CHAPTER ONE OFFENSIVE EXPLOSIONS Terry Bradshaw rewrote the Super Bowl record book on January 21 1979. The strong-armed Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback used long bombs to become the first 300-yard passer in the game's history He also became the first quarterback to throw four touchdown passes in a Super Bowl And most importantly Bradshaw's performance in Super Bowl XIII helped the Steelers hold off the Dallas Cowboys to win the game for a record-setting third time That offensive explosion turned a lot of heads back in 1979 Through the years Super Bowl quarterbacks have consistently raised the level smashing the game's records over and over again Today Bradshaw's performance wouldn't even crack the top 10 for Terry Bradshaw completed 49 passes in four Super Bowl appearances including nine touchdowns 5
6 3 Phil Simms left played for the New York Giants from 1979 to 1993 Super Bowl passing yards And several quarterbacks have matched or surpassed Bradshaw's four-touchdown performance Entering Super Bowl XXI in January 1987 most of the quarterback focus was on superstar John Elway of the Denver Broncos The New York Giants Phil Simms on the other hand was merely a steady starter He had played for the Giants for eight years Many fans of the team wondered whether he was good enough to win a title But Simms threw five touchdown passes and no interceptions in
the Giants two National Football Conference NFC playoff games Against the Broncos he was nearly flawless Simms came out firing in the first quarter On New York's first drive he was a perfect 6-of-6 His last pass was a six-yard touchdown strike to tight end Zeke Mowatt Despite that strong opening the Giants trailed 10-9 at halftime Simms was a solid 12-of-15 throwing for 103 yards and a touchdown But in the second half the 31-year-old was perfect Simms completed all 10 of his passes Even when tight end Mark Bavaro had a Simms pass bounce off his hands receiver Phil McConkey caught the deflection for a touchdown The Giants rolled to a 39-20 victory Simms was named the Most Valuable Player MVP after completing 88 percent of his passes on the day At the time he was the only quarterback to ever top 80 percent in a Super Bowl game Bradshaw for comparison completed only 56.1 percent of his passes in Super Bowl XIII A QUARTER TO REMEMBER Like the Giants a year earlier Washington started the second quarter of Super Bowl XXII trailing the Broncos This time Denver led 10-0 But that was about to change in a big way Entering the game no team had ever scored more than 21 points in a single Super Bowl quarter And no team had scored more than 28 in a single half But Washington exploded in the second 7
