15. Super Bowl 31 – The Minister of Defense
Defensive End
Reggie White is arguably one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history.
While in college, he became an ordained Baptist minister and therefore earned
the nickname, “The Minster of Defense.” After eight years as an All-Pro with
the Philadelphia Eagles, White shocked the football world when he signed as a
free-agent with the Green Bay Packers prior to the 1993 season.
The Packers
immediately became contenders with White leading the defense and quarterback,
Brett Favre, in charge of the offense. In 1996, they finished 13-3 in the
regular season and won their first two play off games to advance to the Super
Bowl against the New England Patriots.
The Packers won
the game, 35-21, and while punt/kick returner Desmond Howard won MVP accolades
and Favre threw for 246 yards and two touchdowns, it was the defense, led by
White, that won the Super Bowl for the Packers.
All throughout the
game, Reggie led the charge that put pressure on Patriots’ quarterback, Drew
Bledsoe, causing many hurried throws and other mistakes. Bledsoe tied a Super
Bowl record with four thrown interceptions, and White also sacked him twice.
At the conclusion
of the game, when he took possession of the Super Bowl trophy, the memory of
White running around the field doing a victory lap while carrying the trophy is
one that will remain etched in the mind of everyone who saw it.
Unfortunately,
Reggie White died much too early, when he suffered a cardiac arrhythmia on the
day after Christmas in 2004. He was only 43.
16. Super Bowl 32 – This one’s for John
After failing in three Super
Bowl attempts a decade earlier, the Denver Broncos and John Elway finally won
the big game after defeating the Green Bay Packers 31-24 in arguably the most
exciting Super Bowl ever played.
In the mid to late 1980s, the
Broncos were one of the best teams in the NFL but always came up short in the
Super Bowl, losing to the New York Giants in SB 21 (39-20), the Washington
Redskins in SB 22 (42-10) and the San Francisco 49ers in SB 24 (55-10.)
In perhaps the play that defined
not only Elway’s determination to win the 32nd Super Bowl, but also
his determination to play to the best of abilities throughout his career, his
third quarter run helped set up a crucial Broncos’ touchdown.
With three minutes left in the
quarter on a third-and-six at the Packers’ 12, Elway dropped back to pass, but
couldn’t find an open receiver. The 37-year old QB tucked the ball and ran,
trying to get the first down. He refused to slide or run out of bounds and was
about to be hit by Packers’ strong safety, Leroy Butler. Rather than take the
hit square on, Elway jumped into the air. Butler got a piece of Elway and spun him around like a helicopter. Elway landed at the four-yard line, jumped up,
threw his arms in the air and ran back to his teammates, who obviously had gotten a boost of adrenaline from the run of their old leader.
The drive ended in a touchdown
and a quarter later, Elway and the Broncos were champions.
17. Super Bowl 35 – Three play, three
touchdowns
In what was perhaps the most
boring Super Bowl ever played, it’s hard to believe that an exciting moment
happened, but it did. The Baltimore Ravens won this Super Bowl over the New
York Giants by a score of 34-7, in a game where both offensives struggled. The
Ravens had the best defense in the NFL, probably the best since the 1985
Chicago Bears and they frustrated the Giants the whole game.
The exciting moment happened in
the third quarter when on three consecutive plays that took a grand total of 36
seconds, three touchdowns were scored. The Ravens were ahead by a score of
10-0. The excitement started when Baltimore defensive back, Duane Starks,
intercepted a pass from Giants’ quarterback, Kerry Collins, and returned it 49
yards into the end zone for a touchdown that made the score 17-0.
On the ensuing kickoff, New York
returner, Ron Dixon, accepted the kickoff at the three and proceeded to run 97
yards into the Baltimore end zone to make the score 17-7. Not to be outdone,
the Ravens’ Jermaine Lewis returned the following kick-off 84 yards to make the
score 24-7. In three plays, the two teams’ special teams and defense combined
for 230 yards and 21 points. In the remaining 59 minutes and 24 seconds of the
game, the two team’s offenses combined for 396 yards and 20 points.
18. Super Bowl 37 – Defense, Defense, Defense
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
playing in their first Super Bowl, squared off against the Oakland Raiders,
making their first appearance in nearly 20 years. It was the Buccaneers who
dominated the Raiders with their defence. The final score was 48-21 but the
talking point was the three defensive touchdowns the Bucs scored.
With the game pretty much out of
reach already in the third quarter—Tampa was up 27-3—Oakland quarterback, Rich
Gannon, was picked off by Buccaneer defensive back Dwight Smith, who returned
the ball 44 yards into the end zone to increase the lead to 34-3.
In the fourth, after three Raider TDs had
narrowed the gap to 34-21, the Tampa defense was at it again as linebacker,
Derrick Brooks, intercepted Gannon and returned the ball 44 yards for a score
to make it 41-21. In the final minute, with the Raiders desperate to make the
score a little bit more respectable, Gannon again was picked (his Super Bowl
record fifth of the game) by Smith who returned the ball 50 yards, his second
interception return for a touchdown of the game, becoming the first player on
defense in Super Bowl history to score a TD twice in the game.
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