MIAMI – Terrell Davis might have been thinking of Bill Russell with the Celtics, or Michael Jordan, or Terry Bradshaw or Joe Montana or Charles Haley yesterday.
“If anybody ever gives me an award, I don’t re-ally get excited about it,” Davis was saying. “I want a career so I can leave my signature on the sport.”
What did he mean by that? “I just think about championships,” Davis said. “People are connected with championships. If I can win four championships or so …”
Davis and the Broncos will be trying to win their second in a row in Super Bowl XXXIII against the Falcons. Davis has to be the favorite for the MVP, because he was the MVP (30-157-3 TDs) last year and plays bigger than anyone else in the big games.
“I don’t go into the game trying to be MVP,” Davis said. “I go into the game trying to win the ballgame. I’ll be satisfied if anyone on our team wins that award because that means we won the game.”
Davis is tied with John Riggins with six consecutive 100-yard games in the postseason. “I try to focus a little more during the playoffs,” Davis said. “I might do some extra film study … I realize this might be the last game of the season. I always played with that fear of walking off the field and not playing anymore. I try to play like it’s my last game.”
Davis isn’t overly concerned that he was only able to rush for 29 yards on 16 carries at Pro Player Stadium against the Dolphins Dec. 21. “I have no grudge against the stadium,” he says. “I didn’t play this stadium when I came here. It’s just grass out there right now. We played the Miami Dolphins. They had a great run defense. We’re playing a different team right now, which is probably a better defense, to be honest. I don’t measure my success by yards. Whatever I do, I just try to do what I can do. All your games are not gonna be perfect, I realize that. I’m smart enough not to go into the tank just because I have a bad game.”
Davis believes the chemistry he has with his offensive line has been the main reason for his 2,008-yard season. “The line, they do a good job of getting me into the open,” he said. “I’m in the secondary a lot of times. I don’t get tackled a lot of times until I’m in the secondary.” He doesn’t consider himself a breakaway runner, however. “I’m not; if I had to go 90 yards, I probably wouldn’t make it,” Davis said. “If I had to go 60 or 50, I probably can get there.”
He doesn’t see the Hall of Fame in the distance just yet. “I’m just running with my head down toward the finish line,” Davis said. “When I get there, maybe I’ll look back and see what happened.”