MIAMI – He is Mr. Falcon, and so it was appropriate that he mirrored his team last night with the way he played in the first Super Bowl for the franchise.

Just as the Falcons showed their first-time inexperience in the big game, so too did Jessie Tuggle, usually a tackling machine, come up small in the biggest game of his life. The aggressive middle linebacker had no luck keeping Terrell Davis in check, and that proved to be a fatal flaw as the Broncos coasted past the overmatched Falcons 34-19 last night.

“I’ve been here 12 years, 33 years for the organization, the biggest game in franchise history but we just couldn’t do it,” Tuggle said.

Tuggle also couldn’t do it. He was credited with only five tackles and his hyped up one-on-one confrontation with Terrell Davis was no contest. In the third quarter, Tuggle had Davis stopped for a two-yard loss, but the usually vice-grip clutches of Tuggle were nowhere to be found. Davis broke free and gained 11 of his 102 yards.

“I really couldn’t get into a zone like I normally do,” Tuggle said. “I felt I just didn’t play well, I feel like should have made some plays early in the game. I had Terrell in my arms, I let him go, I missed about four or five tackles. … I know I am a much better player than I played.”

In the week leading up to the game, Tuggle spoke passionately about his dozen years with the Falcons and the opportunity to bring back to Atlanta a championship.

“I envisioned already having that trophy and taking it back to Atlanta and having that ring on my finger I waited so long for,” Tuggle said.

The dream died hard with the Super Bowl downer.

“Believe me, this truly is the ultimate low, because you played in front of a world-wide audience, you want to perform and do some good things, when it don’t happen you felt like you let everybody down,” he said. “It is the ultimate low. “