Atlanta Falcons

Joe Theismann explains why being Super Bowl novices might help the Falcons

Published Jan. 31, 2017 6:41 p.m. ET

Sam Gardner

In many ways, Super Bowl LI (Sunday, FOX/FS GO) is being painted as a matchup of the New England Patriots’ extensive championship experience versus the Atlanta Falcons’ lack thereof. But according to Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Theismann, Atlanta’s lack of familiarity with the moment could work to their advantage when the teams meet at Houston's NRG Stadium.

Theismann, who won Super Bowl XVII with Washington at the end of the 1982 season, then lost Super Bowl XVIII during his MVP season the following year, told FOXSports.com on Tuesday that he felt less pressure on football’s biggest stage when he didn’t know what to expect.

“It sounds crazy, but if you’ve never been in this experience ... you sort of enjoy the moments, you enjoy the media,” Theismann said following an appearance on “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd. “It’s not like, ‘Oh geez, we’ve been here before and I’ve got to do the whole media gig, and all these people are bothering me.’ The first time here, you’ve never been to a Super Bowl, so it’s like going to an amusement park for the first time.

“There’s so many things that you experience, it helps you not to focus on what a monumental moment it really is in your life,” he continued. “It allows you to not have your head get involved in the preparation as much and it allows you to relax a little bit.”

Even so, Theismann argues that the common cliche that the Super Bowl is “just another game” couldn’t be further from the truth.

“It’s a big moment,” Theismann said. “You try and tell yourself that it’s just another game — 'I’m going to study film, I’m going to read the defenses.’ But the one thing that I noticed was, even as you move through the playoffs, the speed of the players, the intensity, rises to another level. So what you’re going to experience for the first time is a different kind of pace of game.

“That’s the most startling thing to me, when I got ready for it, and you can’t really prepare for that,” Theismann added. “You’ve got to go in a little bit relaxed and build yourself up. If you go in fired up and ready to go, you hit an adrenaline depletion and you feel like you’ve got cement for feet.”

Of course, no matter how prepared a quarterback may believe he is for the biggest game of his life, there’s still always the chance that things could go awry, as they did for Theismann in a 38-9 loss to the L.A. Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII.

Joe Theismann

Joe Theismann

“It wasn’t that I didn’t prepare, wasn’t that I didn’t work,” he said. “I just didn’t execute. I played a bad football game. And I think of other different guys that have done that in a Super Bowl. Cam (Newton) didn’t play very well last year, and it’s one game.

“And this is the thing that I love about professional football,” he continued. “You have one chance to be the best. You don’t get seven opportunities. We don’t play a best-of-seven series, we play one game. And if you’re not ready for that one game, that moment may pass you by for the rest of your life. And that’s what makes it so monumental.”

But when it comes to Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, Theismann expects the 31-year-old to be ready for what's to come.

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“I think he’s been under-appreciated for the last three or four years,” Theismann said of the nine-year veteran Ryan. “People kept saying, ‘Well he made it to the playoffs, but he can’t win a playoff game.’ Then, ‘Well, Matt struggled last year, he threw too many interceptions and was trying too hard.’

“Everybody was making up all these excuses for why he wasn’t able to do what he’s doing. But I don’t think he’s given near the amount of credit he deserves.”

You can follow Sam Gardner on Twitter or email him at samgardnerfox@gmail.com.