Soon after their plane touches down at Newark International Airport on Sunday, Broncos coach John Fox, record-setting quarterback Peyton Manning and other select Denver players will be whisked over to the Cornucopia Majesty ship, docked at the Hyatt in Jersey City, N.J.
Once on board, they will meet an onslaught of reporters, microphones and cameras. It will mark the beginning of a wild and sometimes crazy week leading up to Super Bowl XLVIII against the Seattle Seahawks the following Sunday. In a game expected to be very close, the winner could be the team that best handles the hype, nerves and pitfalls of the most-scrutinized week in American sports.
“Now, more than ever, with Twitter and all the social media, the players have to be in control,” said ESPN analyst Mark Schlereth, who won three Super Bowl title rings — two with the Broncos, one with the Redskins. “The players can’t afford to get caught up in all of the hype.”
If Schlereth were to stand up in front of the Broncos and address them, he knows exactly what he would say.
“One, don’t take this opportunity for granted, because it may never come again,” he said, noting that two seasons after Washington crushed the Buffalo Bills 37-24 in Super Bowl XXVI, the Redskins slumped to a 4-12 record.
Schlereth’s second lesson?
“This is a business trip,” he said. “You can, and you must, control the access that people have to you. That means the media, your family, everything. And you have to have a system in place before you go.”
The Broncos endeavored to do that this week by having a meeting with team spouses and telling the players to take care of ticket requests and other logistics — ASAP.
During his three Super Bowl weeks as a player, Schlereth would spend an hour or two per night for dinner with his wife, Lisa. The rest of the time was dedicated to the Broncos.
“I have a great wife and she understands how serious I am about my job,” Schlereth said. “I told her, ‘You have to be the heavy. You have to take care of tickets on both sides of the family. My access to you will be limited to dinner. The rest of the day is my day.’ She understood.”
Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe, who won two Super Bowls with the Broncos and another with the Baltimore Ravens, always was a big hit on media day because of his gift for gab. He loved to yuk it up, but he knew when to shut it down. In the week preceding Super Bowl XXXII, when the Broncos shocked the heavily favored Green Bay Packers 31-24, coach Mike Shanahan had a perfect game plan in place.
“Mike had a pool table, ping-pong, movies, video games, everything we wanted,” Sharpe said. “There was no need to go out. We spent time with our teammates and that pulled us even closer. Besides, I was never the going-out type.”
As Schlereth joked: “You didn’t have to worry about Shannon running the streets. Shannon was just running his mouth.”
Still, don’t expect the Broncos to be hermits this coming week — not with the temptations of the Big Apple just a cab ride away and the Super Bowl hype buzzing all around them.
“You try to, but it’s impossible to block it all out,” said 6-foot-3, 350-pound defensive tackle Terrance Knighton, who has earned the nickname “Pot Roast” and appears destined to be one of the week’s favorite characters. “I am going to enjoy this. But ultimately, it is about winning. You don’t get many chances to play in the Super Bowl, so we’re definitely going to enjoy the week, enjoy the festivities, being able to hang out with our families in New York and things like that.”
Former Denver safety Brian Dawkins, who played on a losing Super Bowl team as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, addressed the Broncos on Friday, telling them to strike a balance between work and fun.
“I told them (about) some of the things that maybe I would have done differently,” Dawkins said. “I didn’t enjoy the Super Bowl. I was so focused on the game that I enjoyed nothing off the field as far as the Super Bowl was concerned.
“I’m saying, ‘Enjoy some of it, but not too much of it. But on the other side of that, how willing are you now to take what you’ve learned through the season, the adverse situations that you’ve gone through, study a little more — a little more extra time doing some things?’ So, I just challenged them to look deeper into themselves to pull out even more of what they may need for this game.”
Schlereth, a former guard, understands the need for fun. But he issues a warning too.
“Don’t be ‘that guy.’ Don’t be that guy that costs your team,” he said. “This is too important. It’s once in a lifetime, so you have to understand the magnitude of it.”
In other words, don’t be Eugene Robinson. The day before the Broncos trounced the Atlanta Falcons 34-19 at Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami, Robinson was awarded the Bart Starr Award from the Christian group Athletes in Action for his “high moral character.” That night, the Atlanta safety broke team curfew and was arrested by an undercover female police officer posing as a prostitute after he allegedly offered her $40 for oral sex.
In the second quarter of the Super Bowl, Robinson gave up an 80-yard touchdown reception to Rod Smith and the Broncos grabbed a 17-3 lead.
Broncos Ring of Famer Karl Mecklenburg played in three Super Bowls, and although he lost three times, he came away with some lessons of his own.
“First of all, when you get down to it, it’s another football game, and you’ve got remember that you got to the Super Bowl by playing football a certain way,” Mecklenburg said. “So there is no difference when the ball is snapped and you start playing. So don’t overblow it. Don’t think, ‘I have to be a hero.’ Just remember that you have to do your job. That’s how you win a football game.”
Mecklenburg also cautions the players about trying to make a name for themselves before the game is played.
“There is a lot of publicity and a lot of stuff going on,” he said. “It’s easy to get caught up in it, but if you look at guys who have been successful in the Super Bowl, they have hung together and they have resisted the idea of trying to make themselves bigger than they are in the media.”
Schlereth’s Super Bowl memories are sweet, and not simply because he went 3-0 in the big game.
“Have fun, have a great time, but have it with your teammates,” he said. “Make it about the guys being together. Police each other and have a blast at practice. It’s a great time to bond together as a football team.”
