The New England Patriots have a good chance to win the Super Bowl this weekend.
Of course, that’s if the Rams Marshall Faulk decides he’d rather be a food vendor in the New Orleans Superdome as he was in his youth, rather than be today’s greatest running back in it.
Kurt Warner lost his voice two weeks ago. If he were to somehow lose his sight this week, that too would give the Patriots a pretty strong chance of winning the big game.
But the chances of those events happening are as unlikely as the Carolina Panthers chances of going to the playoffs next season. In other words, get ready for the type of Super Bowl that we are treated to all too frequently- a blowout.
The Superdome is a turf field and the Rams aren’t called the “greatest show on turf” for nothing. Their wide receivers, Tory Holt, Isaac Bruce and Az Hakeem, are all speed receivers who are uncatchable in the open field. They can catch any ball within a reasonable range, making them doubly dangerous.
In order to stop the Rams on the turf, a team needs four great defensive backs. Three to stop Bruce, Holt and Hakeem and one to stop Faulk after he runs past the linemen and linebackers. Beyond Lawyer Milloy and Troy Vincent, the Patriots don’t have much greatness in the secondary.
However, St. Louis’ two losses this season did come at home, on a turf field. That was more due to turnovers than anything else though.
The only real chance the Patriots have is if the Rams become complacent and turn the ball over several time, much as they did in their losses against New Orleans and Tampa Bay.
That plan nearly worked for the Patriots when they played the Rams in week 10 this season, which, by the way, was the last time New England lost. Kurt Warner threw for 405 yards, but also threw four interceptions. The Patriots came within a touchdown from winning that game, losing 24-17.
Complacency is unlikely to affect the Rams this week, considering that if you can’t get up to play in the Super Bowl, you are in the wrong profession.
Besides the Rams having an overabundance of talent on offense, to go with the number three defense in the league history is also not on the Patriots side.
History is as big a part of football as any sport, especially when it comes to the Super Bowl. The Cowboys and Steelers don’t lose Super Bowls, the Bills and Vikings don’t win them and the Patriots get blown out when they play the Super Bowl in New Orleans. New England lost the Super Bowl to the Packers in 1996 by a score of 34-21 and lost to the Bears in 1986, 46-10, both times in the Super Dome.
Belichick is a defensive mastermind and will have his team fully prepared to compete with the Rams. However, it will take more than a mastermind to stop the “greatest show on turf.” It will take a miracle.
New England may have already run out of miracles, though, after their second round game against the Raiders, featuring the “immaculate incompletion.”
