Joniak's Super Bowl Journal: Greg Olsen Reflects On Reaching Game's Premier Stage
(CBS) The Panthers and Broncos square off in Super Bowl 50 on Sunday evening in Santa Clara, Calif. Here are my observations leading up the big game.
First impression
With a thick, bushy beard, the now Nordic-looking Greg Olsen, appropriately nicknamed "Thor" by teammates, is a different person and tight end than he was in 2007, when the Bears selected him in the first round. Now, Olsen's embracing the spotlight. He's a dangerous weapon for the Panthers' top-ranked offense and also a leader, mature in his thoughts, a father of three and even an entertaining actor in a Cam Newton television commercial.
"Through the years, there's a lot more guys in my position that get a lot more name recognition and earn a lot more commercials and all this, but I would put my play and my consistency and my production against anybody," Olsen said. "I've never set out to convince people of that. I don't try to be something that I'm not, but I take a lot of pride in playing every game and playing as consistently and as well as possible. And whatever comes from that approach, I just kind of take in stride."
Olson's receiving numbers at tight end rank among the best in the league over the last two years. He had a career-high 1,104 receiving yards this season.
Second thought
Kawann Short's one of my favorite players in Super Bowl 50. He's a dangerous defensive tackle for the Broncos to deal with, given his ability to pressure the pocket. His 11 sacks point to a player who needs to be blocked for Peyton Manning to step into his throws. Short could have taken the wrong road growing up in East Chicago, Indiana, but instead friends and family helped him keep his focus on football.
"If those guys would have turned their back on me for a second, I would not be in this seat today," Short said. "My mom and my godmother and my grandma and my aunties, my uncles and my brothers and sisters, my coaches, the list goes on."
Short never met his father, who died of cancer when he was only a few months old, and his uncle Gordon Green died eight years ago on Thanksgiving, also of cancer. It was a crossroads moment for the then-19-year-old Short, who fortunately stayed on the right path by getting through East Chicago Central High School and Purdue before he was a second-round pick of the Panthers in 2013.
The school honors Short today for his accomplishments.
Third degree
I ran into former Bears safety and 1985 team member Shaun Gayle at Panthers coach Ron Rivera's press conference Thursday. Gayle is on the broadcast crew for Sky News and its coverage of the Super Bowl in London and elsewhere in Europe. His analysis of Rivera includes his experience as a teammate.
Gayle had one word for Rivera's success as a head coach.
"Unsurprising," Gayle said. "Whenever there was a penalty on the field, Ron was already running over making the decision even before (Mike) Ditka was alerting the referee. It's almost as if he was connected to the game, not from the standpoint of a player on the field, but he really enjoyed what football is all about.
"Watching the way that he has these guys playing, you could see that there is this level of trust. Nowadays you don't see coaches allow players to show their personality; they are fearful of what might happen, but Ron having experienced it, he knows how to coach it out of these guys and it's just been a huge benefit because it's so entertaining and these guys are having such a great time."
Gayle appreciates the journey Rivera took to get here, starting at the bottom or, as Gayle corrected me, "below the bottom."
Fourth-and-short
Bears running back Matt Forte, an impending free agent, was on radio row in the Super Bowl media center with his agent Adisa Bakari, running through the interview gauntlet with various networks. Bakari feels Forte, 30, has two to three more years of quality play left in him. It will be interesting to see what kind of deal Bakari negotiates for Forte and with whom.
Jeff Joniak is the play-by-play announcer for the Bears broadcasts on WBBM Newsradio 780. Follow him on Twitter @JeffJoniak.