Remembering XXXVI (St. Louis Rams 23, New England Patriots 17, OT)

[supachump]

From: Real football365

if only...



You can still hear them mutter about it in New England: If only they'd set it up for Adam Vinatieri ...

And who can blame them? Right around this time every year, the ghosts of Super Bowl past come back to visit, with the eeriest specter around Boston way the spirit of Super Bowl XXXVI.

Now anyone who has had the misfortune to experience me in a mood to discuss Super Bowl XXV - which is to say, anyone - knows my take on The Greatest Game I've Every Seen by rote. Besides, the New York Giants' victory over the Buffalo Bills in XXV may have been an upset, but it was hardly one of the might-have-been proportions of a New England Patriots triumph over the mighty St. Louis Rams. And most fans hold to the conventional wisdom: Overtime game, close game.

To be sure, XXXVI was a dandy. Despite taking on the last dynasty in the game thus far in the second of their three titles, the plucky Patriots and Cinderella second-string quarterback Tom Brady stayed with the Rams. Who can forget how the 17-point underdogs held a lead for three quarters, the continually changing coverage leaving Kurt Warner looking for receivers to no avail? And if the low-watt offense wasn't producing any great gains, it wasn't making any mistakes, either.

But then everything collapsed like it had - as any Beantown fan will still willingly inform - for so many New England teams of the 20th century. The St. Louis offense found the way, Ricky Proehl notched his first TD, Warner capped another drive with a rare rushing TD of his own and, at a later point than on any Super Sunday, the game was tied.

The rest, as they say, was traumatic up there in the northeast. Bill Belichick called a few conservative plays, Brady threw a single incomplete, and "heads" chose the Patriots' fate. One long first-down strike to Proehl later and it was over. (Not merely for the game and the assurance of domination by the soon-to-repeat champion Rams, but the medium-term New England future turned on that coin flip.)

To think everything might have been different if Adam Vinatieri, now a faded memory in most places save New England, had gotten out there. This guy who went from obscurity to a reputation for clutch kicking iced (so to speak) with a few key boots in the Tuck Rule Game, working his way into Patriot fans' hearts.

If New England had somehow found another miracle, as it had time and again in the second half of the 2001 season straight through to the Snow Bowl against Oakland, Bostonians would all remember Ty Law's game-changing pick in the first half rather than the seminal image the Boston Herald (and every newspaper with a wire photo service) ran the Monday after: A downtrodden Vinatieri standing helpless on the sideline. Made into a symbol, he was never the same kicker and was out of the NFL before the preseason games started.

It's tough to feel sorry for Boston fans these days, what with the defending champion Red Sox defeating the Yankee "curse" time and again, the resurgent rebuilt Celtics, and even a promising new edition of the Patriots led by well-taken No. 5 overall Brady Quinn. Heck, some of those losing underdogs went on to attain their rings: There was Belichick and Law themselves winning one with Indianapolis three years ago, and Brady got a bit of glory - albeit as a backup - with Jon Gruden's champion Buccaneer team.

You can't help but have sympathy for Vinatieri, though. Much is made of the psychology failure of athletes performing under pressure or, in technical terms, "choking." But the worst thing about the Vinatieri story is that the man wasn't even given the chance not to succeed and for that he'll never know if he might have put his team over the top and make the greatest Super Bowl upset ever.

To think everything might have been unimaginably different ...

[Keenum]

They got away with a ton of crap in this game, and I know they have cheated their way in to more wins (some say they may have even cheated in that SB against the Eagles).
I've already had about 4 rants today about these guys, and it won't get any better tonight.

[Milan]

Terrible officiating, probably one of the worst officiated games in NFL history.

[UtterBlitz]

So you guys think that the pats cheated in this SuperBowl also, even though the Rams won?

[Rams4Life]

Originally Posted by supachump

From: Real football365

if only...



You can still hear them mutter about it in New England: If only they'd set it up for Adam Vinatieri ...

And who can blame them? Right around this time every year, the ghosts of Super Bowl past come back to visit, with the eeriest specter around Boston way the spirit of Super Bowl XXXVI.

Now anyone who has had the misfortune to experience me in a mood to discuss Super Bowl XXV - which is to say, anyone - knows my take on The Greatest Game I've Every Seen by rote. Besides, the New York Giants' victory over the Buffalo Bills in XXV may have been an upset, but it was hardly one of the might-have-been proportions of a New England Patriots triumph over the mighty St. Louis Rams. And most fans hold to the conventional wisdom: Overtime game, close game.

To be sure, XXXVI was a dandy. Despite taking on the last dynasty in the game thus far in the second of their three titles, the plucky Patriots and Cinderella second-string quarterback Tom Brady stayed with the Rams. Who can forget how the 17-point underdogs held a lead for three quarters, the continually changing coverage leaving Kurt Warner looking for receivers to no avail? And if the low-watt offense wasn't producing any great gains, it wasn't making any mistakes, either.

But then everything collapsed like it had - as any Beantown fan will still willingly inform - for so many New England teams of the 20th century. The St. Louis offense found the way, Ricky Proehl notched his first TD, Warner capped another drive with a rare rushing TD of his own and, at a later point than on any Super Sunday, the game was tied.

The rest, as they say, was traumatic up there in the northeast. Bill Belichick called a few conservative plays, Brady threw a single incomplete, and "heads" chose the Patriots' fate. One long first-down strike to Proehl later and it was over. (Not merely for the game and the assurance of domination by the soon-to-repeat champion Rams, but the medium-term New England future turned on that coin flip.)

To think everything might have been different if Adam Vinatieri, now a faded memory in most places save New England, had gotten out there. This guy who went from obscurity to a reputation for clutch kicking iced (so to speak) with a few key boots in the Tuck Rule Game, working his way into Patriot fans' hearts.

If New England had somehow found another miracle, as it had time and again in the second half of the 2001 season straight through to the Snow Bowl against Oakland, Bostonians would all remember Ty Law's game-changing pick in the first half rather than the seminal image the Boston Herald (and every newspaper with a wire photo service) ran the Monday after: A downtrodden Vinatieri standing helpless on the sideline. Made into a symbol, he was never the same kicker and was out of the NFL before the preseason games started.

It's tough to feel sorry for Boston fans these days, what with the defending champion Red Sox defeating the Yankee "curse" time and again, the resurgent rebuilt Celtics, and even a promising new edition of the Patriots led by well-taken No. 5 overall Brady Quinn. Heck, some of those losing underdogs went on to attain their rings: There was Belichick and Law themselves winning one with Indianapolis three years ago, and Brady got a bit of glory - albeit as a backup - with Jon Gruden's champion Buccaneer team.

You can't help but have sympathy for Vinatieri, though. Much is made of the psychology failure of athletes performing under pressure or, in technical terms, "choking." But the worst thing about the Vinatieri story is that the man wasn't even given the chance not to succeed and for that he'll never know if he might have put his team over the top and make the greatest Super Bowl upset ever.

To think everything might have been unimaginably different ...

Oh, so the 6 years of agony i have suffered through was all for not. I must of been really drunk that night.

[Keenum]

Originally Posted by UtterBlitz

So you guys think that the pats cheated in this SuperBowl also, even though the Rams won?

of course

[UtterBlitz]

alright Keenum....I thought winning would be enough seeing that this writer has changed history.

[Keenum]

lol. Shoulda beat them by 35 in my books

On a serious note, I would be estatic if the NFL somehow awarded us that trophy, even if the scorebook in the record books was the same, just an * in there saying we got to claim the trophy or something.
But there are way too many politics (or as I like to say in this situation, "politricks") for that to ever happen, more than likely

[UtterBlitz]

Don't get your hopes up. I don't think the NFL is going to be admitting to much and changing SuperBowl records is not likely.

I like that politricks....that's good.

[Keenum]

That's why I'm going to have to run for Commish in several years.
He destroyed the tapes, so I'll destory the Partriots history from those years and give us and those teams that got screwed (like the Ealges accoring to some reports) justice... taking those stolen Lombardis and giving them back to their rightful owners...
OK, I'm going to take a nap before my brain explodes.

[THoltDaBest81]

Now the Pats know how if feels to lose by 3 in the super bowl! Yahhh!

[NFLTopGun]

Remember the Super Bowl happened right after 9/11. Obviously the commissioner wanted the Pats to win, so he has something to do with that game. Of course this is one of the many games Patriots has cheated their ways out of a win. I doubt that they'll strip the trophy away from them and give it to the Rams, but it would've be nice if they'll take away the Pats' #7 overall pick this year and next year's 1st and give them to the Rams.

[moloch41]

My biggest memory of that game was the hatred I had for lovie smith after it was over. Seeing him standing there on the sidelines, with that clueless look on his face as Brady easily dissected his prevent formations and led the Patsies all the way downfield with no time outs to set up for the winning FG attempt. There was no reason in the world the Pats should have even had the opportunity to kick that FG. If we have a defensive coordinator with a set of balls and half an imagination, we could have won that game and maybe the Patriots dynasty is never born.

[moklerman]

I think that's a bit unfair. The Rams actually did well enough on that last drive if it had been called correctly. The no-call on the intentional grounding is well-discussed but there was a play to the sideline that should have been ruled inbounds and kept the clock running but was ruled out of bounds. Either of those plays called correctly would have sent the game to overtime. I'm not defending a prevent defense but I don't know that I'd chastise Lovie.

[moloch41]

Originally Posted by moklerman

I think that's a bit unfair. The Rams actually did well enough on that last drive if it had been called correctly. The no-call on the intentional grounding is well-discussed but there was a play to the sideline that should have been ruled inbounds and kept the clock running but was ruled out of bounds. Either of those plays called correctly would have sent the game to overtime. I'm not defending a prevent defense but I don't know that I'd chastise Lovie.

In the most important series of the most important game of anyone's career- our brilliant coordinator went prevent and lost the game. You can blame the refs if you want, but I blame what could have been helped and that's calling a defense that isn't sitting back on our heels as the opposing team marches closer and closer to winning the game. I don't think anything i said was unfair.