Super Bowl XXXVI Champions!

Well the Patriots did what many said couldn’t be done, and beat the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI by a score of 20-17. The key to the Patriots win was their secondary of Ty Law, Otis Smith, Lawyer Milloy, Tebucky Jones, Terrell Buckley, and Terrance Shaw. They were able to keep the Rams receivers covered even as Warner had the ball for 5 or more seconds some times. The Patriots offense wasn’t very productive until the end, but the one star was Antowain Smith, who ran for 92 yards on 18 carries and helped run down the clock. At the end, when the Patriots needed to score, the offense came up big, with Tom Brady leading the drive. J.R. Redmond and Troy Brown both came up huge on the final drive, and of course, Adam Vinatieri was perfect as always with the winning field goal.

So the Patriots won the Super Bowl. I was there to see their spectacular game. After going to 76 straight Patriots home games, including 4 playoff games(all wins), this was my first Patriots road trip. Before the Raiders game, my favorite games were the comeback from 20-0 against the Vikings in 1994 or the back to back last minute comebacks against the Dolphins and Bills in 1998. The Raiders game was unbelievable: a 10 point comeback, in the snow, in the playoffs, at the last game at Foxboro Stadium. But the Super Bowl of course, topped it all. It wasn’t the same without the fans I normally sit next to, but it was is the Super Bowl and my team won. Nothing can beat that. Anyway, I took 247 photos of my trip to New Orleans, so here are some of the highlights of my trip. Congratulations Patriots!

For the rest of my thoughts during and after the game and hundreds of photos that I took while I was at the game, go to my page of Super Bowl photos from 2002.

The Patriots are in the Super Bowl!!!

Here are my thoughts:

Everyone is predicting that the Rams will blowout the Patriots. No one gives the Patriots a chance. Why? Because everyone expected the Rams to be here since the start of the season, while even a week ago, still no one thought the Pats would be here. The other fact is, the Rams have an explosive offense with 2 of the best players in football, and they have one of the best defenses in the league this year as well.

The Patriots need to do a few things to win:

• They need to be able to control the clock by running the ball with Antowain Smith.
• They must be very accurate on offense, not turning over the ball.
• The Patriots defense has to be able to stop Marshall Faulk.
• The defense has to get pressure on Kurt Warner early and try to get him to make some mistakes.
• The defense must come up big in the redzone, keeping St. Louis out.
• The Patriots special teams or defense must come up big in this game to help them score.

Here are the reasons why I think the Patriots have a great chance to win this game:

• The Patriots weren’t expected to be here, or even win 8 games this year, so they don’t have the pressure on them that the Rams do.
• The Patriots are a very physical, tough team, and they are able to beat up on opponents.
• The Patriots have a brilliant head coach in Bill Belichick, and should come up with a very dynamic game plan for this game.
• The Patriots special teams, with Troy Brown, are probably one of the best in football, and they should be quite an advantage to the Patriots.
• New England is a team, even though player on player, it appears the Rams have every advantage, the Patriots are much better on the field than they are on paper because of the great chemistry and unity the team has.

Here are my predictions for the game:

The Patriots will win a very close game. David Patten scores the first touchdown of the game on a long bomb, Troy Brown gets a TD on a kickoff return, and Terrell Buckley and Lawyer Milloy each get an interception as the Pats are able to at least slow down the Rams offense. The Patriots’ offensive line has a great game and Antowain Smith comes up big with 110 yards and a TD, and he is the MVP of the game.
Final Score: Patriots 31, Rams 24.

Here are some other predictions from some “Sports Experts”:

ESPN
• Chris Berman Rams 27, Patriots 22
• John Clayton Rams 42, Patriots 20 MVP Kurt Warner
• Mike Golic Rams 34, Patriots 21 MVP Aeneas Williams
• Merril Hoge Patriots 29, Rams 28 MVP Antowain Smith
• Ron Jaworski Rams 31, Patriots 21 MVP Kurt Warner
• Suzy Kolber Rams 31, Patriots 17 MVP Kurt Warner
• Andrea Kremer Rams 31, Patriots 17 MVP Marshall Faulk
• Mark Malone Rams 41, Patriots 27 MVP Marshall Faulk
• Kenny Mayne Patriots 28, Rams 27 MVP Troy Brown
• Sal Paolantonio Patriots 26, Rams 20 MVP Tom Brady
• Len Pasquarelli Rams 38, Patriots 17 MVP Kurt Warner
• Dan Patrick Rams 31, Patriots 20 MVP Marshall Faulk
• Sean Salisbury Rams 38, Patriots 20 MVP Kurt Warner
• Stuart Scott Rams 38, Patriots 21 MVP Marshall Faulk
• Mark Schlereth Rams 31, Patriots 19 MVP Aeneas Williams
• Joe Theismann Patriots 27, Rams 24 MVP Lawyer Milloy
• Mike Tirico Rams 43, Patriots 16 MVP Marshall Faulk
• Ed Werder Rams 38, Patriots 17 MVP Torry Holt
• Trey Wingo Rams 38, Patriots 24 MVP Marshall Faulk
• Steve Young Rams 49, Patriots 26 MVP Marshall Faulk

Boston Globe

• Ron Borges Rams 35, Patriots 10
• Nick Cafardo Patriots 24, Rams 21
• John Carney Rams 38, Patriots 24
• Bob Fedas Patriots 24, Rams 23
• Ken Fratus Patriots 30, Rams 28
• Michael Holley Patriots 38, Rams 14
• Jackie MacMullan Patriots 24, Rams 21
• Jim McCabe Rams 26, Patriots 13
• Will McDonough Rams 24, Patriots 10
• Bob Ryan Rams 27, Patriots 24
• Dan Shaughnessy Patriots 31, Rams 28
• Michael Smith Patriots 28, Rams 24

Other Analysts

• Paul Newman Patriots 87, Rams 3
• Mark Cuban Patriots 29, Rams 28 “The Rams look unstoppable, which is why I pick the Patriots.”
• Curt Schilling Rams 35, Patriots 14
• John O’Hurley Patriots 24, Rams 17
• Luis Gonzalez Rams 38, Patriots 13
• John McCain Rams 28, Patriots 10
• Miss America Katie Harman Patriots 30, Rams 20
• Todd Hester Patriots 31, Rams 24 MVP Antowain Smith