The greatest example was the time they were called upon to defend their own against the K-Gun of Buffalo.
Bill, it is told, had a unique plan.
Some doubted his wisdom.
They prided themselves on the fact they hadn’t given up 100 yards to anyone.
And this felt like dark magic to many.
And yet they trusted in Little Bill, so they agreed to follow his plan.
And it was successful.
Thomas gained his yards, but the Giants emerged victorious.
Much time went by.
For three years they were the best offense in all the land.
Let by Kurt Warner who had won two MVPs in three seasons.
Stopping him seemed the only way to emerge victorious.
And yet had proved impossible.
Again, he was correct.
He proved again he was the wisest strategist the world had ever known.
And led his men to triumph against impossible odds.
OK, I can’t keep up that narrative style for another paragraph.
So instead I’ll refer to the NFL Films recap of Super Bowl XXXVI.
Because I can still hear narration in my head.
A bold strategy in a career full of them.
It’s hard to overstate just how good the Rams attack was.
They weren’t just the No.
1 scoring offense in the league three years running; it wasn’t even close.
In 2001 they scored 503 points, which was90 morethan the No.
2 team, Indianapolis, with over 700 more yards gained.
Warner and Faulk (who had over 2,000 yards of total offense) were All Pros.
Receivers Torry Holt and Issac Bruce were Pro Bowlers, with 1,300 and 1,100 yards respectively.
Since the beginning of December, the Rams were 8-0, with an average of 35.1 points per game.
In short, this was awagon.
But Belichick’s unorthodox approach of focusing on Faulk worked.
The Rams first possession ended with a punt.
The next two were each 10-play drives that ended with field goal tries, one good and one wide.
The fourth ended in disaster for them when Belichick changed things up.
That subtle but critical change screwed up Warner’s protection.
Conwell released on a seam route, with Roman Phifer on him.
Rams RT Rod Jones looked inside for Bobby Hamilton, who instead ran a stunt inside.
(Which he would fill up in the years to come.)
None of the Rams next five possessions lasted longer than six plays.
To the receiver who caught their only offensive touchdown of the AFCCG at Pittsburgh, David Patten.
Warner’s two interceptions were more than he’d thrown in his earlier two postseason games combined.
And it led to an Adam Vinatieri field goal that gave the Patriots a 17-3 lead.
With all their points coming off turnovers.
It was almost 24 points off four turnovers.
was caught wrapping Faulk up and throwing him to the ground.
The Rams scored to make it 17-10.
Then again to tie it.
Which I’ll get to.
More to the point, disrupting him disrupted everything Martz' finely tuned instrument was designed to do.
Finally, everyone knows how it ended.
And to this day I can’t hear Gil Santos' “It’s GOOD!
It’s GOOOOD!”
call without a Pavolvian crying response.
And I’m sure everyone knows what moment it’ll be.
