Reeves’ Reversal Too Late for Elway

The thing that makes this a special Super Bowl is that the big arguments were over play calling when Denver Bronco quarterback John Elway and Atlanta Falcon Coach Dan Reeves were together in Denver.

An old-fashioned sort, Reeves, a former running back, wanted to run the ball.

And you know what Elway wanted. His talents are perfectly suited to the new passing era that was only just dawning when Reeves became a head coach in 1981 and hired Elway in 1983.

Reeves finally conceded last Sunday, all these years later, that Elway was right. He confessed not with words but actions. For although Reeves would still really rather run, he authorized his new quarterback, Chris Chandler, to come out passing Sunday, and Chandler’s three touchdown passes put Atlanta in the Super Bowl with a 30-27 upset over the Minnesota Vikings.

The tragedy for Reeves and Elway, if losing three Super Bowls is a tragedy, is that that they might not have lost all of those games if Reeves had given Elway the green light he gave Chandler.

In 1987 at Pasadena, the first of the three Reeves-Elway Super Bowl beatings set the pattern for the two others. Against Bill Parcells’ New York Giants, Elway threw enough passes to get the Broncos into scoring position several times, whereupon Reeves grounded him and tried to run it in. Meanwhile, Parcells, who at heart is a conservative like Reeves, put his playoff hat on and kept throwing the ball. Final score: Parcells 39, Reeves 20.

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Moxie day: The Broncos were able to come from behind and beat Parcells’ New York Jets on a cold, windy afternoon last week, 23-10, because Elway and his new coach, Mike Shanahan, showed the confidence and courage to pass in the second half after two pieces of adversity. First, they lost the first half, 3-0, unheard of for that team. Next, the Broncos suffered a blocked kick in the third quarter, falling well off the pace, 10-0.

Some teams would have come apart there, fearing both Parcells and the bitter, gusting wind, which is much more difficult for a passing team to play in than it looks on television. Thus, despite the successes the Broncos have had in the Shanahan era, you could sense they were worried. That’s a scary combination: the big coach, Parcells; the big wind, and a 10-0 deficit.

It could have been a moment of despair for Denver but Shanahan was ready for it, ready with just the right play--one specifically designed for Parcells’ defense. On the first play from scrimmage after the blocked punt, Denver wide receiver Ed McCaffrey went deep down the middle while Rod Smith ran a crossing pattern, luring Jet safety Victor Green a few steps forward.

As Green made his move, Elway passed to McCaffrey far down the field at the Jet 16. On second and five at the Jet 11, Elway fired again, hitting fullback Howard Griffith for a touchdown.

And back bounced Bronco morale. Feeding off the pluck and optimism of their leaders, the Broncos scored 20 of their 23 points in that third quarter as the Jets sagged, and then lost. Fulfilling Parcells’ wily game plan, they had also passed the ball pretty well in the wind--just not as well as Elway.

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A changed man: The Falcons also outpassed their opponents last week at Minnesota, and that’s something you couldn’t often say about Reeves’ teams in the old days.

Reeves ranks, though, as one of the brightest contemporary coaches. He learns. He didn’t learn from Elway, true, but in time he learned that no matter how disciplined and energetic your team is--and Reeves’ players are invariably disciplined and energetic--you can’t win the important games today if you don’t pass on first down.

That seems to be a difficult lesson for brilliant football conservatives to grasp. At Miami, Coach Jimmy Johnson doesn’t get it yet. With a great passer, Dan Marino, Johnson still wants to muscle opponents into submission with running backs.

So does Reeves, in fact. But by contrast, Reeves could, eventually, see what Bill Walsh accomplished in San Francisco a few years ago when, in a historic new ball-control scheme, passes by Joe Montana and Steve Young won five Super Bowls in five tries. Reeves also can see what is happening now. It isn’t muscle that has been winning the big games of this era, it’s brains--it’s passing.

And at Minneapolis, Chandler showed both maturity and great passing to produce all three of Atlanta’s touchdowns.

The first one, the big one that rocked the Vikings--the one from which they never really recovered--climaxed the kind of 76-yard drive that Reeves used to veto as an opening drive for Elway.

The first two plays from scrimmage were ball-control passes by Chandler, plays that totaled 26 yards. And, in all, five of Atlanta’s first seven plays were passes--four on either first or other traditional running downs--as Chandler advanced steadily and strongly to the Minnesota 13-yard line.

Down there, because the Falcons have a big runner, Jamal Anderson, who is mistakenly thought of as the man who got Chandler and Reeves this far, they gave him a chance to do his thing. But before it was too late, they remembered to get back to Chandler for the five-yard touchdown pass.

Subsequently, Chandler’s passing kept Atlanta alive when Minnesota repeatedly threatened. And in overtime, Chandler’s passing--or the draw-play threat of his passing--moved the Falcons 71 yards to the winning field goal.

Given the fascination that some people have with kickers, that game is likely to be remembered as the game that Minnesota kicker Gary Anderson blew by missing a 38-yard field-goal attempt and that Atlanta’s Morten Andersen won with a 38-yard kick. But don’t believe that. Andersen’s points made the numerical difference but Minnesota lost to two other things: Chandler’s passing and Reeves’ new respect for passing.

It was won precisely the way Elway would have won his big games as a young man if Reeves had had his change of heart earlier.