Just so you don't think that I've been loafing the past few weeks, take a look at my lengthy interview with Brian Billick. It just went up on the Web site this morning -- so you can read it right here -- and it will be part of our 10th Anniversary Super Bowl Commemorative section in Friday's print edition.
I hope you enjoy it. Billick delivers some interesting insights that you may not have heard before and lets us see the 2000-2001 postseason through his eyes.
Here's a quick excerpt in which Billick talks about one of his most memorable moments of that championship season:
There are so many of them. There's one that comes to mind. I knew how good this defense was. We're playing the Cleveland Browns, and they're terrible. And we were all about shutouts. This team wanted to break the all-time shutout record. I forget what it was. We had like six or something [actually four], and we were going for it. We're playing Cleveland, and the guys all week thought, "This is one we're going to get," and then Cleveland comes out on the opening drive and goes 86 yards to score. We're down 7-0. At home. So I'm walking down toward the defense, they're going to come off and I'm going to do my coaching thing, and Ray -- I remember like yesterday -- Ray and Rod Woodson are coming off the field and look at me and go, "Don't say a thing." Basically saying: "We got this. Don't say a word." So I make an immediate left turn to the Gatorade, figuring: "OK, you got it. I'm out." You'd have to check the exact number. We gave up 86 yards in that first drive, and we gave up like 112 yards on the day. The rest of the day, they were pissed off. The ability to crank up to that level, that they could hold themselves accountable and knew that they were that good -- that's when I realized, wow, this is a special, special group.
Of course, I only had a small part in the special Super Bowl retrospective, so you'll want to read all the stories and take a happy trip down memory lane. You can even read Ken Murray's original game story from Tampa if you click here.