= 
=
Posted on 01/27/2002 6:02:43 PM PST by paul in cape
10. They will be huge underdogs (see Pittsburgh)
9. Georgia Frantiere is already getting measured for her huge rings (see also Bill Cowher ordering Hotel rooms for New Orleans)
8. The last game they lost (and barely) was against St. Louis, back when Brady was still green
7. Coach Belichick is coaching his arse off, and can game plan against anybody.
6. During their 8-game run, they shut down the top running backs in the league Curtis Martin, Edgerine James, Jerome Bettis (etc)
5. St Louis will now have to prepare a gameplan against 2 Pro-Bowl quarterbacks
4. Patriot cornerbacks have shut down every Hall-Of-Fame bound recievers (Rice and Brown, plus those whiners in Pittsburgh)
3. They've dominated every game on special teams, and make big plays
2. They have few, if any, stars. What they have is discipline, like the Marines
Which brings me to my #1 reason why they'll win the Super Bowl....
They're PATRIOTS, and of all years where patriotism has come back in vogue, THIS IS IT
= = Bettis played. Horribly. 9 carries for 8 yards. No excuses gentlemen. Too late for that.
My 4 and 6-year-old girls thought I was nuts. My wife: "This is sooooo stupid."
They still couldn't kill my buzz!
You're forgetting that memorable speech from "Animal House"...
Not: "Vanity Posts, Polls, non-politcal threads, etc."
It's ok for you to piss and moan, but at least get your facts straight.
And before you tout the "THEY-BEAT-LAST-YEARS-SUPERBOWL-CHAMPS-TWICE" line know also Cleveland Browns managed the same record against the Ravens!Not quite the same record. The Ratbirds beat the Steelers once, and they didn't beat the Browns at all this year.
Someone's probably pointed this out, but I do so love saying it. (:<
-Eric
I was going to write this, I'll just bump it.
I don't think they lost by any more than 7 points in almost all of those games. The defense lost a lot of games for them in the final minutes. And they were 1-15 last year. Plus, you have to look at their division.
In Flutie's last year at BC, they finished #4. They haven't been close before or since.
What does the stock market do when a team from the original American Football League wins the Super Bowl?
What happens to the stock market when a team from the original National Football League wins the Super Bowl?
When was the last time a team from the AFC East won a Super Bowl? Who was it? Whom did they beat?
or Neil O'Donnell. :-)
Rams 48 Pats 10
You Pat fans are riding high on emotion and intangibles, but the matchups are lopsided:
QB: Warner vs. Brady: Rams
RB: Faulk vs. Smith: Huge Rams advantage
WRs: Bruce, Holt, Hakim, ...you get the idea.
Plus: Game's in a dome, Pats 0-2 in Supes, inexperienced QB, Favre and McNabb couldn't solve Rams, and so on.
Any questions?
Go Rams
Yeah, we heard that last week when they called the Eagles DEF coordinator the most ingenious guy out there, and we scored our usual 29 points against that "great" defense. There has been one team to stop the Rams this year, and one team only.....THE RAMS....If they dont fumble/throw interceptions more than four times, the Rams win, period. You might be able to stop Bruce, and Holt, and Faulk, but you cant stop Bruce, Holt, Faulk, Warner, Hakim, Proehl, AND Conwell. You cant stop them all. #1 Offense, #3 Defense...Good luck Pats, but it looks like a blowout from my seat. 42-13 RAMS
Well, since this started with SB III, 1969 was a big down-market year, IIRC. So I'll go with "down."
What happens to the stock market when a team from the original National Football League wins the Super Bowl?
I'll take "up" here.
When was the last time a team from the AFC East won a Super Bowl? Who was it? Whom did they beat?
Super Bowl VII, Dolphins over the Vikes. I cheated.
He may have signed on somewhere else, but if he did, he is doubtless ticketed for NFL Europe.
As an aside, while everyone knows and is talking about the fact that St. Louis was the last team to beat the Pats, it seems no one is taking notice of the fact that the Rams endured their last loss the week after facing the Patriots.
I'm sure Mike Martz and the rest of the team remembers the Sons of Bill Belichik very well.
The success of this Rams team lies in their offensive line, which is singularly the best I have ever seen. Whilest Warner is a very capable QB, he owes his success, fame and Pro Bowl position to that line in front of him. I mean, he was plucked from an Arena Football roster! I'm 150 years old, and I think I'd look good behind that line.
Because the line is so good, the offense stays out there for long stretches of time. That means (1) the defense, all other things being equal, will tire sooner; and (2) because they have the ball, the other guys can't score! Sounds simple and obvious, but that's how it is.
The Ram's defense is quite good, more depth than Pittsburgh, but their linebackers are not as quick. Because they're usually out on the field for less than half the game, they'll stay fresher, longer. If the defense were to stay on the field for 38 or 40 minutes, sure, Antowain Smith would run roughshod in the 4th quarter.
I'll agree that if, in their first meeting, Smith doesn't fumble at the goal line, and scores instead, they could have beaten them. But they didn't. Like all great teams, the Rams make their own breaks. If they want to win Sunday, they'll have to make some of their own again. If they don't, they're toast.
The 2 touchdown spread is preposterous.
That spread in '69 was 18, BTW.
If the Rams go off half cocked and start believing their own press clippings, they, like the Steelers, will find themselves on the short end of what could be a very long score. These Patriots are no patsies. They're a very good team, for real, made up of a bunch of very tough, very violent guys with bad attitudes.
That is the real reason they manhandled that Steeler team.
Prediction? Not till I study the tapes of the first game. I'll be back....
CA....
I should have cheated better. It was SB VIII.
This isn't Pittsburgh you'll be playing this Sunday. You can't just shut down the running game and make Kordell (Choker) Stewart beat you.
Go ahead, make the Rams beat you through the air, I dare you.
Or, drop 7 into coverage and make Marshall Faulk run the ball. I really don't care which, you'll get the same results.
The Rams dominated every statistical category in their first meeting, the score was only as close as it was because the Rams sat on the ball in the 4th quarter.
Good luck Cinderella, it's almost midnight though.
Why the stink? They weren't using him. Given that being a pro quarterback is a matter of style of offense, more than it's a matter of athletic ability, it's true that he wasn't an NFL quarterback.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.