2001: Episode Four, The Snow Bowl

In this episode we examine the Patriots unforgettable playoff win over the Raiders, the final game to be played in Foxboro stadium with all the drama, snow and legendary kicks.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The two thousand and one New England Patriots, the team
that started an NFL dynasty. In a season full of
dramatic twists and turns on and off the field, the
upstart Pats shocked the world, redefining what it meant to
be a team and a Patriot. Twenty years and six
Super Bowl championships later, we're revisiting that historic season, hearing

(00:26):
from different perspectives that were there to witness it firsthand
and tell the tale, from players to coaches, local and
national media, and even some fans, mixed with some of
the most iconic sounds that define the season. It will
be a unique six part journey back as we follow
the roots of the Patriots dynasty for the one championship
that started it all. We are all Patriots, and tonight

(00:47):
the Patriots at champions I might do so. And this
is two thousand and one a Super Bowl Sound Odyssey,
Episode four, a Snow Bowl Logino. What a Roman couple
turnaround for this team. Absolutely fantastic, it really is. And
to see the response that they're getting from them all

(01:08):
fans in New England as well, you know, it could
really be so supportive and getting behind this team, but
it was nice to watch the chemistry developed. You know,
you can't force chemistry. And so they complete the remarkable
turn around from five and eleven and last to eleven
and five and first in the AFC East. With a

(01:28):
final score the AFC Eastern Division champion England Patriots thirty
eight the Carolina Panthers six. That is it from Charlotte,
North Carolina. After completing a surprising eleven and five season
with six straight wins in their first AFC title in
four years, the two thousand and one Patriots entered the
playoffs by hosting the Oakland Raiders in the Divisional round.
The autumn win is a Raider killaging just for fun.

(01:51):
He'll knock you round and upside down and laugh when
he's conquered and won. The Raiders started the year ten
and three, but lost three straight games to end the season,
and we're forced to play the Jets in the wildcard round,
pulling out a thirty eight twenty four win that would
send them across the country to Foxborough. Jim Brown, Jerry Rice,
Rich Cannon, Well, the last thing they wanted to do

(02:14):
is have to play a game this week when they
had the bye week secure. But at least right now
their season. We'll go on and the Raiders will go
to New England next week to take gun the Patriots
on sidela. The Raiders had reached the AFC Championship game
in two thousand and had a veteran team led by
quarterback Rich Cannon, balanced running back Charlie Garner and a
pair of Hall of Fame receivers and Jerry Rice and

(02:36):
Tim Brown, both of whom broke eleven hundred receiving yards
on the season. I'm just like a little kid. I'm
still having fun, you know, when everything is on the line,
you know, I want the ball. Tim Brown, you know,
he feels the same way. And I think we just
go out there and we play hard and we try
to make plays. With head coach John Gruden at the helm,
the Raiders were looking to end the upstart pat season

(02:56):
and what would be the final game ever to be
played at the stadium New England called home since nineteen
seventy one, after forty one years of Royal support, including
seven consecutives sellout season. There is a new symbol of
success on the horizon in New England, and the Patriots
looked forward to making the plays that will thrill the
crowd that calls at home. Nick Fitzie Stevens, Patriots fan

(03:20):
and personality. The idea that the Patriots could be playing
a Saturday night home playoff game on my birthday against
the Raiders. This was every I wanted, nothing else. Well,
the snow began about four this afternoon, but the tailgating
began at about two o'clock, and the fans are as
ready as anyone for this matchup tonight. Scott Pioli, Patriots

(03:41):
director of player personnel. I felt that, you know, we
had built the team intentionally a certain way, and personally
I felt good going into that game. I thought the
Raiders were a fantastic team. I mean I really did.
They were talented, they were good, they had a really
good quarterback. It was playing well. But I also knew

(04:04):
that again, we were built for what that day was like.
We were not a fast team at that point in time.
We were a tough team that ran the ball, ran
the ball hard, and we had a quarterback. You know,
it's funny. I know, for a long time, or you know,
earlier in Tommy's career, people criticized his short passing game,

(04:26):
and when I hear the words dink and dunk. It
makes me crazy because people with a negative perspective called
dink and dunk. We saw them as high percentage throws
and we had a number of players that, you know,
whether it was Troy in the slot or our backs,
that were very good in the passing game, and those

(04:48):
high percentage throws were the kinds of throws that we
needed in that Oakland game. Right with the weather being
the way it was and with Jermaine Wiggins, who had
sure hands, I felt like I felt confidence going into
that game because the weather helped sload the game down. Bill,
just your second game in twenty seven days. How big
of an advantage is that with the rest, given the

(05:10):
conditions of the field, Well, I don't know. You know,
I think we've tried to take advantage of the time
we've had, and you know, I think we're ready to
go tonight. The field, I think the footing is gonna
be a little bit of an issue, and I think
that catching the ball is going to be a little
bit of an issue with the flakes, I don't think
the quarterbacks will have a problem thrown at least it
didn't look like they did in a free game Tommy
current Metro West Daily News. To me, that was going

(05:32):
to be their biggest challenge because of in many ways,
I thought Charlie Garner and Rich Cannon and Jerry Rice
and Jim Brown. I mean, the breaking offense was loaded,
and you have to understand how good Charlie Garner was
at that time. So even though it was snowing and
you're driving up and saying this could be an equalizer,
in some ways, I knew that the Oakland Raiders were

(05:54):
probably could well be their toughest test, just because they
were so stacked. What does it say about your football team?
We got some good players. We have a long way
to go, yet we gotta win on it each time song,
We gotta win at any time soon. The Raiders front
office felt confident and how their team was built, with
legendary owner Al Davis constructing the kind of speed laden
squad he had become known for. Davis's staff featured a

(06:14):
former colleague of Belichick and Peoli's Michael Lombardi, who worked
side by side with them in Cleveland and was now
serving as Oakland's Vice president of Player Personnel Executive. Amy
Trask was one of Davis's most trusted confidants who had
interviewed Belichick for the Raiders open head coaching position just
three years prior. Amy Trask Raiders chief executive. I spent
almost thirty years as part of the Raider organization, and

(06:38):
in that time Al involved me only once, on only
one occasion, in a coaching search. He had me meet
with each of the candidates, spend as much time with
each of the candidates as I chose to spend, ask
them anything I wish. And then when I had done so,
when I had met with each and every candidate, he
asked me who would you hire? And I didn't hesitate.

(07:01):
My immediate answer was Bill Belichick. I was clear, I
was unepivocal. Bill Belichick was my choice. What stood out
about Belichick as a candidate, well, let me put it
in Boston terms, wicked, smot just extremely extremely intelligent, a
tremendous communicator. He struck me as communicative, collaborative, and just

(07:23):
extraordinarily intelligent. And I thought he would be a tremendous leader. Now,
I thought the fact that I recommended Bill would stay
between Al and I and no one would ever know that. Well,
a number of years later, at a press conference, Al
said publicly, you know, Amy told me to hire Bill,

(07:44):
and I was so touched when Al shared that publicly privately,
Even before he shared that publicly and well after he
did so, he would periodically say to me, kid, you
know how to pick a coach. And I really enjoyed that.
Despite coming from Sonny, California, snow was on the mind
of both Lombardi and Trask, the time eight oh three,

(08:04):
the temperature twenty five and snowing. In fact, a beautiful
New England snowfall away ahead here tonight at Foxborough. Michael Lombardi,
Coakland Raiders senior personnel executive, Well, you know, I mean,
we knew it was going to be bad. We were
prepared for We felt like with our running game we
could run the ball. We always worry about quarterbacks in

(08:27):
that kind of weather and you know, and how they
handled it. But Rich had been a cold weather quarterback.
So I think the one thing I thought it would
be would would help us. Our defense wasn't the fastest defense,
and I think it helped us slow it down. Overall,
these conditions are going to present a lot of problems
in tonight's game, but you gotta believe that they're going
to even out someway along the line, Rob Ryan linebackers coach.

(08:51):
Mister Kraft probably had the play of the game anyway. Yeah,
remember he moved the game to the late t chose
the late night game because he saw the forecast. All Right,
we're talking that storm man. It looks like we're gonna
get a lot of snow in sub parts, Chris. Some
areas will likely end up a round of foot, maybe
a foot and a half. You can see a high
impact when it comes to heavy snow, white out conditions.

(09:12):
All right, and it was gonna be heavy snow at night.
All right, we'll play at night. People, the people forget
about that. So that was mister Crafts doing that was great,
great on his part. On our part, you know, we're like, well,
look we got to reroute these receivers, we got to
bounce right el's off them. But when the snow came down,
they had a really great back. Charlie Garner, Charlie Garner

(09:33):
outside as cool as the other side of the pillow,
eighty yards of the house. Well, he was slowed his
option routes, weren't you know he'd be falling on his
face half the time. So we matched up pretty good
there and we were physical. We had physical guys. They
had a big offensive line. Why you talk about this
Raiders offensive line, they protect a quarterback very well and

(09:54):
they're strong enough to do a good job in the
run game too. But first, the biggest challenge for the
Patriots players just getting to the stadium Antoine Smith running back.
First of all, it was I think everybody called trouble
trying to get to the stadium because before the game started,
because it was so much snowfalling, was so you know,

(10:14):
so much you know, traffic trying to get to that game.
And we know what the Raiders bring, you know, the
you know what I'm saying, We knew what that you know,
those are very continued. But we also got a team
that we had David Patton wide receiver. We felt like
we had the advantage, we had the edge because worst
case scenario, this is what we're accustomed to, this is

(10:36):
what we were practicing this all the time, and these
guys are coming out of Oakland, California, you know, Sunday days.
We just felt like that was an advantage for us.

(10:56):
Damian Woody offensive linemen, I knew they were gonna be
fun type whatever. But I didn't know it was gonna
be anything close to that, and so, you know, it
just it all just seems like it came out of
a fairy tale, you know where you got this Oakland
Raiders team that was just I mean, they were legit.

(11:16):
They were that was a legit ball club coming to Foxborough.
You know, I don't think anyone really gave us a
chance of beating the Oakland Raiders um in that in
that game and the boys did you know you started
the snow started coming down lightly and then next thing
you know, it just started building and building and building

(11:38):
to the point where like it was coming out sideway
and I'm like, okay, these type of things don't happen.
Just to happen. And the folks who are here tonight
are hearty souls. Indeed were the snow coming down and
it's it's a cold night, like you know, this is
kind of like a magical experience. And the whole field

(12:00):
was covered. It was probably the most fun I had
in the game ever. Snow covered field, their weathers on
place one of the ball because it isn't going to
be easy. Matt Chatham, linebacker and special teamer so in
our situation, you don't have great putting under you. Maybe
you're a little more adept to bad weather than a
team coming h out from California. And I think we

(12:21):
did take that to our advantage. But I still have
to tackle Charles Woodson in space, which is scary to
say the least. It's scary on dry ground, it's even
scarier on that kind of surface. But did manage to
get him down. I had a couple of tackles I
believe the best of my recollection. But defer remember sort
of the relief at one moment of having a pump
with him out in space and just sort of grabbing

(12:43):
him and pulling them down, and you kind of you
stand up and you're like, true, you know, it's more
like relief than than sort of a celebration. A familiar face,
especially for Bostonians, will perform the national anthem before the game.
Joey McIntire of New Kids on the Block, a passionate
Patriots fan who would go on to have one of
the most memorable fan experiences of his life. Joey McIntire

(13:06):
New Kids on the Block, it was sort of like,
at this point, you know, the New Kids, you know
today in twenty twenty one, or you know, the newcas
on the block are back together, so we're touring a lot.
This was sort of in between in two thousand and one.
But my calling card was singing the national anthem. You know,

(13:26):
if I didn't have tickets to the game, you know,
I'd have someone make a call and say, you get
someone to say the national anthem. And it was a
great way to get on the field, you know. And
you know, so that's kind of what happened with this game.
You get tickets to the game and there you are
on the sidelines for the Patriots. You gave me once again. Everyone,
The Patriots will be kicking off from left or right.

(13:48):
Patriots in their blue home jersey, silver helmets and pans,
and the Oakland Raiders and their white traveling jerseys with
a gray silver, gray helmets and pans. Back deep with
the Oakland Raiders at the five yard right lineers Terry
Kirby and the Patriots will be kicking off left or
right with the wind here in the first quarter. It
was an uneventful game for most of the first quarter,

(14:08):
with both teams struggling to move the ball through three
possessions until the Raiders finally broke through early in the
second quarter. The long running back is Garner. Second in
ten all plan the Patriot of thirteen Gyannon calling Chignal
Gannon blocked back to throw sets look fires at its
cut cuts down the James jetdown. With three passes of
ten plus yards, Gannon found James Jet for a thirteen

(14:31):
yard score and the seven nothing lead. Cannon looking for
the end zone half a man touchdown James Jet, which
James Jeff James Jet caught two passes for nineteen yards
and no touchdown during the regular season, comes up with
a thirteen yard TD here. From there, the struggle would

(14:52):
continue through worsening conditions, with the two teams combining for
just two first downs through their remaining possessions in the
second quarter. In all, they will than first half punts
and just one third down conversion for either team. Good
defensive stand Things are picking up a little bit now
for the Patriots defensively, which I think they have to do.
The Patriots defense forced to three and out after the
only turnover of the half, an intercepted overthrow by Brady

(15:14):
chucking down in Jen Patriots at their own twenty five.
Brady waiting to snap from Mike Compton's on the money,
fum fakes now looks now goes deep down the middle.
It is intercepted, picked up by Johnny Harris. He's at
the forty yard line of the thirty five yard line
of the Patriots, goes Harris. The slow first half was
inspiration for Joey McIntyre to upgrade his post anthem seats

(15:35):
in the press box. Joey McIntire, you know, so we
watched the first game at the first half of the
game up of the press box and it's pretty slow game,
tight game. And my brother, who has a history of
you know, kind of pushing the envelope, you know where,
I'm like, this is fine, we're not going anywhere. We

(15:56):
got into the game. Yeah, but let's go up here. Oh,
let's go there, Let's go down there. So there we am,
our brother and I for the whole second half are
on the Raiders sidelines and it is surreal. I mean,
it's more and more snow. It felt like at least
a foot of snow on the ground. You know. The Raiders,

(16:16):
you know, they look so big. I mean, these players
are huge. There's six seven plus helmets plus pads, you know,
and we're just in the back behind behind them, you know,
behind the gatorade stands, if you will, and we're just
taking it all in and we're walking down, fallowing the
play up and down. It's getting you know, you know,

(16:38):
when it's snows and it's it's almost makes it quieter,
It makes it more surreal, like you're in this like dome,
you're in this like snow globe, if you will. The
Patriots would receive the second half kickoff, and braiding in
the offense would finally get into a rhythm, powered by
an eighteen yard throw and catch to David Patton on
third and eight that set them up inside the Raiders

(16:59):
ten yard line. They're down and eight, Brady takes the
shotgun snap, stands in the pocket, stands in there, stands
in there, and now delivers down field flock. They side
the ten yard line first and goal to go day
good Patrick. However, the Pats would have to settle for
a field goal, cutting the score to seven three, with
Ken Walter to hold the angles to the left for

(17:19):
Adam Vinitari, and of course, the footing is tricky. Viniiteri
was practicing and much shorter run up to the ball
prior to the game twenty three yard field goal attempt
for minitary snap ball down, the kick is up and
the kick is good. The Raiders would counter with back
to back field goal drives of their own, extending the
lead to thirteen to three. At the start of the
fourth quarter, first and ten Patriots at the Oakland Raider

(17:42):
thirty five yard line. As we start in the fourth
and final quarter of this AFC Semi final battle, Raiders
lead thirteen to three Patriots with a football on the
far hash mark. They'll go left or right in this
fourth quarter with a wind at their backs. Paul Perillo,
Patriots Football Weekly. I'll admit there were times I thought
the game was over. I thought the Raiders had it.
I really think the Raiders, you know, as seemed to

(18:04):
happen a lot that year, the Raiders really found a
way to lose. And you give Brady a chance, and
he's going to find a way. You know, he couldn't
do much in the snow, but when he had to
do something, he found a way and they went down.
They scored that touchdown, and he ran it in steps
up then run it inside the five touchdown after trading punts.
Tom Brady caught fire with just over ten minutes left

(18:25):
in the fourth quarter, leaving the Patriots offense down the field,
completing nine straight passes before running the ball in himself
to cap the drive for the Patriots first and only
touchdown of the game, cutting the Raider lead to just
three points to snapped. The Brady looks stand strikes to
run with it. He is down to the five and
he en touchdown. Tom Brady luncheon for a touchdown with

(18:46):
set them fifty two to play in the football game.
The Patriots are back in it with just under eight
minutes to go. The clock became the concern as the
Raiders bled an additional four plus minutes on their ensuing drive,
so the Patriots were able to force the punt and
maintain in the one score game. Third down and ten
Oakland the play of the game, coming from the Patriot

(19:06):
forty five yard line. Bacs just split behind Ganton on
third and ten. Gannon long count. Gannon still barking, signals,
drops back to throw, being chased, looks fires in can
play fourth down job. Raiders forced to puck with three
forty eight to play with New England's offense unable to
recapture the magic of their previous drive, they too would
be forced to punt the ball away, with the Raiders

(19:28):
taking over on their own thirty five. With just two
forty nine left, Oakland was one first down away from
icing a three point win, Rob Ryan. But it was
gonna come down to us in the trenches. And one
thing that again, everybody remembers the tuck rule. But here's
one that people may not remember. Is they're running out
the clock in a four minute offense, and they rip

(19:52):
us for about seven yards on the first On the
first run, Garner stacked up, reverses direction and gets something
each yard. It's it comes up about two yards shy
of a first down, and you know, I'm like, well,
why don't we just put goal line out there? Michael Lombardi,
you know, we had a run that we called Charlie Garner,
you know, breaks out into the open, and uh, you know,

(20:14):
we see if he goes right, he scores. If he
goes left, he probably gets the first down. He goes
right up John Richie's back, and you know we don't
get the first down, Rob Ryan and Ernie Adams told
Bill He's like, look, well it's a good point. Rob
just said, why don't we put goal line out there?
So we did stop them. The first time Garner looking

(20:36):
for a first down appears to have come up short
of it. Pat's defense would hold Garner to just two
yards on second town, setting up a third and one
situation for the game. Adrian's obviously have to get the
football back and this big third down play, it's gonna
be the play of the season. Then we ran goal
line out, which is a great call by Romeo, where

(20:57):
our our d lineman's in a six two, but they
pinch out, they go outside and force the ball to
cut back. Well, Richard Seymour beat the guard across his
face so deep. The Raiders had never been stopped in
short yardage up until that was Zach Crockett, you know,
running the dive play every single time for a first down.

(21:18):
But then Seymour hit him so deep and b Cox
finished them off. The tail back in the eye formation
is to hand off to the right side. He doesn't
make it. That was Zack Crockett, stopped shy of a
first down, and that's that's how we stopped them, just
to get in to the chance to go to beat
them they'll be bringing out the chains. The block is
stopped with two nineteen remaining. Well hang on thirteen to ten.

(21:42):
Oakland leads two nineteen left to play in the game.
Critical measurement here court down. We'll force the pluck with
renewed life. Troy Brown would return the ensuing punt for
twenty seven yards, narrowly avoiding a game ending mistake when
Brown fumbled at the end of the return, with Larry
Izzo making the recovery and preserving New England's comeback hopes.
And Patriots have the football first and ten Patriots at

(22:06):
their own forty six yard Tom Brady in the offense,
took the field with two h six left at their
own forty six, needing a field goal to tie the game,
but three plays later, it looked like the contest was
coming to an abrupt end. No continues to come down,
Brady calling signals the direct snapped. Brady standing in there,
looks for the left floss the football. It's on the
ground and it's if it's a fumble or a pass

(22:29):
up ten. I believe it's gonna be called a fumble.
It is a fumble, and the Oakland Raiders recover. Nick
Fitzi Stevens and then they're they're driving at the end
of the game to try to tie the game, and
Brady steps back and he pumps and he pumps and
he holds onto the ball and we can all see
Charles Woodson coming around, and at one moment, I'm like, wait,

(22:50):
this is He's gonna get him. No, this is gonna
be end of the game. Charles Woodson's gonna screw up
my birthday. No, I mean it's a fumble. That's it.
Game over, Game over, man, game over. With a minute
forty three to go, it didn't look as though his
arm was moving forward, and I don't know if this
one will be looked at once again, as we look

(23:11):
at it, Brady's arm was coming forward. I'm they're gonna
have to call it from upstairs. Joey McIntire, I didn't
know what was going on, because again I'm on the sidelines.
I'm looking at the screens. You don't really know what happened.
What's going on? Did he fumble? Did he not fumble?
You know, you're watching it on TV at home, you're
getting the blow by blow. It's great. A lot of

(23:32):
people say I'd rather watch it at TV, but like
you also not getting the experience of being there. Jermaine
Wiggins tight end. I was like most people, like, man,
we just lost this game, and I was so close.
I was one step being away from recovering the football,
but Greg Beaker beat me to the spot and he
landed on him. If you see the video, he jumps
on the ball and then I jump on him like

(23:53):
a half a second later. So Dan Beakert picks himself up,
falls on the football and has pretty much sealed an
Oakland Raider of victory here in New England. Michael Lombardi
was in the press box and as soon as it happened,
Art mcdally was sitting in front of me and he said,

(24:13):
that's not going to stand. It's going to be the
tough cough. And that was the first I ever heard
of her. The exact term I can't think of. But
if you throw a pass and as you're faking that pass,
now watch as you're faking the pass, if it slipped
out of your hand, that would be an incomplete pass
any trusk. So there we were front office staff. I

(24:34):
was there, our CFO was there, there was some other
executives there. My husband made that trip with us, and
we were sitting in this little area of the press box,
and of course, you guys know the rule no cheering
in the press box. So when Woodson knocked that ball
out of Brady's hand and b Kirt fell on it,
I remember reaching over and you know, our CFO grabbed

(24:57):
my arm and squeezed, and I grabbed his arms squeezed,
and my husband was grabbing another executive. And then all
of a sudden, I realized they're going to review this play.
I think they're going to review this play, all right,
so walk Calman, our referee will review the play. You

(25:20):
got the call from upstairs and I turned around and
sitting behind me was Art McNally, who was then the
director of officiating. He was the senior most I guess
this title was director of Officiating or some such thing.
And I turned around to him and guys, I don't
have a dainty voice in any circumstance. You know, I

(25:41):
have a loud voice, and particularly when i'm up. And
I turned around to him and I looked at him
and I said, you better call nine one one, because
if you overturned this effing But I didn't say effing.
I said the word, if you overturned this effing call,
I'm gonna have an effing stroke. And again I didn't

(26:04):
say effing, I said the word. Apparently that carried throughout
the trust Box and to this day, the writers that
were in the box at the time chease me about
me black, you know, just blasting that out in the
trust Box. Damian Woody, Well, well, you know, like anyone
who watched the video, like I'm the person that jumped
on top I believe it was Greg Beakers who recovered

(26:26):
the fumble. Um, I was the one that jumped on
top of him. Um. And honestly, I thought the game
was over. I honestly thought the game was over. But
as I'm walking off the field, there's all this commotion
on the sideline and I'm looking at the coaches. I'm
looking at Coach Bilichick, and there's all these whispers after play,
the quarterbacks going forward, And in that very moment, I

(26:54):
look over to the open, raided sideline and their whole
styleline was just it was like the life left out
of them, and I knew that at that point we
got him right then and there. Jermaine Wiggins. That's the
great thing about Bill as a coach, like he prepares
you for every possible situation that you could get in,
and so that was something that he knew, knew exactly

(27:18):
what that meant. He knew exactly it happened to us
earlier in the season. Testa ready rows the ball down
and does that intercept it with alignment on the ground.
How could that happen? And they're going to review it. Oh,
they've got to take a look at this. The quarterbacks
aren't was coming forward before he was hitting the balls out.

(27:39):
Therefore it's an incomplete pass. So he was right on
top of that, and you know that. Obviously your raidis
fans will tell you differently, but that was the rule.
You know, the rule was what it was, you know,
I mean we I don't make the rules. I just
abide by them. Matt Chatham. You know, like a lot
of things with Bill, there's the foresight, there's there's a
lot of research behind it. You know, he knew as

(27:59):
well as anyone what may happen in that moment. But yeah,
in fairness, we're all on the sideline watching it happen
in lifetime and we're a little confused about how it's
going to go down. So yeah, you write the roller coaster,
you like, are we going to get that? Are we
not going to get that? The football back on the review,
his arm was gone forward, no question about it. I said.
The only thing that they could possibly pick up would

(28:22):
be that he was just pulling it back under any trust.
And the longer it went, the longer it went. I
was worried. And then of course the call was overturned.
And I will very quickly note that I understand we
still had opportunities to win that game. The game was
not over at that moment. But when I looked down

(28:43):
at our sideline and I saw the expression on our
thick player's faces, I knew that their hearts, or I
should say I knew that they felt that their hearts
had been ripped out, just as I felt that Mike
had been ripped out. And I looked at my husband
and said, I don't know if we can do this

(29:05):
because I just looked at the expression on their faces,
and I knew that the expression on their faces mirrored
the expression that must be on my face. And it
really was just so it was just devastating, that's a
better word. So did we have an opportunity to go
on and win the game. Yes we did, and people
are quick to point that out to me, and they're right,

(29:27):
But we didn't. Mike Greece Metro West Daily News, so
I wasn't there. I was splitting the beat with Tom Curran.
So because it was Saturday night, I had to put
out our Sunday paper, which is our big paper the week.
So I was actually the editor in charge of the
Sunday Sports. So We're waiting on this game to end,
and so I'm watching it from the newsroom, you know,

(29:49):
at the newspaper, and I'm seeing it like like all
the other fans, you know, and you're thinking it's over.
So I get the headline written. I mean, this is
like Zue defeats Truman. But the Patriots version in the
Metroes Daily News, like I got it, you know, Patriots
dream run comes to an end. Well, glad we didn't

(30:10):
do that, Mike bad. We didn't send out that paper,
you know, kept it, kept it on draft. After review,
the tuck rule was invoked, giving the Patriots a second chance.
But it wasn't the first time a controversial call in
the playoffs between these two teams affected the outcome. Chris
Berman ESPN so in nineteen seventy six, the Patriots had
a great team and it's one that's still his question,

(30:33):
the phantom roughing the passer call in the playoffs at
Oakland against Sugar Bear Hamilton against Ken Stabler. That was
one of the few times the Raiders got breaks from
the ref right down at eighteen nineteen broken at the
Patriots twenty eight. Stabler is back to past. Here comes
the rush again. He gets it away and it is
headed falls and complete at a five yard by A

(30:54):
penalty marker is down. A penalty marker is down. I
don't know if the Patriots are gonna be called for
ropping the passer? Well what as they swarmed in on stable,
but they flag us down and Ray Hamilton is throwing
his arms in the air, roughing the passer first out
off with with fifty two seconds less. This was huge
and the Raiders went down the field and ended up
scoring at the very end to beat the Patriots, who

(31:15):
were real upstarts that year and really talented, and the
Raiders went on to win their first Super Bowl. They
used that break and they went on to win their
first Super Bowl and Willie Brown Hall of Famer on
the staff. I saw him every summer and we were
friendly at tanton Is. I'm fortunate enough to be the

(31:37):
MC at Canon in August, and when Willy come here,
I went down the tuck game and oh, yeah, I know,
I mean that still burns us, etc. I said, well,
let's look back to seventy six. You guys got a
break and you took it to the house. Twenty five
years later, the Patriots got an unbelievable break with the
tuck rul. There's no other way to describe it, right

(31:58):
and give him credit. They took it to the house
and he looked at me and goes, I never thought
of that. I said, to look at it this way.
Your two franchises are now even you laugh to okay,
I'll take that any trust. Now. I will note one
other thing. That play happened just just inside the two

(32:19):
minute warning, and the significance of that is had it
happened a few seconds earlier. Game over falls on the ball.
It's ours, New England is out of time out, so
the Patriots couldn't have reviewed it. Our ball. Beakert grabs
it runs over the sideline. Game over, we win. But
that's not the way it happened. It happened a few

(32:40):
seconds after the two minute warning. The New England didn't
have to call for the replay that was in the
league hands. And the reason I share that with you
is it has always been my view, and many people
say this, it's not unique to me. I didn't coin
the view. But it's a game of seconds, and it's
just it's a game of second. Seconds matter, and had

(33:02):
that play happened seconds earlier, game over, Brady's next pass
after their view went for thirteen yards to David Patton
and two plays for no game later, they added on
one more yard to get them to the Raiders twenty eight,
setting up an impossible looking forty five yard field goal
attempt through a blizzard by Adam Van Terry that could
send the game to overtime. Well, as you watch the TV,
you can see the snow is moving in the same

(33:24):
direction that he is kicking, so that means he does
have a little help with the wind. Get this kick up,
Damian Woody well the forty six yard or you know,
Adam was like, you know, fella, I'm gonna need y'all
to like, really, y'all gotta hold it down up front
because he was like, I basically got a kick a
line drive in order for me to have any chance

(33:47):
of making his kick, and so you know, cleared off
a path for him to you know, to make his kick.
But we knew that we had. We couldn't give up.
We couldn't give up a inch because the difficulty in
kick it was just, I mean, it was just it
was ridiculous. And for him to kick that line drive
a forty six yards in those conditions if not going

(34:09):
to be a kick in NFL issue. That's from the
top of that Matt Chatham. Adam was definitely the right
guy at the right time just to be able to
drive a kick. Um, you know, you're not getting to
be able to click it and get the real amplitude
that you might normally get. You have to drive it.
You have to get good food footing. You see so
many kickers sort of slip and get a bad strike

(34:30):
on the ball when it's not a good footing sort
of where your plant foot would be ken waltering hole.
The wind is at the back of military a forty
five yard field all out of a seven or twelve
from this range on the season, Chris Berman, and you
know it might have been blocked that low, but it
was true and almost willed itself over the bar. It's

(34:53):
the greatest kick in the history of the NFL. I mean,
unless you want to throw in Tom Dempsey, which was
which was a different thing. I mean those two are
the ones. Not Ali will Tom Dempsey hits this one.
He's got a very slight win at his back. He'll
set a National Football League record in addition to winning
the game. I don't believe this. It's good believe that

(35:14):
the field goal kick was good Cook sixty three yards away.
It wasn't just Adam. I was thinking about Monnie Snap.
I was thinking about Ken Walter's hold. And then there's
the kick, right. People always think about Adam and before
he gets to kick that ball, there's a lot they
had to go right, and all everyone did their jobs.

(35:38):
Then they we blocked the edges way. You know, we
blocked well too, and I trusted Adam implicitly. Forty five
yard field goal to Jeff coming up, snap ball down,
kickoff on the way, and it's done. It is done,
forty five yards and a vine Tarry kicks it through
the snow. Then we're tired of thirteen. The thirteen what

(36:00):
funny seven seconds. But the play about that one. What
a pretty football team, dude, Mike Rabel, linebacker, I think
it was a blur, you know. I mean I think
you just think it's kind of an absolute blur. Um,
all of a sudden, we get the ball back. Adam
makes the greatest kick in NFL history. I mean, you

(36:24):
just can't even comprehend how much snow and the thickness
of the snow that he kicked that ball from. I mean,
guys were out there without having to kick it, you know,
and and trying to run around. And you know, Jermaine
Wiggins had a phenomenal day in that snow. Caught a
ton of passes and you know, those were two great efforts,

(36:47):
one by Adam and and one you know, you know,
Jermaine Wiggins was wasn't a household name, but but it
was a guy that came out there and functioned in
that the conditions that that we had that day. Jermaine
For me, I was on the fail goal protection team.
So I was the wing in the wing position, which

(37:07):
is kind of like right behind where the tight end is.
And so you know you're always like, all right, I
don't want to be the guy that holds somebody or
doesn't block the right guy, and you know, he gets
thrown and blocks the kick, and I forget it was
like Charles Woodson. I forget who else. There was a
punch of players, and I'm like, man, did they put
the whole team over here? And luckily a couple of

(37:28):
those guys at the snap of the ball they slipped
because of the fail conditions, So it kind of took
a little bit of the pressure off me, you know,
making sure that I didn't cause no holding or I
wasn't the guy that you know missed the block. And
when that kick went through, it was just like, man,
you know, it was spectacular, both of those kicks, but
the one to send this into overtime. If you go

(37:48):
back and look at that when that one was, that
one was tremendous. They get the ball back and we're
down at the time in the end zone opposite the
one that Adam has to kick toward to get the
time field goal. So we're looking basically one hundred and
twenty yards right into the blizzard. I mean, you couldn't
see a thing, and Adam kicks the ball and literally

(38:09):
there was silence all down kick up all the way
and all of a sudden you could hear from the
other end just this war come up and it went
all the way, permeated all the way down the stands
to our end zone. It is forty five yard I'm
gon Terry. That's how we found out it was good.
Never saw the referee, never saw the ball once it

(38:32):
left Adam's foot, couldn't see a thing. And you just
you heard the reaction. It was like, Wow, what a
gritty football team. Joey McIntyre the vinitary field goal to
get us into overtime. I was down there again. I'm
I'm looking through, you know, the defensive end of the

(38:54):
you know, of the raiders and these massive bodies. But
I see enough and that ball at its highest point
might have been fifteen feet. I mean, it was such
a wabbling kind of I don't know what it was,
and somehow he got it off and somehow it went
forty yards and but I just remember, wow, how I

(39:16):
felt like I could touch it. I mean it was
it was fifteen feet high and it gets through and
we can't believe that the place is going crazy. Scott Poli,
I wish I could have seen more because one thing
I remember about that game was we were in the
old press box. I remember I was standing right behind
Ernie Adam the entire game, and the infrastructure at the

(39:37):
stadium was awful. So we couldn't have the windows open
because it was snowing and the crowd was literally literally
right in front of the right in front of us,
and we were just slightly above them. And the problem
was there was no air circulating, so the windows were
completely fogged up. And I was sitting there with a towel.

(39:58):
You know, I had a job in there to identify
personnel groupings and players gold coming on and off the field,
but I was my job kept getting interrupted because I
had to keep wiping the glass for Ernie and one
of the other coaches, you know, so we could see
out and actually see out to the field. So not
only was the blizzard the blinding snow, but we had

(40:19):
this layer of fog on the windows that we throwted.
Nick Fitzie Stevens Brady got the ball back and then
Adam Vinitary kicked a cylinder block. He kicked a piece
of cement forty five yards Like, okay, what are the
great mysteries of life? Like, how do Twinkie survive twenty years?
Where's flight three eighty? Who killed Haffa? And how in

(40:42):
the hell did Adam Vintari's kick to tie the game
cut through a driving wind snow you couldn't even see
it and then tie the game? And of course it
was like one of those things like this was one
of those games where if they tie it, they're gonna
win it. Like you know they're gonna tie, Like this
is what this team does. They hang on and they
find a way. It was the best birthday ever and
the crowd is loving it in Fuxborough. This is one

(41:07):
but they'll remember for a long long time. Oh, I'll
tell you with two players that would never be forgotten
happening within the last five minutes of regulation, the divisional
playoff game headed to overtime, and this pretty bunch of
patre Into team that Bill Belichick worked hard in the
offseason with Scott Bali to build a team of character,
showed us that character here in this fourth quarter tonight.

(41:28):
You know, no matter what happened, Patriots would win the
toss and never give the Raiders another chance. Antoine Smith,
we called a break along the way, and once that
call was overturned. It was a sense that you know,
this is meant for us. And we went on to
have you know, the drive down the Fieldcaper Field goals,
tie the game, but going to overtime, and we won

(41:50):
an overtime and I think that just really propelled us.
It was really the comforts that, man, this is our
year and I think, you know, we can have some
special Paul Perillo. And then to me, overtime was a formality.
I think it was just inevitable. The Patriots are gonna
win in that kick went right toward us in the
same end zone that we were at. The longer the

(42:10):
story is, we went down on the field and the blizzard,
you know, not really dressed for it because we were working,
um oh for a good forty five minutes and it
was not a not a very pleasant rest of the night.
Brady would complete all eight of his passes on the
overtime drive, with three going to Jermaine Wiggins. Actually faked
by Brady down the middle. He goes cut first down
Mark Edwards breaks it down to Jermaine Wiggins rather breaking

(42:31):
it down to the yek one later thirty five yard lines.
Jermaine Wiggins, Well, that's That was the great thing about
you know, playing for Belichick and playing for the Patriots,
and it was like going into that game, I didn't
expect to have ten catches. Brady looks to the right,
buyers to the right, and it was knocked and it's
locked in the air and then caught in the dbound

(42:51):
at the fifteen yard line by Jermaine Wiggins. You know,
it's kind of bad weather and you don't want to,
you know, throw these risky throws outside the numbers that
you want to work the middle of the field. It
was perfect for me, and it's just you know, hey,
every time you get an opportunity, make sure you catch
the ball, stay focused, hold onto it and can and
pick up what you can, whether it's you know, third

(43:12):
and four and you gotta gain five yards. That was
my job was I felt like to put us in
a position where if it was third and five, I
was getting six. You know, anything after that was a bonus.
Billbella Jick and his staff to decide onto this fourth
down and three at the Oakland twenty seven. If they

(43:32):
go forward and fourth down and don't make it, then
Oakland gets the ball at the twenty seven. Yeah, so
they pump. They're only gonna gain about seven yards in
all likelihood, and a field goal would be forty five
yards into the wind. Well, we can throw all that
out the window. Brady's in there and looks like they're
gonna go for it. Patriots would go for it on
fourth and three from the Raiders twenty eight yard line
because they look to make Finitary's game winning attempt a

(43:53):
little bit easier. Fourth and three, Brady rock straight back
to throw pump bakes. Pump Bakes Fires got first down
at the Oakland Radar twenty two yard line. The casual
was made on the ground on the snow by David
Paton from were two receivers there. It's Wiggins and Patton

(44:15):
so close together, but Brady drilled it in there. Antoine
Smith would pick up fifteen more rushing yards, setting up
a twenty three yard for the wind from the twenty
three yard from the thirteen yard line, a twenty three
yard field goal attempt for Adam Vinne Terry Lonnie Paxton
to snap ken water the hole. MC crowd will tell
you whether he makes it or not. Set the goal
snap fall down kick his up head sixteen to thirteen

(44:45):
and it's a pop scene of a snowy field, a
block Farroway Day, Joey McIntire. They win. I'm on the
pylon and I walk. We're just taking it all in,
people going crazy, the players, a storm in the field,
everybody's filling in, and I walk sort of diagonal from

(45:08):
the pylon to like the hash mark at around the
ten yard line, and there's like this clearing and it's
probably from me to the other side, maybe ten fifteen feet,
and like suddenly no one's there and I'm on one
side and who walks in but Tom Brady and he's

(45:29):
clearly looking around for Rich Cannon. You know, he's looking
for the other quarterback to touch base like they do.
And I like stand back. I'm like, I don't know
what to say. I'm like a good game, and he's
like thanks, and I kind of hit him on the
shoulder pads and like he goes off looking for you know,
Rich Cannon and for John Browning an excruciating and to

(45:51):
his season. Well you see the de stair all year long.
You fight so long, you think you got the game
one I replay back, and then you lose it over time.
Any trust, whenever I talk about this game. I am fiery,
and I am passionate, and I am resolute that it
was a fumble, and I share my feelings fiercely, and

(46:17):
I hear from people, Amy, get over it, Amy, get
over it. It was X number of years ago. But
the fun of sports is we don't need to get
over things. Look, all the time in life, we need
to get over things, real things, hardships, a lot of
loved ones. There are things in life one does have

(46:37):
to get over. But the fun of sports is we
can all cling to these things and not get over them,
as long as we do so in good spirit, as
good sports and in the spirit of sportsmanship. So whenever
I talk about the check rule on air, or if

(46:58):
I tweet about it, you know, and I hear backs
from people Patriot fans telling me to get over it,
I respond, But isn't that the fun of sports that
we don't have to get over things as long as
when we're talking about them, it is in the spirit
of good sportsmanship, which is how I tried to do this,

(47:18):
and I think I accomplish that. I think I do
do this as a good sport. And the side of
the end of foot Stadium just said them just best serve.
Maybe this is a little payback for nineteen seventy. You
got that, right, I was thinking of that. I was
thinking of that. So you know, I have very passionate
views about that play, but I don't want that in

(47:41):
any way to take away from the credit I give
the Patriot organization. So what they went on to accomplish thereafter,
a lot of teams in that situation might have won
that game and not gone on to win the Super
Bowl that year, or gone on to win the Super
Bowl that year and not continue to sink seed thereafter.

(48:01):
The Patriots deserve a tremendous amount of credit for the
dynasty they built. And it starts with the craft. And
you know, Bill Belichick, this group for guys that has
refused to quit all year long, refused to quit in
this one. They hung in, they tied it, they went
in and overtime. I couldn't be happier for Bill Belichick
is stabbing the players and the fans. Just a great, great,

(48:22):
great win for Lombardi, even in defeat, he recognized what
Paoli and Belichick had put together in New England. Michael Lombardi,
you don't want to think it was just it was
just exactly what you would thought it was. It was
a team that was getting better every single week, much
like all of Bill's teams do, and they were able
to take it and beat the greatest show on turf.

(48:44):
And you knew as they were getting better, especially since
the quarterback wasn't showing any demonstrations of being a six
round pick whatsoever, that that was going to be a long, long, tough,
long haul with them for winning. Tom e Current. I
was having an unbelievably great time, and I sensed that
I sensed something prior to people, whether it be with

(49:05):
Brady or the team itself. I really did feel as
if I was not on the ground floor watching a
twenty year dynasty unfold. But it was kind of like, hey,
I had the concert t shirt before they were big.
He kind of felt like you knew Chris bermant if
the Patriots started winning. Bill and I had a tradition that,
you know, I worked late on Sunday nights and often

(49:25):
they would play at one or four in my shows
were untill later, but I would leave him a voicemail
after maybe not every whim, but after a lot of them.
We call them red light specials that he'd get the
office at five in the morning or four in the morning,
or whenever he would get there, and he would notice
the red light on for a couple of messages. He
probably never left the building to relate, even on a

(49:47):
game day or game night, and we call them red
light specials. Well, that game was over at what eleven
thirty midnight? So then he's doing his stuff the Patriot
to do in their stuff. It's snowing. I'm in Connecticut
doing prime time after the game, and it's snowing where
I am, and obviously hard. And now it's about two

(50:10):
in the morning. I'm done and packing up, and I
want to just leave him my usual message to congratulations,
it was unbelievable, etc. I'm going to try to reaact
with a bill invitation, so I would call it like
two oh five, right one ring Patriots. He answers the

(50:31):
phone the bill, Boomer, what are you? I just wanted
to leave a red light specially you're still you're still
answering the food. He goes, where am I going, Boomer?
Have you looked outside or something to that effect, And
I said, well, I'm not really going anywhere either. I'm
only one hundred miles away because I know. And then
we talked about the game for about five minutes. I
was surely not calling him to ask him questions, but

(50:53):
we had a live discussion after two am about that game.
I'll never forget it, Joey Macking. What a way to
close it out. I mean, after all the ups and
downs that you know, Patriots fans had to close it
out with that with a little luck, you know, No,
we never got any luck. You know, that was our story,
you know what I mean. The other team always gets

(51:15):
the breaks, and we finally got the break with the
tuck rule, and but we finished, you know what I mean,
you got to you gotta do something with those breaks,
and we finally did that day, and it was just
great to be on the field and be a part
of that day. Next time. On two thousand and one,
a Super Bowl sound otosey, the Patriots are off to

(51:36):
Pittsburgh to face a familiar foe, where their magical season
is expected to come to an unceremonious end. Can't get
enough Patriots two thousand and one content relive the historic
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(51:58):
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