Super Bowl XXVII : HOW THEY RATE : Hits and Misses : Bob Oates takes a look at the best and worst of those who played in the Super Bowl.

THE TOP 10

The players who had big games in the big game:

1. JOE NAMATH, Jets. Before Namath, the game had about the standing of the Pro Bowl.

2. JOE MONTANA, 49ers. Proved in four Super Bowls that football has never had a comparable big-game performer.

3. TED HENDRICKS, Colts and Raiders. Best defensive performer. At linebacker, he was a force in three winning Super Bowls.

4. LARRY LITTLE, Dolphins. In Miami’s 1970s Super Bowls, the game’s most underrated blocker kept paving the road for Csonka and Kiick.

5. LYNN SWANN, Steelers. His sure-handed, picturesque catches won two Super Bowls.

6. DAN BUNZ, 49ers. In 1982, during the most impressive goal-line stand in the 26-year series, Bunz, a linebacker, made the key stop, saving the game. Going one on one at the one-yard line with the Bengal receiver Charles Alexander, Bunz didn’t budge.

7. DOUG WILLIAMS, Redskins. Produced a 35-point second quarter against Denver in 1988, the best-ever big-game quarter-hour by a quarterback.

8. JACK YOUNGBLOOD, Rams. In a unique 1980 display of courage, leadership and talent, Youngblood, a defensive end playing on a broken leg, helped keep Pittsburgh’s four-time champions at bay for more than three quarters.

9. WILLIE WOOD, Packers. His turning point 50-yard interception return in the first game delayed the nation’s recognition of the AFL for three years.

10. JIM PLUNKETT, Raiders. Came up from the bottom at New England and San Francisco to win two Super Bowls.

THE BOTTOM 10

As football men they were exceptionally talented or they wouldn’t have played on Super Bowl teams. But the big game wasn’t the finest hour for these 10 players:

1. CRAIG MORTON, Cowboys and Broncos. In Super Bowl V, Morton, a No. 1 Cowboy draft pick, started at quarterback for Dallas against the winning team, Baltimore. After Super Bowl XII, when he started for Denver against the winning team, Dallas, it was said of Morton that he had finally won one for the Cowboys.

2. SCOTT NORWOOD, Bills. In the last eight seconds of Super Bowl XXV, Norwood’s kick went high enough, and far enough, 47 yards, but it wasn’t straight enough to beat the Giants, who won, 20-19.

3. TONY EASON, Patriots. Overwhelmed by the Chicago Bears in the 1986 game, Eason failed to complete a pass.

4. FRAN TARKENTON, Vikings. His background as the NFL’s most prolific passer of all time didn’t help him in three losing Super Bowls.

5. FRED WILLIAMSON, Chiefs. He billed himself as “The Hammer” in the first game, but was knocked cold by Donny Anderson.

6. GARO YEPREMIAN, Dolphins. Apparently forgetting that he was paid to kick the ball, Yepremian botched a 1973 pass that could have cost Miami its historic 17-0 season. It was run back for a touchdown.

7. EARL MORRALL, Colts. He failed to see wide-open receiver Jimmy Orr in possibly the Game III turning point.

8. JACKIE SMITH, Cowboys. Perhaps the most reliable catcher of all the tight ends, Smith, 38, was standing by himself in the end zone in 1979 when he dropped a short, easy pass. The Cowboys settled for three points and Pittsburgh won by four.

9. DAVID WOODLEY, Dolphins. In 1983, Woodley, the youngest Super Bowl quarterback and a four-year Dolphin wonder, couldn’t complete a second-half pass, whereupon Miami came from ahead to lose.

10. JOE THEISMANN, Redskins. In 1983, the Woodley game, Theismann saved it for Washington when he knocked the ball out of the grip of a Dolphin who had almost intercepted it in the Redskin backfield. But a year later, he wasn’t so lucky. In the last 12 seconds of the half, declining to eat the ball when a play went bad, Theismann threw the interception to Jack Squires that put the Raiders in command, 21-3.