By Roger Walsh
January 30, 2019
On Sunday all of the world will watch Super Bowl 53 between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams unfold in Atlanta. The game will be played seventeen years to the day of their first Super Bowl match up when the Pats won 20-17. That day the legend of Tom Brady began, the brilliance of Bill Belichick was further demonstrated in yet another step to becoming The Greatest Coach Of All Time, and the Pats unwittingly gave my marriage another five years of life before it came to its logical conclusion. By the way, thanks for that guys.
For a quick history lesson for those who were not old enough to intelligently digest what the Rams offense was about back then, simply put, they were almost unstoppable.
They were scoring 500 points a season when The Greatest Show On Turf was in its prime and racking up big plays for TD’s like it was free.
The offense was led by Hall Of Fame players such as QB Kurt Warner and RB Marshall Faulk, excellent WR’s who have been candidates for the HOF in Issac Bruce and Torry Holt, and slot specialist Ricky Proehl. The unholy combination terrorized opposing defenses in a multitude of ways. Warner was deadly accurate. The WR’s ran incredibly crisp routes with track meet speed and Faulk could do it all. Catching passes out of the backfield and as a WR in the slot, Marshall was also one of the best pure runners ever who could take it the distance on any play when he got to the second level. Plus he wasn’t afraid to run it inside. Oh yeah, he was also very adapt at picking up the blitz. All the while the unit was orchestrated by Head Coach and offensive guru Mike Martz. Many Defenses tried to stop them. Most failed. Want to blitz Warner? Go ahead and marvel when one of his WR’s beats man coverage and waves hello to you on his way to the end zone. Play man? Have anyone who can stay with Faulk? I thought not. Play zone? Well, the Rams will take that and thank you for the 41 points afterwards. The legends are true. They were that good. So when they matched up with the plucky Patriots who were mostly unknowns led by a Coach on his second head job and going 5-11 the year before, and with a yet to be proven QB, it was no surprise when the Rams were installed as a 14 point favorite. St. Louis obviously had superior talent on the offensive side of the ball. The game was being played indoors at the Superdome in New Orleans featuring a tailor made fast track. The Pats dynasty that no one, not even themselves saw coming, was an embryo at this stage. An amorphous blob of sound defensive play, death by inches offense, and a spectacular special teams. Most of the sane betting public took the Rams, but not me. Due to the 9/11 attacks there was no week off before the game.
On that Monday night I started to have an overwhelming feeling that the spread was way out of wack. In the face of all reasonable data I would put my marriage on the line in secret and trust Belichick with my mortgage payment. Telling myself over and over that they are an extremely smart team that will find some way to slow the Rams down. Or so I hoped.
The genesis of my thinking dated back eleven years earlier. Super Bowl 25. As any fellow Bills fan will attest to, it was the most frustrating/devastating game a fan could ever witness. Buffalo’s vaunted no huddle Offense was slowed to a crawl by Belichick’s innovative defensive scheme. Using combinations of a 2-5-4, 2-3-6, and other completely insane concepts at the time, his Giants unleashed a torrent of massive hits on the Bills WR’s. Andre Reed must still have nightmares about Carl Banks and Myron Guyton launching themselves into him like unguided missiles. The D was designed to take away the pass and concede yards to Bills HOF RB Thurman Thomas. As we all remember, Buffalo’s hubris didn’t allow them to adjust and feature Thomas more. Not to mention the Bills D played like eleven individuals instead of one unit. It all added up to putting the Bills in a position to kick a 47 yard FG to save themselves by Scott Norwood who was never had range on grass. We all know the result. When fans of other teams cry about getting beat on a walk off HR or a miracle half court shot, I just shake my head. You don’t know true pain. Ask any Bills fan.
So, the precedent had been set for Belichick making teams play left handed and taking away their strengths. By the Wednesday of Super Bowl 36 I was convinced it would happen again. The only issue now was following through on my convictions and betting on the Pats. I knew the consequences were going to be massive if I was wrong.
My ex-wife and I were just getting into our careers as kickoff beckoned so money to play with was pretty scarce. I knew there would be no convincing her that I knew something that most of the betting public didn’t. I could draw up on a white board for her what Belichick did in SB 25 and assure her that he would be just as creative and effective this time around too. That thought lasted a few shinning seconds before I dismissed it as completely idiotic. There was just no way I would get any kind of approval and the outburst that was sure to come of her questioning my competency as a human being was something I really didn’t want to put myself through. Since there was no point in telling her, I didn’t. If I recall correctly our mortgage was around $880.00 a month. I decided to round it up to 1,000 and started to dig around for someone who had a friend of a friend of a friend who could take my action. However, not being in that orbit, it took until Friday to find that kind soul who had good news and bad news.
He could take my bet, but his line was now Pats +12.5. I prayed that the Rams would not back door cover and the 1.5 points wouldn’t matter. I prayed a lot that weekend as you could imagine.
At the time I was working at WGR in Buffalo and I thought I would take the temperature of my co-workers under the radar to make myself feel better. It didn’t work. I’ll never forget our Bills reporter Chris Brown telling me that I was reaching after I laid my case out for the Pats. “Uh, I don’t know Rog,” he said. That’s when I started to panic. Chris knew. He always knew and for the most part still does. On my Sunday show in the morning I confidently picked the Pats for the multitude of reasons I stated before. I was really trying to make myself feel better about taking such an enormous risk. That didn’t work either.
All the callers, except one, said in no uncertain terms that I had no idea what I was talking about. Thanks Buffalo.
For a few weeks before the game, the plan was to have friends over to my place like I did for several years in a row. That changed a few days before the game for undisclosed reasons, and I ended up at a friend’s party in Clarence. I invited my then-wife and prayed she’d wouldn’t take me up on the offer. She didn’t, thank God. If the worst happened and the Rams won by two TD’s, I would have at least the drive home to think of a way to approach the unapproachable. My friend that accompanied me swung by and we stopped at the Harris Hill Inn for a drink and to shoot some pool before we hit the party. I started to feel, albeit on a much less important scale, the way Americans felt during the Cuban missile crisis. My fate was now totally out of my hands. Or how someone facing ten years feels at sentencing when your Lawyer tells you no deal could be reached and it’s acquittal or a decade of pure misery. As we arrived at the party at 5:30, I just had to hope my faith in Belichick would be rewarded.
The next three hours may have been the longest of my life.
The consensus of the gathering was pro Pats. Remember in early 2002, New England was in no way as hated as they are now. In fact, they were the underdogs you could get behind because, Buffalo, like America, loves underdogs. Wearing Red White and Blue after 9/11 didn’t hurt the cause either. Most of us shared the national feeling America has when one of their teams isn’t involved in the Super Bowl….”just give me a good game.” A good game is a close game. No Ram fan was in attendance either and I was grateful for that. Imagine me trying to explain to some poor person why I sucker punched them if the Rams took an early 21-3 lead. No, the only wounds here, if there were to be any, would be self inflicted.
The first calming feeling I had about the game actually took place before kickoff. After the Rams individual player introductions on FOX by Pat Summerall , he uttered an unforgettable statement that I’ll never forget: “And now Ladies and Gentlemen, choosing to be introduced as a team, here are the American Football Conference Champions, The New England Patriots.” Now, I understand that this was a common practice by the Pats during that season and has since been adopted by every other team from then on, but it absolutely floored me. I knew they were ready. Another good sign was the National Anthem was sung directly to Patriots bench. “Ahh” I thought, “karma is in the house!” I felt better than I had all day after that, plus drinking with both hands will help ease the nerves as well. That good feeling lasted up until the ball was actually kicked off. The Rams were getting the ball first and I couldn’t wait to see what plan Belichick had for the Rams. Only thing is Yo Murphy returned to ball to his own 39. “That’s where they start?” I yelled, and everyone looked at me like I had three eyes. “Yeah” Dave said “it’s called a kickoff return.” After a Holt catch it was 1st and 10 at the Pats 44. Not good. A two yard run by Faulk and then the play that told me I may have been right all along. Warner dropped back on 2nd down, looked right, and immediately was pressured by Willie McGinest. He had to turn and roll left. Warner floated a pass down the sideline for Holt who was absolutely throttled, in a collision that would have killed a normal man, by Patriots Safety Tebucky Jones. “Yeah baby!” I screamed. St. Louis would punt pinning Brady at his own three. Also not good, because other than those in the facility in Foxborough, Brady was an unknown. Sure he got them to the Super Bowl but the big stage can bring out the worst in young QB’s. In the most underrated drive of the game he would smartly guide his team out to his own 48 where the drive stalled, and a Ken Walters punt flipped the field position.
Over the next few possessions the Belichick strategy came into focus. He flooded the field with six or seven DB’s, got great pressure on the occasional timely blitz, and limited Faulk’s damage by targeting him on every play. With the ball or not, Marshall was going to have to deal with contact all evening. This was all well and good but I needed points because no spread was ever safe with the Rams. Then just over six minutes into the 2nd quarter, the universe smiled on me. Mike Vrabel clubbed Warner in the head as he was throwing and Pats CB Ty Law caught it and ran down the sideline to the end zone. Summerall exclaimed “That’s what the Patriots were waiting for!” Me too. God bless Ty Law and his friends and family for all of eternity. I literally ran around the room and then outside screaming like an escapee from the Buffalo Psych Center. I had to calm down. 16.5 point cushion with 38:49 left in regulation is not a guarantee. After a few stomach turning changes of possession, the Rams tried to mount a late first half drive. Proehl caught the ball over the middle and Pats DB Antwan Harris put his helmet into the football and New England had another turnover. Brady with the ball 1st and 10 at the Ram 40. A few plays later he found David Patten on a eight yard out and up for a TD and I about lost my mind. Howard David on the Westwood One call intoned “Can you believe what is happening here in New Orleans?!” I did. Of course, right when I felt I won and skipped into the kitchen, I heard from the other room “They’re reviewing it!” A loooooong 1:31 ensued. It was a clear TD and not to be overturned.
The second half was a blur. It could actually relax and enjoy what turned out to be a terrific game. I couldn’t count how many times I told myself I would never do this again and I haven’t. Lesson learned. Even more good fortune as the game wound down. I had 0-7 in the work pool and won 500.00.
When I saw Chris Brown the next day he just smiled and said “You were right Rog.” Yes I was but it took a good eight years off my life and looking back it is in the top 5 of the most reckless things I’ve ever done. This one time I actually got away with it.
I never told my ex and smartly and slowly spent the money on our bills. Except for the 100.00 I spent buying drinks at my neighborhood bar a few days later. “No occasion” I stated to the lucky few around me, “I’m just happy tonight.”
On Sunday I am certain there will be more than a few people who will risk money beyond their means in one form of a bet or another. I can only relate my experience. In the end it really wasn’t worth it. On the other hand, if you really got a feeling…….
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