Belichick's Greatest Hits No. 2: The Time He Shut Down the Rams Offense. Yes, That Time.

Damian Strohmeyer. Getty Images.

In the Before Times, in the Long, Long Ago, the people who identified themselves as the Giants referred to the one they called Little Bill. A young prince, but with extraordinary vision, but whose ideas were often unusual to the point they sometimes appeared to unwise. 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. If the one known as Thurman Thomas, he declared, gained 100 yards or more, the Giants would win.

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. And the scripture of Bill's strategy was sent to the sacred place in Canton, to be preserved for future generations. 

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Much time went by. Bill was now his king of the Patriots, but once again in a fight against a legendary attack of the Rams known as The Greatest Show on Turf. 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. This time, and older and even wiser Bill saw that the key was not Warner, but Marshall Faulk, who had won the MVP the year before. 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. "The Patriot strategy was to hit Marshall Faulk when he had the ball … [jump cut to him getting tackled hard] and hit him when he didn't [jump cut to him getting decked as he tried to come across the line of scrimmage on a route]. Belichick had surmised over the one week of preparation (the postseason schedule was condensed due to 9/11) he had that Mike Martz entire offense ran through Faulk, whether or not he was an intended target on any given play. It seemed counter-intuitive. A bold strategy in a career full of them. And it worked. 

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 was 90 more than 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. And just for shits and gigs, LT Orlando Pace was All Pro and RG Andrew Timmerman made the Pro Bowl as well. 

Since the beginning of December, the Rams were 8-0, with an average of 35.1 points per game. In short, this was a wagon. And it was no surprise to anyone that they were 14 point favorites of a New England team that was deemed to be lucky to even be there. And wouldn't be there if the officials hadn't reversed a call (mere seconds inside the 2:00 warning) against Oakland and the Pats special teams hadn't scored two touchdowns at Pittsburgh. 

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.

For the first time in the 28 defensive snaps, Mike Vrabel got into a 3-point stance on the strong side of the formation, with an inside shade on tight end Ernie Conwell. 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. That left Vrabel unblocked with a full head of steam into the dreamy face of Warner that every mom in America was in love with, who rushed his throw. Ty Law jumped the route and didn't stop until he had six points and a punch hole in his Hall of Fame Induction card. (Which he would fill up in the years to come.)

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None of the Rams next five possessions lasted longer than six plays. One of those ended with a Ricky Proehl fumble that set up the Patriots only offensive touchdown, a throw by someone we haven't mentioned yet, Tom Brady. To the receiver who caught their only offensive touchdown of the AFCCG at Pittsburgh, David Patten. On a double move that coordinator Charlie Weis made up on the spot when he noticed Dexter McCleon's tendency to jump routes:

The fifth of those short drives I just mentioned was picked off by the Pats other starting corner, Otis Smith. 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. Belichick's defense had appeared to hold on a 1st & goal when Warner fumbled on 4th down at the 1 and Tebucky Jones appeared to have taken the scoop and score 99 yards. But the strategy of harassing Faulk backfired this one time, as Willie McGinest (who I guess is sort of prone to losing his cool in stressful situations?) 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.

As far as Belichick's unorthodox plan to make defending Faulk his primary objective, the results speak for themselves. The league's Offensive Player of the Year who averaged 98.7 rushing yards per game had 76 rushing in this one, while being held to his season average of 54 yards and change receiving. More to the point, disrupting him disrupted everything Martz' finely tuned instrument was designed to do. 

Finally, everyone knows how it ended. With the whole world thinking the Patriots would take a knee and play for overtime, Belichick and Weis instead put the ball in Brady's hands and trusted their first year starter to put them in a position where Vinatieri could win it:

Brains, cleverness, and a rare ballsiness that not only won the franchise's first championship, they would be the template for the entire Dynasty run. And to this day I can't hear Gil Santos' "It's GOOD! It's GOOOOD!" call without a Pavolvian crying response. Same with this song from the Halftime show, that instantly became an unofficial team anthem:

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One more to go on this countdown. And I'm sure everyone knows what moment it'll be.