I’m not gonna lie. I love Desmond Howard.

He’s one of my favorite players of all time, not just for his lone, full, killer season with the Green Bay Packers, but because I’m also a Michigan Wolverines fan, for reasons I won’t get into right now.

In case you don’t remember those heady days at Michigan, here’s Howard’s “Hello Heisman” moment, as Keith Jackson called it.

Howard, of course, was the MVP of Super Bowl XXXI. He totaled 244 all-purpose yards in the game — 90 on punt returns and 154 on kickoff returns, including the 99-yarder that broke the New England Patriots back in the third quarter.

During the regular season, Howard led the league with 15.1 yards per punt return and three punt return touchdowns. He also returned a punt for a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs.

Yahoo! Sports interviewed Howard this week and he reminisced about Super Bowl XXXI and discussed the fateful kickoff return.

“They had just scored a touchdown. Obviously they had the momentum on their side and I think they were feeling pretty good about themselves because they hadn’t kicked the ball deep the whole game. My heels were on the 5-yard line. I just remember the ball in the air and I started to retreat and thought, ‘they’re going to give us a chance.’ All we needed was a chance.”

My favorite Howard line about the return was this, however.

“Then I saw Adam Vinatieri and I thought, ‘I’m going to do the robot when I get into the end zone.’”

Check out the full interview with Super Bowl XXXI MVP Desmond Howard. Below it, the robot, which Howard performed when he hit the end zone.


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