John E. Be Good

By T.J. SIMERS

Feb. 1, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

MIAMI —

It began 16 years ago with unrealistic expectations: “All the way with Elway.” But the conflict with his head coach and the disappointment of losing three Super Bowls threatened to downsize the legacy of John Elway.

A change in command, Mike Shanahan replacing Dan Reeves, and a Cinderella find in sixth-round running back Terrell Davis provided Elway with a last hurrah and catapulted the Broncos into another football stratosphere.

And now in Michael Jordan fashion, John Elway has the opportunity to go out on top, climbing higher than most any other player in the game, winning most-valuable-player honors in Super Bowl XXXIII--potentially the last game in his career--with a 34-19 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Pro Player Stadium before 74,803 on Sunday.

“I’m not going to talk [about retirement],” Elway said. “Winning the MVP award definitely hit my heart. . . . It’s unbelievable.”

The same might be said for Eugene Robinson’s behavior--unbelievable. After all, this might be a Super Bowl forever remembered by the distracting and embarrassing nighttime escapades of the Atlanta safety who was arrested Saturday night for solicitation of sex, and then beaten for a touchdown.

“I will have to continue, trust me,” he said, “To make amends with everyone that knows me.”

It will certainly gnaw at Reeves, who angrily pounded his fist on the podium at his postgame news conference after hearing the questions about Robinson dominate the session.

“I’m more concerned about him personally, that’s enough,” Reeves said. “I talked to him a long time [Saturday night] as did his teammates, and he’s a member of our family and our love is unconditional.”

Not so long ago Reeves, Elway and Shanahan were all part of the same Bronco family, but there is no love there now, and Sunday’s winner would have their revenge. But even that did not appear to be enough, Elway still throwing the ball into the end zone with 1:34 to play and leading by 15 points.

“I thought Rod Smith was running a go route instead of a curl,” said Elway, as if that was the mistake he made.

But never mind, that will also be lost in the Super Bowl fine print one day as Elway, Reeves and Shanahan go their separate ways.

What will be remembered is the fact that no other quarterback has started five Super Bowls, and now Elway has won the last two, the Broncos becoming only the sixth team in NFL history to repeat as champions (Pittsburgh did it twice).

The athletic gauntlet having been thrown: You have the chance to become the first quarterback in NFL history to drive his team to three consecutive Super Bowl wins, “throws a kink in my thinking,” Elway said.

But those who know him best believe they have watched such excitement for the last time.

“I’ve been so used to seeing him back there, scrambling, stopping and then letting it go . . . It’s hard, no, it’s impossible to imagine him not coming back,” said an emotional Denver tackle Harry Swayne, excusing himself because he could not talk.

No such problem for tight end Shannon Sharpe, knocked out of this game in the first half because of a knee injury, who said, “John’s made up his mind, I know that. If he wants to wait to tell everyone, he deserves that, but I know this, we’ve seen the best at work.

“I told him before the game if we were going to win he had to have a big game out of him because they were going to concentrate on stopping Terrell. That was the talk all week--they were going to force us to beat them with the pass, and if that’s the case, it’s not a bad thing letting No. 7 determine the outcome.”

Denver’s final touchdown, a three-yard Elway quarterback draw, ironically a play designed years ago by Reeves to take advantage of his physical skills, not only buried the Falcons in an otherwise uneventful Super Bowl, but provided the exclamation point to a Hall of Fame career.

“All the way with Elway,” and if that’s the way the Falcons wanted it, they got it. Stacking the line, primed to stop Davis and lacking the pass rush to irritate Elway, he stood back there like a brash youngster again, completing 18 of 29 passes for 336 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown pass to Rod Smith.

“I don’t know if he’s going to retire; I haven’t asked,” said Jack Elway, John’s father. “I couldn’t be prouder of him as his father, and as a former coach I think he’s the best to ever play the game. Better than Joe Montana.”

“All the way with Elway” and it has been a long journey to get here--mentioned in the same class as Montana--even if there is a family bias.

“I think any time there’s a discussion now about quarterbacks and who’s the best,” Jack Elway said, “everybody will have a different opinion. Let’s say this, I think John Elway’s name will come up.”

Atlanta’s response to Elway’s coronation: Chris Chandler, turn out the lights, the Falcons’ party is over.

Maybe it’s the curse of Reeves, stuck with a developing Elway and little else, as a result losing three Super Bowls with Denver. He gets another chance to climb the mountain, shocking the world and Minnesota in the process, and the final game swings on Chandler’s arm.

Three times Atlanta nudged the ball 11 yards or closer to the Denver goal line in the first half, and three times they failed to score, Chandler contributing four incomplete passes and being sacked once.

Atlanta left with two Morten Andersen field goals, a death blow for an underdog matched against the firepower amassed by such an offensive mastermind as Shanahan.

Atlanta went up 3-0, and Denver came back with a one-yard Howard Griffith touchdown plunge. Andersen missed a field goal, and Denver replied with Elway delivering the highlight play of this Super Bowl--his rocket to Smith for 80 yards.

“It helped us get the momentum,” Shanahan said. “We had run the play earlier and I didn’t think it was going to be there, but the safety [Robinson] bit a little bit and Smith got behind him. John had to find him, so he put it way up there.”

Elway faked a handoff to Davis, enough to stop any defense in its tracks, then rolled to his right--vintage Elway now--set hard on his back foot and the big arm threw long.

“That was the play, the back-breaker,” says Reeves, who congratulated Shanahan on the field, and then went looking for Elway, Sharpe and others in the interview area to congratulate them. “They made the big plays, but then we turned the ball over four times. The opportunities we missed when we got close--settling for field goals--that was the difference.”

The pregame hype belonged to the running backs, Sharpe and the guarantee of victory by Atlanta cornerback Ray Buchanan, but they did not factor in the final outcome. It came down to pitching.

Chandler, the bounce-around quarterback who played for the Colts, Buccaneers, Cardinals, Rams and Oilers before finding success in Reeves’ restrictive offense, finished 19 of 35 for 219 yards, including three interceptions.

Denver cornerback Darrien Gordon intercepted two of Chandler’s passes and will spend his off-season explaining how Chandler tackled him and prevented him from an 82-yard return for a touchdown.

“There’s a billion people watching,” said Gordon, including the Chargers, who let him go because they thought him not worthy, “and I get tackled. I think the humidity had a lot to do with it.”

He might want to come up with a better one that.

“I took a shot in the first half and my ears were ringing,” he said, trying again. “I felt like I just had woken from a long sleep, but you know I can’t make excuses, I just let Chandler tackle me in the open field.”

The Broncos had a 17-6 lead at the half, and after a scoreless third quarter, they opened the fourth with Griffith’s second touchdown run of the game--not bad for a guy who came in running the ball only four times in the previous 18 games.

Davis, last year’s Super Bowl MVP, ran 25 times for 102 yards despite a pulled groin muscle, while his counterpart, Anderson, ran 18 times for 96 yards.

“We’re climbing the charts as one of the game’s greatest teams,” Davis said. “If we get a third one we will really climb up there.”

Running into the locker room, Denver linebacker Bill Romanowski was already urging his teammates to set sights on a third consecutive Super Bowl.

“Can we win three in a row without John?” Romanowski asked. “Yes. Would we rather have John? Absolutely.”

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By The Numbers

7 Times a team has won back-to-back Super Bowls: Green Bay, 1967-68; Miami, 1973-74; Pittsburgh, 1975-76; Pittsburgh, 1979-80; San Francisco, 1989-90; Dallas, 1993-94; Denver, 1998-99.

0 Times a Super Bowl has been won by 15 points or more (out of 33 games).

14 Super Bowls won by AFC teams.

17 Times a quarterback has been named most valuable player of the Super Bowl.

0-4 Dan Reeves record as a coach in Super Bowl.

2-7 Reeves’ record as a player (Dallas), assistant (Dallas) and coach (Denver, Atlanta) in Super Bowl.

2-3 John Elway’s record in Super Bowl.

2-4 Denver’s record in the Super Bowl. The Broncos’ six appearances rank second to Dallas (eight).

336 Passing yards by Elway, third most in Super Bowl history, behind Joe Montana (357) and Doug Williams (340).

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Offensive Breakdown

Where Denver Rushed

5-10