My oh my, how the football world has changed since the Patriots and Rams last met in the Super Bowl.
The Pats will be making their ninth appearance under Bill Belichick and Tom Brady Sunday at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta and will do it against the same team they met in New Orleans 17 years ago. The match provides a perfect opportunity to look back on the birth of the New England dynasty.
That’s exactly what took place over a [...]
My oh my, how the football world has changed since the Patriots and Rams last met in the Super Bowl.
The Pats will be making their ninth appearance under Bill Belichick and Tom Brady Sunday at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta and will do it against the same team they met in New Orleans 17 years ago. The match provides a perfect opportunity to look back on the birth of the New England dynasty.
That’s exactly what took place over a three-week stretch in early 2002.
Sunday’s game brings back thoughts of one of the most memorable seasons for any pro sports team, never mind simply New England. As the Patriots beat writer for The Providence Journal that season, I did the game story on New England’s 20-17 triumph, writing that it completed one of the greatest sports stories in American history.
I stand by that statement today.
While the Pats have piled special moment on top of special moment over the last 17 years, it all began that day. It is hard to think of any of their subsequent Super Bowl titles being as special as that first one.
The upset of the Rams, 14-point favorites as “The Greatest Show on Turf,” was a fabulous story in itself. Everything that led up to it pushed it over the top.
It might be hard for fans to remember, but the Pats were coming off a 5-11 season in 2000. Not a lot was expected, especially after a big hit by New York’s Mo Lewis in the second game of the 2001 season knocked quarterback Drew Bledsoe out of action. The team had to turn to an untested kid named Tom Brady to call signals.
That Pats-Jets game came 12 days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Games the following week were called off. Play was just resuming the day Bledsoe was injured. New England lost. By early November, their record stood at 3-4. There were no indications about what was to happen.
The Pats won seven of their last eight to finish 11-5 in a very competitive division. The 11-5 mark tied the Dolphins for first and the Jets were only one game back at 10-6. All three made the playoffs. New England won the tiebreaker and the first-round bye. It drew Oakland in the Divisional Round on a snowy night in the last game played at Foxboro Stadium. The Raiders led 13-3 going to the final quarter, but the Pats rallied behind a six-yard touchdown run by their young quarterback. Then an improbable 45-yard kick through the snow by Adam Vinatieri (he has called it the best of his career) forced overtime. Another Vinatieri field goal gave the Pats the 16-13 victory.
That earned a berth in Pittsburgh against the top-seed Steelers. On a surprisingly warm day, the Pats went into brand-new Heinz Field. They started well, taking a 14-3 lead, but it looked tenuous. Bledsoe, who had not played in more than four months, had to replace an injured Brady. He did not miss a beat as he threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to David Patten and the Pats went on to win, 24-17.
Because of the lost week in September, there was no week off before the Super Bowl. Some Pittsburgh reporters spoke about how they had already booked flights to New Orleans. The Patriots were 9½ point underdogs, so few New England reporters had made such plans As it was, there were complaints they had to bring 10 days worth of clothes because, if the Pats won, everyone was going straight to New England the next morning. This reporter was among those making calls to get a flight and a hotel while writing the game story of the New England victory.
On the way back to the hotel, several New England reporters were joined by an Associated Press writer who asked whether Brady, assuming he was healthy, or Bledsoe would start the Super Bowl. Everyone answered at the same time — Brady. The AP guy said Brady was a kid, Bledsoe was the veteran. He thought it would be Bledsoe.
Once in New Orleans, the Patriots did all they could to build on their role as a huge underdogs — 14 points — to the high-flying Rams. They thrived and used it to their advantage. In this year dominated by the terrorist tragedy, they were the Patriots, an easy team to like for fans all around the country.
They received one more boost before the game began. As they had done through the season, they refused to be introduced as individuals. They came running out of the tunnel as a team. They truly were a team taking on Marshall Faulk, Kurt Warner and the Rams’ offensive juggernaut.
Early on, a key strategy became obvious. Coach Bill Belichick ordered Willie McGinest, his standout defensive end, to hit the speedy Faulk on virtually every play. It did not matter whether Faulk had the ball. McGinest whacked him. It worked beautifully. Faulk was largely ineffective.
The New England defense forced three turnovers and turned two into touchdowns, including a pick-six by Ty Law. The Pats led 14-3 at the half but the Rams rallied and tied the game at 17 on a touchdown pass to Ricky Proehl with 1:30 left. The Patriots had used all their timeouts. With the young Brady as quarterback, many including broadcaster John Madden, felt the Pats should sit on the ball and settle for overtime.
The Patriots had other ideas.
Brady threw three short passes to running back J.R. Redmond. Troy Brown hauled in a 23-yard pass and managed to get out of bounds to stop the clock. Brady threw for six more yards to Jermaine Wiggins then the players raced up to spike the ball to give the field-goal team time to get on the field. Vinatieri was perfect from 48 yards to make the Pats the first team ever to win a Super Bowl on the last play of the game.
New England fans were thrilled that, after 41 years, they finally had a championship. No one had any idea it was the birth of a dynasty.