Top 10 Super Bowl one-hit wonders

These guys saved their very best for the biggest game of their lives

PublishedFebruary 11, 2022

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We all know Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw, and Roger Staubach. People like them made a name for themselves by coming up big in the Super Bowl on numerous occasions. Their ability to stay calm and play phenomenal football on the game’s biggest stage is what made them all-time NFL greats, but what about the players we only see once? Over the nearly 56 years that the Super Bowl has been around, we’ve seen a number of no-names make a name for themselves with the Lombardi Trophy on the line. These players saw their opportunity to earn the spotlight and took it, no questions asked. Here are our top-ten biggest Super Bowl one-hit wonders!

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Honorable Mention: Percy Howard, DAL (Super Bowl X)

Image for article titled Top 10 Super Bowl one-hit wonders — Image: AP

Percy Howard is a peculiar one-hit wonder because it’s questionable whether or not Howard’s performance in Super Bowl X was a wonder at all. One reception for 34 yards and a touchdown? How is that anything special?

Well, Howard’s NFL career is a wonder in and of itself. Howard never played college football. He was a college basketball player at Austin Peay University when the Cowboys asked him to join their squad. In his lone season on the team, Howard played a minimal role during the regular season, recording just two kickoff returns for 51 yards and...nothing else. However, with the Cowboys down 21-10 to the Steelers in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl X and Cowboys’ star receiver Golden Richards knocked out of the game with broken ribs, Howard came onto the field and made an impact, catching a 34-yard pass from Staubach for a touchdown. This was the only touchdown of Howard’s career. Hell, this was the only reception of Howard’s career.

Howard did have one more opportunity to make a catch in the Super Bowl, and funny enough, if completed, it might have won the Cowboys that game. With just 34 seconds left in the game, the Cowboys lined up for 2nd-and-10 from the Pittsburgh 38-yard line. Howard lined up out wide. When the ball was snapped, Howard rushed to the endzone and Staubach trusted his rookie receiver. The ball was placed perfectly for Howard...well almost perfectly. Howard was surrounded by Steelers’ defenders who tipped the ball away at the last moment. That would’ve given the Cowboys a 23-21 lead, pending the extra point. Alas, the ball fell incomplete and Staubach threw an interception on the very next play. It was obviously an unforgettable moment for Howard, even if it could’ve been more unforgettable.

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Honorable Mention: James Washington, DAL (Super Bowl XXVIII)

Another honorable mention, another Cowboy: James Washington. No, not the receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cowboys’ defensive back and two-time Super Bowl champion.

In his 114-game career, Washington recorded just 17 interceptions and seven fumble recoveries. He never recorded a touchdown in the regular season. However, in Super Bowl XXVIII, Washington recorded all three: an interception, a fumble recovery, and a touchdown in the Cowboys’ 30-13 victory over the Jim Kelly-led Bills. Washington did have a pretty good postseason record though, having recorded an interception in both the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl the year prior as well. However, this was clearly the best game of the safety’s career.

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10) Malcolm Butler, NE (Super Bowl XLIX)

We still aren’t sure why the Seahawks decided to pass and not hand the ball off to Beast Mode to win Super Bowl XLIX, but that’s neither here nor there at this point. And although Malcolm Butler became a Pro Bowler the following year, his interception to win this game is one of the gutsier plays you’ll ever see in a high-pressure moment like that. Butler’s timing and execution had to be perfect to pull off his Super Bowl icing pick, and he came through, securing the win for New England, 28-24.

Watch the play here.

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9) Dexter Jackson, TB (Super Bowl XXXVII)

Two interceptions for Dexter Jackson in Super Bowl XXXVII won him the MVP. Teammate Dwight Smith had two pick-sixes, but they came when the game was already well out of reach for the Raiders. Jackson’s INT’s came in the first half, and although neither ended in a TD, they did happen early enough to affect the game’s tone. Jackson’s INTs helped demoralize Oakland and catapult Tampa Bay to a 48-21 victory over the AFC champs.

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8) Dan Ross, CIN (Super Bowl XVI)

The tight end position isn’t what it used to be. Today, the position is more-or-less filled with big-bodied receivers who also do a little bit of blocking. This wasn’t the case during the 1981-82 season. Tight ends, with the exception of immortal Kellen Winslow, were almost entirely used as blockers. Bengals’ tight end, Dan Ross, was one of the few at the position during the time that could actually do some serious damage in the passing game, and that skill set came to fruition during Super Bowl XVI against the San Francisco 49ers.

Ross went off for 11 catches, 104 yards, and two touchdowns in the 26-21 loss. That’s the most receptions Ross ever recorded in a single game for his career. It’s the third-most yards he ever recorded in a single game, and it’s one of just three times the former Bengal, Seahawk, and Packer scored more than once in the same game.

The only reason Ross is so low on our list is 1) the Bengals still lost that game, and 2) much like Malcolm Butler, Ross was voted to the Pro Bowl the following season. That sort of lowers his viability as a “one-hit wonder.” That being said, Ross played in only nine games the season after Super Bowl XVI. He recorded the fewest receiving yards of his career to that point, so it’s not too far a mental leap to assume that Ross only garnered that recognition from the players and coaches voting for the Pro Bowl with his phenomenal performance in the Super Bowl. That being said, Ross did record nine receptions, 101 yards, and a touchdown in his final game, so maybe that performance stuck in the minds of the players and coaches when ballots were being handed out.

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7) Bill Miller, OAK (Super Bowl II)

Despite his team getting stomped by Lombardi’s Packers 33-14, every point the Oakland Raiders scored in Super Bowl II came from Bill Miller. Miller had five catches for 84 yards and two touchdowns in the game. Those figures rank seventh, seventh, and first respectively for his career. Miller had just one other game with more than one touchdown.

Miller’s performance in Super Bowl II came despite his playing behind receivers Billy Cannon (1959 Heisman winner) and Hall of Famer Fred Biletnikoff as well. While Miller’s incredible outing was overshadowed by Lombardi and Bart Starr’s second consecutive championship, Miller still wound up leading both teams in scrimmage yards and touchdowns.

Miller would play only one more season in the NFL. In nine games, he recorded nine receptions for 179 yards and only one touchdown. Then he was out of the league. Miller left his mark on the Super Bowl and dipped.

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6) Larry Brown, DAL (Super Bowl XXX)

Larry Brown is a legend among Cowboys fans and a name of which you do not speak among Raiders fans. Brown’s impeccable two-interception performance against Neil O’Donnell and the Steelers in Super Bowl XXX was enough to win the corner Super Bowl MVP. It was just the second time in his career that Brown recorded multiple interceptions in a single game. It also inked him an enormous contract with the Oakland Raiders, which would ultimately come back to bite the Silver and Black in the ass.

Brown did have some success prior to that Super Bowl. He had 10 interceptions over the previous two seasons, and led the league in interception-return touchdowns with two in ’95. However, after that Super Bowl, Brown’s career took a nosedive. He was given a five year, $12.5 million contract from Oakland, making him the eighth-highest paid cornerback during the 1996 season. Brown would play only 16 games for the Raiders over the next three seasons. He recorded just one interception.

Let that sink in. Brown had more interceptions in the Super Bowl than he did in the next three seasons combined. That’s a bad contract.

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5) Chris Matthews, SEA (Super Bowl XLIX)

In Chris Matthews’ 22-game career, he caught 16 passes and only one touchdown. In Super Bowl XLIX against the New England Patriots, Matthews caught five passes for 109 yards and a score. Prior to becoming a Seahawk, Matthews was applying for jobs at Foot Locker. He just walked in, tried out, and had the game of his life on football’s biggest stage. If that doesn’t scream “one-hit wonder,” I don’t know what does.

Matthews had only one other game with four receptions, and his highest yardage total outside of that Super Bowl was 51 yards. Serving as Seattle’s No. 3 receiver behind Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse, Matthews looked like he had incredible chemistry with quarterback Russell Wilson despite him not receiving a pass the entire season beforehand. Matthews looked like a legitimate star at the wideout position as well. He made two incredible catches, one down the right sideline in the second quarter, the other down the left sideline in the third quarter to set up scores for Seattle in both instances. Matthews’ star shined bright that night and then faded ever so quickly. Matthews wound up on the Baltimore Ravens the next season and bounced between the Ravens and Seahawks before disappearing from the NFL in 2017.

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4) Mike Jones, STL (Super Bowl XXXIV)

Jones threw on his cape and saved the day for the Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV when he tackled Kevin Dyson of the Titans at the one-yard line as time expired. The Titans would have been able to tie the game with a successful extra point and send the game into overtime had they scored on the play. Jones wasn’t taking any chances and held onto Dyson as tight as humanly possible for the save. Jones only had three other solo tackles in the game but will forever be remembered for his game-winning tackle.

Can watch the play here.

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3) Dwight Smith, TB (Super Bowl XXXVII)

So, how does a player take two interceptions to the house, be the only player in NFL history to do this in a Super Bowl and not win MVP of that game? I honestly have no clue, but Dwight Smith of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers might. Smith picked off Raiders QB Rich Gannon off twice and housed them both in Super Bowl XXXVII and was overlooked for MVP. Several other players could have also taken home the award after routing Oakland, 48-21. But when you do something no one else has ever done, you should probably be rewarded for your efforts. Hell, not a single other team has recorded more than one interception return for a touchdown.

All that being said, Smith has gone on record claiming that every Super Bowl, including Super Bowl XXXVII, is rigged, so perhaps his accomplishments aren’t too great. Perhaps we should’ve expected even more from Smith, because clearly the powers that be in the NFL wanted Smith to take two interceptions to the house.

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2) David Tyree, NYG (Super Bowl XLII)

For a play that almost never was (Eli Manning narrowly escaped a sack), David Tyree’s helmet catch in Super Bowl XLII is one of the most memorable moments in NFL history. Although Tyree did score a TD in this game, his overall stat line was rather pedestrian with three total grabs for 43 yards. His helmet grab with New England’s Rodney Harrison draped all over him with 65 seconds remaining in regulation kept the Giants alive on third-and-five, setting up Manning and the offense for the eventual go-ahead touchdown that would upset the 18-0 Patriots.

Can watch the play here.

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1) Timmy Smith, WAS (Super Bowl XXII)

In the Super Bowl, where the first Black QB to win one, Doug Williams, threw four TDs and for 340 yards, it would take a Herculean effort to wrestle away the MVP award from his clutches. But Timmy Smith put in a solid bid in Super Bowl XXII. Smith rushed for 204 yards and two TDs en route to Washington’s 42-10 beat down of Denver. For perspective, in Smith’s 22 regular-season appearances, he recorded just 602 rushing yards…FOR HIS CAREER! He recorded more than a third of that in one game! And it was the Super Bowl!

Smith still holds the record for most rushing yards in a Super Bowl.

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