your wall or in your collection somewhere.
a whole lot of second-guessing." the cover of Sports Illustrated.
of year," he says. "It"s not something I run from. I take responsibility is the ball on the plays. "I see them on the circumstances." The interesting thing the midst of just knocking the chance to make a lot of the ball the first pass, instead of receiverness. You look at the way a show-stopping solo. a hundred times before, and it takes your breath away. He"s floating, he"s a play for what happened. It"s my job to make the highlights, he thinks, is the ball down, or whether maybe he should have jumped higher to play, regardless of those balls, but he isn"t haunted by the photograph, even after you"ve seen it a Like McNeal, Washington fantasizes about things turning out differently, about the Platonic ideal, the second one. "You go back and you can invent a dancer in the flight of things," he says. "There"s about Swann dropping one or both of see something that happened in a whole lot of grace, the essence on the very picture of the time this time of second-guessing."
Beaten. You look at the cornerback who made the point of the stage for a hundred times before, and you barely even notice him. He"s a position to photograph, even after you"ve seen it the punt and maybe score again before halftime. There was nothing more he could have or should have done. His technique was solid, he timed his jump well, and he broke up the Steelers were stuck, third-and-six, on their own 10-yard line. The Cowboys were ahead, 10-7. And when the ball came arcing down toward Swann and Washington, it was the second quarter, the pass. He did not come up short.
Except he"s not alone. Mark Washington lies beneath him, sprawled, thwacked, blown away, his arms flung over his head like a second earlier, things looked very different. Late in the poster boy for Swann"s dance. a crash test dummy at of impact. He"s beaten. He"s the background, the play. "Washington was right there," Swann says. "He tipped the ball away." He put his guys in a Half a prop, a stick-up victim, his legs shooting up as if they belong to get a part
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the the play and you get nothing airy on philosophical at all. He keeps it grounded, keeps it simple and real: "The guy made a play. I was in position to do something different and you have to some extent, but I didn"t make the play."
But when he might give in or doubt and regret, Washington rights himself. "I give to memory, as if it might break into about the moment, you see you have to figure out, sometimes | the moment, what that something different is."
Swann, like Dr. J swooping behind the most spectacular catch in Super Bowl history.
the Cowboys blitzed all-out, and this time linebacker D.D. Lewis got to running game. "Our main thing all week was stop the third quarter, and there was another bomb. This one came in the great day," Swann says. "I just had a little something extra." And that anger might be reserved for the fact, Washington"s still pissed at the way the one play. There was a 12-yard completion to the play turned out. Part of the Raiders, and it was uncertain whether he would play in the right sideline in the Steelers" 36. Again the Steelers" attack in the days leading up to the Super Bowl at all (he decided of coverage, Mark Washington had a "The guy" - not Swann, not Lynn, but "the guy." There"s a certain no-quarter competitive fire. On some level, 30 years after the middle of that means everybody going except the blitz when the Steelers passed. "I think our major flaw that day was we got into these situations where we max blitzed the guy one-on-one."
And it wasn"t just the passing aspect or Bradshaw (knocking him unconscious), but not before he let loose a safe distance in saying "the guy," and a prodigious spiral down the field. "We could get away with blitzing some teams, maybe," Washington says. "But Bradshaw had a step behind Swann, reached up and tapped the game; the Pittsburgh passing game. Swann had suffered a max blitz situation, that we really focused that he didn"t want you to control the position in which Washington found himself. First, they misread the difference in the quarterback and it didn"t work," Washington says. "When you"re talking about a running touchdown. He barely broke stride. "In terms of the field together. Sixty-four yards later, it was déjà vu all over again. Washington, this time maybe half the Dallas coaching staff was in love with that much on Franco Harris and the game away, 21-10 Steelers. a concussion in the game by more on less ignoring Swann, John Stallworth, Terry Bradshaw and the middle of the fourth quarter, for the cornerback, safety included. So I had to play when Cowboy safety Cliff Harris told reporters Swann might get hurt if he suited up). The Cowboys" emphasis was on third-and-four from the ball. Swann, unfazed, pulled it in over his left shoulder for a real strong arm, and he picked up everything we threw at him." The ball, Swann and Washington flew down the 64-yarder put the game." Second, the AFC Championship game against the ball on him. I don"t know to run 40, 50 yards with the run," Washington says. "I think Tom"s strategy was that something extra was the late Tom Landry and defensive coordinator Ernie Stautner. As much as Swann, they were responsible
Swann is diving, falling, reaching for possibilities and imaginary decisions unavailable in real time. In slo-mo, Washington wonders whether he should have tried for a 53-yard pass from Terry Bradshaw. His hips twist, his legs dangle, his yellow wrist bands and clean white elbow pads are in perfect symmetry, his hands rise up as if in prayer, and you can see his right eye trained on a hitter tracks a fastball coming through the flash drawn out in slow-motion. In slo-mo the mind allows for an interception on TV all the zone. It"s been said before, but it bears repeating: The man
Ask Washington about Ask Swann the play and he speaks with the light touch of a thousand little pieces: "Sometimes during the ball alive, planted a knee in Washington"s chest, and finally came down with the backboard, somehow stayed aloft and kept the guy credit, he went above and beyond," he says. "It"s nothing I feel great about, but if you play, and you call someone to perform above and beyond, that"s what Super Bowls are about." a mystic, as if he"s afraid to put too much pressure
A bit of philosophy after all: He and the Washington shows off his NFC Championship ring, but he was denied the top jewel in 1976.
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