The Big Cheese

By T.J. SIMERS

Jan. 27, 1997 12 AM PT

Share via
- Email
- Facebook
- X
- LinkedIn
- Threads
- Reddit
- WhatsApp

TIMES STAFF WRITER

NEW ORLEANS — They will climb to the top of their two-story buildings and the ticker tape will fly in Green Bay, a Cheesehead plopped proudly on every head up and down Lombardi Avenue, and the windchill be damned.

Owned by the people, and led by a good old boy on offense, a minister on defense and a Heisman Trophy winner who really is a special player, the Green Bay Packers will be returning to the land of legends with the Lombardi Trophy, their prize for defeating the New England Patriots, 35-21, in Super Bowl XXXI in the Superdome before 72,301 Sunday.

“We have etched our place in history,” said Brett Favre, the Packers’ quarterback, who predicted this triumphant moment last summer. “We have been lost in the shadow of the old Packers, but now we can say we have the same thing they had.

“And now I know what they have been talking about; it’s everything I thought it would be and then more.”

In winning the franchise’s third Super Bowl and first in 29 years, the Packers extended the NFC’s domination over the AFC to 13 consecutive years. And they delivered a Super Bowl defeat for the first time to New England Coach Bill Parcells, who had twice won with the New York Giants, and who is now expected to leave the Patriots for the New York Jets in his quest for more power.

“I am not answering that question,” Parcells said in declining to say if he will leave the Patriots. “I don’t know statistically how the game turned out, but it was probably pretty close. The difference was special teams; that was the worst we have been outplayed there all season.”

Desmond Howard will do that to a team. Yes, the same wide receiver with the Heisman Trophy who couldn’t catch on in Washington and Jacksonville, and don’t those two organizations feel silly today?

Howard is now the first special teams player in history to be the Super Bowl most valuable player, and the fourth--along with Roger Staubach, Marcus Allen and Jim Plunkett--to be both Super Bowl MVP and Heisman winner.

“Obviously I never quit on myself or I wouldn’t have been here,” said Howard, who tied Andre Coleman’s Super Bowl record for combined yardage with 244 yards in 1995. “But you can only keep talent down so long.”

Howard, the NFL’s leading punt returner this season who was nearly cut in the Packers’ training camp before the season, ripped the San Francisco 49ers in a playoff game with a series of dynamic punt returns, and now has the third (34 yards) and fourth (31 yards) longest punt returns in Super Bowl history.

But that was only his warmup routine for a third quarter that left New England in rubble.

“We were right there, right back into the game,” New England linebacker Chris Slade said, “and then Desmond Howard broke our backs.”

The Patriots were still celebrating Curtis Martin’s 18-yard touchdown to pull within six points in the third quarter when Howard took the field for Adam Vinatieri’s kickoff.

“I thought we might have them rocking a little bit at 27-21,” Parcells said. “We had the momentum and our defense was playing a lot better.”

But before the Patriots’ defense could take the field, Howard had gone 99 yards--a Super Bowl record--with Vinatieri’s kick.

“I love watching Desmond play,” said Favre, who threw for a pair of touchdowns and ran two yards for another. “He’s got a way of turning a game around and putting it out of reach. He really gets us going.”

The way this game began, it looked like history repeating itself 11 years to the day when the Chicago Bears bullied the Patriots here, 46-10.

The Packers led, 10-0, a little more than six minutes into the game. On the team’s second offensive play, Favre called for Coach Mike Holmgren’s pregame scripted play in the huddle, but then changed it as he walked to the line of scrimmage.

“I had seen the Patriots give us that defensive look in films we had watched during the week, but never early in the game,” Favre said. “I thought they might be bluffing, but I went with the audible anyway.”

The Patriots, getting ready to apply additional pressure up front, moved their safeties forward and assigned Otis Smith, cut by the Jets before the season, to stay with Rison. Imagine a jockey trying to outrace Secretariat. Smith came no closer than 15 yards in trying to stay with Rison, who hauled in Favre’s 54-yard pass for the game’s first score.

Cornerback Doug Evans’ interception on the ensuing series set up a 37-yard field goal by Chris Jacke, and it appeared the rout was on. But that’s how the Patriots started this season, losing their first two games before winning the AFC East title.

Casting aside any intention of running the ball, Parcells sent out quarterback Drew Bledsoe to fill the air with flying footballs. Bledsoe attempted seven consecutive passes, certainly not the usual for a quarterback answering to Parcells.

A 29-yard pass interference penalty and three completions later, Bledsoe had a one-yard touchdown flick to Keith Byars, and the game was on.

“Parcells’ plan was to keep the Packers off balance and attack them,” Byars said. “I mean we were slugging it out with them, but they just landed more punches than we did.”

The Patriots had the Packers in trouble briefly after Bledsoe came right back in the first quarter to connect with tight end Ben Coates on a four-yard touchdown pass for a 14-10 lead.

A TV timeout, however, might have led to the Patriots’ downfall. While America watched one of those $1.2-million commercials, Rison began screaming at his teammates to show more confidence and provide more time for Favre to pass the ball.

Back to the action, and on the first play after the timeout, Favre went 81 yards to Antonio Freeman for a touchdown and the longest play from scrimmage in Super Bowl history.

“Any time you give a guy a head start it’s hard to catch up,” said safety Lawyer Milloy, who was beaten on the play. “I don’t know how close I got to him because everything got cloudy when I got going.”

Had this been the Indy 500, Freeman would have been credited with lapping Milloy.

“When I was running, all I could think about was all those people that doubted me when I was coming out of college,” said Freeman, who attended Virginia Tech. “They said I didn’t have 4.3 speed, but now America can see how fast I am.”

The Packers never trailed again, and the NFL’s No. 1 defense, paced by Reggie White’s three sacks, began to pound Bledsoe.

The Patriots’ chances for a championship continued to dwindle as the Packers began to pile up the points. They added a 31-yard field goal from Jacke and Favre’s touchdown run to build a 27-14 halftime advantage. That was already more points scored against a Parcells team in 15 postseason games, and Howard was still warming up.

“Green Bay has been starved,” Packer safety Eugene Robinson said. “They were waiting for this and everyone has been reminding us of that. You have to live in Green Bay to really understand how important it is to those people. When we get back there it’s going to be astounding.”

* ANALYSIS

Was this simply another NFC blowout or the closest matchup in 31 Super Bowls? S3

* MVP

Unwanted in Washington and Jacksonville, Desmond Howard turns things around. S4

* SPOTLIGHT

A rigged coin flip, a jittery clock-keeper and toilets flushing were all part of day. S7

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE DRIVES

First-Half Drives

*--*

Team Start Plays Yards Time Result New England NE21 5 15 2:41 Punt Green Bay GB45 2 55 0:51 TD New England NE20 2 1 0:48 Int. Green Bay NE28 4 9 1:58 FG New England NE21 6 79 2:07 TD Green Bay GB18 3 -1 1:51 Punt New England NE43 4 57 2:11 TD Green Bay GB26 3 3 1:30 Punt New England NE33 3 5 1:00 Punt Green Bay GB17 3 4 0:24 Punt New England NE42 3 0 0:25 Punt Green Bay GB19 1 81 0:10 TD New England NE24 5 6 2:51 Punt Green Bay NE47 8 33 2:58 FG New England NE25 3 19 1:05 Int. Green Bay GB26 10 74 5:59 TD New England NE22 5 36 0:52 Downs Green Bay GB43 1 -7 0:19 Half

*--*

Second-Half Drives

*--*

Team Start Plays Yards Time Result Green Bay GB25 9 31 5:28 Downs New England NE44 4 15 1:25 Punt Green Bay GB12 3 -2 1:15 Punt New England NE47 7 53 3:25 TD New England NE25 3 -9 1:56 Punt Green Bay GB37 5 14 2:11 Punt New England NE20 3 -3 1:32 Punt Green Bay GB40 5 12 2:34 Punt New England NE14 5 18 1:43 Int. Green Bay GB31 10 29 4:18 FG New England NE37 4 -5 0:45 Punt Green Bay GB26 3 -4 1:22 Punt New England NE29 4 -4 0:59 Int. Green Bay NE21 2 -2 0:50 Game

*--*

THE BIG PLAYS 1ST QUARTER 11:28 (PACKERS)

Brett Favre connected on a 54-yard touchdown pass to Andre Rison on the Packers’ second play from scrimmage to give Green Bay a 7-0 lead.

1ST QUARTER 3:20 (PATRIOTS)

On a third and one from the Green Bay 48, Drew Bledsoe found Terry Glenn over the middle for a 44-yard completion that took the ball to the Packer four-yard line. On the next play, Bledsoe found Ben Coates for a touchdown that gave New England a 14-10 lead.

2ND QUARTER 14:14 (PACKERS)

On the first play of a drive, Favre hooked up with Antonio Freeman for an 81-yard touchdown pass to give Packers a 17-14 lead.

3RD QUARTER: 3:27 (PATRIOTS)

Curtis Martin took a handoff and ran 18 yards up the middle for a touchdown to get Patriots back in the game, trailing by only six, 27-21.

3RD QUARTER: 3:10 (PACKERS)

It took only 17 seconds, however, on the ensuing kickoff to turn the game around. Desmond Howard returned it a Super Bowl-record 99 yards to give the Packers a 35-21 lead, also the way it ended.

A MATTER OF TIME

One of the complaints about football (from non-football fans, of course) is that there isn’t enough action. Too many huddles. Too many commercials. Too much standing around. Well, we clocked the Super Bowl, whistle to whistle, and here is what we found:

* Non-playing time: 02:47:43 (79%)

* Halftime: 00:27:00 (13%)

* Actual playing time: 00:16:03 (8%)

RECORD BOOK

MOST POINTS IN FIRST QUARTER

24--New England 14, Green Bay 10

LONGEST TOUCHDOWN PASS

81 yards--Antonio Freeman from Brett Favre in the second quarter.

LONGEST KICKOFF RETURN

99 yards--Desmond Howard, touchdown, in third quarter.

MOST PUNT RETURN YARDS, ONE GAME

90 yards--Desmond Howard on six returns.