New England Patriots - "The Best"

(Here's where I actually talk about football)

PART 3:  Simply The Best

The best game ever. Period.

Don't even try to argue it. You can't. This game had everything anyone could ever ask for and anyone who wants to try and bash it is just jealous because their team wasn't playing in it. Don't even try to play the Rams/Titans card this time. In that game, the Titans had just as bad a start as the Panthers and were down 16-0 at halftime. This game had 24 first half points and was a four point game after the first thirty minutes. Super Bowl XXXIV did not have 37 fourth quarter points. And if you want to play the drama angle, Kevin Dyson's "one yard short" is at best tied with a kicker, who was 0-2 that day and whose 4 career misses indoors had all come in Reliant Stadium, lining up for a 41 yard game winning attempt. Don't argue it. Just accept it and enjoy the fact that this year's Super Bowl was a very pleasant surprise.

And let me tell you, it was quite a surprise for me. I really didn't think the Panthers had any shot at all. It seemed like all week people had been trying to convince themselves that the Panthers could make this a good game. They had spent all week trying to figure out a way the Cats could keep up with the Pats. And in the process of completely overlooking my team to the point of disrespect, a large majority of the population had lied to themselves enough that they actually believed it was true. Seriously, how do you overlook a 14 game win streak?  They treated it like it was nothing and it hadn't happened in 21 years. People were more convinced by 989 Studios' "Game Before The Game" winning streak than 14 IN A ROW. 14 people!  To quote a now two-time Super Bowl MVP, "Who does that?"  And I've got a million other reasons that I won't bore you with. But the point is that no one outside of the Carolina fan base had any reason to even consider the idea that the Patriots weren't going to win this thing. But the media has proven once again, that if you throw all logic out the window you can make a case for anything. Now I know that the Panthers did give us a run for it. But it was not because of the 242,963,745 stupid reasons they gave on ESPN. It was because Jake Delhomme put on one of the greatest athletic performances in history, which NOBODY saw coming. And that's why I wrote part one of this piece. Now onto the game...

When your team is in the Super Bowl, it's an amazing feeling. When the day comes, it feels like one of the most important days in your life. It's kind of like graduating from high school. You just can't believe it's here. And you can't really do anything all day, because you're just waiting for everything to finally start. I really liked the two weeks off this time, it built the excitement up for me way more than if I only had to wait one. So when this game finally starts, I'm just waiting to explode. We come out a destroy the Panthers three and out, just like I thought we would. Then we march down the field with the ball and set up for Adam Vinatieri's first field goal attempt. I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for my first points of Super Bowl XXXVIII and then the ball hooks wide right. I'm disappointed, but not worried. The Panthers haven't shown me anything yet, and they wouldn't for the first twenty-eight minutes of the game. The Patriots get a second field goal attempt blocked. Again, I'm disappointed, but not worried. After all, we held the Panthers to negative yardage until our first score. Finally with slightly over three minutes left in the half, Mike Vrabel comes up with the big defensive play I'd been waiting for and forces Jake Delhomme to fumble the ball deep in his own territory. After a great throw by Brady, we finally score our first touchdown. AND I EXPLODE!  I just let loose after those first six points were put up on the board. I had been seething because of the lack of respect we'd gotten and the pressure had been building for two weeks. Of course in typical Patriots fashion, as soon as we were up, the defense let up and let the Panthers who had negative yardage up to this point, go 95 yards for a touchdown. I didn't like this at all. We were giving Carolina some confidence going into the half. But Brady would have none of it, connecting with Deion Branch on a huge pass play which set up our second touchdown. I was feeling great... Until Stephen Davis rushed for a 21 yard gain after our squib kick to set up a Kasay field goal. Down 14-10 going into the half, Carolina still had too many reasons to believe. And let's just say it wasn't Janet Jackson's halftime exposure that had my stomach in knots as I waited for the third quarter.

We started the second half with the ball, and I was hoping the Pats would drive down the field and rip the Panthers throat out. But after 15 minutes of scoreless ball, my stomach continued to turn. We finally scored a touchdown as the fourth quarter began giving us a 21-10 lead. I still couldn't sit comfortably. I honestly believed we were going to win, but I had this feeling like the Panthers weren't dead yet. They had the ability to bust a game open with one huge play. I guess it's the price you pay for being the favorite. You no longer have nothing to lose. You just go through the sixty minutes of the game praying that you don't blow it. And with a five point lead and third and goal Tom Brady threw a pass that would make this a game for the ages. Instead of setting up a safe twelve point lead that would finally let me relax, he threw an interception which put me in borderline throw-up mode. In my nervous and energetic state, I'd been throwing down hotdogs, cookies, chips, and Pepsi like there was no tomorrow. If I lost my ability to hold it down, it was not going to be pretty. And then something happened that left me absolutely stunned. Delhomme connected with Mushin Muhammad on a huge TD bomb. And for the first time since November 24th in the same stadium which we were playing in right now the Patriots were behind. 22-21 Carolina. Everyone in the room stared to see how I would react. But I just sat there. And my stomach felt fine.

I wasn't worried about blowing the Super Bowl anymore. We had already blown it. We weren't the favorites anymore. We weren't the ones with something to protect. We were the Patriots again. Down by one. Just where we like to be. Playing the familiar game of catch-up that we had come to know so well. This didn't feel like the biggest game of our lives anymore. We had been here before, and we knew what to do. Just put the ball in Tom Brady's hands and let it come to us.

The first three quarters were a great chess match between Bill Belichick and John Fox. Neither team was playing within their element thanks to the great strategizing by the two defensive coaches. Some might want to call it boring, but I loved it. It had become a thinking man's game. But once the game reached 22-21, all bets were off. It reminded me of the final table of the 2003 World Series of Poker. They were down to three men and Sam Farha cracked the joke "Hey, why don't we just end this and everybody go all in."  They kept playing of course. But in the waning minutes of the game, it was almost as if Bill Belichick looked across to John Fox and posed the question. Fox paused for a moment, and then gave the nod. For the rest of the game, there would be no defensive stops. If you had the ball, you were going to score. It was Super Bowl XXXVIII and both teams were going "all in". The Patriots marched down the field, true to their game, and picked up a touchdown and the two point conversion. We had won the game.

At this point, I would have guessed that the Patriots defense would have held and given us a seven point victory. And in a way I was disappointed. I couldn't help but think that Adam Vinatieri still needed to redeem himself. It just wasn't our style to end a Super Bowl without Number 4 putting one through the uprights. And so when the Panthers put together a great scoring drive which left the game tied with a minute and eight seconds left in the game, I didn't care. A friend asked me why I had suddenly become so calm. I looked at him and said, "I've got faith." 

I saw it coming in my mind. I think every Patriot fan saw it coming. In that final minute drive, we were all in a higher place. John Kasays out-of-bounds kickoff confirmed it to us. Troy Brown's offensive pass interference which gave us a 1st and 20 didn't phase us. This was our destiny. And as Adam Vinatieri's 41 yard field goal sailed so straight and so true through the hot sticky air of Reliant Stadium, I didn't say a word.

There's no reason to get excited over a sure thing.

PART 4:  Thank You

In the spirit of the New England Patriots I did not scream or go nuts when Adam Vinatieri's kick sailed through the uprights. There was still four seconds left. And if you know the New England Patriots, you know that they don't punch the time card until the clock reads zero. So I sat and I waited. I waited until "He Hate Me" was driven into the turf of Reliant Stadium, and then I celebrated like I hadn't for two years.

There's nothing like winning the Super Bowl. It's the only game that the whole world watches. The NBA Finals or World Series can go by without people taking notice. Everybody knows about the Super Bowl. And I can't wait to win it again. That's the difference between winning the Super Bowl for the first time and your second victory. After the first one, you're just thrilled you actually get to experience it. After the second one, you just want to do it all over again, to become the next team to define a decade. Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for this year's title. I'm just still hungry for more. The Patriot nation is ready for more. And more importantly Tom Brady and the rest of the New England Patriots are ready for more. Don't expect a case of championship-itis this time around. This is a team that's learned to never sit contently on past accomplishments. The second this season was over, the only thing on the minds of the Patriots was getting to Jacksonville for XXXIX.

But what a season it was!  It just couldn't have been better. Even the few bad days like the season opener were well worth it when you consider we got to return the 31-0 shut-out fifteen games later. I don't have time to recount all the moments like the overtime win in Miami, the intentional safety, and the goal line stand. And now thanks to the best performance I've ever seen by two teams, we can add Super Bowl XXXVIII to the list of unbelievable games this season. It was the best season ever!  It was the best Super Bowl ever!  And it was the best team ever!

That's right. The best team ever. Take your '72 Dolphins. Take your Steel Curtain. Take your 80's Niners and 90's Cowboys. Take them, and put them in line behind the 2003 New England Patriots. Because this is the best team the NFL has ever seen. 17-2 over-all with 15 straight wins. 10-0 against teams with winning records. 10-0 at home. They beat the league co-MVP's four times.  They overcame losing a team captain days before the season. They started 43 different players to counter the overwhelming barrage of injuries. And in the end, the became champions. There's no way that I can express my appreciation to the New England Patriots for all they've given. But I am so thankful to have been a part of this team, this season, and every season. And I have a feeling we're still not finished adding Lombardi Trophies to the hardware case in Foxboro.

In closing, I'd like to finish this season of The Bunker by once again taking a few words from "Warehouse".

This I admit
Taste so good, hard to believe an end to it
Smell, touch, feel,
How could this rhythm ever quit?
Bags packed on a plane
Hopefully to heaven

...Hopefully to Super Bowl XXXIX.