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Patriots'
destiny? To lose to Rams That's
why the Patriots are unfortunate afterthoughts in Super Bowl XXXVI. They are
14-point underdogs to the Rams, and only those holding hopes that Enron stock
will turn around in the next week are supporting them. During Tuesday's Media
Day, reporters didn't hear the Joe Namath guarantees coming out of the mouths of
Patriots players. And
if you dare call the Patriots a team of destiny, expect a polite but terse
response. Last Friday, safety Lawyer
Milloy envoked his personal 10-second rule in which he counts to 10
to prevent throwing a tantrum. The problem is that history is against the
Patriots. Sure,
Namath talked loud and proud how his Jets would whip the mighty Baltimore Colts
in Super Bowl III. The Patriots don't have Namath at quarterback. They head into
Sunday's game against the Rams with second-year pro and former sixth-round pick Tom
Brady as their quarterback, and he will be playing on a sprained
ankle. History has taught us that the teams with the best quarterback or best
running back usually exit the field carrying the Lombardi Trophy.
Eighteen
of the first 35 Super Bowls have had quarterbacks as the MVP. Seven running
backs have won the honor. Clear and simply, the Rams have the best quarterback
and the best running back in Sunday's matchup. Over the past three seasons, Rams
quarterback Kurt
Warner and halfback Marshall
Faulk have been pitching the league's MVP honor between them. If
history holds true, the Patriots will be the team of destiny -- destined to
lose. The 14-point spread is the third biggest of all time. Super Bowls produce
super teams and lopsided scores. There have been only 10 times that a Super Bowl
has been decided by nine points or less. This
game has all the making of that kind of a blowout. "Being
called the team of destiny gives the thought that we aren't good enough to be in
this game," Patriots cornerback Otis
Smith said. "But I think we're a good team. There are a lot of
good players on this team." However,
Smith was asked if this was the best team he's played for. It wasn't. He started
his career as a member of those Buddy Ryan Eagles more than a decade ago. If you
check the Super Bowl trophy, those Eagles aren't engraved near Lombardi's name. To
beat a top Super Bowl team, you have to have the best of the best. The Rams have
been peaking for the past three years. They've won a Super Bowl two years ago
and scored 500-plus points a season for the past three years. They have some of
the best offensive talent in this era, enough talent to start to put the Rams in
the same category as the 49ers and Cowboys, those multiple Super Bowl winners. Al
Davis used to say that in certain years, you can steal a Super Bowl. When top
teams surface, that doesn't happen. The Steelers won all four of their Super
Bowl games. The 49ers won five. Super
Bowls aren't about respect. Over the past two decades, the AFC, once the factory
for Super Bowl champs, have had teams slip into the big game. Bill Cowher's
Steelers, for example, had four AFC title games in Pittsburgh over the past
eight years. Only the Broncos took advantage of that opportunity to win a Super
Bowl. The 1994 Chargers lost to the 49ers by 23 points. The 1995 Steelers lost
to the Cowboys by 10. That
was then. This is now. Earlier
this season, the Patriots stayed within a touchdown of the Rams during a 24-17
loss to the Rams in Foxboro. Were it not for a debatable fumble at the Rams'
3-yard line by halfback Antowain
Smith, the Patriots might have pulled out that game. But
that game was on a grass field. The Rams play their best on artificial turf.
They play their best in domes. "I
don't know why, but when you put us on turf, I don't know why, but it's like the
Olympics out there," Rams safety Kim
Herring said. "It's like the 4x100. The Patriots may have an
advantage because they've seen us before. But we've seen them before, too. We
played in New England and won where it was colder and the grass was a lot
longer. We were lucky to come up with a victory, but we are on a neutral site
now." Still,
the Patriots can use the lack of respect theme all week to motivate themselves.
The surprising thing is that the only team or coach that truly respected them
will be on the other sidelines on Sunday in the Superdome. in
the postgame press conference following the victory In
his postgame press conference following "I
really didn't, but when they started getting on that winning streak, I thought,
'Man, this team may be something to deal with,' " Herring said. "When
they beat Oakland, I thought, 'Man, whooo.' I don't think a lot of people gave
them too much credit." Last
Friday in Pittsburgh, Milloy criticized any doubters of the Patriots.
"Our
team is not a team of destiny," Milloy said. "We see playoff
commercials or whatever, and they have all other teams on there. I don't see one
guy from our team on that commercial. I mean, they have guys on there talking
about playoff experience and the atmosphere, and the guys have never been to the
playoffs before. That's crazy to me." During
the Patriots' first road game in Cincinnati, Milloy stepped up to the team and
decided that it wasn't appropriate to go on the field for individual
introductions. "But
for whatever reason," Milloy said, "when we came out as a team, they
had already started calling our names out, so we're looking around and saying,
'Why are they disrespecting us like that.' We just said forget it and we will go
out as a team." That
works against the Bengals. It worked against a Steelers team that probably had
better individual players. Will it work against the Rams? Probably not. The Rams
are the better team because they have better players. In
comparing the two teams, you'd take the Rams' starting quarterback, backfield,
receivers, offensive line and linebacking corps if this were a pick-up game. The
Patriots' strength is a marvelous deep secondary, an underrated defensive line
and great coaching. Milloy
should keep counting to 10. Everyone in football respects what the Patriots
accomplished this season. They went from 5-11 to 11-5. They won the tough AFC
East. Belichick patched players off the street with the league's second lowest
payroll and went to the Super Bowl. Unfortunately,
the fairy tale will probably have a bad ending for the Patriots. John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. |
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