It is indeed possible for a game to be lost before it is ever played. It happened here to the 1994 San Diego Chargers.
The Chargers came to Miami to play the San Francisco 49ers. But it was evident as early as the Tuesday before that many Chargers were in awe of the moment, just happy to be there, all the emotional ingredients for a disaster, which the game was: 49-26 San Francisco.
Defensive lineman Shawn Lee, now a free agent after last season with the Bears, was so irritated by the mood of some teammates that he leveled running back Natrone Means in warm-ups, searching for a spark. It was a lost cause.
“As a team we weren’t ready to play,” recalls Atlanta wide receiver Tony Martin, who caught 50 passes that season for the Chargers. “We weren’t prepared; everybody was overwhelmed by what was going on. We were beaten before we ever got out there.
“Guys were star struck by what was happening. It was a young team and none of us had ever experienced the Super Bowl before. It was really like a big field trip.”
The Falcons this year are showing none of that defeatist attitude. Martin has talked to his Atlanta teammates about that 1995 game but said coach Dan Reeves, who went through three losing Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos, is keeping the Falcons on edge. Both know the feeling of a Super Bowl loss only too well.
“It was real bitter,” Martin says. “It was the lowest feeling I ever felt and I don’t ever want to feel like that again. It’s different if you go into a game, play your hardest and the other team just won that day. But we didn’t play well at all and they really put it on us.”
Mathis’ problems: Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Terance Mathis admitted this week that he has an alcohol problem. Mathis said he turned to the bottle because he was under-appreciated for his 111-catch season in 1994.
He realized his drinking was out of control because of several near-accidents while behind the wheel of his car.
“My responsibility to the youth is to try to be the best I can be, not only on the field but off the field,” he said. “If I’m going to talk to you about not doing drugs and drinking and driving, I’ve got to live that way.”
Asked if he has quit drinking, Mathis said he has the problem under control, although he hasn’t given it up completely.
“I’ve had a beer or two in the last couple of days,” he said. “But (Monday) was a very, very good day for me. I did not have a drink or have a desire to have a drink. I don’t think I’m going to have that craving anymore.”
Personnel upgrade: Atlanta left tackle Bob Whitfield was a No. 1 draft choice out of Stanford in 1992. He believes NFL personnel staffs are missing a good thing.
“We’ve been telling you all along: Draft Stanford guys in the first round,” Whitfield says. “You get 10 Stanford guys and you’ve got a great team. You figure, if they can’t play football, they can run the front office.”
But Stanford guys can play football, Whitfield insists, really play. The Falcons put in a special play with receiver Tim Dwight running with the ball from the quarterback position against Minnesota. Should Reeves put in, say, a tackle-eligible play for Whitfield?
“Do you know that I’m an athlete?” says the 315-pounder with feigned indignation. “He doesn’t have to put in any tackle-eligible for me. You can line me up in the slot; I can run that (deep) route just as good as Tony Martin.”
Real holding: Atlanta offensive lineman Robbie Tobeck is a serious fan of wrestling. He served as a bodyguard for friends Ron Stud and Goldberg (former Falcons linebacker Bill Goldberg) at a WCW Monday Nitro event this month and would not mind at all if the NFL started allowing wrestling submission holds like the figure-four grapevine.
“I’d like to try it in some of those pileups and going for fumbles,” laughs Tobeck, who was an usher at the wedding of former Washington State teammate Drew Bledsoe. “Obviously you’d get called if you tried something like that, but there’s a lot that goes on that the refs don’t see.”
Respect, please? The Falcons have been struggling for respect despite their 14-2 regular-season record. It helped that they defeated the 49ers in the playoffs, then upset the Minnesota Vikings. “But the lack of respect is going to be there until you start proving that you’re a winning team,” cornerback Ray Buchanan says. “To a lot of people, it’s a big shock that the Atlanta Falcons are here.
“People put a lot of different hurdles in front of this team and we just jumped over them like they were baby seats.”
Green fields: The new sod for the playing field at Pro Player Stadium was supplied by the Orlando turf farm of golfer Greg Norman. The grass will feel new to the Falcons for another reason: The last time they played on a surface that needed mowing was Nov. 8 at New England.
Something about . . .: Actress Cameron Diaz, star of the film “There’s Something about Mary,” was in the headquarters hotel Wednesday. She is in town for filming of the Oliver Stone movie “Any Given Sunday.”
Consolation prize: Randall Cunningham was the winner of the Player of the Year award in the closest voting in the 10-year history of the award. He received 37 percent of the vote from a nationwide panel of 200 writers and broadcasters, 2 percent more than Denver running back Terrell Davis.
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“It’s not an empty feeling,” Cunningham said. “The feeling I have is it wasn’t our time. The year 2000 looks better for us. It’s a year of completion. We’ll do better next year.”
Dwight sick: Atlanta return specialist Dwight pushed himself through practice Thursday despite an upset stomach he believes was caused by something he ate for lunch.
“He didn’t miss anything, but he didn’t practice with his usual spirit,” Reeves said.
Dough boy: Denver coach Mike Shanahan on coaching burnout: “It always seems to me that the guys who have burnout have a lot of money in the bank. I’ve never seen assistant coaches have burnout, have you?”
Another opinion: On paper this Super Bowl looks like an even matchup.
“You just have to wait and see,” Denver safety Steve Atwater says. “I thought when we played the 49ers in the 1990 Super Bowl that we were evenly matched. After the game when they beat us 55-10, it wasn’t an even matchup.”
The party’s over: Atlanta linebacker Cornelius Bennett claims the Buffalo Bills lost four Super Bowls because they partied too much before the game. Bennett played on those teams and safety Eugene Robinson played in the last two Super Bowls with Green Bay, winning in 1996.
“I tell players what not to do and Eugene tells them what to do,” Bennett says.
Replay replay: Reeves puts the future of instant replay squarely into the hands of Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who has always tried to be neutral.
“I’ve always been for instant replay, and if the commissioner is really sold on it, we can get it done,” Reeves says. “In my opinion, he is the key. If he doesn’t really truly believe it is a good tool, then we will not get it. If the commissioner thinks it’s a good tool, he has got the ability to persuade enough owners that it is something we need.”
Officials named: Bernie Kukar, a 15-year veteran, will referee his first Super Bowl. Kukar will head a seven-man crew with 96 combined years of experience.
The other officials are umpire Jim Daopoulos, head linesman Sanford Rivers, line judge Ron Baynes, field judge Tim Millis, side judge Gary Lane and back judge Don Hakes. Referee Gerry Austin and umpire Chad Brown will be alternates.
Baynes, Millis, Lane and Hakes have officiated in previous Super Bowls.
Not there: Denver fullback Howard Griffith may have grown up in Chicago, attending Julian High before playing football at Illinois, and he may have rooted for the Bears, but he said he had no desire to become a Bear.
“No,” he says emphatically. “They didn’t take care of their own. And I didn’t want to be part of that.”
Practice perfect: Receiver Rod Smith called the Broncos’ practices this week some of the best he has ever been a part of and Wednesday’s, in particular, “the very best we have ever had.”
“It was unbelievable,” Smith says. “I was so hyped, I ran around high-fiving guys–just for practice. It’s been a long season.”