Media spares Shanahan an outburst

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Posted: Tuesday January 26, 1999 12:44 AM

Shanahan: "If we take more pride in how we execute rather than all the other things about the other team, then I think we have a much better chance at success." AP

MIAMI (AP) -- In an NFL version of "don't ask, don't tell," Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan discussed his team's first practice during Super Bowl week and other mundane matters, while assiduously avoiding any touchy-feely issues.

Such as you-know-what.

Scared off by Shanahan's testy responses the day before to questions about his rocky relationship with Atlanta coach Dan Reeves, the media asked only two questions pertaining to Reeves during Monday night's media session.

One was in reference to whether his team could take advantage of any personality traits of Reeves in the Super Bowl on Sunday.

"We concern ourselves more about our football team," Shanahan said. "We're not a team that puts stuff on the bulletin board, we don't talk about the other team. We look at film and we talk about the strengths of the opponent.

"But I'm more concerned about our team. If we take more pride in how we execute rather than all the other things about the other team, then I think we have a much better chance at success."

Shanahan also was asked to assess the job Reeves has done in rebuilding the Falcons.

"Dan has done a great job since he's come in," Shanahan said. "I believe they started off last season 1-7, but he kept the team intact and found a way to end the season like he did. And then to come in with the type of year they've had this season, you've got a lot of people doing a lot of good things."

The Broncos coach spent most of the remainder of the 15-minute session praising fullback Howard Griffith, his offensive line, safety Steve Atwater, running back Terrell Davis and Atlanta running back Jamal Anderson.

His team practiced for one hour, 25 minutes without pads at the Miami Dolphins practice facility in Davie, Fla.

"I thought we had a good practice today," he said. "Offensively, we ran 25 plays. Defensively, we ran 25 plays. We did a little of our two-minute offense. Basically, our practice was a review of what we did last Thursday, Friday and Saturday, to kind of get back in the swing of things after a day off."

Shanahan and his staff installed the game plan last week.

A stickler for crisp, mistake-free practices, Shanahan called last Friday's workout in Denver "average."

"We needed a lot better practice with fewer mistakes," he said. "Our scout team had to be a little bit more explosive, a little bit quicker, so our players would get used to practicing at game speed. And I thought we had that today."

A year ago, at the Super Bowl in San Diego, a helicopter from a local TV station hovered over a Broncos' practice for nearly 15 minutes, creating security concerns. On Monday, an unidentified helicopter flew over the Broncos' practice field but continued on.

"We almost shot it down," Shanahan joked.

 

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Denver coach Mike Shanahan says his team is ready for Sunday (219 K) Denver LB John Mobley says today's practice was 'sound' (83 K) Click here for the latest audio and video
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