Rams a unique challenge to Patriots

Posted 7:21AM on Saturday 2nd February 2002 ( 23 years ago )

NEW ORLEANS - Bill Belichick chatted about the lure of Bourbon Street and a previous Super Bowl where he saw guards with rifles on rooftops. His main concern, though, was the blur of blue and gold uniforms known as the St. Louis Rams. ``There's definitely a heightened awareness or a little bit more focus than normal,'' he said Friday with the Super Bowl just two days away. ``This is a special week and a special game and everybody realizes what's at stake.'' Especially his Patriots. On Nov. 18, New England lost to the Rams 24-17. The loss dropped the Patriots to 5-5 and seemed to send them down a familiar road - their third straight season without a playoff berth. But they haven't lost since then, overcoming controversy and adversity to finish the year 11-5. So what's one more huge challenge Sunday, when New England will try to stop Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and plenty of fleet wide receivers on a team that scored more than 500 points for an unprecedented three consecutive seasons? ``We're not going to be able to win this game offensively,'' Belichick said. The Patriots were the best in the AFC at limiting touchdowns inside the 20-yard line, but St. Louis often reaches the end zone from farther out. They pored over game plans, squinted at tapes and tried to fit some non-football fun into their busy schedule. That could have drawn a warning from Belichick to avoid the city's best-known boulevard of debauchery. ``I'm sure I wasn't successful. In all honesty, I never mentioned Bourbon Street to them,'' he said. ``We all encounter different things daily, and you can't predict how life is going to go.'' Security increased as the Super Bowl neared. National Guardsmen weaved through celebrants standing outside bars. Sheriff's deputies were out in force. But Belichick remembers a tighter clampdown when he was an assistant coach with the New York Giants at the 1991 Super Bowl in Tampa, played five days after the Persian Gulf war began. ``Seeing the snipers up on top of the hotel that we were staying in and at the game and so forth,'' he said, ``I thought it was really more of a visible security and maybe made it a little more uneasy than what it seems like here.'' He doesn't pay much attention to that anyway. He's too busy showing his players how to avoid the problems that cost them their first game against the Rams. Two turnovers led to St. Louis' 14 first-half points, and the Patriots scored just 10 points on offense in the game. They probably would have had more if Antowain Smith hadn't lost a fumble at the Rams' 3-yard line with 2:12 left in the half. ``They ran well to get to the 3,'' said St. Louis linebacker London Fletcher, who forced the fumble. ``I was looking at it as a challenge to our unit to step up.'' St. Louis took the ball and marched to a touchdown with 31 seconds remaining as Warner went 7-for-8 for all 97 yards. ``I took it very hard,'' Smith said. ``When I go out there Sunday I want to redeem myself.'' Despite the close score, the Rams held the ball nearly eight minutes more and outgained the Patriots 482 yards to 230. New England had just 49 offensive plays. ``We know how explosive they are on all downs, but the two-minute situation is something we want to make sure we put a little extra emphasis on,'' Belichick said. He also had another loss on his mind - 35-21 to Green Bay in the 1997 Super Bowl when he was the Patriots assistant head coach. The Packers led 27-14 at halftime with touchdown passes of 81 and 54 yards. ``I coached the secondary in that game,'' Belichick said. ``I didn't walk out of there feeling like we did do a good job.'' The Patriots have only two players on their injury report for Sunday's game: Quarterback Tom Brady and left tackle Matt Light are listed as probable. But New England needs much more than good health to improve on its last performance against the Rams. ``If we don't play any better than we played them,'' on Nov. 18, Belichick said, ``we'll probably get the same result. Maybe worse.'' He'll find out Sunday.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/2/199311