Black Super Bowl Higlights: XXI-XXX

Super Bowl XXI’s hallmark was Phil Simms’ extraordinary accuracy (22 of 25) and Bill Parcell’s defensive wizardry (aided by a young coordinator named Bill Belichick), but lost in the Giants lopsided win was Vance Johnson’s struggle to keep the Broncos afloat. Broncos quarterback John Elway found Johnson five times for 121 yards (both game highs) and a touchdown. On the opposite side of the ball, Super Bowl XXI saw the greatest trio of black linebackers ever to play together – Harry Carson, Lawrence Taylor and Carl Banks. The Super Bowl win was especially sweet for Carson, who was the first black player to star at middle linebacker, a position it was believed a black player simply couldn’t handle.

Super Bowl XXII: Washington Redskins 42, Denver 10
QB Doug Williams, RB Timmy Smith

Doug Williams had come within a game of the Super Bowl while with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers nearly a decade before. Time hadn’t dulled that near miss and the opportunity to be the first black quarterback to play in a Super Bowl wasn’t lost on the former Grambling star. When starting quarterback Jay Schroeder was benched late in the season with a mix of injuries and inconsistent play, Williams stepped in and played like the Pro Bowler he had been with Tampa Bay. Prior to Super Bowl XX, the record for most points in a game was 35 by the vaunted Lombardi Packers in Super Bowl I. Doug Williams put up 35 in a single quarter. In the most explosive fifteen minutes in NFL history, Williams connected for four touchdowns, a mark still unequaled in Super Bowl play, and set the nation up for the most anticlimactic second half in Super Bowl history. Williams finished with a record 340 yards and a record-tying four touchdowns and won the MVP award. Meanwhile, little-heralded Timmy Smith ran all over the Broncos defense for a Super Bowl record 204 yards and two touchdowns. The Redskins’ resounding win also marked an important benchmark as all the core of skill players were all black – quarterback Williams, running back Smith and the three starting wide receivers known as “The Posse,” Ricky Sanders, Art Monk and Gary Clark.

Super Bowl XXIII: San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16
WR Jerry Rice – MVP, RB Ickey Woods

As the sun set on Bill Walsh’s legendary coaching career (Super Bowl XXIII would be his final game), it shown as brightly as ever on his star receiver, Jerry Rice. Rice immediately became the 49ers top receiving threat and by 1989 he was the league’s best. In another tightly contested Super Bowl with the Bengals, Rice was the difference. Rice caught 11 passes for 215 yards (both Super Bowl records which still stand), but none was bigger than the 27-yard catch Rice made on second-and-20 with just 1:15 remaining. The 49ers eventually completed the 92-yard drive with a touchdown pass to John Taylor, eaking out the 20-16 win. It was the only Super Bowl Joe Montana played in without winning MVP honors.

Super Bowl XXIV: San Francisco 55, Denver 10
WR Jerry Rice

In Super Bowl XXIV, Rice set the bar so high only he himself could equal it. The 49ers, led by Joe Montana’s record-breaking passing day throttled the hapless Broncos who had then lost two Super Bowls in three seasons by a total of 77 points. As usual, Rice was his favorite target. The former Mississippi Valley State Delta Devil hauled in seven passes for 148 yards and a record three touchdowns. That record has since been equaled only once, by Rice in Super Bowl XXIX.

Super Bowl XXV: New York Giants 20, Buffalo 19
RB Ottis Anderson – MVP, DB Everson Walls

Two things carried the Giants to their second Super Bowl win in five seasons – a clock controlling offense that consumed a whopping 40 minutes, 33 seconds (a Super Bowl record) and an impenetrable defense. The former was due in large part to Ottis Anderson, who crunched his way for 102 yards, a touchdown and MVP honors. But the latter, while popularly attributed to coordinator-turned-guru Bill Belichick belongs to Everson Walls. Walls, who had been the Cowboys’ defensive back ever so famously depicted under Dwight Clark in “The Catch,” grew into a field general for Belichick’s defense, so much so that in the second half Walls called the plays against Buffalo’s no-huddle offense.

Super Bowl XXVI: Washington 37, Buffalo 24
WR Art Monk, WR Gary Clark

The last of Joe Gibbs’ three Super Bowls came in the same fasion as the first two, behind a dominant offense. Now perennial borderline Hall of Fame candidate Art Monk and Gary Clark each hauled in over 100 yards of passes as the Redskins iced the Bills by the half. Monk and Clark each pulled in seven passes for 113 and 114 yards respectively and Ricky Sanders, the third member of “The Posse” caught a single 41-yard pass as the Redskins receivers overwhelmed what had been a stingy Bills defense. On the Bills’ side James Lofton also caught seven balls for 92 yards while Thurman Thomas earned his own dubious spot in Super Bowl history when he missed the first two plays of the game after having misplaced his helmet. Not only couldn’t he find his helmet, he could find the holes in the running game. Thomas finished with just 43 yards.

Super Bowl XXVII: Dallas 52, Buffalo 17
WR Michael Irvin

The Bills had dashed what might’ve been Warren Moon’s best chance at a Super Bowl with a stunning 41-38 win in the divisional round known simply as “The Comeback.” Their luck would run out against the resurrected Cowboys, led by Irvin and Emmitt Smith. “The Playmaker” lived up to his billing – both from the media and himself – hauling in six catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns. Smith managed 135 yards from scrimmage. Buffalo’s Andre Reed led the way for the Bills, catching 152 yards worth of passes on eight receptions. Leon Lett followed Thurman Thomas into the Super Bowl hall of shame when he had a sure touchdown knocked out of his hands by Buffalo wide receiver Don Beebe after Lett stuck the ball out to celebrate near the goal line. Lett’s goof proved to be the most memorable moment of a lopsided affair.

Super Bowl XXVIII: Dallas 30, Buffalo 13
RB Emmit Smith – MVP

A year after becoming the only team to lose three consecutive Super Bowls, the Bills followed it up with their fourth consecutive loss. Emmitt Smith was the show in Atlanta as he methodically ground out 132 yards rushing (never rushing for more than 15 yards on a carry). Smith scored twice and caught four passes on the way to winning the MVP Award.

Super Bowl XXXIX: San Francisco 49, San Diego 26
WR Jerry Rice, RB Ricky Watters

In what would be Jerry Rice’s final Super Bowl with the 49ers, the NFL’s greatest receiver went out on top. In an embarrassingly one-sided affair, Rice equaled his own Super Bowl record with three touchdowns on 10 catches (the latter number is the fourth best total of all time, behind Rice and two others at 11) for 149 yards. Meanwhile Ricky Watters equaled the Super Bowl record for touchdowns with three of his own, two on the ground and one through the air. Steve Young would claim MVP honors for his monstrous six-touchdown afternoon, but it was the shoulders of Rice and Watters he stood on.

Super Bowl XXX: Dallas 27, Pittsburgh 17
DB Larry Brown – MVP

There was nowhere on the field Larry Brown could be and not be in the right place. The Dallas defensive back became the first corner ever to win MVP honors after intercepting Pittsburgh quarterback Neil O’Donnell a record-tying three times, often on passes that seemed to have no intended receiver other than Brown. Perhaps even more fortunately, Brown was in a contract year and parlayed his Super Bowl success into a handsome contract. Brown’s interceptions did prove the difference in the game as the Steelers outgained the Cowboys in total yards 310-254 and held the ground game to just 56 yards.