Brady Bunch to get Rammed

BOB BREIDENBACH / KRTCampus New England's Tebucky Jones runs back an interception in the Patriots' 24-17 victory over the Steelers. The Patriots face the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI Sunday in New Orleans, La.

After a one-year hiatus, the St. Louis Rams are back in the Super Bowl, and this time they are facing a mirror image of their 1999 championship team. This year's Cinderella team is their opponent, the New England Patriots, who came out of nowhere and shocked the NFL by winning the AFC East division title with an 11-5 record.

In 1999, the Rams played the role of underdogs after high-priced free agent quarterback Trent Green went down for the year during the preseason. The Rams turned to an unknown, ex-Arena League quarterback Kurt Warner to lead them to glory.

The Patriots lost their first two games of the season and their all-pro quarterback Drew Bledsoe to injury. On top of that, New England's other big-name offensive superstar, Terry Glenn, was suspended for the year. The Patriots turned their season over to their sixth-round pick from the 2000 NFL draft, Tom Brady, who couldn't even hold a starting quarterback job in college football. Yet Brady responded, lifting a relativity underachieving offense to an 11-3 record, even keeping his starting job when Bledsoe could play again. The Brady-led offense was full of surprises as the Buffalo Bills cast off running back Antowain Smith ran for over a thousand yards, and wide receivers Troy Brown and David Patten torched defensive backs all year.

Once in the playoffs, New England's road to the Super Bowl was even less certain as it had to go into overtime to beat the Raiders after a controversial call that allowed the team to tie the game in regulation. They followed that with an upset over the Pittsburgh Steelers in part due to two special teams touchdowns, but early in the game Brady got injured, and Bledsoe had to lead them to victory. Which leaves coach Bill Belichick a crucial decision on who to start for the biggest game of the season.

Unlike the Patriots, there is no question who will be under center for the St. Louis Rams on Sunday, as all-pro Kurt Warner will take the helm, after leading them to a 14-2 regular season record. Also, no one is questioning the capabilities of his supporting cast, which includes the game's best running back, Marshall Faulk, and perhaps the most talented receiving corps in the NFL, headlined by thousand -yard receivers Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt.

While no one questions the Rams supremacy on offense, some, including myself, were surprised with their success following their rebuilding off-season. In a disappointing encore to their Super Bowl season, the Rams squeaked into the playoffs last year and lost in the first round to the New Orleans Saints. After which, it became apparent to St. Louis management that it doesn't matter much if you score 40 points a game if you give up 41. So the Rams overhauled the defense in the off-season, keeping only four of 11 starters from the year before. They went out and drafted three defensive players in the first round alone and found a steal in the second round with Florida State linebacker Tommy Polley, who finished second on the team in tackles.

They also found contributing free agents in linebacker Mark Fields, safety Kim Herring and traded for all-pro cornerback Aeneas Williams. The new acquisitions paid off and turned a defense that was ranked 23rd in the NFL in 2000, to the second-best defense this season.

So with this in mind, I am going with the Vegas odds makers and saying that the Rams win the Super bowl and that they win it big. If the combination of their No. 1-ranked offense and No. 2-ranked defense isn't enough evidence, then one only has to go back to week 10 for further proof. That week the Rams marched into the Patriots home, Foxboro Stadium, and beat them 24-17. The game was not as close as the score suggests — Warner threw for over 400 yards and three touchdowns. While he did throw two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown, St. Louis dominated every aspect of the game, outgaining the Patriots 482-230 in total yards. Also, with New England up 10-7 with two minutes to go in the first half, Warner drove the Rams 97 yards for a touchdown to give them the lead going into halftime.

What it simply comes down to is that Warner and Faulk, who have combined for the past three League MVP awards, are the best players at their positions in the NFL. The Patriots game plan against the Steelers was to take away the running game and force Kordell Stewart to beat them. New England can't do the same thing against the Rams because Warner already has proven he can beat them. New England's only chance is to keep the pressure up, and force his throws; the Rams don't usually max protect, instead opting for more receivers. 

Unfortunately, if the Patriots blitz, they need to rely on man-to-man coverage on Faulk, Bruce, and Holt, which hasn't worked for too many teams. My prediction is that the Warner and company will be hoisting the Lombardi trophy for the second time in three years, and that they will do so by a sizable margin.