NOTEBOOK
MIAMI – This could have been one of those nightmarish Scott Norwood games for Broncos kicker Jason Elam, who missed two field goals in last night’s Super Bowl.
Fortunately for Elam, who entered the game 23-of-27 in the regular season and 4-of-4 in the postseason, his two misses didn’t cost the Broncos, who beat the Falcons anyway 34-19.
With Denver leading 17-6 and Atlanta still within striking distance, Elam pushed a 38-yarder wide right with 8:01 remaining in the third quarter. Then, with Denver still leading 17-6 and trying to separate itself, Elam pulled a 48-yard attempt wide left.
“That’s just the life of a kicker,” Elam said. “It wasn’t storybook. It wasn’t how I would have written it up, but I’m just glad we won the game. I just hooked the second miss. That wind direction was giving me problems the last time I played here and it was giving me problems in warmups.
“The wind is not consistent here. Sometimes it blows to the right and sometimes to the left, so you’ve really got to hit the ball pure and clean and hope it stays the course.” *Dan Reeves, after he was finished with his interviews following the game, sought out Broncos WR Ed McCaffrey and TE Shannon Sharpe and hugged each of them. Reeves has been vocal about how cutting McCaffrey from the Giants was the biggest personnel decision mistake he’s ever made.
McCaffrey, who for the second consecutive Super Bowl didn’t catch a pass in the first half, caught 5 for 72 yards in the second half last night. *Among a number of Super Bowl records that were set last night, Broncos DT Mike Lodish played in his sixth Super Bowl. Lodish lost all four Bills’ Super Bowls; now he has won the last two with Denver.
“You know the old saying, ‘You only remember the last one,'” Lodish said. “The last two are victories, so I’ve clouded my memory of the four losses.”
Other records included John Elway as the oldest player (38) to score a TD, Elway with his eighth career Super Bowl INT, Elway with the most career passes attempted (152), and Broncos CB Darrien Gordon with the most interception return yards in a game (108). *The Falcons didn’t beat themselves with mistakes. They were not called for any penalties. There were two punts in the game (one by each team), a Super Bowl record.
The 30 points in the fourth quarter were a record … The Falcons suffered a significant injury late in the second quarter when center Robbie Tobeck, who had started 65 consecutive games, went down with a sprained right knee and did not return. That meant Adam Schreiber, a 15-year veteran who is primarily a long-snapper, had to handle the center chores for the remainder of the game. *Falcon LB Cornelius Bennett is now 0-5 in the Super Bowl, having lost the previous four with the Bills. “I’ve been around for five of these, I just want to get one, that’s my drive,” Bennett said.
