MINNEAPOLIS -- As the Falcons left the Metrodome several hours after their 30-27 overtime victory over the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game, they still didn't know who they would be playing in Super Bowl XXXIII.

	Falcons safety Eugene Robinson played in the last two Super Bowls with the Packers.

But while several players shied away from talking about the Broncos or Jets, the entire team unanimously agreed on one thing -- Atlanta wouldn't be favored against either opponent. After Denver beat New York, the prophecy proved to be correct: the defending champion Broncos are an 8½-point favorite.

"We'll be the underdog, no question," safety Eugene Robinson said. "We've been the underdog all season. Even when we got to this point, with a 14-2 record in the regular season and a playoff win over the 49ers, we came in here and were a big underdog. Well, the dog showed some bite, didn't it? We like being the underdog."

Just as one player yelled "The Dirty Birds are flying south for the winter," several others were watching the Broncos and Jets. Robinson pointed toward the television several times during his postgame monologue/sermon, shaking his head as he spoke of how Atlanta will be perceived in its matchup. He is familiar with both teams, having faced Denver during 11 seasons with Seattle and in last year's Super Bowl with Green Bay, plus having played earlier this season in a 28-3 loss at New York.

"Denver is tough," he said. "The Broncos are defending champions, and they have that offense, which everyone loves. There will be a lot of talk about that Jets loss, too. But that was a long time ago."

Receiver Tim Dwight didn't want to leave the locker room. Even as most of his teammates were dressed and ready to get the bus to the airport, Dwight sat in his uniform pants and a T-shirt.

"I don't want to ever leave here," the rookie said. "This is awesome. You want to savor everything feeling, but now there's the Super Bowl to think about. It'll be a tough game, but that's what we're expecting. And no one will think we're going to have a shot, except everyone in this room."

When talking about the Super Bowl, Dwight echoed the sentiments of several other Atlanta players. Although this will be the Falcons' first trip to the world championship game, there is Super Bowl experience hanging around.

Head coach Dan Reeves has participated in eight of the big games -- five as a player and coach with Dallas and three as head coach of the Broncos. Reeves is 0-3 as a head coach and has won only two of those six appearances.

Robinson has been to two Super Bowls, earning a ring with the Packers in 1997 and losing last year. Linebacker Cornelius Bennett went to four consecutive Super Bowls with the Bills from 1991-94, coming out on the losing end each time.

"This time will be different," Bennett said. "The fifth one will be the one where I get the ring."

The storyline, of course, will be Reeves facing Denver, where he coached for 12 seasons. The tension between he and Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, whom he fired as offensive coordinator in 1991 for "insubordination." The alleged personality clash between Reeves and Denver quarterback John Elway, the prized pupil whom the coach built the team around. The word around Denver was either (1) Shanahan and Elway plotted against Reeves or (2) Reeves couldn't handle the strong relationship between quarterback and coordinator.

Fences are said to have been mended. Elway made a donation in Reeves' name to a Falcons' charity after the Atlanta coach's heart by-pass surgery late in the regular season and Shanahan sent a get-well card. Time, according to Reeves, has healed any wounds.

But human nature is human nature and there's no question Reeves would have no greater pleasure than beating the Broncos in the Super Bowl.

"They've got an awful good football team, they're going to be the defending world champions, and they're going to be the defending world champions until someone knocks them out," Reeves said. "(They're going to be the favorites) so we have our work cut out for us, and we'll just work these next two weeks regardless and do the best job we can."