Post columnist Steve Serby caught up with Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe for some super Q&A:
Q: If Peyton Manning wins this Super Bowl, do you think he should be regarded as the greatest of all time?
A: Absolutely. Because, see, you can be great without winning rings. To say someone is the greatest, I just don’t want championships to define that greatness. Because under that theory, Robert Horry is one of the five or six best basketball players ever — he has seven championship rings. We know that not to be true.
Q: And under that theory, Dan Marino is a bum.
A: Right, right. And Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson are Hall of Famers. We know that’s not the case. But, if you look at his body of work — on Saturday, he’ll win his fifth MVP, and it’s probably gonna be unanimous, four with the Colts, one with the Broncos. He wins this Super Bowl, he’ll be the first quarterback to win championships with two different teams. He has broken the passing touchdown twice, the second time by 10 percent, at the age of 37. He’ll also have set the single-season passing record, at the age of 37. I don’t know how you take that away from him. I don’t know how.
Q: Do you think the Broncos will pull this off? I know you’re rooting for them.
A: I think they will. It has to be this way: For Manning to finally silence his critics, he had to go play a Super Bowl in the conditions in which they said he succeeds the least — cold, blustery, wintry conditions. On the biggest stage. He’s great regular season, but he doesn’t perform well in the playoffs and in the most pressure-packed games. And he does even worse when the conditions are not ideal and pristine. So now he gets the Super Bowl. In New York. When the temperatures are not gonna be ideal. This is the game that silences all his critics. And I think because he’s been so great for such a long time, that sometimes we nitpick. Yeah, yeah, 400 yards, but the Patriots defense wasn’t very good. When he loses a game, it’s the opposing quarterback. But when he wins, it was the defense. Or look at the weapons that he had. We make excuses for why he shouldn’t be great.
Q: Why is that?
A: I don’t know. I’ve always marveled at him from afar. Being at Pro Bowls with him, you know the most important thing to him, is winning. And you know what goes into it, you know what it takes to win. He puts an awful lot on his plate. And I don’t know why he receives some of the criticism that he has received. But when you look at his body of work — you look at the 400-yard games, the 300-yard games, the touchdowns — the guy’s been great from the time he stepped foot in the National Football League! And he’a 37! Nobody has played this well, at this age!
Q: Describe your relationship with John Elway?
A: When I first went to Denver, people looked at him like this mythological person. I knew he was a special talent. I knew he was one of the best players in the National Football League, but I never really approached him like that. He never acted like that towards me, and I think that’s why we got along so well. And plus he knew from a very early age- — I tell people this all the time — you know why movie stars marry other movie stars? Because the other one knows exactly what it’s like. I came with the same vested interest. And we’re still great friends to this day. I call him and we laugh and talk. And sometimes we go maybe a year without talking. But, when we get together, we always go back to reminisce and talk about: “You remember you did this?” or “You remember you said that?” It’s always something that I did to make him laugh, because obviously was the guy that kept it really light for the team. He’s just a great guy, a heckuva competitor. Even when I did something wrong, even when I made a mistake, he never yelled, he never screamed. He always was just: “You’re better than that. I knew you could make that play, I knew you could do it.” And, it made my job so much easier, to know I had that guy, in my corner.
Q: Do you think Michael Strahan is a Hall of Famer, as opposed to what Warren Sapp thinks?
A: Ab-so-lute-ly! I’m gonna call Warren. I really want this silliness, this pettiness, to be put to bed. And I don’t know why Warren had such a beef. OK, let’s just say for the sake of argument — if you take the sack [of Brett Favre] that he got to break the single-season record — I still think he’s gonna be the Defensive Player of the Year. OK so now, instead of having 141 ¹/₂, he has 140 ¹/₂. Does that change anything? No, it doesn’t. … Let the 44 or 48 or 50 men and women that vote, let them go into their room, and determine if he should be. I think he should. I played against Reggie [White]. I never played against Lawrence Taylor. When we played them in ’92, he was injured, he didn’t play. But the greatest defensive player I ever played against was Reggie White. I played against Bruce [Smith], I played against Derrick Thomas, I played against Kevin Greene — Michael Strahan deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. He really had no weakness. And I know everybody said, “Well he played on the left side.” I don’t care. Somebody got those sacks. Somebody had that longevity. Somebody played very well in the Super Bowl. He was consistent. And he put up Hall of Fame numbers. If you look at the era in which he played, I don’t like that you said, “Well, he’s not Reggie White.” So what? So every defensive player that’s not Reggie White, that’s not Lawrence Taylor, that’s not Deion Sanders, that’s not Ray Lewis — they don’t deserve to go to the Hall of Fame?
Q: You’ll call Sapp?
A: We’re in a fraternity. I’ve never heard an entertainer saying, “Jack Nicholson didn’t deserve that Oscar.” I’ve never heard an actress say, “Well Katherine Hepburn, she didn’t deserve that statue.” I’m happy for anybody, because obviously it shows that you played great football for an extended period of time. The guy won a championship, he was on a defense that did the unthinkable — they beat an 18-0 Patriots team on a neutral site. He was the leader of that defense.
Q: Is Richard Sherman the best corner in football?
A: Yes, he is the best corner in football. The statistics back it up. He’s on the No.1 defense in football. He’s consistent. He talked about it before, but he talked about it and brought it into fruition.
Q: What are your thoughts on Russell Wilson?
A: He’s made plays over the last, say, five or six weeks, that helped win them ball games. But he hasn’t been that player over the first 8-to-9 weeks, that people had him in the MVP discussion. He hasn’t been that player. Look, they are a run-first team. Marshawn Lynch is the linchpin. He is Beast Mode. If he goes, they go. And, I think if I’m the Broncos, and if I’m Jack Del Rio, if Russell Wilson throws for 300-plus yards, three touchdowns and we lose — nothing I can do. But I can’t let Marshawn Lynch get to 125, 150, control the clock, keep Peyton off the field. I can’t lose that way.
Q: Does Marshawn remind you of anybody?
A: Earl Campbell.
Q: Does he run as violently or more violently than Adrian Peterson?
A: Adrian Peterson has home-run speed. Marshawn is a singles, maybe a doubles hitter. Adrian Peterson can go 80. … Marshawn Lynch, I think his max might be 30. But he’s angry. He’s angry because of what transpired in Buffalo, maybe a reporter or somebody has wronged him in Seattle. He comes from a tough section of Oakland, and his mentality, his mindset, is all about punishment. He’s like: “I’m gonna hit you, before you hit me. I want to make you feel what you’re trying to make me feel.
Q: Did you play angry?
A: No, no, no. And that’s why I walk perfectly fine? I got all my faculties, and I don’t walk with a limp, my mind is still sharp. My position coach Les Steckel, he told me that, “Son, you gotta know when the journey’s over.” Now, if it was third-and-6 and I was short, yeah, I would try to run overcome body get the first down. But I knew when the journey’s over, and I was gonna live to play another day.
Q: How many concussions did you have?
A: I’m sure I’ve had a few. I’ve got my bell rung, and when I first came in the league the term wasn’t concussion, it was getting dinged, or had your bell rung. So I had my bell rung a few times.
Q: Your feelings on the cold-weather Super Bowl?
A: I don’t like it. The Ice Bowl was because the Packers had earned the right to be at home. They earned the right to bring Dallas in those elements. In the Super Bowl, nobody has earned the right. And it’s mainly as a corporate event. Yeah, there might be some fans cheering, but for the most part, these are people that are sponsors of the National Football League. … A corporate guy wants to come play golf. Their wives want to shop, they want to go lay out by the pool. What could they do in New York? First of all, there’s already a lot going on in New York. New York was fine. You don’t need to bring more people into an already crowded situation. Even if snows 17 feet, the NFL will say what a great game it was. Look, I love the NFL. Everything that I really have is because of the NFL … but every idea that the NFL pitched, is not a great idea. I think in this game, it should be in Miami, or San Diego, or Tampa, Arizona. … If you want to put it in a cold-weather city, put it in a dome, a controlled environment, so people can enjoy themselves.
Q: It rained in Miami once.
A: But see, an anomaly. But then, what’s to say, why can’t Green Bay have one? Why can’t Boston? Why can’t Pittsburgh? Denver? Seattle?
Q: What happened to Eli Manning this year?
A: What happened with Eli was that he won two championships and then automatically everybody thought he was great. That’s the problem that you run into when you just say rings define the quarterback. Look at his body of work. What does his body of work tell you?
Q: He’s a good quarterback.
A: Good. But he’s not great.
Q: Geno Smith.
A: The jury’s still out. Now I would like to see if they put some people around him, give him some skill position wide receiver, tight end, and see what type of career he could have. But I’m not sold on him.
Q: Johnny Manziel.
A: You have to be able to throw the ball from the pocket. That improvisational skill is great in college, but that’s not gonna fly in the National Football League.
Q: Will Tim Tebow ever make it in the NFL?
A: He has to throw the football better. … What happens is, the reason why the greats are great, is that in the most pressure-packed situation, the muscle memory that they have of being great, they can always revert back to that. And what he will always revert back to, is the elongated motion.
Q: What happened to Mark Sanchez?
A: I just think New York was the wrong place for him. He did too many things in the city. He was out on the town. … Look at the great ones, you look at the guys in the league right now — your [Tom] Brady’s, your Mannings, your [Aaron] Rodgers, your [Drew] Breeses — football is the most important thing to them.
Q: Favorite Super Bowl memories?
A: Obviously winning the first one. That’s my greatest feeling, to be able to accomplish that, that’s the ultimate goal. You’re playing in the NFL, you’re being drafted by the Broncos, was a huge honor. But you play this game, really, to win a championship. You know how hard it is to win games. You know how even harder it is to win a championship, and to be crowned a champion. You are the best, there’s no doubt that you are the best team in the National Football League. And to feel that emotion, there’s really nothing like it. I wish more players could experience it, and then they wouldn’t take it for granted, because there’s no guarantee that if you get there, you’ll get back. And then there’s no guarantee that you play 15, 16 years that you’ll ever get there. But if a person were to experience that, they would know what it’s like, and they would do everything in their power to make sure they got back again, and try to win it.
Q: Describe what it was like standing in the tunnel for the first time in a Super Bowl.
A: You know what went through my mind there? I was thinking to myself: A skinny kid from Glennville, Ga., is about to run out, and 70, 80 million people, are gonna watch me run out of this tunnel … hear my name introduced, from Savannah State — “From Savannah State, Shannon Sharpe!” Wow! And I was thinking about just how proud, my grandmother, my family was, my hometown, Savannah State — just how proud, they were of me, and what I had accomplished getting to this point … and then when the game was over, man! I mean Savannah State put up billboards, my hometown had me on the cover of the news. … It’s just a great feeling.
Q: Do you remember the moment you held the Lombardi Trophy?
A: Yeah! Yeah, I do. And I’m saying to myself, “Wow! It’s heavier than I thought!” And, once you touch it, you know why so many people chase it. But the thing that I wanted most, was not to hold the trophy. … I wanted to feel the confetti rain down on me. When you feel that confetti raining down on you. … Then you hear the Queen song — “We Are The Champions” … “of the world.” … Man! As the confetti’s raining down, they’re playing that in the background, and I’m holding the trophy. … Wow! To hold that trophy that so many greats, from the Bart Starrs to the [Ray] Nitschkes, to the Mean Joe Greenes … all the greats. … And to say, “Shannon Sharpe, from Savannah State, and Glennville, Ga., had his hand on this trophy. And when you win a Super Bowl, the fans in that city, never forget you.
Q: Why were the Super Bowl XXXV Ravens able to impose their will on the Giants?
A: When you talk about defenses, you talk about the ’85 Bears, you talk about the 2000 Ravens, maybe you throw one of those vaunted Steeler defenses. But you’re talking about the 94-year history, you’re talking about one of the three best defenses of all time. Think about this now: Everybody talks about how great the Seattle defense is. … Well they gave up over 200 points. The Ravens gave up 165 points, in a 16-game schedule. And of you accumulate all the rushing yards from the 16 teams, it doesn’t equal 1,000 yards.
Q: Your three individual Super Bowl memories as far as playing in the game itself.
A: [Elway’s] helicopter, would probably be my No. 1 memory.
Q: Why would that be No. 1?
A: Because I knew he wanted to win the Super Bowl, everybody knew he wanted to win, he had been to three before, and the games were close. And as great as he was, he couldn’t overcome the better teams. I’m sure he felt in his mind, this team gives me a realistic chance to win the Super Bowl. And on that day, he didn’t have a great game statistically throwing the football. But, the running game, he defense, was able to bail him out. And that play, the one play, when you saw what he was willing to do to win this game, if your guy of 15 years, who’s going to the Hall of Fame, is willing to do that — nothing less from you was acceptable.
No. 2: when Jermaine Lewis answered the Giants’ kick return touchdown. The Giants fans are going crazy, the players on the sideline, they’re going crazy, and before they can really say … “We’re back in this game,” Jermaine is running the kick back and says, “No you’re not.”
[And] the kneel down In the first Super Bowl at the end of the game. When [Elway] gets that ball, and he goes to one knee, they call that the Victory Formation.
Q: You knew after Elway won his second Super Bowl that would be his last game, right?
A: No. Everybody thought the year before was gonna be his last game. Everybody thought that John was gonna win his first Super Bowl after three tries, rise off in the sunset. He came back, and I thought he played well. He hurt his hamstring, he missed like three or four games, but he played well. Then you look at the Super Bowl, he threw for over 300 yards, a touchdown. … You’re thinking like, “OK. He’s in his prime. I’m in my prime. … Ed [McCaffrey], Rod [Smith] are in their prime. … We got a good team!” I think it was like the end of April, beginning of May, he makes that decision that, “That’s it, I’m done.” It was tough.
Q: How do you explain the fact that two brothers, you and former Packers receiver Sterling, could grow up to be at the top of their crafts?
A: Obviously, God-given talent. But I think is how we brought up. He and both had the same drive, the same ambition about leaving the surroundings [from] which we came. We knew if we didn’t change the situation, the likelihood of it being changed wasn’t very good. So, the way we were brought up — tough, disciplined, work ethic was instilled at a very young age, and football really came easy and naturally to us. And then you mean to tell me like — we weren’t going to college, my grandmother, my mom, they didn’t have that kind of money. We were not taking out loans to go play to go school, that wasn’t happening. And do once we realized that somebody will like pay for room, board and books, and all I gotta do is play football — that’s kinda how it happened. But I was very determined. I thought I was special going to college. And then, when you go to Savannah State and you go to the National Football League, everybody looks at you because you didn’t go to Michigan, you didn’t play in front of 108,000, you don’t have 20 coaches. My receivers was also the quarterbacks coach and the offensive coordinator. We don’t have a position coach for every single position. But it’s still football. Can you catch it, can you throw it, can you tackle, can you run it? I felt I could catch the football and put the ball in the end zone with the best of ‘em. And, I went to a team in the Broncos, they were one of the three teams that had the H-Back position at the time. The Redskins and the Chargers were the others.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Dr. [Martin Luther] King, Nelson Mandela, Oprah [Winfrey].