Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: Super Bowl Edition

Although I'll give the nod to the Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday season being the most wonderful time of the year, Super Bowl Week has to be in the conversation for the most entertaining second fiddle.  I mean, what other major North American sporting event draws as much fanfare and drama as the Super Bowl before the 6:18-ish Sunday kickoff?  Maybe NBA All-Star Weekend in its heyday, but it still ain't the Super Bowl.  While it's rare for me to ever tell my readers to overlook any of my posts, please treat my earlier post about Super Bowl duds like a quarterback who threw an interception on his last drive.  Let's get to five Big Game Sunday Studs, i.e., my top five Super Bowls of all time...

#5 SUPER BOWL XXXIV: ST. LOUIS RAMS 23, TENNESSEE TITANS 16.  The 1999 Rams were predicted to be worst than even the Browns, who re-entered the league as an expansion team.  However, a franchise who hadn't been to the playoffs in ten years posted an NFC-best 13-3 record, the highest point differential of any Super Bowl champ (284), the No. 1 overall offense and the No. 4 overall defense.  Conversely, I was cheering for the Tennessee Titans, my second favorite AFC team who clawed their way as a Wild Card into the Super Bowl despite having a 13-3 record.  Although the Rams held the Titans scoreless in the first half, I knew they still had a chance because it was only 9-0 and they had Eddie George in the backfield.  On the strength of a 28-carry, 95-yard, two-TD performance, George literally carried the Titans back into competitiveness and an Al Del Greco FG evened the score at 16.  Unfortunately, Kurt Warner's bomb to Isaac Bruce for a 73-yard TD put the onus on the late Steve McNair with only 1:54 left.  Despite McNair leading one of the most valiant game-ending drives in Super Bowl history, "The Tackle" on Kevin Dyson by Mike Jones in the game's final seconds prevented the first overtime in Super Bowl history.  While I was pissed as a Titans supporter, I was thoroughly entertained as a football fan...

#4 SUPER BOWL XLIX: NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 28, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS 24.  As a Super Bowl between two of the most disliked teams in the NFL, most people I know were still going with the Seahawks because they hated Belichick, Brady and the Patriots  more.  In the first half, a 14-14 halftime score signified as evenly matched of a game as expected from Belichick and Pete Carroll-coached squads, characterized by stingy defense in the first quarter (including a Jeremy Lane INT on Brady) and offenses finding their rhythms in the second quarter.  However, after a Steven Hauschka FG and getting a second INT off of Brady in the third quarter, Russell Wilson's three-yard TD pass to Doug Baldwin pushed the score to 24-14.  Led by a resilient Brady, New England rallied back with 14 unanswered points to take the lead with 2:02 left in the game.  After three passes got the 'Hawks in the red zone--including haunting the Pats with another fluke Super Bowl catch from Jermaine Kearse this time around--everybody with a half a brain expected them to ride Marshawn Lynch to the Promised Land once his four-yard run got them to the goal line.  Unfortunately, Pete Carroll got cute by calling a passing play and Malcolm Butler, who defended Kearse on the "fluke" play, got the jump on Ricardo Lockette for the biggest INT of his career.  If only the 'Hawks were wearing the colors of the next Super Bowl winner...

#3 SUPER BOWL XLII: NEW YORK GIANTS 17, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 14.  If Eli Manning is known for nothing else once his career is over, then he will be known as a bigger Brady Killer than big brother Peyton.  Even in a 38-35 loss in Week 17 of the 2007 season, the Giants proved they could hang with the Pats as Big Blue forced New England to overcome their biggest deficit all season.  Although their Super Bowl matchup was not the same offensive bonanza as the Patriots held a narrow 7-3 lead by the fourth quarter, this was a chess match for the ages.  Manning began the fourth quarter with a TD drive to David Tyree to take a 10-7 lead with 11:05 remaining.  After over three minutes of stout defense from both teams, Brady led a lengthy drive capped off with an eleven-yard TD strike to a wide open Randy Moss to go up 14-10 with 2:42 left.  In one of the most clutch drives in Super Bowl history, Manning evaded pressure to complete an improbable 32-yard pass to Tyree, who pinned the ball against his helmet with Rodney Harrison draped all over him.  Four plays later, Manning found Plaxico Burress on a slant-and-go for the go-ahead TD with only 35 seconds to go.  Ruining the Patriots' perfect season made football fans everywhere who loathe Brady and Belichick unite like never before.  Not bad for the NFC's No. 6 seed and a bunch of twelve-point underdogs...

#2 SUPER BOWL XXIII: SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS 20, CINCINNATI BENGALS 16.  Hard to believe these prolific offenses led by league MVP Boomer Esiason and two-time Super Bowl MVP Joe Montana were limited to 3-3 at halftime.  Sans Stanford Jennings' 93-yard kickoff return TD, the Bengals wouldn't have been a factor as Esiason was lackluster (11 of 25, 144 yards, one INT) and Ickey Woods' 20 carries for 79 yards were more effective.  Down 16-13 with 3:10 left in regulation and 92 yards to go, "Joe Cool" lived up to his nickname as he performed a clinic with two gusty passes in the middle of the field to Roger Craig and John Frank, a seven-yard sideline pass to Rice, two Craig runs, a 17-yard pass to Rice and a 13-yard pass to Craig to get to the Bengals' 35-yard line.  Even after overthrowing Rice and a Randy Cross illegal man downfield penalty with 1:15 left, Joe Cool hooked up with Rice to get in the red zone.  After an eight-yard pass to Craig, Montana completed the drive with a ten-yard TD strike to John Taylor with only 39 seconds remaining.  With the defense preventing an Esiason comeback as time expired, Super Bowl XXIII comes down to this: while there have been many great drives in Super Bowl history, Montana's game-winning drive in the hardest-fought victory of his four Super Bowl wins might be the greatest in NFL history...

#1 SUPER BOWL XXII: WASHINGTON REDSKINS 42, DENVER BRONCOS 10.  If you've been following New Problem Tuesdays since it was The Angry Musings of Dirk Scribbler, then you already know the biggest reason why this is No. 1 on the list: Doug Williams became the first Black quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl during a time when that was a rarity.  However, I specifically recall the hype behind league MVP John Elway and "The Three Amigos", Mark Jackson, Vance Johnson and Ricky Nattiel.  The media made it seem like Williams, who won more games off the bench (3-0) than as a starter (0-2) in 1987, and the three-point underdog Skins stood no chance.  In the first quarter, the Broncos' 10-0 lead seemed insurmountable, especially when Williams gruesomely twisted his leg on a sack.  What Denver didn't bank on was Williams' biggest motivation to overcome his injury: Jay Schroeder.  Keeping the memory of "one of the most embarrassing moments" front and center of an arrogant Schroeder waving him off as a replacement while enduring the Giants' 17-0 beatdown in the 1986 NFC Championship, Williams said this of his one play off: "One thing I could not stand was the thought that Jay Schroeder went in the game for me."  Three-hundred-and-forty yards, four TDs and a Super Bowl MVP award later, Williams did more than defy expectations of the Black quarterback; he lived the ultimate "never forget" moment.


Of course, I can't have a list like this without love for the snubs.  I hated leaving off the down-to-the-wire fight between the Steelers and Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII featuring the biggest pass of Big Ben's career to Santonio Holmes.  I could've easily included the Giants-Patriots rematch in Super Bowl XLVI where Big Blue once again got the best of The Brady Bunch.  It was even difficult to overlook Super Bowl XLVII where the Ravens had the game in hand, but the 49ers benefited from Beyonce's "lights out" performance and were reenergized for a valiant effort which fell one play short.  Goes to show you how competitive the Super Bowl has been in the last ten years--which is a far cry from the 90s.

Setting bias as much aside as you possibly can--you see I didn't--what was your favorite Super Bowl of all time?!?!  Please feel free to share one or two or five of the most memorable games to you in the comments.  Don't forget to return soon for another edition of "Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five"!!!