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FOR
USE AS DESIRED ****************************************************************************************************************************************** SUPERBOWL.COM THE OFFICIAL web site of Super Bowl XXXVI, superbowl.com offers complete coverage of the NFL title game, past and present. Features include the NFL playoff scoreboard, Super Bowl Central, news, features, a fantasy section, audio/video, history, auctions, contests, and a link to the New Orleans Super Bowl XXXVI Host Committee site. ****************************************************************************************************************************************** ONE AWAY FROM NEW ORLEANS! PATRIOTS TAKE ON STEELERS, EAGLES MEET RAMS IN CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES It won’t be easy to get to the “Big Easy.” But the final four teams in the NFL playoff race know that with one more win – this Sunday in the AFC and NFC Championship Games – they’re on their way to New Orleans, Louisiana for Super Bowl XXXVI on February 3. “We’re not done,” says quarterback KORDELL STEWART, speaking about his Pittsburgh Steelers but in reality, describing the quest of all four Championship Game teams. “We’ve got an opportunity to seize the moment.” The four teams striving to “seize the moment” this Sunday: AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Sunday’s games pit the top-seeded 2001 playoff teams in the AFC (No. 1 Pittsburgh vs. No. 2 New England) and the No. 1 (St. Louis) and No. 3 (Philadelphia) clubs in the NFC. The foursome have combined for an eye-opening .783 winning percentage through the regular and postseason (54-15). And, no matter which two teams win Sunday and proceed to Super Bowl XXXVI, it will mark the third year in a row that the NFL title game has had different teams than the year before. In the AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (CBS-TV, 12:30 PM ET), it will be a matchup of a team with gaudy offensive and defensive rankings against a club whose numbers don’t rank high, but wins anyway. It’s the NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS, still shaking the snow out of their helmets after their overtime Divisional Playoff win over Oakland in blizzard-like conditions, at the PITTSBURGH STEELERS, the NFL’s third-ranked offensive and top-ranked defensive team. “I hope it doesn’t snow,” kids Steelers head coach BILL COWHER. “They play pretty good in the snow.” The Patriots’ performance “in the snow” last Saturday night – making up a 10-point deficit in the third quarter to win in OT – is a good symbol of the team’s “overcome-any-obstacle” gumption it exhibited throughout 2001. New England started out 0-2, lost its quarterback DREW BLEDSOE to injury, and lost three of its first four games. Taking over for Bledsoe was a second-year quarterback most people had not heard of who had in fact thrown all of three passes in his rookie year. So what did young TOM BRADY do? Proceed to lead the Patriots to an 11-5 regular-season record, a ****************************************************************************************************************************************** SUPER BOWL FACTOID EAT UP!: It has been estimated that 14,500 tons of chips and 4,000 tons of popcorn are eaten on Super Bowl Sunday. ****************************************************************************************************************************************** “worst-to-first” last place-to-division title turnaround from one season to another, win 12 of his 15 starts, and earn a Pro Bowl berth. “He might have a bad play here and there,” says Patriots head coach BILL BELICHICK, runner-up to Chicago’s DICK JAURON in the Associated Press’ NFL Coach of the Year voting, “but he always battles through.” Brady is the seventh quarterback since 1970 to take his team to a championship game in the year of his first start:
FIRST START TO CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Brady has his weapons, like running back ANTOWAIN SMITH and wide receiver TROY BROWN. Smith, another 2001 surprise after being signed as a free agent this season, finished as the AFC’s sixth-leading rusher (1,157 yards) and tied Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year MARSHALL FAULK of St. Louis for the second-most rushing touchdowns (12) in the NFL (Seattle’s SHAUN ALEXANDER, 14). Brown had the best season of his nine-year career, finishing No. 4 in the AFC in catches (101) and yards (1,199). Brady’s “Gritty Bunch” faces a formidable opponent that has won eight of its nine games at its new home, Heinz Field. The Steelers tied Chicago for the second-most wins (13) in the league behind St. Louis’ 14, and ranked no lower than fourth in the NFL in five of the six offensive/defensive yardage categories. Their defense – featuring AP’s Defensive Rookie of the Year, linebacker KENDRELL BELL – was ranked first in the league (258.6 yards per game) and allowed the fewest points in the AFC (212) and third-fewest in the league. Did someone say “Steel Curtain II”? Pittsburgh held Baltimore to three first downs over the first three quarters and seven overall in its 27-10 Divisional Playoff victory Sunday. “When you come here, you hear about JACK HAM, JACK LAMBERT, the Hall of Famers, the tradition of the defense,” says Steelers linebacker MICHAEL JONES. “It makes you understand what you have to do to live up to that.” The Steelers’ offense has been living up to those Pittsburgh Super Bowl teams of the ’70s. It combined smart quarterbacking, bulldozing rushing, and fleet receivers this year to produce the league’s No. 3 offense. New England corners TY LAW and OTIS SMITH will have their hands full with the first Steelers tandem in history to each produce a 1,000-yard season – HINES WARD and PLAXICO BURRESS. “We’ve come a long way,” says Ward of the team’s air game. “At the beginning of the year, everybody was relying on the defense and the run. Now teams are scared to defend the run because of our passing game.” And the Pittsburgh running game has turned into a three-headed monster through necessity. JEROME BETTIS, who blasted away for his sixth consecutive 1,000-yard rushing season in 2001, has missed the past six weeks with a groin injury. No problem. The Steelers plugged in RBs CHRIS FUAMATU-MA’AFALA and AMOS ZEREOUE, who combined for 574 yards in the games Bettis missed, including 63 and two rushing touchdowns by Zereoue this past Sunday. The Pittsburgh offense is orchestrated by quarterback KORDELL STEWART, who earned his first Pro Bowl berth this year by masterfully directing the Steelers’ new simplified offense under new offensive coordinator MIKE MULARKEY, and tying for the second-fewest interceptions (11) of the top 20 NFL quarterbacks. Hailing from Marrero, Louisiana, Stewart (the New Orleans Player of the Year as a high school senior) would like nothing better than to return to nearby New Orleans for Super Bowl XXXVI. “I was with my family for Christmas,” he says. “As I was driving home over the Greater New Orleans Bridge, I was kind of looking at the area where Super Bowl will be played. You fantasize a bit.” The NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (FOX-TV, 4:15 PM ET) pits the NFL’s most explosive offense and one of its toughest defenses against perhaps the NFL’s top dual-threat quarterback and one of its best blitzing defenses. It’s the ST. LOUIS RAMS, with the high-powered offense and grudging defense, hosting the PHILADELPHIA EAGLES, with quarterback DONOVAN MC NABB and a blitz-happy defense. The teams began the season together in Philadelphia (a 20-17 OT win by the Rams) and one will end it in St. Louis. “We’re excited to be in this position,” says Philadelphia head coach ANDY REID as the team confronts its second successive road game after a 33-19 Divisional Playoff victory in Chicago. “The team is ready to play anywhere.” It will play in one of the noisiest stadiums in the league (decibel count at the Dome at America’s Center last Sunday in the Rams’ 45-17 win over Green Bay topped 100 at times – the equivalent of standing next to a snowmobile, chain saw or jackhammer) against one of the most threatening teams in the league – on each side of the ball. The Rams, by far, produced the biggest positive point-differential between offense and defense by any team this year – a 230-point difference between their points scored (503) and allowed (273). The Eagles had the fourth-biggest margin. The top five teams in the category in 2001: BIGGEST DIFFERENTIAL: POINTS SCORED/POINTS SURRENDERED
St. Louis’ defense, under new defensive coordinator LOVIE SMITH, turned around its overall ranking from 23rd in 2000 to third this year. And it’s that defense that the Eagles’ McNabb will have to dissect Sunday. The Rams forced eight turnovers, including six interceptions, against BRETT FAVRE and the Packers, with cornerback AENEAS WILLIAMS returning two pickoffs for an NFL single-game playoff-record two touchdowns. “The perception is that the offense carried us this season,“ says St. Louis defensive tackle TYOKA JACKSON. “We’re not an offensive team. We’re a complete football team. And to beat us, you’ve got to come with every phase – offense, defense and special teams. And you’ve got to do it in our place. Good luck.” Well, the Eagles think they’re up to the task, particularly because of McNabb. The QB has excelled in the last three full games he has played, leading the Eagles to the NFC Eastern Division title against the New York Giants in Week 16, topping Tampa Bay in the Wild Card round, and moving the Eagles to within a game of Super Bowl by completing 26 of 40 passes for 262 yards and two touchdowns, and rushing for 37 yards and another TD, in the team’s Divisional win over Chicago. “McNabb is just a great player,” says Rams defensive coordinator Smith. “It’s just a little different when you have a quarterback who can run the football and break down a defense. You just have to treat him a little more like a running back from time to time and adjust to him that way.” As far as the Eagles’ defense is concerned, defensive coordinator JIM JOHNSON likes to let them loose on blitzes. A lot of blitzes (the team had 19 sacks on blitzes this season). “We just blitz,” says Philadelphia defensive end HUGH DOUGLAS. “We’ll do what we do every week.” That’s fine with the AP NFL Most Valuable Player of 2001, St. Louis quarterback KURT WARNER, the league’s passing leader in 2001 (101.4) who completed 69 percent of his passes for nine TDs when he was blitzed this year. “We like it (when teams blitz),” says Warner. “Philadelphia is very good at the blitz. We never shy away from the blitz, because it gives us a chance to make some big plays. It’s going to be another chess match, where we’re going to have to figure out when they’re going to blitz us, and keep guys in to block them. And when they’re not going to blitz us, send everybody out and try to get some big plays that way.” Of course, the key piece in this “chess match” could be Rams RB MARSHALL FAULK (another New Orleans native), who has averaged 116 rushing yards over the past six games, and caught 30 passes in that time for 238 yards. What better way to beat a blitz with a little outlet pass – to Marshall Faulk? “There’s all kinds of ways to win a ballgame,” he says.
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
2001 PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
WILD CARD WEEKEND
DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS
2001 FINAL NFL REGULAR SEASON STANDINGS
*Clinched division title #Clinched playoff berth |
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