Super Bowl 54 live updates: UM legend Michael Irvin on Ed Reed, Dolphins should copy 49ers
Stay up to date with news and live reports on everything from practices to press conferences as Super Bowl 54 draws near. This post will be continually updated throughout the day.
‘He’s a shoe-in.’ Saquon Barkley and Victor Cruz address Eli Manning’s Hall of Fame case
No two-time Super Bowl MVP’s hall of fame case has been as heavily debated as Eli Manning.
Since Manning announced his retirement, pundits have gone back and forth arguing his chances. Two of his former teammates, however, think the debates are nonsense.
“I don’t think he’s a hall of famer — I know he’s a hall of famer,” New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley said Thursday.
“He’s a shoe-in for sure,” former Giants receiver Victor Cruz added Friday.
To Cruz, the multiple championships are only a small part of Manning’s resume. Of course, the Super Bowl MVPs put him in an elite class of players — Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana and Tom Brady — who’ve all won the award at least twice. While that accomplishment is surely significant, his ability to handle pressure ultimately sets him apart.
“Being a quarterback for a New York football team isn’t an easy thing to do,” Cruz explained. “So the fact that he handled it with such grace and dignity for 16 years with the good, the bad and the ugly is a testament to who he is.”
Barkley seemed surprised that the debate had even gone this far. According to the 2019 NFL Rookie of the Year, a hall of famer must have won at the highest level, stellar numbers and accolades.
“He checks off on all three,” Barkley said. “... I’m not disrespecting any hall of famers but I know there’s hall of famers that don’t have anywhere close to the numbers and accolades as Eli.”
Detractors will often point to Manning’s 116-116 record as a starter, passer rating or completion percentage as reasons to keep him out of Canton. Bring that up around Cruz and he’ll just point right back to the hardware.
“How many guys can say that they’ve done that?” Cruz concluded. “And I think when you couple it with how he approached the game being in New York, never throwing a teammate under the bus, looking through the face of adversity and fighting right through... that’s not an easy thing to do.”
— C. Isaiah Smalls II
Hurricanes legend Michael Irvin talks Ed Reed’s new job, how UM can return to prominence
Ed Reed’s football resume speaks for itself.
Pro Football Hall of Fame? Check. College Football Hall of Fame? Check. One of the best safeties in NFL history? Check.
With all that Reed has done since leaving the University of Miami, he didn’t necessarily need to come back. But he did. That’s what makes his hire so perfect, says fellow former Hurricane Michael Irvin.
“There’s so many things that Ed can give them guidance in,” Irvin said Friday at the Miami Beach Convention Center, “so many experiences that Ed has shared that he can share with them.”
The U has been unable to return to the prominence that made them one of the premiere programs in the 80s and 90s. They’ve only had one 10-win season in the last 15 years and have had seven head coaches during that span. While fans will be quick to blame nearly anything, Irvin believes expectations should be tempered.
“I want us to understand what we’re trying to get back to,” Irvin continued. “This is Mount Everest that we’re trying to climb: you don’t climb this quickly.”
Reed’s hire might be a step in the right direction but, as Irvin said, a return to prominence won’t happen overnight.
“Right now, the aim is let’s just get back to being in the thick of things and then we’ll keep adding layers of cake on to it to try to get back to where we were on the top of Mount Everest.”
— C. Isaiah Smalls II
How an ‘unspoken’ bond made 49ers’ Mike Shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo a ‘great tandem’
It has gotten to the point where, at times, words aren’t needed anymore.
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and head coach Kyle Shanahan are on the same wavelength. Their thought processes overlap even without having a conversation.
It has helped lead the team to this point, a berth in Super Bowl 54 against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium.
“That’s kind of the relationship that we have,” Garoppolo said. “There are some things that are unspoken, whether we’re thinking the same thing or see the same thing on the field, there are no words needed. I think that makes us a great tandem.
“We’ve gotten to the point where when he’s calling plays and he’s in a rhythm, I can sense that and get a feel for what’s coming,” the quarterback continued. “Sometimes, he’ll throw you off to keep you guessing a little bit, but I love the relationship that we have. It’s honest and genuine. That’s all you can ask for.”
Read more here. — Jordan McPherson
Super Bowl 49 spawned an unlikely friendship between two former players together. Now they’re giving back
Dan Upperco and Stevie Anderson come from completely different worlds.
Upperco is from Central Florida and received a football scholarship to Columbia University. Anderson hails from Northern Louisiana and played collegiate football at Grambling State.
Normally, the two would’ve never crossed paths. But after the two former NFL players hit it off at Super Bowl 49, they united to support a great cause.
The friends will host the NFL Players Party & Charity Social at 4 p.m. on Friday, the proceeds of which will benefit the Mary Ellen Upperco Scholarship Foundation and the American Heart Association.
“We decided to have a Top Golf event where we can raise some funds for two charities that are near and dear to our hearts,” Upperco said.
Both of Upperco’s parents passed away due to heart issues. The same goes for Anderson’s mother.
“When we lost my mom in 2008, my dad and my brothers lost half of us,” Anderson said.
As for the scholarship aspect, Upperco will be the first to say he and his three brothers wouldn’t have gone to college if it weren’t for football. Doing so, however, changed their lives. Named after their mother, the Mary Ellen Upperco Scholarship Foundation seeks to eliminate the financial burden of higher education for deserving students.
“We try to find the student that might not go to college if they didn’t get the scholarship,” Upperco said.
Tickets for the event, which will be held at 17321 Northwest 7th Ave in Miami Gardens, are still available here.
— C. Isaiah Smalls II
Forget the Patriot Way. The 49ers are the team the Dolphins truly hope to copy.
The Super Bowl is in their home stadium, but it probably feels a world away for the Miami Dolphins.
Yes, they exceeded expectations with five wins in 2019, but their current roster isn’t close to being competitive at the highest level.
But there’s no reason it can’t be, and quick.
Just ask the San Francisco 49ers.
They are the greatest example yet of how strategic planning, elite coaching and a bit of luck at the quarterback position can flip fortunes fast.
The NFC representatives in Super Bowl 54 are basically two years ahead of the Dolphins in their organizational rebuild.
In 2017, the 49ers turned over their personnel department and coaching staffs, fielded one of the youngest teams in the NFL and started the season with a long losing streak. The Dolphins did all that in 2019.
But today, the Niners are the model for how to construct a 21st century team.
“I typically don’t sign up for things without the intention at least of becoming a champion,” third-year San Francisco general manager John Lynch said this week. “Fortunately, I found a great partner to work with in [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan]. We had the same belief that ‘Yeah. We can do this.’ We were doing it in a proud organization that had fallen on some dark times. It was our job to help lead the process of getting them back. We surrounded ourselves with some talented people that believed just like we did. Here we are three years later.”
Read more here. — Adam Beasley
This story was originally published January 31, 2020 at 1:42 PM.
