Ushering in a new ring bearer. (Know it all: my turn).

Watching the buildup and then the Buccaneers' victory last Sunday in the Super Bowl brought back a flood of great memories for me. I was fortunate to play in--and win--three Super Bowls, but there is nothing like that first one.

No one, maybe not even our team, expected us to win the NFC championship game against the Niners after the 1992 season, so it was a surprise we were even in Super Bowl 27 against the Bills. There was a true innocence that surrounded our team, very unlike our other two Super Bowl teams. A lot of people around the NFL said we could never be a good team with some of the same players who had gone 1-15 only three seasons before. Frankly, we had no concept of how good we were. We were that naive about our own talent.

Jimmy Johnson did a magnificent job of getting us ready. Game preparation was his real strength, along with evaluating talent. He gave us a great speech that Wednesday. He asked the team if he took a 2-by-4 about 10 feet long and laid it on the ground, how many people could walk the length of it, and everybody raised his hand. Then he asked if he took that same 2-by 4 and raised it 1,000 feet, how many of us could walk across it? About three guys raised their hand. His point, of course, is the 2-by-4 is the same whether it's on the ground or 1,000 feet high. The game is the same no matter the hype or the audience. It was a great speech, and it really hit home with our team.

The Bills got off to a last start, and we really struggled. Nothing was in sync on offense. I was having a hard time breathing from the magnitude of the game. Emmitt Smith was going through the same thing. Our emotions were running wild, and for a few minutes it felt like we were losing control. Then I hit Michael Irvin with a pass on third-and-long and that seemed to get us ...