Having participated in nine Super Bowls as a player and coach, Dan Reeves is the only coach to take the Falcons to football’s grandest stage, playing Denver in January 1999 in Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami. Reeves, who played high school football in Americus, was the architect of the biggest upset in Falcons history when they beat a 16-1 Minnesota team in the NFC Championship game in the Metrodome.
Some 18 years after that incredible win — and only three days after his 73rd birthday — Reeves reflected on the 1998 roller-coaster season that included quadruple bypass heart surgery, a return to the sidelines less than a month later and a disastrous Super Bowl eve when he found out only 20 hours before kickoff that his starting safety and team captain had landed in jail.
We were playing well all season and my health was good. But what was weird was when I worked out and exercised, I had this burning sensation in my throat and even had it when I would stand for the national anthem before a game and my heart rate would get going. But I thought it was my imagination.
So we beat New Orleans (to go 12-2) and we are on the plane back from the game and I asked my team doctor (Dr. Charles Harrison) about it and told him when the national anthem played in New Orleans, my throat hurt a lot worse than it had before. But I said the season is almost over and maybe I will just wait to get it checked out. The doctor said, “That is the dumbest thing he’d ever heard and we are going to check it as soon as we get back to Atlanta.” The next morning, after he told me I had 95 percent blockage here and there, I am in surgery.
I stayed in the hospital for most of the week and the doctor is not going to clear me to come back, so I turn the team over to (defensive coordinator) Rich Brooks. I had visited with the team on Saturday and then right before we are to play Detroit that Sunday, I had to go into the hospital again. I woke up in intensive care and the television is not on, so I am thinking we must be losing to the Lions and they don’t want me to see it. But they turned it on and we won.
I left the hospital again, but still no clearance from the doctor. We beat the Dolphins and got the first-week bye and by then, I was given clearance to go back.
We play San Francisco in the second round of the playoffs and I remember the doctor telling me to make sure to get out of the way of any players running towards the sidelines. So, I had a couple of guys designated to take the hit for me, but it never came close. The 49ers had beaten the heck out of us in San Francisco earlier in the season and we knew they were a championship team and it would be a big test for us. We had a good game plan and it was a great game and big win (20-18).
So now we are going to Minnesota to play a team no one thinks we can beat. But I had been watching their films all season and noticed that other teams moved the ball particularly well against the Vikings in Minnesota. But every time they got around the 20-yard line, they would jump offsides because of the crowd noise. So we worked all week on a silent count when we were in the shotgun and pumped all kinds of loud music into practice. Everybody was complaining at practice about it, but I will never forget when (offensive lineman) Bob Whitfield came up to me right after warmups for the game and said, “Coach, I am so glad we worked on that silent count. I can’t hear a darn thing in here.”
The guys handled it well and we didn’t jump offsides once. We got some breaks and who would have ever thought that Gary Anderson would have missed that field goal (39 yards), his first of the season? But I really think the big turning point in the game was getting that turnover right before the half and scoring (cutting the lead to 20-14).
I remember getting ready to watch Morten (Andersen) hit the winning kick. I remember so many players saying they couldn’t watch it, but I felt like, heck, I want to watch it. I want to feel how exciting it will be seeing it go through and get to the Super Bowl. I will say that of all the great times I had in the NFL — in Dallas and in Denver — that was the most exciting moment of my career (Final: Atlanta 30, Minnesota 27). And I did the Dirty Bird (dance) after the game and people like reminding me of it. I guess it wasn’t that good.
So we go back home and I am feeling good and everyone is excited about being in the Super Bowl. We had great practices. We get to Miami and everyone settles in and we get to the night before the game. I get a call around 11 (p.m.) and it is Harold Richardson, our general manager. He said, “Brace yourself, we have a player in jail and it’s going to be the last one you expect to be in there.” It was. It was (defensive back) Eugene (Robinson, arrested on solicitation charges).
So he gets out and back to the hotel and I go to meet him with his wife. I knew I needed to help Eugene get through this. And then I start thinking about whether I can play Eugene or not. Could we play without him?
So I met with the team, with our captains and coaches to get their feedback. Then I met with Eugene to see if he felt he could play in the game. He was the key to our secondary, making all the calls back there and it was going to be very difficult for us to go in there and play without him. So I decided to let him play but it was a miserable situation and I didn’t get any sleep that night.
I think if you go back and watch the game and really narrow it down to why we lost, it had a lot to do with third downs and the fact that they didn’t substitute on the down. We didn’t expect them to stay with their personnel, so instead of putting the nickel back out there, we kept our defense on the field and it hurt us. They split their running backs out and we had linebackers trying to cover them and that hurt us.
I know Eugene got beat on the one long throw, but we didn’t lose the game because of that. Eugene played well. But John Elway played well and Terrell Davis had a good day running. I am not going to take anything away from Denver (which won 34-19). They were just a better football team than us that day.
I am very excited for the Falcons and their chance to get to their second Super Bowl. What is great about the final four teams left is each has a super quarterback — not a good quarterback, but a great quarterback. The key will be which defense steps up. Looking at it, I think we are the best team left. I’m not going to the game because I like sitting here and watching it on television … and I’ll be rooting hard for my team.
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