Posted on 01/28/2004 8:58:55 PM PST by ForOurFuture
Yep, Tampa Bay won it because of their defense.
The Panthers have the best front 7 in professional football.
A trend is definitely developing. The strength of the past 3 Super Bowl winners has been defense. The strength of this Super Bowl winner will be defense.
That team I believe will be the Carolina Panthers. The New England Patriots have been relentless practically all season long. They have won 14 games in a row, beating many good teams along the way.
The Patriots are going to have a great game plan. Now that all the head coaching vacancies are filled, offensive coordinator Charlie Weis and defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel can focus 100% on the game at hand, knowing that they will come back next year with hefty payraises. (Had they still been in the hunt for a head coaching job, their full attention might not have been on the game.)
Bill Belichick will be Bill Belichick. And that's enough to win the game right there.
Tom Brady will be Joe Montana.
Adam Vinatieri will kick once again like Adam Vinatieri in 2002.
Ty Law will come up with another interception or two.
I'm not going to predict a score. Who can predict a score?
But I will predict a "comfortable" win for the Patriots.
That is not intended to disrespect the Panthers. Panthers are a good team. But the Patriots are in a groove and they can only lose this game by beating themselves (making mistakes).
The Patriots haven't made many mistakes lately.
These are all teams that the Patriots beat last time they played too. The first three teams this season and the Rams in the last Super Bowl they played in. In fact, they beat Peyton Manning and the Colts twice this year.
Not as good as the stats the Indianapolis Colts were putting up in the post-season. Then they played the Patriots...
You're half right---Pats also have a fine defense. If the Cats keep their cool (which they've done so far this postseason) they win a close game.
Can't root for a Taxachusetts team, can we? ;-)
Bump to your analysis, plus an opinion that the Pats are more focused on the win. Less partying, etc. than the opposition. Pats in a walk, at the end.
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