| |  Stopping Rams will be tough task
By John Clayton
ESPN.com
PITTSBURGH -- After a 24-17 road victory over the Patriots back in Week 10, Rams coach Mike Martz said New England was the best, most physical team they've faced.
Martz was impressed with the poise Patriots quarterback Tom Brady showed in managing length-of-the-field drives against the Rams' defense. At the time, the Rams were a 7-1 juggernaut. The Patriots were a mere 5-4 upstart. Since that game, each team has only lost one game. And as late as the first week in January, Martz was saying the same thing.
Little did Martz know the Patriots would take their Cinderella run to Super Bowl XXXVI with Sunday's 24-17 victory over the Steelers. The Pats have played on a similar level to the Rams, and despite the differences in their teams, New England matches up against St. Louis better than most teams.
"We have always believed in our chances," Patriots safety Lawyer Milloy said. "We feel like we match up against everybody. We can't worry about things that happen on the outside. All we have to do is worry about what we do. Hopefully, we will have a party at the end of the year and nobody else will be invited."
Rams quarterback Kurt Warner had one of his best days of the season to beat the Patriots. He passed for 401 yards and three touchdowns in the Nov. 18 victory. But the Patriots can stay with the Rams when they play man-to-man defense against the St. Louis' quick receivers and then blitz when necessary.
Look at the strategy of Sunday's victory over the Steelers. The Patriots were worried about Kordell Stewart's mobility and the hard running attack led by Jerome Bettis. To stop the Steelers, the Patriots let cornerbacks Ty Law, Otis Smith and Terrell Buckley mirror Steelers receivers from the line of scrimmage. Law usually covers the best receiver. He handled Hines Ward and limited him to six catches for 64 yards. Smith worked on Plaxico Burress, who only had five catches for 67 yards.
"We are pretty much a man-to-man team," linebacker Roman Phifer said. "We played a lot of (that) against the Steelers. We knew we had to get some pressure on the quarterback. Kordell likes to scramble, step up and hit holes to hurt a defense. We wanted to keep him in the pocket."
The run defense allowed linebackers, corners or safeties to rush toward the line and stack the middle of the field to take away the inside running lanes of Bettis, who was clearly slowed by the groin injury that sidelined him for two months. Bettis had to take his runs to the outside and had to settle for eight yards on nine carries.
Against the Rams, expect Law to work on Isaac Bruce, and Smith will likely be assigned to Torry Holt. Warner will try to get matchups against Buckley, who is great on man-to-man coverage, but tends to gamble for the interceptions.
The Patriots won't have much of a chance if Warner is as hot as he was in Foxboro. In games against the Patriots, Dolphins and Saints this year, Warner was unstoppable. The key will be to put pressure on him early.
"The linebackers and the defensive ends had a lot of responsibility (against the Steelers) in terms of setting the edge on the outside running game," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. "Pittsburgh is one of the best outside running teams in the league and they have had tremendous rushing stats this year."
Offensively, though, it's hard to tell if the Patriots would have a better chance with Brady or Drew Bledsoe at quarterback. Many of Belichick's decisions will depend on which quarterback can practice Wednesday. In some respects, Bledsoe might be the better choice. He has the better arm to hit those longer passes. If the Super Bowl becomes a high-scoring game, Bledsoe may be the better quarterback for the Pats. He can put up 300 or 400 yards if he is hot.
With no extra week to recover from the ankle sprain suffered Sunday in Pittsburgh, it's a lot to ask Brady to match his performance in the first Rams game. The expectations of Brady were not as high. He was still the surprise quarterback with the 5-1 record. Fans loved him, while everyone else wondered. During Super Bowl week, everything will be thrown at him and he will be bombarded by interview requests. Brady won't be as mobile if he plays with the injury, and if the ankle swells too much by Monday morning, there is a great chance he may not even play. After the second-quarter injury, Brady had to have a brace on the ankle, but Belichick said he could've play if needed.
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It's hard to tell if the Patriots would have a better chance with Brady or Bledsoe at quarterback. In some respects, Bledsoe might be the better choice. He has the better arm to hit those longer passes. With no extra week to recover from the ankle sprain suffered Sunday in Pittsburgh, it's a lot to ask Brady to match his performance in the first Rams game. |
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To reach the Super Bowl, Belichick played a calculated game. The Patriots coach kept his team focused just on the Pittsburgh game. In contrast, Steelers coach Bill Cowher brought his team into the office Monday and spent time making some Super Bowl plans. Most Super Bowl coaches preach that teams shouldn't get to the big game with lingering questions about tickets and plans -- the first time the team should discuss the Super Bowl is Monday at 8:30 a.m.
The Rams were in that position two years ago, and they now know what to expect. Team officials were in New Orleans all week getting the little details ready. The Patriots didn't have anyone in New Orleans until late in the week.
"Our focus all week was on Pittsburgh," Belichick said. "We have not talked about the Super Bowl or any reservations or anything. We will try to pull that together as soon as we can. Maybe printing up some of these (Steelers championship) T-shirts was a little premature. I think it definitely rubbed us the wrong way a little bit, but I don't think in the end that it put any points on the board."
"The game plan this week against the Steelers was that they are so tough against the run we probably felt like it would be foolhardy to come out and ram it down their throats," Bledsoe said. "The game plan was to work it down the field, into their secondary. For that to happen, our offensive line had to have an exceptional game."
If the Patriots hope to have a chance against the Rams, they'll again need the same kind of performance. One mistake could be too many vs. St. Louis, and the Patriots' offense has a short time to get ready for the Rams' defense. More than likely, it may be hard to hold the Rams to 21 points, so they may need an offensive strategy to score 24 to 30 points.
It will be hard.
John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.
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