Super Bowl distractions can be costly

Nearly 20 minutes later, running backs coach Jim Anderson found him in the bathroom in the throes of an intense cocaine high. It was his third strike, and he was banned from the NFL.

The Bengals lost 20-16 on a late Joe Montana touchdown pass to John Taylor. Former Cincinnati coach Sam Wyche has long contended that the loss of Wilson, who was a strong runner on bad mushy fields, cost the Bengals a title.

In 2003, Oakland center Barret Robbins, who suffered from depression had a bipolar disorder, disappeared from the team hotel after making curfew. The game was in San Diego and he made his way to Tijuana.

Without their starting center, the Raiders were clobbered 48-21 as Robbins watched from a San Diego hospital.

There have been other capers associated with the Super Bowl, such as Brett Favre maybe hanging out too much on Bourbon Street in 1996, the Patriots’ Spygate win over the Rams in 2002 and Bears quarterback Jim McMahon pulling his pants down in 1986 to moon a helicopter.

Robinson, who now lives in the Charlotte area, has been a radio analyst for the Carolina Panthers for several seasons.

“I’m excited for them,” Robinson said recently. “I’m excited for the city of Atlanta. They absolutely deserve to be there, and it’s going to be a great game. It may be the highest-scoring game of all time.”

Robinson asked Carolina coach Ron Rivera if he could speak to the team last season before the Super Bowl. Rivera thought it was a good idea.

“I reminded guys that you worked your entire life to get to this point, and you locked arms as brothers, and you have one goal,” Robinson said. “I told them, ‘Right now, there’s only one game that matters, one game that you covet.

“I got a chance to play in that game and win that game, but I blew it. I told them that.”

It’s understandable why folks can’t let go of that night in Miami. The Falcons were 14-2 in the 1998 regular season and stunned Minnesota in the NFC title game. It was Robinson who broke up a long pass intended for Randy Moss in overtime. The stop forced the Vikings to punt on the series that preceded Morten Andersen’s game-winning field goal.

The Falcons, with coach Dan Reeves and others not getting much sleep, were routed 34-19 by Terrell Davis and the Denver Broncos.

We may never know what would’ve happened if the Falcons had been arrest-free.

The current Falcons, who have embraced the notion of being a solid “Brotherhood,” don’t believe they’ll have any more distractions.

“I think it depends on what type of guys you have,” Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan said. “You try your hardest and your whole organization tries its hardest, but they are grown men.

“You’re going to have to rely on them and hope that you’ve got the right guys. I think we’ve proven that the whole time that we’ve been here. We have a great group of guys, and they are real close. We don’t really worry about our group.”

Falcons linebacker Philip Wheeler is set to play in his second Super Bowl. He was with the Colts when they faced the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl.

Wheeler thinks the Falcons are approaching the game in a proper manner.

“It’s hasn’t really been hard because we stayed focused all year,” Wheeler said. “It’s not anything new.”

Wheeler said the Colts enjoyed themselves in that Super Bowl in Miami, but no one got into any legal trouble.

“We are all grown men,” Wheeler said. “They don’t really have to tell us what to do and what not to do. We enjoyed our time there. We were there for a week. You don’t want to feel like you’re locked in a cage. We are all grown men. They don’t have to tell us anything.

“We had a good time. We didn’t win the game that year, but it wasn’t because we had a good time or that we did anything that didn’t relate to football. I don’t feel there was a correlation.”

He senses that this Falcons team is different.

“Coach (Dan Quinn) brings in guys here that focused on football,” Wheeler said. “There is not a lot that anybody has to do. Coach brings the right guys here, and we make the right things happen.

“I just feel that we have to do what we’ve been doing all year. We’ve practiced hard all year. It’s not Sunday, it’s what we do throughout the week at practice that’s going to get us prepared.”

Veteran defensive end Dwight Freeney is making his third Super Bowl appearance. He’d be stunned if any of the Falcons get distracted.

“Dan Quinn has done a great job of keeping guys focused,” Freeney said. “There isn’t a lot of deviation of guys just going off and doing other things. He does a masterful job of engaging guys and keeping us focused.”

Freeney has been looking to see if any of the players are trying to leave the reservation.

“I’ve been looking around to make sure that guys are staying focused and they are all locked in,” Freeney said. “They are locked into what they are supposed to do. That has a lot to do with how he approaches the week and his theme for each particular day. That’s what you lock your mind on.”

As one of the elders on the team, Freeney has shared his past Super Bowl experiences.

“I had two different experiences,” Freeney said. “In 2006, I was with (coach) Tony Dungy, and he did a great job. He had an experienced team, an older team. So, it wasn’t that hard to keep everybody locked in and going.

“In 2009, it was different because of the fact that I was injured. I really spent most of time rehabbing a serious ankle injury, so I wasn’t really in the process.”

While Freeney is one of the older players watching after his teammates, some of the younger players look up to rookie safety Keanu Neal.

“He’s always trying to make sure everybody’s where they need to be, trying to help guys along when they need certain things,” cornerback Jalen Collins said. “He’s always trying to be vocal just to keep guys on track.”

Laid-back Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones planned to kick back and relax in the final hours leading to the game.

“I’m not going to make anything up as far as my routine,” Jones said. “It’s just one day at a time. I’m not looking forward to Sunday right now like, ‘It’s Sunday! Sunday!’ It’s just one day at a time. I have to put the work in to be where I want to be at on Sunday.”

Quarterback Matt Ryan also plans a low-key ramp-up to the biggest game of his career.

“For me, it’s kind of the same old, same old,” Ryan said. “We’ll do dinner at the hotel and then get into our night meetings and review our game plan and go through any little fine-tuning things we need to clean up that night, and then that’s pretty much it. Go to bed and get some sleep, and cut it loose the next day.”