Superbowl Notes - February 6, 2002

• Unlike Superbowls XX and XXXI, the Patriots came out in the first quarter and did exactly what they needed to. They hit the Rams hard, they hit them early and they hit them often, setting the tempo for the entire game. I think Isaac Bruce and "Victoria" Holt were hiding under the Gatorade table by the end of the first quarter. The Patriots reinforced the fact that this was a football game, not a ballet recital. Everyone knew that the Rams were soft and Patriots exposed that fact to the entire world on Sunday.
• One of the most gratifying things about the Patriots Superbowl victory was that it made fools of the so-called "experts." Almost no one in the media gave the Patriots any shot to even hang with the Rams, much less win the game. The Carson Daly wannabe on The Worst Damn Sports Show, Exclamation Point went so far as to predict that Superbowl XXXVI would be the biggest blowout in Superbowl history. There were even some members of the Boston media that were clueless enough to predict that the Rams would annihilate the Pats. Apparently, those gentlemen have been asleep for the past 15 weeks. Even more amazing was the fact that most of those same morons were claiming that the Patriots and Eagles had no chance to win their games the previous week. The Pats of course won and the Eagles were within a few inches of blocking a fourth quarter punt that would have likely given Philly the NFC Championship. The point spread on the Superbowl fell from 15.5 to 14 early in the week which showed that the average fan did in fact realize that New England would be competitive. This all helps to prove my theory that the only real difference between most of those guys on television and the average fan is nothing more than an expensive suit.
• One week of Superbowl hype is more than enough. There should NEVER be a week off between the Conference Championship games and the Superbowl.
• The Patriots victory ended an eight game Superbowl losing streak for the AFC East (Buffalo 4, Miami 2, New England 2).
• Some possible casting options if anyone decides to produce a film about the 2001-2002 Patriots
  
  • Matt Damon as Tom Brady - a no-brainer given the resemblance and Boston connection
  • Omar Epps as Troy Brown - isn't Omar in every sports movie ever made?
  • Lee Majors as Bill Belichick - that would be the Six Million Dollar Man Lee Majors, not the Fall Guy/hairpiece that looks like a dead animal/"I used to be married to Farrah" Lee Majors.
  • Gerry Callahan as Jon Gruden - he's practicing the "face" as we speak
  • Barry Bostwick as Mike Martz - I know, "who is Barry Bostwick?"
  • Ted Lange as Isaac Bruce - because he has experience playing guys named "Isaac"
  • Chris Klein or Keanu Reeves as Drew Bledsoe - or ... Drew could play himself because he is a better actor than either of those guys


• How appropriate that the first February Superbowl would feature defensive coordinators named Lovie and Romeo. I wonder if Bobby Valentine was in attendance.
• John Madden has probably done color commentary for 75 Packer games over the past ten years, yet he stills refers to Brett Favre as "Brent."
• Terry Bradshaw's attempt to sing A Hard Day's Night (and not knowing the lyrics) with Paul McCartney during the Superbowl halftime show was probably the single worst moment in television history.
• To the Raiders and their fans. I think you need to worry less about replay reviews and more about the fact that you lead the league in rape arrests. I suppose it is also the referee's fault that you lost three consecutive games (very nearly four) to end the season.
• I'm glad that Adam Vinatieri is finally getting the credit that he deserves. As I have mentioned before, Vinatieri's career field goal percentage (80.4%) is very comparable to many of the great kickers of the past two decades, including Gary Andersen, Morten Andersen, Jason Hanson, and Jason Elam. Vinatieri's stats are even more amazing when you consider that three of those kickers have spent the majority of their careers kicking inside dome stadiums and the other (Elam) has had the advantage of kicking in the high altitude of Denver. Vinatieri has never missed an overtime kick (9-for-9) and is a perfect 25 for 25 kicking inside dome stadiums during his career. Had Vinatieri spent his career with a dome team, he might be considered one of the all-time great kickers.
• Good luck to Drew Bledsoe. He is the all too rare unselfish star player. I was extremely happy that he was able to contribute the the win against Pittsburgh. I hope he wins a Superbowl someday.
• Bryan Cox will be visiting the White House. Be afraid, be very afraid.