Bill Belichick’s strategy might have worked 17 years ago vs. the supposedly unstoppable Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, but times and teams have changed.
Seventeen years ago, an upstart underdog led by a second-year head coach and a young quarterback upset one of the NFL’s juggernauts in the Super Bowl.
It was a league-altering moment, one that flip the fortunes of both teams, and it gave rise to a defensive strategy that would be emulated but never quite matched by anyone else on the NFL’s biggest stage.
Few gave the Patriots and their young quarterback, Tom Brady, a chance that night. They had nowhere near the firepower of their opponent, the Greatest Show on Turf Rams, who boasted a league MVP in Kurt Warner at quarterback and a fleet of weapons previously unmatched in the NFL. So Patriots coach Bill Belichick devised a plan to take away the Rams’ most important offensive player at any cost. If the rest of the Rams offense got the best of them, fine. But they weren’t going to let Marshall Faulk, their all-purpose, All-Pro back, be the one to beat them.
“(Belichick) would figure out what made an offense tick,” former Patriots linebacker and current ESPN analyst Tedy Bruschi said. “He dared you to beat him another way. Do you have the humility and the ability to change your entire plan, in-game?”
The Greatest Show on Turf failed to adjust accordingly. Faulk carried the ball 17 times for 76 yards and caught four passes for 54 yards, but the Patriots swarmed him for most of the night, throwing the offense just enough out of whack. The Rams managed only 17 points, two touchdowns below their season average, and Belichick hoisted his first of five Lombardi trophies.
Belichick’s strategy that day would come to define him as perhaps the finest defensive mastermind the game has ever seen. But as his Patriots prepare to take on the Rams again Sunday, the blueprint that worked nearly two decades ago – and several subsequent times after that – isn’t going to cut it against these Rams.
That’s because Sean McVay’s offense is built specifically to withstand this strategy. Where Faulk was the clear engine of that Greatest Show on Turf offense, this Rams offense is completely decentralized, with numerous, interchangeable options ready to fill the offensive void at any moment.
Consider the case of Todd Gurley. It stands to reason that taking away the defending Offensive Player of the Year would put significant strain on the Rams offense. But last week, whether due to injury or ineffectiveness, Gurley was held to just four carries for 10 yards, and the Rams won anyway. Without an effective Gurley, McVay simply pivoted his offense to focus elsewhere, entrusting quarterback Jared Goff to move the ball with a more prominent downfield passing game.
Gurley’s absence at the end of the season actually may have helped the Rams in that regard. While he sat out, the offense turned to C.
