Move over Paul Revere

Pats take thrilling ride to title in huge Super Bowl upset

NEW ORLEANS -- This is why they call it gambling.

This is why they lay odds, rather than absolutes.

This is why -- pardon the cliché -- they go ahead and rent the building, line the field and play the game.

Because sometimes a 14-point favorite barely scores 14. Sometimes the underdog winds up an endearing overachiever. Sometimes first-time hunger beats a touch of hubris.

And sometimes, against all odds, we can still be blissfully surprised by sports.

Sunday came another wonderful reminder. If you can't enjoy the storybook ride of Tom Brady and the New England Patriots -- which in time may be confused with Paul Revere's -- you're either a cynic's cynic, or a Rams fan. Either way, you lost out in a thrilling Super Bowl XXXVI at the New Orleans Superdome.

"A lot of bookies are probably mad at us right now, but we don't give a damn," crowed Patriots cornerback Ty Law. "We're the champs."

Let the bookies fume. New England's dramatic 20-17 upset of heavily favored St. Louis showed us all once again just how much we don't know. And ain't it a lesson worth re-learning every few years or so?

"We shocked the world, but we didn't shock ourselves," said Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri, whose thundering 48-yard game-winning field goal made him the first man to decide a Super Bowl on the game's final play. "That's kind of one of those things we all dream about as we grow up, having a chance to win the Super Bowl in the last minute."

Superlatives flow far too freely at every Super Bowl. But this game will go down among the greatest -- if not the greatest -- in the 36-year history of the series.

But somehow, this game and these Patriots couldn't have made their exit any other way. It had to be Brady and Vinatieri out in front, soaked in glory once more and pushing the improbable to new heights. The kid and the kicker, combining for one more magic act. Only this time, confetti fell instead of snow.

"I think he said, 'Go win the game,'" said the Patriots' quarterback, of head coach Bill Belichick's instructions just before Brady led New England on a memorable 9-play, 53-yard game-winning drive with no timeouts and just 1:21 remaining. "He said 'Drop back and sling it.'

"I was confident we could go out there and win the game, but you don't have to tell people that. You just have to go do it."

Brady did it all right, and after this one he'll be bigger than Yaz in Boston. After all, Carl Yastrzemski never won it all. Brady has, and in the most amazing fashion. At 24, he's the youngest quarterback to ever win the Super Bowl, and he was the game's MVP to boot.

Only once all night did Brady lead the Patriots' offense on a scoring drive longer than 40 yards. It came, of course, at the end, when his team desperately needed it most. All 17 of the Patriots' previous points had been scored or set up by turnovers, with the New England offense almost playing the role of after-thought up until then.

"He said, 'Here we go,'" Patriots wide receiver David Patten said of that final drive, on which Brady went 5-of-8 for all 53 yards. "He said we have to go down and win the game here. He just has such a tremendous amount of confidence and it revs us up. If you look in his eyes and hear him talk, you think, 'We have to go out and get it done for this kid.'"

The Patriots are NFL champions today for the first time in their 42-year history because they kept finding new, innovative ways to win.

Last week, the Patriots were victorious thanks to special teams, getting two touchdowns out of their extra-man units in an AFC title game upset of Pittsburgh. This time, it was New England's defense that scored -- on a 47-yard Law interception return -- and then set up the Patriots' other touchdown by forcing a second turnover. In the second half, a third Rams turnover led to Vinatieri's first field goal, from 37 yards.

Whatever it takes.

Speak up if you had the Patriots winning the Super Bowl by scoring as many offensive touchdowns in the playoffs (three) as they did on special teams and defense combined (three). Anybody?

"What we wanted to do was try and run the ball and give our defense a break," Belichick said of his team's deliciously vanilla game plan. "The defense couldn't stay on the field all day. And the big thing was when we had the opportunities we had to take advantage of them. That's what we wanted to try to do: Play defense, play field position and take advantage of our opportunities."

As a team, has there ever been a unit that took advantage of its chances better than these plucky Patriots? From Brady's unlikely accension, to the season-saving redemption of the non-fumble call against Oakland, to Sunday night, when St. Louis' three turnovers produced 17 of New England's 20 points.

If you're scoring at home, it was defensive genius 1, offensive genius, ah, better luck next year. Thanks to Belichick's plan, the Patriots' first half couldn't have gone any better if they had scripted it. Who knows? Maybe Belichick did.

"OK, guys, listen up," he might have said. "Here's the game plan: We're going to fall behind 3-0, but win a moral victory of sorts by staying on the field with the Rams as they roll up some decent numbers in the first quarter. That's going to show them that nothing's going to come easy tonight. Trust me.

"Then, we're going to make one huge play on defense, use it to actually put our first points of the game on the board, and in the process shake up the Rams right down to their Nikes. With a lead, we can count on Mike Martz getting a little antsy. He doesn't like to trail in a game. Ever.

"Just when the Rams are starting to chalk up their slow start as a fluke, we're going to hit one of their receivers so hard he coughs up the ball and a lung, in that order. While they're trying to recover from that mistake, we're going to get our offense in gear long enough to motor 40 yards for another touchdown. At this point we'll be up 14-3 at the half and so far into the Rams' heads that we'll be able to look out their earholes and see horns."

Sounds plausible to me.

New England led by 11 points at the half, despite the Rams holding the statistical advantage in offensive plays (34-26), first downs (9-8), total yards (184-117), passing yards (131-60) and time of possession (16:40 to 13:20).

Fittingly, it was those three turnovers that ended the Rams' chances of a second Super Bowl title in three seasons. St. Louis led the NFL this season with 44 turnovers, and including the playoffs, the Rams committed 17 turnovers its their three losses, as compared to just 31 in their 16 wins.

"The only team that could beat us was us," Rams running back Marshall Faulk said, echoing a familiar refrain in the St. Louis locker room. "We turned the ball over [three] times today and you can't do that. When you think about what happened here, it's just a case of they made more plays than we did. That's how you lose."

We found out again Sunday that anybody can lose to anybody at any time. That's why we watch. And that's why some wager.

At their own peril.

Don Banks covers pro football for CNNSI.com.

 

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