DOUG MILLS/AP
John Elway is the unanimous Super Bowl MVP, completing 18 of 29 passes for 336 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for a touchdown in Denver’s rout of Atlanta.
MIAMI — For 14 games, the Denver Broncos carried an enormous weight on their shoulder pads the pressure of an undefeated season. The burden proved too great, but history will forgive them. In time, no one will remember their late-season glitches, because last night in Super Bowl XXXIII, the Broncos added the perfect ending to their imperfect season.
It ended with John Elway, fighting back tears, striding triumphantly to the sideline with 37 seconds remaining in the Broncos’ 34-19 victory over the Falcons. He was engulfed by his loving teammates, perhaps for the final time in his legendary career.
“That walk, I’ll remember it for the rest of my life,” Elway said later, recalling his grand exit from the stage at Pro Player Stadium. “That’s the kind of walk you dream of as a kid.”
On a night that included on-the-field entertainment by Kiss and K.C. & the Sunshine Band, the best retro performance came from the 38-year-old Elway, the unanimous choice as the game’s MVP.
Elway passed for 336 yards and a touchdown, and he also ran for a score on a 3-yard sneak, allowing the Broncos to complete their Deja II mission. They became the seventh team to win back-to-back Super Bowls, the first since the Cowboys in 1992 and ’93.
No team has won three straight, and Elway admitted that the prospect of a three-repeat “definitely throws a kink into my thinking on next year.” Coach Mike Shanahan added: “If you’re going to go out, what a way to go out.”
There was no Hollywood ending for Falcons coach Dan Reeves, who returned from heart surgery six weeks ago to lead the once-moribund franchise on its Revenge of the Nerds tour through the NFC playoffs.
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DOUG MILLS/AP
Terrell Davis muscles his way to 102 yards on 25 carries against the Falcons.
“It has been an unbelievable six weeks, and what I’ve been through,” said Reeves, now 0-4 as a head coach in Super Bowls. “I’m proud of the way we handled the thing. We just didn’t play well, and I knew if we didn’t play well, we’d get beat.”
The lovable Dirty Birds (16-3) were overpowered by a team that has won 46 games since 1996 the winningest three-year span in NFL history. The Broncos (17-2) racked up 457 yards and forced four turnovers, building a 31-6 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Elway received the usual support from his incomparable sidekick, Terrell Davis (102 yards on 25 rushes). But this also was a night for unsung heroes. There was unselfish fullback Howard Griffith, who scored on two 1-yard runs, and there was the unappreciated Denver defense, which dominated the postseason.
In three games, the Broncos’ defense allowed only four field goals and two touchdowns a cheap TD by the Jets in the AFC title game and a garbage-time score by the Falcons. Atlanta’s first touchdown was a 94-yard kickoff return by rookie Tim Dwight.
“We get criticized, but we take that with a grain of salt,” said cornerback Darrien Gordon, who intercepted two passes and set a Super Bowl record with 108 return yards. “The bottom line is, we don’t give up points.”
Indeed, it was a night of vindication for Denver’s maligned secondary, which excelled in the second half. It intercepted three passes by Chris Chandler (19-for-35, 219 yards), who imploded the way Neil O’Donnell did in Super Bowl XXX.
“Extremely disappointing,” Chandler said. “There were some things there for the taking, but unlucky things happened. . . . You just feel awful.”
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JOHN GAPS III/AP
John Elway wraps up his Hall of Fame career with a Super Bowl win.
Chandler wasn’t the only goat. Free safety Eugene Robinson, who was arrested Saturday night in downtown Miami on a sex solicitation charge, was burned on Elway’s 80-yard touchdown strike to Rod Smith (five catches for 152 yards). That one cannon shot, a throwback to Elway’s NFL youth, in the second quarter, gave the Broncos a 17-3 lead and changed the game.
And added to Robinson’s weekend from hell.
“We all fall short sometimes,” said cornerback Ray Buchanan, the loudmouth who had guaranteed a victory. “At that particular moment, Gene needed players to (rally) around him.”
Elway (18-for-29), who forced Robinson to cheat forward by rolling out of the pocket, said: “We ran a keeper earlier, and Eugene left center field . . . so it looked like we had a chance for a big play. Eugene stayed flat and we ran the post behind him.”
Elway played most of the game without his Pro Bowl tight end, Shannon Sharpe, who sprained his knee in the first quarter. No matter. The Broncos, confusing the Falcons with a myriad of formations, still ripped them apart.
There was no sighting of the Dirty Bird dance, just the way the Broncos wanted it.
“The Dirty Bird is dead,” said Denver linebacker John Mobley. “We plucked them turkeys.”
In the end, the best dance was the one by an old bird named Elway, the perfect ending.
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