In retrospect it’s incredible they won that title. In isolation beating Oakland, Pittsburgh, or the Rams was plausible if not probable; but to beat all three was a damn miracle.
Team rankings that year:
Oak (10-6): #4 scoring offense, #19 scoring defense
Pit (13-3): #3 yardage offense, #1 yardage defense
StL (14-2): #1 scoring and yardage offense, #1 scoring defense
Also...
- Rich Gannon was a pro-bowl QB.
- Kurt Warner was the league MVP, and his second in three years. First team all-pro.
- Marshall Faulk was first team all-pro.
- The Steelers had six pro-bowlers, including two all-pros.
- The Raiders had four pro-bowlers.
- The Rams had seven pro-bowlers, including four all-pros.
Those opponents were awesome, loaded with talent. For the Pats to win all three games against them was nothing short of miraculous. I mean, in fact, the way they beat the Steelers can only be described as miraculous in football terms. They had two special teams TDs that day. That's ridiculous. Pittsburgh out gained them and had 8 more first downs on the day. Also, crazy stat: NE had *12* penalties for 87 yards that day. But it was Pittsburgh's 4 turnovers and NE's 2 special teams TDs that won the day.
Crazy.
But I will say...talk about clutch defense. The Pats held those three juggernauts to 13, 17, and 17 points in those three games. That's pretty amazing. They gave up lots of yards, but not many points.