Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots November 6, 2017 - Super Bowl XXXVI Revisited

Episode Date: November 6, 2017

Mark Schofield completes his bye week series on New England's super bowl victories with a look back at Super Bowl XXXVI. He is joined by Rich Hill from Pats Pulpit and Matt Waldman from the Rookie Scouting Portfolio.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'll tell you what Tom Brady just did gives me goosebumps. I'm Mark Schofield from Locked On Patriots. Super Bowl 36 pitted the St. Louis Rams against the New England Patriots. For the Rams, they had the best record in football at 14-2. They were the greatest show on turf. A high-flying offense led by quarterback Kurt Warner, who had weapons like Isaac Bruce, Torrey Holt, Azazir Hakeem, and running back Marshall Falk. Meanwhile, the Patriots entered the game with an 11-5 record. They made the playoffs after they lost their starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe

early in the season to an injury. In stepped in number 12, Tom Brady. Brady led the team to an AFC East title and a berth in the divisional round playoffs. In that game against the Oakland Raiders in the snow, the Patriots pulled out a victory, an improbable comeback featuring two tremendous kicks from Adam Vinatieri. Then the Patriots went on the road and defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in a game which saw Brady get injured and Bledsoe come back onto the field to lead the team to victory. But it would be Brady who saw the start in Super Bowl XXXVI.

And up against such a high-powered team, such a high-powered offense, the Patriots began the night doing something that no team had done before. Eschewing the tradition of individual introductions, the Patriots went a different route. And now, ladies and gentlemen, shooting to the energy of the team, here are the American Football Conference champions, the New England Patriots took the field as a team, something that sort of exemplified their entire season. But as you might expect, given their high-powered offense, it was the Rams who would strike first in Super Bowl XXXVI on a 50-yard field goal.

If, like me, you grew up listening to Pat Summerall and John Madden, it's great just to hear their voices again. The field goal gave the Rams a 3-0 lead, which they enjoyed until the 8-minute and 45-second mark of the second quarter. That's when the Patriots' defense scored the first touchdown of Super Bowl XXXVI. Linebacker Mike Vrabel blitzed off the edge and got in the face of Kurt Warner as he attempted to pass. The errant throw fell into the arms of cornerback Ty Law, who returned it for the touchdown. The extra point gave New England a 7-3 lead. The game would remain at 7-3 until

very late in the second quarter. With under a minute remaining, Brady and the offense looked to strike, and the young quarterback dropped back and looked for David Patton in the corner of the end zone. Here's Brady back. Firing end zone. Touchdown! Patriots' David Patton made a great catch. And that's a guy they're going to work on is Dexter McQueen.

They didn't get him the first time, they got him that time. David Patton made a heck of a move, though. He ever. And what a catch he made. And what a throw Tom Brady makes. Watch him, he starts out, then he starts up. He threw his little out and up, and he threw it right to that second pylon. See the out there, he sells him in the out, McLean takes a step up. Brady throws it right over to a perfect spot for David Patton connected on a short out and up route.

The receiver showing the out route to the sideline before breaking vertically. Brady used a perfect pump fake and Patton ran a perfect route and came down with a well-placed throw with an acrobatic catch in the back of the end zone. The short touchdown pass gave New England a 14-3 lead headed into halftime, something nobody saw coming. Up next, the second half of Super Bowl XXXVI. Super Bowl XXXVI saw only three points scored in the third quarter. Again, it was New England adding to their lead

as Adam Vinatieri knocked through a 37-yard field goal. But things were about to get much more exciting. Headed into the fourth quarter, the Patriots enjoyed a 17-3 lead, but the Rams were driving. Then in an instant, it looked for a moment like the Patriots had just sealed Super Bowl 36. Facing a fourth down and goal, quarterback Kurt Warner rolled to his right, but then disaster struck, at least for the moment. They're going to go for it. I'm Mike March's play call sheet. He has an area called you know must score and fourth down plays in the goal line.

He's thought about this he's visualized this and he has the play that he wants for this situation. He hasn't used that sheet must score too much today. Or he's used it and hasn't worked.

He's got to be a little bit more aggressive. He's got to be a little bit more aggressive. He hasn't used that sheet must score too much today or he's Houston who hasn't worked well in motion here is Warner he's going to try to scramble in the Patriots have it. They scoop it up. This could be the longest. This is to Bucky Jones, to Bucky Jones, to the five. The flag on the play, I believe.

It might have stepped out of bounds. The flag is way back on the five-yard line. The flag was for a defensive hold and penalty. Linebacker Willie McGinnis basically tackled Marshall Falk as he tried to release into a pass pattern. That penalty negated what would have been a back-breaking fumble return for a touchdown by Patriots defensive back to Bucky Jones.

Given new life, the Rams looked to capitalize. Second. Touchdown, Rams. the Rams looked to capitalize. Warner's short touchdown run cut into New England's lead and the extra point made it 17-10. The teams traded punts then in the fourth quarter, but late in the game, Warner and the Rams offense struck again. seven left. Warner lost it and Ricky Proll is going to score. Ricky Proll has come up with some big ones, none bigger than that one from 26 yards out from Kurt Warner. How about Kurt Warner's big ones that he's come up with? Maybe none bigger than that.

Proles touchdown reception and the extra point tied Super Bowl 36 at 17. After the kickoff, the Patriots took over deep in their own territory with no timeouts. Up in the booth, legendary coach and broadcaster John Madden had his thoughts on New England's plan of action. Rich Hill, from Pat's's pulpit disagreed with the legendary coach's ideas seeing what the rams had done on the offensive side of the ball and looking at how the patriots defense was playing at this point in time rich didn't want to play for overtime i want to go ahead and say that i had perfect vision of what was about to take place. I was like, yeah, Madden's wrong in retrospect.

But honestly, I have no idea. I think at that point in the game, the Patriots' defense had tired out a little bit. The Rams were starting to be a little bit more productive. And so you didn't really want to have to rely on that coin toss. So they had time on the clock. Why not go for it? They had literally nothing to lose. So, I mean, they're not going to get stopped

and give the Rams time to have a counter drive. So I think going for it was always going to be the right choice. For Super Bowl XXXVI, I wanted to talk to one person about this game, and that's Matt Waldman, creator of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio, Matt is one of the smartest football minds in the entire industry. And he and I sat down to talk about Brady's final drive here, and Matt shared his thoughts about how the Patriots should approach the final moments of Super Bowl XXXVI.

Well, I mean, to me, I understand. I mean, Madden is a great coach, and when you look at the whole situation, you understand why if you don't really know Tom Brady at that point, and who would really know him to be the player that he turned out to be, you would think, well, he's a young player. Let's just give him an opportunity where we can maybe get the ball and settle down and have a game plan moving forward but obviously bill belichick knew his quarterback better than john madden and that's to be expected and i think what they did here which was nice is that i was surprised by that um but you you can kind of see from the first play of that series, you can kind of

see the smarts there with what they did and how it kind of set the stage for the rest of the play. Up next, the thrilling conclusion of Super Bowl 36. New England's final drive began slowly with two short completions to run-and-back J.R. Redmond. The two short completions did not do much for New England in terms of field position, but as Matt Waldman breaks down, they were like a boxer, feeling out his opponent, and they set the stage for what was to come. Because, you know, they line up in this kind of, you know, two-by-one receiver set, and Brady looks to the right side, you know, and he looks deep and goes short. So, you know and he looks deep and goes short so you know he looks deep sees that it's not there he does a great job of stepping from pressure off

the right side and just checks down to J.R. Redman and it's a really heady play because he's about to get get he's getting hit as he throws the ball and while it's a short game it actually kind of sets up some things down the line it sure was and it was and i think that it's that the fact that belichick had faith in him to to look downfield and throw as their first play um you know backed up in their own in their own area certainly shows a lot of confidence in him and while it was a close call for him what that ended up doing is the fact that the defense kind of saw him looking downfield early, backed up in that area. I think it caused them to play off a little bit more

and play a little looser because they were like, he is looking deep. They're not trying to run. They're not trying to dump down just necessarily yet. He was trying to attack us. And if it weren't for our rush we would have done something so they kind of played off and what was nice about that is it set up that next play because brady was like okay this time i'm not gonna go deep right

away i'm gonna check it down because they're playing loose once again because they saw i kind of helped set that up so let's go to redmond and get another quick 12, you know, and next thing you know, they're, you know, what they're the 35 and they're, they're getting, or close to that and they're threatening at the 30, you know, on their second play. And then they're, they're hurrying up on the next play. So, and then they stopped the clock. So what you get there is kind of a game within the game. And in the first two plays where it's like, I attack deep, put the defense on notice,

and then I'm going to go right back to the guy I checked out to because it's an easy opportunity. And, you know, he didn't waste money. I mean, you look at it and you go, well, you know, a good bit of time went off the clock. He went from 121 left to 41 left, but still they were moving the ball. And I think that showed you that there was some life left to live there.

And it was kind of that exploratory punch, that kind of jab and kind of circle around that worked out all right. After a Brady spike, the quarterback hit Redman again, this time in the left flat. And the running back raced upfield the reception before getting knocked out of bounds. They need about 40 more yards before they're going to be in field goal range. There's Brady. Not much pressure.

Throws out to Redmond again. Redmond gets the first down. Yeah, and I think that at that point it's like, and part of that philosophy probably too is let's make the young quarterback drive the field. Don't give up a big play, but make him drive it. Let's see if he can. And if we can get some pressure on him around the edges,

maybe we'll disrupt him enough that he'll make some bad plays and and at the same time there's not a lot of time left now it still it's second and 10 41 left they're like let's make sure that the outside is well covered because that's probably the the area that they're going to want to throw to so we're going to try and take away that outside range and they did i. I mean, he looks to his right. There's some pressure coming from the left that gets into his face. But he does a really nice job on this play that when the end gets, you know, a push on the left tackle, you've got Redman on the left side.

Brady's still looking down to his right, sees it's not covered. And he's very poised with a quick turn. And you can tell when he turned that the ball was coming out just as he pivoted I mean there was no hesitation he knew where Redmond was and Redmond to his credit you know makes the first man miss in the open field you know former Arizona State star shows some nice bursts against the the cornerback playing that outside flat and he drives to be able to get close to the boundary and out of bounds for 11. The Patriots had a new set of downs, and as Matt talks about there, to this point, the Rams had played somewhat conservative, using soft coverage to take away

deep throws. Up in the booth, John Madden had noticed that as well, and he wondered if the Rams were going to finally start to get after Brady. And on the next play, that's exactly what St. Louis would do. Well, the Rams are getting a little too loose, I think, with their defense. When they had them backed up, you'd think they would have pressured them a little more. Here they come. Here they come. And Brady throws. Incomplete. He just got rid of it.

Yeah, he sure does. I mean, you get a linebacker in safety coming off the right guard side, and you can tell that the way the protection was set up, they weren't ready for this. This wasn't something they spotted and called at the line because if it was going to be a slide protection on that way then the running back is supposed to work the opposite side of the slide to the right he would go inside and pick up one of these two guys probably the linebacker and then brady would have at least a shot to step up and work underneath the the defensive back who's

layered with it but that's not the case. And you've got, you know, so when you look at it, as soon as he drops back and he sees those men coming, he's like, well, that's not going to be accounted for. I have to get rid of this. And it's just that quick poise and awareness to get outside the pocket and throw it away. Brady's quick thinking and throwaway prevented what could have been a disastrous sack but the fact remained the Patriots were on their own 41 yard line and with no timeouts and just 29 seconds left in Super Bowl 36 they needed a big play to flip the field and get into range for Vinatieri. The play that they dialed up, 64 max all in. A three

receiver route combination off of the levels concept with receivers crossing from right to left from Brady's point of view. They were caught, and it's Troy Brown, and he gets out of bounds, and they might be in Benatari's range with 21 seconds left. This is amazing. This is something, and I'll admit that as a coach and as an analyst, I don't think they should have done, but they had the guts. They have a young quarterback, and they did it. They were backed up. They were inside their own 20.

They had no timeouts left, and they're no timeouts left and they're calling these plays and and not only calling these plays but making these plays yeah i mean it sure is you know and it's one of those situations too where you know it's a it's a tough you know the rams try and defend a little bit of the middle of the field here with the with the drop back of a defensive tackle into the middle zone. First, number 90 looks like he's going to come towards the center, and then he starts to drop back up the left hash. Brady's looking from right to left because, one, he's looking to see if the safety on that side deep is going to give up anything.

He sees very quickly during his drop that that's not going to happen. Then when he takes that hitch, he's following those next reads which is troy brown working that dig across the field and you know you kind of knew you would have to imagine that what must have been going through brady's mind on one level is on a very fundamental level is the rams are going to take away the sideline because they're going to try and make them believe this so you can see the outside shade coverage there by the cornerbacks and then they're like maybe we and make them believe this. So you can see the outside shade coverage there by the cornerbacks, and then they're like, maybe we can confuse him because when he takes that, you know, what we've seen from him thus far

is he's trying to look for somebody up the boundary or outside or downfield, you know, on those levels. And then when he checks down, he's checking down into a flat or into a short middle area so if we can sneak a defensive tackle back there with the drop then maybe we'll catch brady you know not seeing that and he'll target somebody over the middle there but brady you know in his hitch when he hitches like that that defensive tackle then comes sliding back up like maybe i better account for him scrambling and kind of

climbs up to try and get into the way of the passing lane there as well and Brady just fits it right over to Brown where the outside you know cornerback playing that outside shade leaves a big you know a big cushion there and then Brown just does a great job because of the the cornerback overreacting slides inside and Brown's able to get another what you know seven to ten yards on it and get them in the field goal range yeah absolutely i mean that can't be understated at all i mean or overstated at all because it is one of those scenarios that you don't like throwing in the middle of the field with 21 seconds left um but it's the type of route that was perfect for it because it is a route that's breaking and you're throwing in stride. So you give your receiver a fighting chance.

If Brady threw this behind the receiver or a little too high or a little too low, which can happen in those scenarios when we talk about pressure situations, it may look like a simple play, a simple pitch and catch, but these are the types of scenarios where even good quarterbacks who are starting in the league in this scenario can throw the ball a little off. And if they do that, it can really ruin a play where the receiver stumbles and falls and he's on the ground and now time's running out. Well, we started seeing Tom Brady become Tom Brady, I would say, closer towards the Raiders game. So we had a general idea of who he was and what he was capable of doing. But to have that game-winning drive, they needed to have one big play. You know, that's how every single game-winning drive takes place. You can't just dink and dunk your way to a two-minute drill

game-winning drive. It's not going to happen. So there had to be one play to take place, and of all of the receivers possibly on the field, it had to be Troy Brown. I mean, Troy Brown was going to be that big play guy because he was his top receiver. He was the one that, you know, model of the Julian Edelman that we see this day and age. He was able to do it all, get that quick separation. And he had such an amazing rapport with Brady. So I'm not surprised that it was Troy Brown that did it. And I'm not surprised that they needed that big play to win the Super Bowl.

For both Rich Hill and Matt Waldman, the connection between Brady and Brown was a legacy-type moment for both players. Oh, seriously, if you had to rank the, you know, let's say the top five wide receivers of the Bill Belichick era, how would you do it? Who would be your top five? I mean i think you go moss i think you welker edelman brown and maybe deon branch but i think those are the five right yeah 100 that's just he is one of the the all-time greats of the franchise he is a huge part of those super bowls and a factor in him playing in on the defensive side of the ball, you're going to be hard-pressed to find a more impactful receiver in most franchise histories. Yeah, I mean, I definitely

would because, you know, we can always talk about things you saw from him at Michigan and what you saw with him before the Super Bowl matchup that you can say, this is who Tom Brady was and we could have seen it coming and all of that. And yes, that's very true in the extent that because he made it, he made that moment happen here. Because the Super Bowl is really what solidified, it's the big games that solidify what you really are. It magnifies who you really are. Win or lose, it magnifies where you are. Because I'm a Titans fan. So the year before, I'm watching Steve McNair get within a

yard of winning the Super Bowl on an incredible drive against the same team that Tom Brady is facing. And while the Titans lost that that game anyone who watched that game realized what steve mcnair was in that game even though you could have seen him first you know seasons before and saw the the what he did the fact that he could do it on that stage the fact that he could make the near impossible happen in crazy scenarios and and bring that team down the down the field really created the local legend and the regional legend and and for those who are diehard NFL fans the legend that Steve McNair was so when you look at Tom Brady it's the same thing it's like yeah he he made the simple plays he took the complex situations and the pressure field situations,

and he executed it on a simple level. And that's one of the things that makes Brady great. I talk about it a lot even today when comparing him with other quarterbacks who may be more physically gifted, who may actually have better tight window accuracy, who can do some things with their scrambling ability or off-balance throws. But when it comes to here's a simple route that's breaking open

in a scenario where you should be able to get it to him and he should get 20, 30 yards downfield, and you can't place it accurately enough for him to make the catch because you're rushing because you're so excited about it and it's just a regular season game and you have the lead, not being behind with seconds remaining or tied with seconds remaining. In the biggest game of your life,

in the biggest game of the year, Tom Brady, the fact that Tom Brady is able to execute and make the simple things work and find the simple solutions in situations that seem complex or pressure-packed is what makes him great and makes other great quarterbacks great. And this game absolutely defined that for him. But New England still needed a few more yards to be safely within range for Adam Vinatieri. And like this team had seen all year long, another relatively unknown figure emerged at a critical moment. Right now it would be a 53-yarder. Here comes the blitz and here's Brady. He dumps it to Wiggins down to the 30 and now now no question about it, they are in range, but they've got to hurry.

Maybe he can spike it right here and stop the clock. That's what he'll do. He'll spike it here. Seven seconds. You know, every player has a little bit of a place to go. You know, it was a big little dump-off pass to him that just, you know just got them a little bit closer, changed the hash marks, so Vinatieri had a little bit of a more favorable direction for him. I don't want to say people really forgot him, but he really didn't do too much outside of this Super Bowl. If you look at his playing history, I'm really happy for him.

Is he on 98.5 or something in the in boston radio so he he's made a whole career out of it very very happy for how he's stuck around in in boston lore but he he rose up to the occasion i can't think of uh another patriots player that really just came out and was such a big factor in the super bowl without really doing too much else otherwise. You know, I don't want to call it like the Danny Amendola where you just kind of sit and wait for the entire regular season and then bust out on the scene in the postseason. But that was kind of what Wiggins did. He was open.

He did his job. He converted on all of the opportunities that he had. And I think part of the reason he doesn't get more attention is that none of those catches were circus catches. None of them were really big receptions like that Troy Brown play. Troy Brown gets the recognition on that drive because it was the field flipper. Whereas Wiggins had, I'm not sure exactly off the top of my head, but it was like two, three catches on that drive for 15, 20 yards. He just picked up consistent chunks, but he wasn't the field flipper. So he was a good role piece.

And I think that's what people will remember. And honestly, I would say people probably remember Wiggins better than most tight ends in the Belichick era, given the amount of production he actually had in New England. The completion to Wiggins and then the spike from Brady stopped the clock and set the stage for Vinatieri. And to this day that image of the Brady spike followed by the quarterback slowly catching the ball to hand to the referee gives me goosebumps. But the entire drive had the same impact on John Madden. They got Vinatarian range. I'll tell you, what Tom Brady just did gives me goosebumps.

Yeah, and you know, it's one of those scenarios where you have to give a lot of credit to Bill Belichick and the way that he also, he and the staff, you know, coached their team and how their team seemed prepared because you could see the linemen getting up to the line. There was an urgency, but they weren't panicked in terms of how they approached it. And it also trickles down from your quarterback. And when your quarterback grew up idolizing Joe Montana, who is the ultimate cool customer at the quarterback position,

you know, you can understand that this is someone who imitates a lot of that, who, you know, tries to, you know, learn from that. And I'm sure that Tom Brady, who talks about being there to see the game with the catch against Dallas, you know, with his father and how that was one of the ceiling moments for him. You know he remembers the John Candy game against the Bengals. You know he's thinking if I'm at that time as a young, budding quarterback probably in high school, he's probably thinking if I ever get in this situation,

I want to be like that. I want to do things like that. I want people to remember me about it the way I remember Joe Montana, which is that nothing rattled him. But still, the Patriots needed one more play, a field goal from Adam Vinatieri. And Rich Hill wasn't quite confident yet. You never want to say that it's going to be for certain you know this

was their first super bowl they didn't really have any of that i think they can't lose you know right clear eyes clear his heart you know they just couldn't they didn't have that with him so whatever they made as we said at the beginning was just going to be gravy and he knocked it through he made it but i was never for a second convinced it was going to be 100 which kind of attempt this would be from 48 yards out and this this has been a year of that military and making some great kicks against the raiders two of the greatest kicks that i've ever seen in my life. Here comes one of greater importance if he makes it. And it's right down the pipe. And.

Ben Terry. No time on the clock. And the Patriots have won Super Bowl thirty six. Unbelievable. That's the way you should win a Super Bowl. No time on the clock. The score read 20-17. The Patriots were world champions.

I was freaking out. This was their first super bowl this was the first championship uh i had seen in in boston sports so this was a monumental occasion for the entire region and they were such underdogs they were not expected to do anything and they came out and i mean this final drive kind of encapsulated a lot of what they represented this whole year where they weren't going to take no for an answer and they were just going to compete until the very last minute and it ultimately it worked out for them they had to have a lot of very fortunate breaks go their way in the 2001-2002 season and you know they were Super Bowl champs I want to thank my great guests for this episode Rich Hill from Pat's Pulpit you can follow him

on Twitter at pp underscore rich underscore hill as well as Matt Waldman you can follow him on Twitter at Matt Waldman he's also the creator of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio. You should check that out every year. You can get a look at it. MattWaldmanRSP.com I also just want to take a moment and thank all the guests that were kind enough to come on with me and talk about these games. Rich Hill, who I spoke with for each one of these Super Bowls,

took a lot of time with me, and I really appreciate that from Rich. Aaron Freeman, coming on to talk about Super Bowl 51. Danny Kelly to talk about Super Bowl 49. Michael Kist, Super Bowl 39. Bill Rossetti, Super Bowl 38. And again, Matt Waldman here for Super Bowl 36. This has been an amazing experience

and I'm truly lucky to be able to spend time with each of those individuals and talk about these games and get their thoughts and their reflections on these perhaps iconic games in football history. I hope you've enjoyed these episodes as well. Again, something a little bit different here through the bye week, a little bit of a narrative focus trying something a little bit different. But I hope you enjoyed these. I've enjoyed putting them together for you. We'll be back with regular content here at Locked on Patriots, getting ready for their upcoming game with the Denver Broncos.

Until then, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, in Locked on Patreons.