Secrets of the Super Bowl Quarterbacks

SUPER BOWL XVII

The night before, we put in a new formation. It was called the "explode package." What it basically was, is we had everybody line up in different positions. For example, John Riggins would line up out to the right and Art Monk would be in the backfield and the other split end would be in the backfield. So we had everybody line up in different positions because the Miami Dolphins would match up man-to-man down around the goal line. So when I went to the line of scrimmage, I would go, "Set!" and everybody would go to where they belong, and then we would run plays. And Joe [Gibbs] was so enamored with this, when we sat in the meeting, he basically said, "I hope we get a chance to use it. But if we don't and it gets late in the game, I'm going to run it anyway because I'm just curious to see what the announcers would say." So the first touchdown pass to Alvin Garrett was a result of the explode package. I don't know [what the announcers said]. But it worked.
-- As told to Elizabeth Merrill of ESPN The Magazine

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