Heartbreaker

Smith's big play a 'special delivery' Denver design

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Posted: Monday February 01, 1999 12:57 AM

Rod Smith (80), shredded the Falcons' secondary, averaging 30.4 yards per catch Rick Stewart/Allsport

MIAMI (AP) -- The Denver Broncos have so much faith in their offense that they can design plays on the fly and turn them into gamebreakers.

That's precisely what they did on John Elway's 80-yard touchdown pass to Rod Smith late in the second quarter of Sunday's Super Bowl.

"That play wasn't even in the game plan," said Smith, who blew past safety Eugene Robinson to catch Elway's long pass, then sped to the end zone for the second-longest TD from scrimmage in Super Bowl history. "We put it in on the sideline just before we did it. It was going to be the first play out of the shoot. It didn't matter when we got the ball, even if they scored."

The Falcons didn't score as Morten Andersen missed a 26-yard field goal that could have made it 10-6. With the ball at the 20, it was time for the drawn-up play, dubbed "Keeper X-Post."

"The coaches upstairs saw some tendencies and called the play," Smith said. "They said, 'You can get open to the post.' The cornerback let me go and once I was on top of [Robinson], I knew I would beat him and the football would be there."

CNN/SI On Site James Lofton's Analysis I really thought going into the ballgame that Shannon Sharpe would be the most pivotal player on the team. It's ironic that the guy he had the verbal battle with knocks him out of the game -- Ray Buchannan. But Byron Chamberlain comes on and he is a stablizing factor because Mike Shannan is able to go back to his game plan: complete the passes to the tight end down the middle. What does that do? It opens up Rod Smith, it opens up Ed McCaffrey. John Elway did a good job spreading the ball around. He was like a mom taking the kids to school. He had a snack for everybody on the way to school. Former NFL star James Lofton is a football analyst with CNN/SI.

Elway, the game's most valuable player it what might be his final NFL game, sent a perfect spiral that Smith caught in stride. Smith finished the game with five receptions for 152 yards, a far cry from last year's performance, when he didn't catch a ball.

It was the finest way to complete a big year in which Smith led Denver with 86 catches for 1,222 yards. That he didn't make the Pro Bowl bothered him, although he admitted to being "very happy" that partner Ed McCaffrey was voted to the game.

"We are the best two receivers in the league, because we are the champs," he said. "We do what a lot of other receivers on others teams won't do. We're blue collar guys on a blue collar team."

Smith, an undrafted free agent from Missouri Southern in 1994, used the performances of other top receivers to inspire him Sunday.

"Before the game, during the week, I took out my laptop and looked at the stats of the top receivers in the Super Bowl," he said. "It motivated me to try to get to that level.

'I've been blessed the last four years of my career. I was on the practice squad just trying to hold onto a job, then I went in in third-down situations, then got to be a starter. And now, two Super Bowls."

Which means the Broncos are a dynasty, according to Smith. And the rest of the NFL had better recognize it.

"Whoever the other teams are, they still have to kiss our butts," he said. "Because we are the champs. And they have to kick our butts to get this, because we are the two-time champs. I want to make a habit of this."

 

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