|
|
 |
|
ARTICLE
Super Bowl XIII Bradshaw's arm spells w-i-n By BOB LABRIOLA Steelers.com The early part of the decade had produced the heavyweight championship boxing match everyone wanted to see when it paired Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali in Steelers-Cowboys. The Steelers were headed to their third Super Bowl in five seasons, and There were a couple of weeks of hype to really rev the engine, and in One of the things that made Noll so successful in Super Bowls was the way in which he approached the hype. While so many coaches gritted their teeth at everything they viewed as a distraction, Noll believed the Super Bowl was to be enjoyed. "It's a fun week," said Noll, who always installed his game plan before the team left for the site of the game. "No other week in the season is like it. We don't view this as a distraction. The distractions keep you from being there. Now you're there. We have some guys who want some exposure, and they should enjoy it." One of the guys Noll was talking about was Bradshaw, who craved recognition as a great player and who had a history of playing better when he was enjoying himself. With Noll being the first coach to take liberal advantage of the new rules liberalizing pass blocking and restricting contact with receivers beyond 5 yards of the line of scrimmage, Bradshaw passed for 2,915 yards with 28 touchdowns as the play-caller for an offense that scored 356 points. He was voted MVP of the league, but his insecurity still was very real. "I'm not the best. I'm somewhere near the top, maybe in the top 10. I doubt that I'll ever be able to look in the mirror and say, 'I'm the best quarterback in pro football.' Maybe it's because of my personality, but I don't think I'll ever get the recognition from the media. They make excuses for the other guys. Me, I lose, I go back to being a dummy." That was the theme Thomas "Hollywood" "Some of the Cowboys seem to think they were a young ballclub then," said Joe Greene. "They're publicizing the fact they had 14 rookies, but they didn't play except on special teams. I wish I had the courage to talk like that. There's been a lot of talk about the rookies they had … about how good they are in all areas – scouting, drafting, coaching, management. They are good, but our ballclub is in the same class. We don't say we're the best. We do whatever is necessary to get the job done. "I enjoy this game because it ends all the talk." But there were as lot of guys with media credentials who were determined to make the talk last throughout the entire week of hyping the event, and they had a willing accomplice in "They're almost illegal," said And then Groused Lambert about The game was a classic, and Bradshaw was at the center of it all. He passed for 317 yards on just 17 completions, and four went for touchdowns. His fumble was returned 37 yards by Mike Hegman in the second quarter to give the Cowboys a 14-7 lead. "Our game plan was t But what was truly special was Bradshaw's command of the game _ he called all of his own plays while Roger Staubach executed what was sent in from the sideline _ and a prime example was his play-calling on the first of those two critical fourth quarter touchdowns. On third-and-4 from the "I know I'm playing better than I ever did before, but I don't know why," said Bradshaw after the game. "I can't put my finger on it. This has been my luckiest year, I know that. Then came his parting shot: "Go ask The Steelers' performance in the playoffs was representative of their performance throughout the season. They played three games and scored more than 30 points in each; Bradshaw passed for eight touchdowns and had a rating of 104.1; the offense scored 13 touchdowns; and the defense recorded 16 sacks and forced 14 turnovers. Afterward it was vintage Noll, refusing to appear impressed, when he said during his postgame remarks that the Steelers hadn't "peaked" yet. Cracked Ham, "I thought we were coming in for practice on Tuesday." But once the team returned to In "When you have an alley-oop pass and the guy jumps all over you, it's hard to call interference," said Landry about the penalty. "It looked like both went for the ball and collided. Obviously, it was it was the key play. A close game became lopsided quickly. I'd say it was the ballgame for The whining irked Noll because it implied his team's victory somehow was tainted, and he eventually responded. When the Steelers were presented with their rings for winning Super Bowl XIII, Noll complimented the design and then added, "And if you push this little button on the side, you can hear Landry bitching."
Steelers 7 14 0 14 35 Cowboys 7 7 3 14 31
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
