“The Silence of the Rams”

What a SuperBowl, it was probably the best we have had in 36, don’t you think? The proverbial “David vs. Goliath” story played out right in front of our eyes, and frankly, I found it rather satisfying. Seeing the underdog win really puts a hop in your step doesn’t it? It makes you feel good because the little guy won, the big bad favorite was handily beaten on the largest of stages, and for once, a team of destiny lived up to its billing. What a perfect ending to a perfectly bizarre NFL season.

Onto SuperZim’s SUPER SuperBowl Review…

Let’s start with the pregame show, actually, let’s call it the pregame marathon, because seriously that is what it felt like. The only thing that was missing was the “let’s have a total!” line and 11 girls holding up cardboard signs. I think that the pregame show is a huge waste of time, and they should really consider chopping it down to about 2 hours instead of the 517 it seems to run now.

Does anyone else agree here? Seriously, I don’t think we need to see numerous stories on the teams, the players, how they grew up, their blood types, their game plans, their pregame preparations or their hardships. I would just rather have a quality team of analysts break down the game in a couple of hours and then get it on from there. Now don’t get me wrong, I think the pregame show is entertaining and all, but I just think that they are overdoing it a little, and besides, not everyone is as diehard as the rest of us and would be willing to sit through 5 hours of pregame schtick.

Anyway, onto the game itself…

(But before I do that, I have to mention the fact that Sunday was one of my all-time greatest Sunday’s ever… Why? Well, that morning, I had a basketball game, for a local men’s league that I play in, and I just had a feeling about the game. Anyway, to make a long story short, my team won big (by 20pts) and I dropped a Hawaii Five-O on this team we played, that’s right, I scored 50pts. Now, I have been known to pour in the points on occasion (scored 53 in a game in highschool and 49 once before in this same men’s league), but today it was different, I was unstoppable, I made these guys my bitches, in fact, I even had some of their bench cheering for me when I busted 50. It was rather Jordan-esque)

(Anyway… I digress…)

The game itself was a pure masterpiece, wasn’t it? All week we heard about how the Rams were going to run circles around the Pats, how the Pats were just going to be happy to be there, blah, blah, blah. Well, it turns out that Bill Belichek’s defensive game plan was better than Mike Martz’s offensive one. The Pats’ D looked like it was three steps ahead of that vaunted Rams O, and quite frankly, I think it was. The Rams have been touted as the “Greatest Show on Turf” ever since that miraculous 99 season, but on this day, it looked like they were playing in quicksand. Seriously. Kurt Warner looked Dan Marino slow when trying to escape from the pocket, and the rest of the Rams’ skill players just looked overwhelmed by the Pats’ D. Truly shocking indeed. As I watched the game, the first quarter started out like it was going to be a blowout, the Rams went ahead 3-0, but they were piling up yardage and eating up clock, it looked like they were on the brink of blowing this wide open.

Then, it happened. The play that truly turned the game around and put the Pats in a glorious spot, a spot that no one thought the Pats would make it to. Kurt Warner drops back to pass and get smacked in the mouth just as he is throwing it by Mike Vrabel, the ball floats behind Isaac Bruce and Ty Law snatches it and runs untouched to the end zone. 7-3 Pats.

From there the game sort of hit a lull after the Pats went up 14-3, then the Rams made a furious late surge to tie it at 17 with about a minute and a half to go. Then came… “The drive”, as it will forever be known in Patriot folklore. Brady led an unbelievable drive late in the 4th, in Joe-Cool fashion and got his team in position for a potential game winning field goal.

Then on trots Adam Vinatieri… seven seconds remaining…

Right now, these thoughts are going through my head…

- Are the Pats really going to win this thing?

- Why would the Rams sit in a prevent like that? (More on that in a second)

- Will Vinatieri fold under the pressure?

- What a moment this is going to be, no matter what happens.

- Where is my beer?

(Sorry about that one, the male-ness in me snuck through there…)

Anyway, Vinatieri is money on the field goal and the roof nearly gets blown off the SuperDome. Seriously, did you hear the crowd? The crowd erupted as if the Pats were at home, and you could feel the love coming from every Boston sports fan all the way up here in Canada. What a great moment, truly one for the NFL ages.

But how did this moment come to pass?

Well, thanks to the Rams and their sloppy prevent defense at the end of the game, that’s how. The Rams let the Pats dink and dunk their way into field goal range by playing that dreaded prevent defense. Now why a lot of NFL teams play this defense at the end of games is beyond me, it really is. Why would you change your entire defensive philosophy just because of how much time is left on the clock? I know there are those who will say that they played the prevent because they did not want to give up the big play over the top, but tell me, how many times we have seen teams let other teams get into potentially game winning situations by letting them catch passes in front of them, and trying to play it safe? Too many if you ask me, the old adage always fits there, “go with what got you there”, don’t change or try to play it safe man, go for the throat, the jugular, anything! But they didn’t, they sat back and tried not to lose the game, instead of trying to win it, much to the chagrin of every Rams fan and bandwagoner out there.

(I swear to God you could see a tumbleweed roll through St. Louis this week…)

(Also, notice that I didnt make mention of the commercials, because they all sucked. But I do have to mention the halftime show, because U2 rocked and that scrolling tribute was awe inspiring - dont even mention the Playmte Fear Factor... what a joke...)

Will any NFL team ever learn from this error on the Rams part? Probably not.

Will we see a SuperBowl as entertaining as this one in the near future? Probably not. But we will watch. We will watch because we love the NFL, we live the NFL, and dammit, we are the NFL.

Anyway, much love to the Pats for their implausible SuperBowl win and even more incredible season, and I say thank you for providing me, an NFL fan, with a SuperBowl and a season I will remember for a long, long time.

Until Next Time…