By Wayne Grandy

wayne.grandy@gaflnews.com

 

MOULTRIE – People who watch replays of Morten Andersen’s 38-yard field goal that beat Minnesota in overtime in the 1998 NFC Championship Game and sent Atlanta to its first Super Bowl appearance will notice No. 96 is one of the first Falcons off the bench to mob and congratulate the field goal kicker.

No. 96 was Falcons defensive end Antonio Edwards, who played his high school football for Jim Hughes at Colquitt County High and later was an All-American at Valdosta State.

Reached on Wednesday in Seattle, where he now lives, Edwards said he was doubly excited that day at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome because the victory was a dream come true – literally.

The night before the game, Edwards had dreamed that the Falcons would win on an Andersen field goal, and that is precisely what transpired.

It might not have been a literal dream of many Falcons fans, but it certainly ended 33 years of waiting for the Atlanta franchise.

The season ended, of course, two weeks later with a 34-19 loss to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII.

It has taken 18 years for the Falcons to get back to the Super Bowl. This year’s team is now in Houston, where it will meet the New England Patriots today.

They will be underdogs, just as the 1998 Falcons were underdogs against the Broncos.

But Edwards, who still follows the NFL closely, said he believes the Falcons have a chance. A good chance.

He thinks the Falcons’ “two-headed monster” of Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman at running back together with the combination of quarterback Matt Ryan to Julio Jones will put some pressure on the New England defense.

And although that Patriot defense is regarded as one of the best in the league, “I think the Falcons defense is a little stronger.”

Edwards is a bit partial to the defensive side of the line of scrimmage.

In 1998, Edwards was part of a Falcons defense that allowed the fourth-fewest points in the NFL (298).

That group also included linemen Shane Dronett, Travis Hall, Lester Archambeau and Chuck Smith; linebackers Cornelius Bennett, Jessie Tuggle and Henri Crockett; and defensive backs Eugene Robinson and Ray Buchanan.

Edwards said the defense “just clicked” in 1998.

And the offense benefited from an outstanding season turned in by quarterback Chris Chandler and got great work from running back Jamal Anderson and receiver Terance Mathis.

In addition to Edwards and Tuggle, who also played at Valdosta State, the team was coached by another Georgian, Dan Reeves.

Fans might remember that Reeves missed two games after quadruple heart bypass surgery that season.

The Falcons could not sustain the momentum earned in the big upset of the Vikings in what is still one of the greatest wins in Falcons history.

Starting safety Eugene Robinson was arrested the night before the Super Bowl and then the Falcons were unable to take advantage of their red-zone opportunities in their loss to the Broncos.

Still, it was quite a season for the Falcons and their fans.

“Nobody expected us to do anything,” Edwards says.

But the 1998 Falcons posted a franchise-best record of 14-2 then knocked off the San Francisco 49ers the week before the thrilling upset of the Vikings.

Getting an opportunity to play in the Super Bowl was clearly the highlight of Edwards’s career.

“Getting drafted was big,” he says. “Seattle gave me my first job and my first paycheck.

“But the Super Bowl is THE game. It’s everybody’s highlight, no matter where you played.”

And it was also special because he had played his high school and college football and Georgia and was representing a team from his home state.

Edwards had actually been to a Super Bowl before.

He took older brother T.J., another former outstanding Colquitt County Packer, to Super Bowl XXVIII held in the Georgia Dome in January 1994.

Antonio Edwards was listed at 6-foot-3, 271 pounds when he played in the National Football League, but was four inches shorter and 100 pounds lighter when he played defensive back for Colquitt County as a sophomore.

But by the time he was a senior in 1987, he had grown into one of the top defensive ends in the state. During a time when teams were not throwing the ball as much as they do now, he still managed six sacks. He also recovered a pair of fumbles.

And he blossomed as a pass rusher at Valdosta State, coming up with 14 sacks in 1990 and had 34 in his career with the Blazers.

Edwards was a first-team All-Gulf South Conference selection three times and was its Defensive Player of the Year in 1992. He was an All-American twice and in 1991 was the nation’s Defensive Player of the Year.

He was the second Valdosta State player ever drafted by the NFL when the Seahawks selected him in the eighth round in 1993.

Edwards earned a starting job with the Seahawks, and one of his highlights was picking up a John Elway fumble and running it 83 yards for a touchdown.

He also scored a touchdown in 1998 while with the Falcons, knocking the ball out of the hand of New York Giants quarterback Danny Kanell, picking it up and running two yards to the end zone.

Edwards spent five years with the Seahawks and spent a year each with the Giants, the Falcons and the Carolina Panthers before retiring after the 1999 season.

Edwards was named to the Valdosta State Sports Hall of Fame in 2000 and to the Moultrie-Colquitt County Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.

Now 46, Edwards is back living in Seattle and working for Amtrack.

“I’ve always been fascinated with trains,” he said. “I always wanted to drive a train. It was on my bucket list.”

And he enjoys the weather in the Northwest.

“It’s beautiful out here,” he says. “It’s 70-80 degrees. Sunny. Blue water. Just beautiful.”

But, just for the record, Edwards added, “Moultrie will always be my home.”