SUPER BOWL XXI : NOTEBOOK

If acting and pretending are helpful in football, as the coaches say, Denver tight end Clarence Kay may have cost his side a first down in the second quarter when he failed to storm around protesting an official’s call.

On instant replay, it appeared that Kay had caught Elway’s pass. But when an official ruled it incomplete, Kay didn’t complain.

The press box official, Art McNally, sustained the on-field ruling.

“There was no evidence to confirm (the officials’) call,” McNally said. “By the same token, there was no evidence to overturn it, either.”

The man with some of the evidence, Kay, ran calmly back to the huddle.