Super Bowl XXXIX is history now, but a few odds and ends in a reporter’s notebook still remain while needing 51 weeks to brace ourselves for the next one, in Detroit. To paraphrase my colleague, Tony Kornheiser, what’s the matter, Anchorage wasn’t available?
Patriots Place in History: We all know only two teams, the Patriots and Dallas Cowboys, have won three Super Bowls in a four-year stretch, but I’m still not prepared to put New England at the head of the NFL class of all-time great teams in the modern era. The Green Bay Packers won five titles in a seven-year stretch under Vince Lombardi, and the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s remain the best team I’ve ever seen up close and personal, with nine Hall of Fame players. If New England wins three in a row, I’ll gladly put them in the same league.
| ____ Super Bowl XXXIX ____
• For the Patriots' coaches, good things came in threes.
• The fates of the past four Super Bowl losers does not bode well for the Eagles.
• New England defeats Philadelphia, 24-14, for its third Lombardi Trophy in four years.
• Michael Wilbon: The Patriots put themselves among the best ever.
• The Patriots take the NFL's center stage again and make history.
• Terrell Owens caps his remarkable comeback with nine catches.
• Eagles QB Donovan McNabb struggles in his first Super Bowl.
• The Patriots defense pressures McNabb and stymies the Eagles.
• Play of the Game: Corey Dillon scores to snap 14-14 tie.
• Notebook: Deion Branch pulls down 10 catches, wins MVP honors.
• Best & Worst
_____ On Our Site _____
• Photos
• Bracket
• Play-by-play
• Box score
• Were you paying more attention to the commercials or the game? Take our postgame quiz to find out.
• Commentary: Fox's broadcast crew separates itself from the pack.
• Super Bowl trivia quiz
• Interactive guide, including lineups, profiles and photos.
• Discuss the game.
• Super Bowl XXXIX Section
_____ From the AP _____
• Many commercials feature familiar storylines, but few stand out.
• What was your favorite ad?.
• Paul McCartney gives the NFL just what it wants -- a clean and controversy-free halftime show.
• Patriots QB Tom Brady outplays McNabb and improves his record to 9-0 in the playoffs.
____ Audio ____
• Brady on the turning point.
• Belichick on winning third title.
• Owens proved a point by playing.
• McNabb praises Brady, Patriots.
_____ Super Bowl Memories _____
• Thirty-eight games. Some good, some clunkers. Look back at an event that has grown into one of the largest one-day spectacles in sports.
• Here are our favorite Redskins Super Bowl moments.
• What's your favorite?
• Super Bowl XXVI, the last great hurrah for Redskins fans.
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Hall of Fame Part I: The Patriots have managed to win 34 games the last two seasons with only one sure-shot Hall of Fame player on their roster. That would be quarterback Tom Brady, who, if he stopped playing right now, likely would be a first ballot selection. Kicker Adam Vinatieri may have a shot, but there’s only one pure kicker in the Hall, Jan Stenerud, and voters’ anti-special team bias may keep him out, even if he’s the best clutch kicker in the game. Bill Belichick, of course, is also a first ballot lock. However, if players like Tedy Bruschi, Willie McGinest and Rodney Harrison aren’t even voted onto the Pro Bowl team, how are they going to make it to Canton? Bruschi, at least, goes to Hawaii this week as an injury replacement.
Hall of Fame Part II: Once again Art Monk is denied for reasons truly beyond my comprehension. The only so-called knock on him is that he didn’t make the spectacular catch in the big game. I have always countered that Monk was never the Redskins deep threat, but the guy who always kept the chains moving, the go-to receiver when a vital third down had to be converted. He sacrificed for his team, was a wicked blocker down field and in Joe Gibbs protection schemes and has more catches than any receiver now in the Hall of Fame. I still believe he’s going to get in; it took Lynn Swann 14 years.
Fly Like a Bird: Whatever else you may have thought about Terrell Owens past transgressions—the wing-flapping after scores, the Sharpie, the stomping on the Cowboys star—make no mistake, the man does come to play. Less than six weeks after breaking his leg and suffering major ankle damage, the guy had a brilliant Super Bowl, with nine catches for 122 yards. If Philly pulls it out, he’s the MVP in my opinion. By the way, I also think the Eagles took a terrible risk in letting him play. He had two screws holding bone on bone, and please don’t tell me, as the Eagles did all week, that he couldn’t have hurt himself any more by playing. They’re just very lucky he didn’t. There are times when someone really has to protect a player from himself, and the Eagles didn’t do it.
Tick, Tick, Tick: What was Andy Reid thinking in the fourth quarter with his team trailing by ten points? What happened to the two-minute offense teams work on at the end of every practice since training camp began in July? How could the Eagles have wasted so much precious time sauntering up to the line of scrimmage as if they were protecting a two-touchdown lead?
Freddie Who? The week before Super Bowl week, Eagles receiver Freddie Mitchell said he couldn’t remember the names of the Patriot cornerbacks and would have a special surprise during the game for safety Rodney Harrison. His own teammates told him to stuff it before he met the press corps on media day, and on game day, he was held to one catch. Go figure.
Hall of Fame Part III: The selection of Fritz Pollard and Benny Friedman to the Hall of Fame was long overdue, and in the spirit of full disclosure, I must say I’m proud to have been a member of the Senior Committee that pushed for their inclusion. Pollard was the first black coach in league history back in the 1920s, and probably should have played for the Chicago Bears. After all, he and Bears founder and head coach George Halas played against each other in high school, but Halas apparently was opposed to having black athletes in the league. Friedman was a passing game pioneer, even while throwing a football then shaped more like a cantaloupe than its current configuration. What struck everyone in the room was the fact that Friedman once led the league in passing with 20 touchdown throws, a total the Chicago Bears haven’t reached in the last nine seasons.
This Just In: Super Bowl XL in Detroit will match the New England Patriots against the Philadelphia Eagles in a year Joe Gibbs will get the Redskins back to the playoffs as a wild card team.
Questions or comments? Send Len an e-mail.
