Joe Montana

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The 13-year NFL career of Green Bay Packers defensive end Sean Jones is almost encyclopedic in its range of memorable playoff losses.He was on a 12-4 Los Angeles Raiders team that was upset in the 1985 postseason by the wild-card New England Patriots, 27-20.Seven years later, he was with the Houston Oilers when they staged the biggest collapse in playoff history, ultimately losing to the Buffalo Bills in overtime, 41-38.One year after that, still with the Oilers, his team failed to hold a 10-point lead against Joe Montana and the Kansas City Chiefs, and fell, 28-20.

MIAMI -- They were born a quarter-century apart and they work different jobs, but they find themselves in identical circumstances today.They are at the peak of their powers and their professions, yet they can't escape the shadows that haunt them.George Seifert and Steve Young. One coach, one quarterback. Two men running. Fast. Running toward the high places in pro football history that they have earned.But still not outrunning the shadows that linger over them, casting all that they do in a darker light.

Joe Montana, unlike so many sports heroes, did not announce his retirement yesterday at a scheduled news conference.No. That was a love-in, in the true, San Francisco sense of the words.The faithful had been gathering for hours in the city's Justin Herman Plaza. The public address system had kept them busy with a medley of Joe's golden-oldie highlight hits. The honored guests, from the Mayor to Madden, proceeded to all lay palms at Joe's humble feet.L "One more year! One more year!" the audience began to chant.

MIAMI -- The San Francisco 49ers finally passed their Super torch from Joe Montana to Steve Young last night.Young, who has been the team's starting quarterback for the past four seasons but still was playing in Montana's shadow, finally eclipsed him.Young threw six touchdown passes to break Montana's Super Bowl record of five while leading the 49ers to a 49-26 victory over the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX before 74,107 fans at Joe Robbie Stadium.Young's...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Joe Montana yesterday surpassed Chinatown as a San Francisco tourist attraction. More than two years since he threw his last pass as a San Francisco 49er, he stood in front of 20,000 hero worshipers yesterday and retired from professional football.The crowd chanted, "One more year, one more year" -- even if it meant him quarterbacking the Kansas City Chiefs."Hardest day of his life," said Montana's father, Joseph Sr., whose son would have quit football at age 7 if he had let him. "Probably mine, too."

The Kansas City Chiefs appeared to be a team headed downhill last season.They struggled to a 9-7 record and were bounced out of the playoffs in the first round.There were whispers that coach Marty Schottenheimer didn't get along with general manager Carl Peterson.Toss in the fact that quarterback Joe Montana retired and the Chiefs figured to be at the bottom of their division this year."I was frankly amazed at some of the predictions I saw," Peterson said. "People thought that without Joe, we would crash and burn and become just an average club."

SAN FRANCISCO -- Joe Quarterback will do his thing one more time.This afternoon at the Justin Herman Plaza, Joe Montana will say he is retiring from football. What he adds after that is unimportant.Frank Jordan, mayor of San Francisco, will say some appropriate words. Eddie DeBartolo, the 49ers' owner, with whom Montana forged a strong friendship, will be there.Bill Walsh and George Seifert, his 49ers coaches; Carl Peterson and Carmen Policy, the Chiefs' and 49ers' presidents; Ronnie Lott, Roger Craig, Steve Bono and others he played with also will be there.

MIAMI -- He said he didn't care about completing that sixth touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter, but you know that he did.The Super Bowl record was five.Joe's record.If you think Steve Young didn't want to break that sucker, just take it and break it into a million pieces, you haven't thoughtabout what it has been like to walk in his shoes all these years.If you think Young didn't want to be able to say he had accomplished something Joe never accomplished, you haven't been listening.

The Washington Redskins were not only trounced at RFK Stadium on Sunday, but also lost out among Baltimore television viewers, according to Nielsen figures released yesterday.The Washington-Seattle Seahawks game, aired at 1 p.m. Sunday on Channel 2, drew a 5.2 rating and a 14 share, while the New York Giants-Philadelphia game, aired at the same time on Channel 45, got a 6.3 rating and a 17 share.That's not as clear a victory as the Seahawks scored Sunday, but it is significant, since Redskins games beat all head-to-head competition each Sunday afternoon last season.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- The brave souls who are the Buffalo Bills lined up for another public embarrassment yesterday, determined finally to get this Super Bowl thing right.Give them this much: They are remarkable in their persistence, if nothing else.The Bills earned an unprecedented fourth straight trip to the Super Bowl by pounding Joe Montana and the Kansas City Chiefs, 30-13, at Rich Stadium in another superb AFC championship game performance that featured 186 rushing yards and three touchdowns by Thurman Thomas.

8 p.m. [NFL Network] The program takes a look at draft steals - players selected later who turned into stars, such as Larry Wilson (seventh round) and Joe Montana (left, third round). Not likely to be included: Brian Bosworth (supplemental).

Please stay home, Brett Favre. It's not that I would mind watching you play a little longer. Heck, I recently called you the fifth-greatest quarterback of all time. And you showed last season that you can still play at an elite level. No, I'm not asking because you did anything wrong. I'm asking because we, the sports media, need to be protected from ourselves. You see, for the past three NFL offseasons, we tried to sell newspapers and drive television ratings by speculating madly about whether you would retire.

Note: All Most Valuable Players from winning team except 1971. 2008 N.Y. Giants 17, New England 14 Eli Manning, QB 2007 Indianapolis 29, Chicago 17 Peyton Manning, QB 2006 Pittsburgh 21, Seattle 10 Hines Ward, WR 2005 New England 24, Philadelphia 21 Deion Branch, WR 2004 New England 32, Carolina 29 Tom Brady, QB 2003 Tampa Bay 48, Oakland 21 Dexter Jackson, FS 2002 New England 20, St. Louis 17 Tom Brady, QB 2001 Ravens 34, N.Y. Giants 7 Ray Lewis,...

It's probably just a coincidence that astronomers announced the discovery of an important new planet located outside our solar system this week, but I already was feeling as if I had been transported to some parallel world. How else do you explain the amazing groundswell of public support for Ravens backup quarterback Kyle Boller, who was considered the poster boy for all that was wrong with the team a couple of years ago? Let's take a look at the latest polling data and see whether we can put this situation into proper perspective: Recent political opinion surveys show President Bush with a 34 percent approval rating and Congress even lower at 22 percent, while Boller was the choice of 88 percent of respondents to a baltimoresun.

NEW ORLEANS -- They are two of the most significant quarterbacks to wear the fleur-de-lis, both of them representing in their own way the serial futility of the New Orleans Saints. One was the martyr to the early years - always undersupported, basically an organ donor to a franchise. The other was the perfect match in origin and temperament, but his Cajun spark never quite caught in the postseason. Archie Manning and Bobby Hebert are bearing happy witness to a new New Orleans football outlook.

When the Ravens signed Gary Stills as an unrestricted free agent in March, the eighth-year linebacker talked with coach Brian Billick, defensive coordinator Rex Ryan and special teams coordinator Frank Gansz Jr. But there was one person Stills eagerly sought out: fellow linebacker Terrell Suggs. Falcons@Ravens Sunday, 1 p.m., Ch. 45, 1090 AM, 97.9 FM Line: Ravens by 4 1/2 Prime numbers Jerseys pictured on PG 1D (from left to right): John Elway (7), Dan Marino (13), Joe Montana (16), Johnny Unitas (19)

Sometimes, you've got to wonder what some people could possibly be thinking, and by some people I mean Joe Montana and the Rolling Stones and the NFL and whoever was in charge of Super Bowl security - because somehow Gilbert Gottfried got a media credential. Actually, I like Gilbert. He does a nice duck imitation ("Afffflac!!!") and he totally bailed me out when nobody showed up on Super Bowl media day dressed like a turnip. Montana is another story. Rumor has it that he didn't show up for the Super Bowl Most Valuable Players ceremony because the NFL wouldn't guarantee him $100,000 in promotional income.

(MVPs in parentheses; all from winning team except Chuck Howley, 1971) 2006 Pittsburgh 21, Seattle 10 (WR Hines Ward) 2005 New England 24, Philadelphia 21 (WR Deion Branch) 2004 New England 32, Carolina 29 (QB Tom Brady) 2003 Tampa Bay 48, Oakland 21 (S Dexter Jackson) 2002 New England 20, St. Louis 17 (QB Tom Brady) 2001 Ravens 34, N.Y. Giants 7 (LB Ray Lewis) 2000 St. Louis 23, Tennessee 16 (QB Kurt Warner) 1999 Denver 34, Atlanta 19 (QB John Elway) 1998 Denver 31, Green Bay 24 (RB Terrell Davis)

HOUSTON - Asked about the popular comparison with Joe Montana, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady shrugged it off as smoothly as he does big-game jitters. "That's something that's crazy," Brady said. "I mean, [Joe Montana] was the best quarterback in the history of the NFL. It's flattering, but at the same time, I think it's pretty unrealistic, too. "Everybody wants to make comparisons. But I think he is a very different player. I would love to have some of the traits that he possessed.

In the opening Monday night game of the season, Tom Brady threw 25 consecutive passes. Just like that, the race was on. The NFL's arms race. Since that eye-opening night in which the New England Patriots destroyed the Pittsburgh Steelers with a prolific passing game, NFL quarterbacks have been throwing the ball at a wearying pace. Through nine weeks of the season, pass attempts are up by nearly 600 throws over the same point last year. Net passing yards are up by 3,726 yards over last year.