European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 27, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday january 27, 1993 sports the stats and stripes 0 Page 33 is 1 1 a launched arcs super drought go 0-7 in super starts by Greg Garber the Hartford courant the grim statistics Are Laid out and you can practically hear Buffalo general manager Bill Polian hundreds of Miles away grinding his molars into the phone. It is indisputable visual evidence As they said when instant replay was in Vogue. Heading into super bowl xxvii in Pasadena calif., the pfc has won eight consecutive games with roman numerals affixed. Conversely the acc has lost eight in a Row. Are you following this Bill a you know a Polian said pausing to gather himself a a it a just a game Between two teams. It has nothing to do with conferences. If Scott Norwood kicks that Field goal two feet to the left you re not doing this Story. If he kicks the Field goal the Buffalo Bills arc the team of the �?T90s.�?� maybe. But Norwood missed that 47-Yard Field goal in super bowl xxv and the new York giants escaped with a 2019 Victory. And the of cd a Streak remained intact. When the Bills lost to Washington 37-24, in the super bowl last year the question of conference imbalance surfaced again. And now Buffalo is poised to play another pfc monster a the born again Dallas cowboys Are favored to win by a touchdown a and they will either vindicate Polian or give sports writers another year of acc bashing stories. So Why has the pfc routed the acc by an average of 37-16 in the past eight super bowls one school of thought Call it the Polian Academy theorizes that it is. Merely a statistical Fluke the acc after All gained a huge Early Lead in super bowls winning u of the first is. Even by winning 10 of the past 11, the pfc has Only a 14-12 Overall Edge. And then there Are the two recent close Calls the giants 20-19 Victory Over Buffalo and san Francisco a 20-16 thriller Over Cincinnati in super bowl xxi. But the majority of experts questioned by the Hartford courant said there was a legitimate trend. They offered three Basic explanations. A first they pointed to the Competition within the pfc. Those eight super bowls were won by the giants the 49ers, the Washington redskins and the Chicago bears. Clearly they All made each other better while the acc was featuring three championship games that had analysis Denver is. Cleveland. A secondly the experts pointed to of Tensive and defensive balance on the part of pfc teams. A the third reason a and far More compelling a was that the class of �?T83 quarterbacks Are at fault. Yes we re serious. Its hard to dispute the numbers John Elway 0-3jim Kelly 0-2dan Marino 01 and Tony Eason 0-1 Are 07 in super bowls. Coincidence lbs analyst John Madden who coached the raiders to a super bowl i Victory 16 years ago does t think so. A when the six quarterbacks were All drafted in the first round of 1983 Ken of Brien and Todd Blackledge were the other sit looked like that was going to make the acc the conference of the future a Madden said. A but i think they relied too heavily on them. A they became a passing conference and a pass defense conference and weren t As physical. They did no to develop Strong running games and big Strong offensive lines and Tough defences. The pfc did so you had quarterbacks like Phil Simms Mark Rypien Doug Williams and Jim Mcmahon winning super a before the merger in 1970, the american football league featured wide open pass Happy offences and in a Way the 1983 draft perpetuated that stereotype. Elway went to Denver after being drafted by the Indianapolis Colts Marino to Miami Kelly after a Brief tour with the United states football league to Buffalo. All three teams began to construct worthy supporting offensive casts around their Young quarterbacks. A with those Guys you could be overwhelmed by their Talent a said Tim Rooney the giants director of pro personnel. A Kelly Marino Elway. Those Are three very Strong personalities and you have to feed the King. You have to Deal with their demands. A Kelly had a tremendous Impact on the Bills offence. He wanted to run the Houston gamblers Usel run and shoot offence and Wiach Marv Levy wanted no part of it. He was strictly a Wing to Guy. But they run a bastardized run and shoot because Kelly wants meanwhile in Denver Elway is said to be one reason coach Dan Reeves was fired. Clearly he is a major player in team decisions and influenced the drafting of a number of offensive players with High picks that ultimately did no to work out. A not surprisingly Kelly does not buy the theory. A no a he said. A i think you can Ait Back and think that Way but i bet when it was happening in 1983 you have even thought about that. You pick what a available what a Best for the team. It just so happens All of the class of �?T83 went to the acc. Its just one of those things. A the pfc has had some powerhouse teams in the past and the acc Hasni to. I think you go through a phase where one system is better than the other. That Sall it whether or not the acc consciously built up its offences this much is certain the defences have been uniformly inferior to their pfc super bowl counterparts. More than that said Rooney the Best pfc teams have balance the Best acc teams done the reason you favor Dallas this year is that balance a Rooney said. A their do sense was ranked first Overall and the offence is ranked fourth. Buffalo has the second Best offence but they re Down there 12th in defense. A even though the giants offences in �?T86 and 90 weren to flamboyant they had balance. They ran the Ball Well and protected the quarterback a two keys on offence a and they played great defense. In the acc you could win with an All offence display. But Denver Stop anybody in the super bowl because they weren to balanced on defense. Go Back and Check the As it turns out seven of the past nine pfc teams to reach the super bowl had defences ranked among the leagues top four during than regular season. Only one acc team a the 1989 Broncos who gave up 35 Points to the 49crs in super bowl xxiv a appeared in the top four. On the offensive Side five acc teams including Buffalo the past two years have been ranked among the top two. Only three pfc teams a the 1984, 1988 and 1989 49ers a were among the top two on offence. If balance is indeed the critical ingredient consider the average rankings of the pfc s super bowl entry the past nine years no s on offence and no 5 on defense. The acc no. 6 on offence and no. 12 on defense. Bill Belichick has been on both sides of Ruper standings. The Buffalo Bills will be trying to avoid being the first team to lose three consecutive super bowls when they face the Pallas cowboys in super bowl xxvii. Super bowl standings team w l pct of a Steeles 4 0 1.000 103 73 49ors 4 0 1.000 163 63 packers 2 0 1.000 68 24 giants 2 0 1.000 59 39 bears 1 0 1.000 46 10 jets 1 0 1.000 16 7 Rak tera 3 1 .750 111 66 redskins 3 2 .600 122 103 Colts 1 1 .500 23 29 chiefs 1 1 .500 33 42 cowboys 2 3 .400 112 85 dolphins 2 3 .400 74 103 rams 0 1 ,000�?T 19 31 patriots o 1 .000 10 46 eagles 0 1 .000 10 27 Bills 0 2 .000 43 57 bang ats 0 2 000 37 46 Broncos 0 4 .000 50 163 Vikings 0 4 .000 34 95 a. A ,. _. Apr the Issue. He was the giants defensive coordinator when they won super bowls after the 1986. And 1990 regular seasons. He has been coach of the acc Cleveland Browns the past two years. A look at where the strength is a Belichick said. A in the pfc Over the last three four years you be had seven pretty. Good teams the 49crs, giants redskins eagles bears saints and lately the cowboys. As an acc team ill Tell you i want to play those teams regularly. Who is at that level in the acc Buffalo is the Only team. A look at the Way our conference was this year. Pittsburgh wins our acc Central division handily and gets killed by Buffalo in the playoffs. San Diego wins its acc West division handily and gets killed by Miami in the playoffs. Buffalo wins 11 games without a great defense. Hell you done to even have to Stop the run. If the Bills had a Good defense they might have won two super bowls Bali Chicks a Point a the Competition in the pfc forces you to Rise to the Buffalo counting on experience to turn tide los Angeles a super bowl week started out 372 in buffaloes favor. That a 37 Bills who have played in a super bowl against two cowboys who Nave been there Call it the experience Factor and its been important before in deciding the super bowl Winner. So Why is Dallas favored by a touchdown maybe because the Bills have been losers the two previous years and because the pfc team has won eight straight. Buffaloes not buying it. Quot the first year you re almost in Awe Over the whole situation a says Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly who does no to want to be stigmatized like John Elway and 1 ran Tarkenton great quarterbacks who lost the big one. A i remember in Tampa saying a this is an unbelievable feeling. You sort of get caught up in All the hoopla and All the fun. But i guess this year we know exactly what it s going to take to win it i think our concentration Levels going to be a lot history says Kelly a right. There have been 11 super bowls when one team entered with significantly More experience and that team has been the Winner nine times. That includes the new York giants Over the Bills in 1991 the 49ers Over the bengals in 1989 the raiders Over Punla Delphia in 1981 Pittsburgh Over the rams in 1980 Dallas Over Denver in 1978 Miami Over Washington in 1973 Pallas Over Miami in 1972 Baltimore Over Dallas in 1971, and Green Bay Over Kansas City in the second super bowl the Only times the less experienced team won it was foil artime loser Minnesota that was the victim a to Pittsburgh in 1975 and to the raiders in 1977, and history is working in both directions a no team has lost three straight super bowls and no team has Ever won after losing two. One Way or the other Buffalo will make history on sunday. In Tampa the Bills were super bowl novices going up against the giants who had 25 players from a team that had won four years earlier. The giants out manned on offence held the Ball for 40 minutes and managed to win 20-19. Last year the Bills had experience but so did Washington Winner in 1988. So it was a push and Washington did the pushing winning 37-24 in a game that Wasny to close. But the a Factor in the equation is Pallas coach Jimmy Johnson. Johnson s big game experience includes two National championship games at the University of Miami winning one. And he has brought that to the cowboys a they beat a far More experienced san Francisco team on the Road last week. A it s my Job to see that we concentrate on the game a Johnson says. Quot i think we
