Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots July 4, 2018 - Super Bowl 39 Revisited

Episode Date: July 4, 2018

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There are times when you can believe in those types of things. If you look at Donovan McNabb's body language, even on that drive where we scored the touchdown, even after the touchdown, when you look at that bench, when you just look at everyone around that team, they gave you no reason to believe. This is Mark Schofield for Locked On Patriots. Super Bowl 39 saw the New England Patriots square off against the Philadelphia Eagles. For the Patriots, it was the chance to win their second straight Super Bowl and solidify themselves as a dynasty. For the Philadelphia Eagles, they had finally gotten back to the Super Bowl

after three straight losses in the NFC Championship game. For the Eagles and their fans, hope was high. The voice you heard at the outset is that of Michael Kist, a longtime Eagles fan and the host of Locked on Eagles. To hear Michael tell it, this was the chance to finally realize that dream. The whole season was amazing. You signed T.O. in the preseason game on the first snap.

We hit an 80-yard bomb to him against the Ravens. I remember it like it was yesterday because I was just super excited about this team that couldn't get over the hump, didn't have the wide receiver targets. Now you've got T.O. And then coming into the Super Bowl, even as a touchdown dog, you still felt confident that this team would be able to hang with the Patriots, even though the Patriots had some serious credentials to them.

But, yeah, I mean, you get your hopes up. You bet that the Eagles will cover at the very least, which happened. But I couldn't get the W, and that's – well, we'll get into it. But I was super excited coming into the game. Super Bowl XXXIX started slowly. Both teams traded punts early in the game. But late in the first quarter, the Eagles were on the march. After a penalty on linebacker Roman Pfeiffer gave the Eagles a first down and 10 in the red zone,

Philadelphia had a chance to score the first points of the Super Bowl. But then, Donovan McNabb made the first of many mistakes on the night. This is the 10th play of the drive. And on first down from the 19, McNabb goes toward the end zone, and this one is picked off. Intercepted by Rodney Harrison. That's his third interception of this postseason, and his fifth overall in the last five postseasons. And that one was up and running.

But it looks like Rodney Harrison got hurt on this play. And that is the bigger story right now. Watch Rodney Harrison. He's coming over the top the entire way. He's reading Donovan McNabb. For Michael Kist, that sequence was the first of a number of missed opportunities. Yeah, in the first quarter with about three minutes left, McNabb rolled out to his right and T.O. was running a deep out and I guess he turned it up the sideline and McNabb saw

him turn up the sideline, right? He's got the quarterback trailing and McNabb just throws a duck up there. It hits off Rodney Harrison's chest. It bounces into Asante Samuel's hands. He returns it back, but luckily there was hands to the face by Roman Pfeiffer on that play. So they get another chance at it from the 19th first down. They motion Westbrook out to the slot on the left-hand side. He gets, I believe it was Pfeiffer as well, if I'm not mistaken, on that play in coverage, which is a mismatch. Any linebacker versus Brian Westbrook is a mismatch.

So he runs a deep out, and he gets to about the five-yard line, and he cuts it out, and McNabb throws it to, like, you know how we talk about in the run game running through smoke? Yeah. McNabb threw it into the smoke you know so westbrook isn't there anymore and he throws it right to rodney harrison there was just a duck of a pass and he was there for the touchdown and it was just that inability to capitalize at key moments early on in the game and capitalize on that energy that we had coming into it

and it just it sapped us man it just felt like nothing and when that happened I knew we really blew a chance there when you're playing the Patriots the way to play the way the Patriots play in big games you have to be on your A game you cannot bring your B game. Despite the early mistake the teams entered halftime tied at seven in third quarter, they traded touchdown drives. And for the first time in Super Bowl history, a Super Bowl was tied going into the fourth quarter. But the Patriots had the football, they were on the move, and quickly, the tie was broken. is blocking for Dillon. Corey Dillon, touchdown New England. And the Patriots are back on top. The Corey Dillon touchdown gave New England a seven-point lead.

They would get another chance to build on that lead a few minutes later when Donovan McNabb made his second mistake of the game. Levin's in motion on first down. McNabb fires high and the pass is intercepted by Bruschi. Levin's flashing across the middle. McNabb was too high. And Teddy Bruschi, one of the defensive leaders for the Patriots, was there waiting for him. Well, there was an errant pass. We're moving down the field.

And we got here, let's see, to L.J. Smith. L.J. Smith was running down the seam. And he had T.O. to his right. I believe T.O. was running the dig, if I remember correctly. And McNabb just seemed to panic, and this is where McNabb really played poorly in some of the key points in the game. Went to hit him on a seam, underthrew him badly to where, like, we talk about catch radius. There is no catch radius on an NFL player that is able to snag this. It was just poorly thrown behind.

Teddy Bruschi is able to pick it off. McNabb's interception comes with only 7 minutes and 20 seconds left in Super Bowl XXXIX. At that point, the Patriots had a 24-14 lead. But the Eagles' defense responds to the moment. They force a punt from the Patriots. And they give their offense the ball back. With 5 minutes and 40 seconds left. That set the stage for a rather interesting drive from the Eagles offense.

More on that with Rich Hill from Pat's Pulpit as well as Michael Kist in one second. I just, to this day, I still am not sure what was going through their head, why they thought that what they were doing was the right choice. That's Rich Hill, the managing editor of Pat's Pulpit. Rich, like many, was perplexed at the approach the Eagles offense used on their next possession. I'm very happy with Andy Reid's decision and his choice to pace the game the way that he did. Because how long was that drive before they scored the touchdown? It four minutes yeah it was 352 yeah it was a four minute drive when they had five and a half left in the game so yeah more more power to you i mean mcnabb was throwing it it's not like he was i mean they were just walking to the line of scrimmage, but it's not like they had intentionally just walked and drained the clock.

They just had no awareness. I just, to this day, I still am not sure what was going through their head, why they thought that what they were doing was the right choice. Up in the booth, Joe Buck, who was calling the game along with Chris Collinsworth and Troy Aikman expressed a sentiment that many Eagles fans were feeling as the drive unfolded. Another Aaron throw by Donovan McNabb and Josh Perry going to the ground keeps the clock running where otherwise he's at least able to get more yards and get out of bounds and conserve time. But that's classic Belichick right there. They're going to give you your last option,

and there's no question that Josh Perry is the last option in this offense right now. How many Philadelphia fans are screaming at the TV saying, hurry up? As you might expect, Michael Kist was one of those frustrated Eagles fans. It was the most absurd thing. There was no game plan in there. And Andy Reid, for as good of a coach he is historically and is even better now, has always had these issues in Philadelphia at the end of halves and things like that. For some reason, man, I don't know if they were just worn down to where they couldn't run it. as Joe Buck or Eagles fans who were wondering what the Eagles were doing on offense and how they were handling the clock. Safety Rodney Harrison had questions as well.

And I remember reading a story where Rodney Harrison was talking about it and he was telling Teddy Bruschi on the field, like, what the heck are they doing? I got the quote right here. I'm looking at Teddy Bruschi and I'm like, what the heck are they doing? Why aren't they going hurry up offense? Harrison recalled last week. He said, Rodney, it's the dumbest thing I've ever seen. After the game, discussion would focus on why the Eagles did not go up-tempo in those moments. Some speculated that McNabb had taken a big hit and was physically unable to do so.

Others pointed the finger at Andy Reid. Michael Kist has his own thoughts. And even the commentators on the game were saying, what are they doing? I mean, there was a play where they got a snap off and it looked like Donovan McNabb was motioning or trying to get a wide receiver in motion and hank fraley took it as a you know as a goose as give me the ball now and they end up just falling down mcnabb falls down with the ball because it's a busted play and it takes some like another 20 seconds to get another playoff you know the story is about mcnabb either throwing up or not throwing up whatever the case is you could definitely tell from his body language and from the body language

from the people around him and that was something that Harrison had touched on too that I saw him say was he was looking at them before the game and they were all jazzed up going crazy on the sideline so on and so forth and the Patriots are on their sideline all cool and calm like they're gonna wear themselves out and we were just we weren't able to capitalize in the first half on that energy and by the fourth quarter man it just looked like we had nothing left in the tank yeah and before mcnab may have thrown up or not throwing up or whatever but i did see mcnab throw up live in tampa bay when they played here so he has a thing with florida and it was nice and humid on that day in jacksonville but you can just look at everyone on that team before the snap,

and they're just trotting around, and there was no sense of urgency, and it wasn't like it was nonchalant. It just looked like they were punch drunk. You know what I mean? It just looked like they didn't have anything left, so that's what I'm the camp of. They were worn out mentally, physically. They were down, and they just didn't have the mental toughness to push through but the eagles did end the drive with a touchdown on a throw from mcnabb to greg lewis second down and 10 minute 55 remaining westbrook at the top of your screen. Down the middle of the field. Lewis, touchdown, and Philadelphia's not finished yet. But they do end up scoring on this drive. They cut it to 24-21 with under two minutes left, and they have all three timeouts. I mean, at that point, you're thinking, look,

they could still pull this out. Right. And what they got there, they were fortunate enough to get a look because the Patriots were using too high safeties for most of that drive. And for some reason, they switched it to zone with too high. They were able to get Greg Lewis on a post matched up with a safety and connect with a touchdown. If that 30-yard touchdown doesn't happen, and it was a darn good throw by McNabb, but leading up to that, man, he was all over the place. And Terrell Owens had to bail him out on a third down and whatnot. And, yeah, when they scored that, you think, hmm, maybe there is a chance.

And then you're thinking, God, there's just so little time left on the clock. We have to get this on-site kick. Akers will try to get that good bounce. Get it up into the air. And it's right into the arms of Christian Fourier. The New England Patriots take over. They lead by three with a minute 47 remaining, and the ball will be marked at the Philadelphia 41. Right, which was, and it wasn't even close either. It was just a straight bouncer to one of the kickoff return guys for the Patriots.

And that's when I thought, okay. And when they, Kevin Falk comes out, we're able to stop them, but at the same time, there's no time left on the clock, and they end up punting down to, I believe it was our four-yard line, if I'm not mistaken, with almost no time left. If we run that offense, that five-minute offense, just a little bit quicker, and we were huddling the entire time, it blew my mind. So we're huddling, we're getting up to the line, we're snapping it with like 10 seconds left on the play clock, which is egregious when you're down two scores at the end of a Super Bowl game. If we save even a minute, that drastically changes. If we get that thing north of the two-minute warning or even just south of it, it changes what you can do offensively. But in that last drive, you're seeing the way back to deep safety look, and it's really hard to move the ball like that. Up next, the final act of Super Bowl XXXIX with Michael Kist and Rich Hill.

So 46 seconds remain. And Donovan McNabb, the guy who was booed when he was drafted out of Syracuse, the second overall pick in 99, will try to get the Eagles into field goal position here in Super Bowl 39. It would be a long shot for the Eagles to pull this off. And watching the game, Rich Hill was fairly confident that the Patriots would be able to finish this game. Yeah, the Patriots, you know, we talked about the last Super Bowl where Ricky Prohl busted for that 60-plus yard touchdown. That just wasn't taking place. We know that Greg Lewis had his 30-yard touchdown, sure. But unlike the other teams, unlike the second half of the Panthers,

unlike late in the games against the Rams, this Eagles team just did not have it in them to really pick up chunk yardage, and they weren't really having too much success moving the ball in the second half. You know, I mean, they had a nice solid drive to open up the third, but they didn't really do too much until that last touchdown, which they drained four minutes of the clock, and they didn't do any of that with big chunk plays. They were getting 10, 15 yards at a time, which, you know, adds up. But with 20 seconds left on the clock, that's not the offensive style that you need in order to win the Super Bowl, go the entire distance of the field, because they were starting on

their own four-yard line. And that just, it wasn't going to happen with the way that they had been playing that half. Miles away, Eagles fan Michael Kist had similar thoughts. There are times when you can believe in those types of things. If you look at Donovan McNabb's body language, even on that drive where we scored the touchdown, even after the touchdown, when you look at that bench, when you just look at everyone around that team, they gave you no reason to believe whatsoever.

The mood was down. And when I see players like that, man, you just know that they know that they're not going to be able to get it done. So after that, after not getting the onside kick, where we were with the time left and how the previous drive had gone I'm like there's no way this team that would look so incompetent even on a touchdown scoring drive It's gonna be able to move down the field and get in field goal position Rodney Harrison takes it in and nine seconds remain and the New England Patriots

are on their way to solidifying their team as an NFL dynasty for Rich Hill ending this game on a Rodney Harrison interception was more than fitting, and it's a testament to his ability to come back to the field. And I know that he had the PED issues later on. So there is always that. But that's for him returning to get back towards the field. And yeah, it just shows how much teams have to overcome with regards to injuries in order to win the Super Bowl. In defeat, there was one player who stood out from Philadelphia. Wide receiver Terrell

Owens played the game after suffering a broken leg weeks prior, but he turned in a tremendous performance that should not be forgotten. Yeah, yeah. I think it's such a disappointment because Terrell Owens, as I was saying, had one of the all-time great Super Bowl performances on a broken leg. Nine catches, 122 yards. He went toe-to-toe with Deion Branch as well. Branch had 11 for 133. Both of those players should have been MVP candidates overp candidates over tom brady um but that's why

i'm glad that branch got it in this one uh and so owens he deserved a chance you know i think a lot of people aren't the the biggest fans of his antics and stuff like that i don't he's just he's such a powerful player to watch out there and to see him give his heart and soul and blood and tears for this team and for them to walk down at the end it was just it was it was just like a what can go right in this guy's career other than you know being a hall of famer eventually yeah and he was coming off that that broken tibia after getting a horse collared which is why they had that rule now and he was five weeks out from getting his uh his screws and whatnot put into that ankle and like i was telling you we were talking before i've had that same surgery i've got a titanium

plate two titanium screws in my ankle five weeks is is absolutely insane. I think at five weeks, I still felt like I was getting electrocuted in my ankle on a consistent basis and needed, you know, all the prescription pain meds that I could get just to get through a day like a normal person. For him to be able to do that, going to the Super Bowl, you know that Belichick is going to game plan against you, which he's so good at, and he shut down Westbrook. It's at least the dangerous side of Westbrook for the majority of the game, so he was affected there. But 14 targets, nine catches, 122 yards.

You saw a slight hitch in the giddy-up, so you know it was bothering him, and he still goes out there and gets it done. Look, I have my own feelings about Terrell Owens after what happened after that game, which are not good. and gets it done. Look, I have my own feelings about Terrell Owens after what happened after that game, which are not good. You cannot knock him at all for this performance. It was dynamic. And I don't think we stay in this game without him there.

He was the best player on our offense that night. Strip it away, sort of your Patriots allegiances for a moment. But, you know, looking at the history of the NFL, has there been a more, I'd say, deserving guy that needed a Super Bowl given what he did for his team than Terrell Owens in that game? Ooh, that is a tough question. You know, some player, I would say Larry Fitzgerald.

Oh, yeah, that's a good call. He had an all-time postseason that time as well as a great Super Bowl. So I'd say Fitz would be at the top. But if we're just looking at the past 15, 20 years off the top of my head, Owens has got to be in the top three. He did everything that he could to win that game. I don't know, maybe Bobby Wagner of the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX

because he had one heck of a game as well. But yeah, if we're looking at the receivers, Owens deserves a lot of credit for what he did. The victory gave the Patriots back-to-back Super Bowls. And as Joe Buck said, it began the talk of dynasties rich hill watching those final moments took away another message from how the game ended and honestly i think these two super bowls led bill belichick to how he constructs all of his rosters to focus on depth as opposed to just focusing on the top tier players. And that's kind of been the Bill Belichick calling card. And what the Patriots have done is they want their third, fourth, and fifth guy on the depth chart to be just as good as their second guy.

And very few other teams do that. A lot of other teams focus on having their number one, number two be heads and shoulders. And then if they suffer an injury, they don't know what to do. And the Patriots are able to keep playing through because the drop-off isn't as great, and that's how they're able to remain contenders so late. And maybe sometimes you'll get a team that remains healthier, like the 2015 Broncos, but most of the time it will tip in the favor of the Patriots, where they'll be one of the last couple teams standing. For Michael Kist, however, this exercise, this process of revisiting Super Bowl 39 left him with more questions than answers.

I think I had only watched this game once before or after it happened, and that was probably about seven or eight years ago. I went to watch it last night, and I think I went to the fourth quarter because I knew we were going to talk about that part. And after he threw the interception to trying to throw it to LJ Smith with seven minutes left, I turned it off. I couldn't do it. So I had to force myself to watch it today while I was eating my lunch and take notes and do all that. And I,

I wanted to scream, I wanted to scream from the inside. My insides were turning and I just wanted to yell at my phone and say, hurry the F up as they're approaching the line. It was worse than I remember it. And then I go back in the game and I'm like, let me get some more context. So I go back into the game and I see all the missed opportunities that we had in the first half to get a lead, to be in a commanding position, and we screw it up. And I think it's Donovan McNabb in the key spots was not good in this game. And I don't think that gets talked about really as far as that goes. And then the time management by Andy Reid.

Everyone now talking about Colin Cowherd saying that we ran Andy Reid out of town. Well, you know what? That's one of the reasons. Time management was not his forte here. And, dude, just the anger, the pure rage i was sweating i thought i had some i thought i had something wrong with me i was dry heaving by the end of it like it was bad dude it was a bad experience when i was watching it i was thinking is mark mad at me like what what what did i do to mark to make him do this to is this even? Is he even doing a series like this? Or is he just putting me through some crazy punishment,

some elaborate scheme to get me to talk about this game and feel bad about myself? What Michael describes right there is what being a sports fan is like. The highs and the lows. Going through those moments when your team almost makes you suffer. As a Boston Red Sox fan, I know those moments. I know what Michael's describing there. But at the start of

this episode, we talked about hope. And that's the other side of that coin. That belief that through all the lows these teams have put you through, through all those dark moments, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Since we started with hope, I want to end with the idea of hope as a sports fan. I mean, just utter, utter heartbreak, even though you don't think it's going to happen. You know, you still have that small glimmer of hope. And I think that died inside of me that day. Let's talk about hope for a second, because there's some other stuff I want to get to, but you teed up this question.

The number 11 now. Has the hope come back? Yeah. And the difference is, like I was alluding to before, the difference is competitive toughness, man. Carson Wentz has it in what seems like to be in droves. Now, obviously, we have to see him in some big-game situations, but we saw him in those situations in college, and it never really affected him. He's got a cool, calm demeanor.

He doesn't get too high. He doesn't get too low. I think that was an issue with McNabb throughout his career, especially when he would come out early in games and he would be hitting warm burners or overthrowing things. I think Wentz is nice and even-keeled and has all the talent in the world. I loved him coming out. I know you liked him coming out.

So as far as like everyone on Eagles Twitter and Eagles fans are freaking out right now because Jason Peters goes down, Jordan Hicks goes down, and you think the rails are just going to come off the team. I don't feel that way at all. And even if things do get a little bit muddier after this, you're looking at a franchise quarterback for the next decade at the very least and yeah so i'm confident that i'm not saying yes well this year i'm saying you know it would be a good year for that with all the parody and everything like that but at the same time we're going to get a crack at this thing every year if that's our quarterback so the hope is back

the hope is back and honestly even even through the chip kelly era and all that stuff this is the first time that i found myself genuinely ready to believe in the team and it's basically all because of carson once you could almost hear the hope in michael's voice as he talked there at the end the The cycle of life as a sports fan. Despair and then hope sprinting again. I want to thank both Rich and Michael for coming on and talking to me about Super Bowl 39. Follow Rich on Twitter where he's the managing editor of Pat's Pulpit.

You can find him on Twitter. He is at PP underscore Rich underscore Hill. You can find him on Twitter. He is at PP underscore Rich underscore Hill. You can follow Michael on Twitter at Michael J Kiss. He is the co-host of Locked On Eagles. Works over at Locked On Eagles as well. You can check out LockedOnEagles.com. And he works with me over at InsideThePylon.com.

Again, thanks to both of them, especially Michael for coming on and sharing their memories of Super Bowl 39. I'll be back tomorrow with Super Bowl 38. Again, with Rich Hill as well as Bill Rossetti from Locked on Panthers to break that game down. Until then, everybody, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. Thank you.