Patriots, Vinatieri 'shock the world'

By Mike Lopresti
Gannett News Service

NEW ORLEANS — The odds meant nothing, as Adam Vinatieri's kick sailed straight and true for the New England Patriots. By the last second of Super Bowl XXXVI, logic had been left behind.

New England Patriots' kicker Adam Vinatieri celebrates his 48-yard game-winning field goal in the final seconds. Associated Press

"Every player and every coach work a lifetime for this," Patriots' coach Bill Belichick said.

Vinatieri's field goal came after the Patriots had blown a 17-3 lead in the last 10 minutes, nearly losing grasp of a game their defense had tightly held all night.

It was left to Tom Brady, the game MVP and at 24 the youngest winning quarterback in Super Bowl history, to move the Patriots 52 yards in the last 81 seconds, hitting five of seven passes in a reasonable rendition of Joe Montana to get them into position to retrieve an unforgettable Super Bowl.

"I still can't believe we did it the way we did it," Brady said. "This team has come through in every situation this year. My year has been a dream."

"We shocked the world," said cornerback Otis Smith.

Until then, an overtime seemed imminent, the momentum clearly with the Rams after Kurt Warner's 26-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Proehl tied the game 90 seconds from the finish.

"Everything was going our way," said St. Louis receiver Isaac Bruce. "We thought overtime would be ours. But they did it. They outplayed us."

This was clearly to be New England's year. Even if it had to go to the last seconds to prove it for good.

A year ago, the Patriots finished last in their division and Brady was fourth-string quarterback. Two weeks ago, they needed overtime to survive their first playoff game — Vinatieri saving the game in the snow with a 45-yard kick and winning it with a 23-yarder.

Yesterday, they were one of the biggest underdogs in Super Bowl history, against the powerful Rams' offense.

"Everything right happened to us down the stretch," said quarterback Drew Bledsoe, the former star who watched from the sideline as Brady came of age, and validated Belichick's decision to start him.

"It's incredible," cornerback Ty Law said. "No one even thought we'd make the playoffs."

Instead, the Patriots just won a championship while scoring only three offensive touchdowns in three postseason games.

But great defense and few mistakes — the Patriots did not have a turnover yesterday and the Rams had three — can carry a team through almost anything. They beat both the No. 1 seed in the AFC and NFC to earn their championship.

"If we played next week," Belichick said, "we'd probably be the underdog."

Brady's last two completions were a 23-yard pass to Troy Brown, followed by a six-yarder to Jermaine Wiggins with seven seconds left. They put Vinatieri in range, opened the door to the final act of a story.

"Once I kicked it, I knew it was good," Vinatieri said. "I wasn't nervous. I was more nervous in the snow (against Oakland) because of the snow."

"If you want a guy making the play at the end of the game," Belichick said, "Adam Vinatieri is the one."

So a kicker won it. But it was defense that either scored or set up 17 New England points, reduced the Rams' mighty attack to a field goal until the fourth period and rewrote the history of a franchise.

"We challenged them," Law said. "We challenged them physically and we challenged them mentally."

"That's the slogan for this team, that the only team that beat us is us," said the Rams' Marshall Faulk. "And we turned the ball over."

Even at that, a penalty flag nearly changed it all — Willie McGinest's defensive holding that nullified Tebucky Jones' 99-yard fumble return for a touchdown.

That would have made it 24-3 with 10 minutes left. A closed case. Warner, having just fumbled while trying to score on fourth down, was walking off a certain loser.

Instead, magically reprieved at the 11th hour, the Rams closed to 17-10 two plays later, when Warner scored from the 2-yard line.

It gave the Rams room and time to tie, and Warner took advantage of it.

He passed for 365 yards, the numbers of a champion and MVP. But two interceptions ruined his night, and he could get the potent Rams into the end zone only twice.

"I let the guys down," he said. "I made a couple of mistakes and it cost us the game."

St. Louis coach Mike Martz, his gameplan usually a marvel of explosiveness, spent the day looking down at his notes, trying to find a play that would work.

New England kept constant pressure on Warner, and sometimes used as many as seven defensive backs to clog his passing routes.

"St. Louis has the best track team in the NFL," Law said. "But we have the best football team."

From the beginning, the Patriots had the Rams sputtering, stammering, searching for the points that usually come so quickly.

St. Louis' first-half scoring production was Jeff Wilkins' 50-yard field goal.

Meanwhile, the Patriots defense began piling up the points.

First came Mike Vrabel, blitzing from the right side and hitting Warner as he tried to pass to Bruce midway through the second period, forcing an under-thrown duck that Law easily intercepted and returned 47 yards down the sideline for the touchdown.

Next, late in the half, came Antwan Harris putting a helmet on Proehl, forcing a fumble that Terrell Buckley chased down and returned to the Rams' 40.

Five plays later, Brady passed eight yards to David Patten for a diving touchdown catch in the back of the end zone and 14-3 lead.

The largest Super Bowl halftime lead ever blown is seven points. The Patriots were not here to make history. Not that kind, anyway.

Otis Smith's interception in the third period set up a Vinatieri field goal and 17-3 lead.

The Rams were reeling, the Patriots were rolling. The issue seemed settled. Then came the penalty flag, and a fight to the finish that stands among the best ever in a Super Bowl.