SUPER BOWL XXXVI RETROSPECTIVE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 THE MAYOR (Charlie) WAS THERE . . . . AND THE PATS DYNASTY STARTS 

 

It was the first February Super Bowl.

 

 

 

Adam Vinatieri's 48-yard field goal as time expired gave the New England Patriots their first Super Bowl title. 

 

The Rams outgained the Patriots 427-267 in total yards, but the Patriots forced three turnovers, which resulted in 17 points, while committing no turnovers. 

I have no idea where I watched this game, but I did watch it.

Jeff Wilkins' 50-yard field goal capped a 10-play, 48-yard drive midway through the first quarter to give the Rams a 3-0 lead. The first turnover came with 8:49 left in the second quarter, when Ty Law stepped in front of an out-pattern pass intended for Isaac Bruce and raced 47 yards untouched down the left sideline into the end zone.

St. Louis Rams (NFC) New England Patriots (AFC) 17 20
1 2 3 4 Total STL 3 0 0 14 17 NE 0 14 3 3 20
Date	February 3, 2002 (2002-02-03)
Stadium	Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
MVP	Tom Brady, Quarterback
Favorite	Rams by 14[1]
Referee	Bernie Kukar
Attendance	72,922[2]
Future Hall of Famers
Patriots: None Rams: Marshall Faulk, Orlando Pace, Aeneas Williams
Ceremonies
National anthem	Mariah Carey
Coin toss	George H. W. Bush and Roger Staubach
Halftime show	U2
TV in the United States
Network	Fox
Announcers	Pat Summerall, John Madden, Pam Oliver and Ron Pitts
Nielsen ratings	40.4 (est. 86.8 million viewers)[3]
Market share	61
Cost of 30-second commercial	$1.9 million

Late in the first half, Kurt Warner completed a 15-yard pass to Ricky Proehl to the Patriots' 40, but Antwan Harris forced Proehl to fumble and Terrell Buckley recovered. Five plays later, Tom Brady's 8-yard touchdown pass to David Patten with 21 seconds left in the quarter gave New England a 14-3 halftime lead.

Program is virtually the reverse view of the SB X/Bicentennial Program.  



 

 

 

Late in the third quarter, Torry Holt slipped coming off the line of scrimmage, and Otis Smith intercepted Warner's pass and returned it 30 yards to the Rams' 33 to set up Vinatieri's 37-yard field goal and a 17-3 lead.

 

The Rams responded by driving to the Patriots' 3. On fourth-and-goal, Warner scrambled, was tackled by Roman Phifer, and fumbled. Tebucky Jones picked up the ball and raced the length of the field for an apparent touchdown, but the play was negated by Willie McGinest's holding penalty.
Warner scored two plays later to trim the deficit to 17-10 with 9:31 left. The Patriots went three-and-out on their next two possessions, giving the Rams the ball on their 45-yard-line with 1:51 left.
Warner completed an 18-yard pass to Az-Zahir Hakim and an 11-yard pass to Yo Murphy before connecting on a 26-yard touchdown pass to Proehl with 1:30 left to tie the game.

Operating without any timeouts, Brady completed three short passes to J.R. Redmond to reach the Patriots' 41 with 33 seconds left. After an imcompletion, Brady completed 23- and 16-yard passes to Troy Brown and Jermaine Wiggins, respectively, to reach the Rams' 30, and then spiked the ball with seven seconds remaining.

Vinatieri drilled the 48-yard field-goal attempt, marking the first time in Super Bowl history the game had been won on the final play.

Brady, who earned Most Valuable Player honors, was 16 of 27 for 145 yards and one touchdown. Warner was 28 of 44 for 365 yards and one touchdown, with two interceptions.