DanFouts
Footballguy
Stan the Man will be there for the coin toss.....
http://www.chargers.com/news/headlines/hum...es-to-serve.htm
Humphries to serve as honorary captain
For the past several years, Stan Humphries has faithfully sat in his easy chair at his Monroe, Louisiana home each Sunday and enthusiastically cheered for his former team as he watched them on television.
When the Chargers take aim at their first Super Bowl appearance since he quarterbacked them to the big game following the 1994 season, Humphries will have a much better view of the game. Humphries will serve as the Chargers’ honorary captain for Sunday’s AFC Championship Game in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
“You sit back on Sunday and watch all of the games and being a past player there, you root for them,” Humphries said. “When Dean (Spanos) called me and asked me to do this, I was real honored and wanted very much to be a part of it. For me to be involved is just a great honor for me. I’m thrilled.”
Humphries played for the Chargers from 1992-97 and posted a 47-29 record as the Bolts’ starting quarterback. His best work came in the 1994 playoffs when he threw for 276 yards and a touchdown to beat the Miami Dolphins in the Divisional Playoffs and a week later tossed two 46-yard scoring strikes as the Chargers upset the heavily-favored Pittsburgh Steelers to advance to Super Bowl XXIX.
“There are a lot of great memories that I’ll always have,” Humphries said. “I think about teammates and games and special times. The one that stands out is probably coming back from Pittsburgh that night at two or three in the morning and seeing all the people on the side of the road, the people in the stadium parking lot and the stadium with 60,000 people there. It was special.”
Humphries, who now serves as a volunteer coach for his daughter’s high school basketball team, sees some similarities between the 1994 AFC Championship and this week’s title game.
“We were very much underdogs,” Humphries said. “Pittsburgh was doing their Super Bowl videos already getting ready for that. You kind of go into the game and just let it all go and know you’ve got nothing to lose.”
While the Chargers enter Sunday’s game as underdogs to the 17-0 Patriots, Humphries doesn’t rule out the possibility of an upset.
“I think in the NFL, even though they’re 17-0, on any given Sunday anybody can beat anybody,” Humphries said. “That includes teams that are 0-15 or whatever playing an 15-0 team. They’ve all got great players. They’ve all got great athletes. They’re all getting paid to play. It’s a matter of who prepares and who goes out there and does what they’re supposed to do. And you have to get a few breaks.”
In order to pull off a victory, Humphries believes the Chargers have to try to duplicate the defensive effort they showed last week at Indianapolis and possibly take a few chances on offense.
“I think the defense is playing well right now,” Humphries said. “They’re going to have to play well against them to slow them down. I think offensively they’re making plays in the passing game. They’re going to have to get the running game going pretty good against New England to control the ball.
“They’re probably going to have to go for it on fourth down a bunch of times trying to keep the ball away from their offense and try to make some big plays like that. I just think they’re a good overall solid football team.”
In his role as captain, Humphries will join Philip Rivers, LaDainian Tomlinson, Shawne Merriman, Jamal Williams and Kassim Osgood at midfield for the coin toss. As he speaks will players before the game, he’ll challenge them to relish the moment.
“I hope those guys realize that it doesn’t come around every year,” Humphries said. “It’s something that you work hard to get to and sometimes you fall short and sometimes you make it. I’m pulling for them to make the most of it on Sunday.”
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-QG
