montana first threw a pair of completions in the middle of the field, one to Craig and one to tight end John Frank. His next pass went 7 yards to Rice, which was then followed up by a pair of runs by Craig to reach their own 35-yard line. Montana then completed a 17-yard pass to Rice to advance the team to the Bengals 48-yard line, and followed it up with a 13-yard completion to Craig to move them to the 35-yard line.

Hyperventilating in the huddle Montana threw an incomplete pass and then horror struck. Randy Cross committed a rare illegal man downfield penalty which moved the ball back to the 45-yard line and bringing up second down and 20 to go with just 1:15 left in the game. But Montana overcame the situation on the next play with a 27-yard completion to Rice, who caught the ball at the 33, evaded 3 Bengal defenders, and ran to the 18-yard line before Horton managed to tackle him to prevent a touchdown. An 8-yard pass to Craig then advanced San Francisco to the 10-yard line. Then with 39 seconds left in the game, Montana finished the drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Taylor, giving the 49ers the lead for good. Finally, San Francisco's defense sealed the victory after Esiason's pass to Collinsworth was broken up as time expired.

Although Rice had the greatest game by a Wide Reciver in a Super bowl Montana completed 23 of 36 passes for a Super Bowl record 357 yards, throwing for 2 touchdowns, and gaining 14 rushing yards. Had it not been for his calm in the huddle when the odds looked against him as well as several key passes most notably the completion to Rice which almost ended in a winning touchdown the Bengals would have recorded a huge upset. As it was though the next year following Bill Walsh's departure Montana laid the foundations for a certain other QB to take over.

He's a legend.

IrishWarriors, do you think Joe Montana was better than Steve Young?

I'll answer that question tommorow but my short answer is no

You have a future blog post coming out concerning that matter?

Probably and I'll post something here regarding that issue as well.

It's always been a big topic of discussion along Niner fans!

I would do the same thing.

I know it is - that's why I asked you.