Packers, Howard return to glory

The Associated Press Arizona Daily Wildcat Green Bay Packers defensive end Reggie White (92) is congratulated by LeRoy Butler (36) after White sacked New England Patriots quaterback Drew Bledsoe in the second half of Super Bowl XXXI yesterday at the Superdome in New Orleans. Teammate Santana Dotson (71) looks on.

NEW ORLEANS - The Green Bay Packers finally have a present to go with their past.

The 35-21 Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday hardly brought back memories of Vince Lombardi's grind-it-out champions of the '60s.

Instead, it was a high-powered Pack - doing it with big plays, especially by MVP Desmond Howard - that returned Green Bay to NFL prominence and put the title back in ''Titletown, USA.''

''I think it's time that the Lombardi Trophy goes home to Lambeau Field, where it belongs,'' Packers president Robert Harlan said.

It was Brett Favre finding the duckwalking Andre Rison for a 54-yard touchdown on the Packers' second offensive play, then throwing an 81-yard TD pass to Antonio Freeman in the first minute of the second quarter to put Green Bay ahead for good.

It was Howard scoring on a 99-yard kickoff return then striking an abbreviated Heisman pose in the end zone, a dagger in the heart of the Patriots, who had closed to 27-21.

Howard, the first special teams player ever to win MVP, finished with a record 244 return yards.

The win was the 13th straight for an NFC team and kept Bill Parcells, who had two of those 13 with the Giants in 1986 and 1990, from becoming the first coach to win a Super Bowl with two different franchises.

Instead, the Packers won the trophy named for their storied coach. It was Lombardi's teams that won the first two Super Bowls.

''Vince Lombardi had a wonderful legacy for the rest of us. Now we're just trying to do our part, and we hope we can do it for a long time to come,'' Packers coach Mike Holmgren said.

There was, of course, time for sentiment.

The team that wanted to win one for Reggie White did it and he contributed - getting two straight sacks of Drew Bledsoe after Howard's return, and a third late in the game.

That ensured that the Patriots wouldn't strike back at the Packers the way Howard had struck back at them.

It started like a blowout by the Packers, who fulfilled the high expectations with which they entered the season - only Holmgren, who referred to the Super Bowl as ''that game'' rather than by its name, tried to hold down the exuberance.

First there was the TD pass to Rison from Favre, who finished 14 of 27 for 246 yards. It was 10-0 just 6:25 into the game after Doug Evans' interception set up Chris Jacke's 31-yard field goal.

But by the end of the highest-scoring first quarter in Super Bowl history, New England led 14-10 on TD passes by Bledsoe of 1 yard to Keith Byars and 4 yards to Ben Coates.

And even after a 17-point second quarter by the Packers that included the 81-yard bomb to Freeman and 2-yard TD run by Favre, New England was still in it at 27-14.

And when Ted Johnson stopped Dorsey Levens for a 7-yard loss on fourth and one at the Pats 37 on the first drive of the fourth quarter, New England gained momentum.

They cut it to 27-21 on Curtis Martin's 18-yard burst up the middle with 3:27 left in the third quarter.

But Howard took the kickoff, burst up the middle and went nearly untouched to the end zone - only Hason Graham got a hand on him. Then Favre hit Keith Jackson in the back of the end zone for a two-point conversion to give the Packers a 14-point lead.

Bledsoe tried to rally the Patriots in the fourth quarter, but could not. He finished with four interceptions, going 25 of 48 for 253 yards.

The first half was so explosive that the only time to come up for air was on Green Bay's third touchdown drive, a nine-play 74-yard march that took up 5:59 and gave the Packers a 27-14 lead at halftime.

Favre capped it with a 2-yard bootleg into the end zone on which he extended the ball over the goal line with his right hand as he went out of bounds. Levens ran four times for 33 yards in the drive, the first time in the game either team was able to move on the ground.

Otherwise, it was punch and counterpunch.

The Packers got in the first blow, when Rison turned around Otis Smith and took Favre's perfect pass over the middle for a 54-yard score. '

It became 10-0 on the next series after Doug Evans' interception of Bledsoe set up Jacke's 37-yarder.