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                               February 1, 2002

Fox, Murphy see the light

Commentary by Jim Fox
Staff Writer

With the battle nearly won and owning a one-game edge over my erstwhile adversary Capt. Pat Murphy (7-3 to 6-4) after three rounds of playoff action we have both come to our senses, so to speak.

Murphy admits now that the St. Louis Rams will hold aloft the Lombardi Trophy late Sunday night.

I, on the other hand, am ready to jump onto the New England Patriots’ bandwagon.

"That should make Patriots fans nervous, especially because last week Foxy predicted a Steelers win and a 14-point Rams win," Murphy said.

Whether Tom Brady or Drew Bledsoe starts Sunday doesn’t seem to matter to the odds-makers. The Pats will be around a 14-point underdog.

That’s the key -- they are masters of playing that role.

Despite my rantings all season-long about the offensive wizardry of Kurt Warner and company, Pats’ coach Bill Belichick will come up with a defensive scheme that should slow down Marshall Faulk and the rest of the Rams.

Warner has not been on top of his game of late. He has done just enough to get the job done and hasn’t made mistakes. The Philadelphia Eagles defense kept St. Louis from making any of their benchmark big plays and Rams’ coach Mike Martz has said he still believes the Pats "D" was the toughest he faced all season long.

The Rams edged New England 24-17 back in week 10 and were helped, to a large degree, by a crucial goal-line fumble by the Pats.

New England is in a position similar to what the Denver Broncos faced in Super Bowl XXXII back in 1998 when the Brett Favre-led Green Bay Packers were thought to be indestructible. The Pats are 14.5-point dogs as of Tuesday. The Broncos ended up being 11.5-point underdogs.

If the Pats can just let lay low and let the Rams become full of themselves this week they may be able to pull off another in a long line of Super Bowl upsets.

New England’s running game and special teams can help keep the Pats in this game. If Bledsoe is behind center, they may even be explosive on offense.

No matter who the New England QB is the Pats will have to keep turnovers to a minimum and keep the game close, which is something they have shown they are capable of against both Oakland and Pittsburgh.

This may be the year when everything turns for New England. So far, to the chagrin of Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers fans, that has been the case.

New England will have to play mistake-free football, have a couple of big plays on special teams and hope the Rams are not hitting on all cylinders to win.
Fox: Pats 30-28

"Foxy, Foxy, Foxy," said Murphy, "can’t you see it wasn’t about Kurt Warner all season? It’s not about what Coach Belichick can come up with either, it’s about the Marshall Plan. When you have the reigning NFL MVP, you just feed him the ball and get out of the way of the ‘Greatest Show on Turf.’"

Murphy added, "While I have great respect for the Pat’s defense and all the cadets from Boston who differ with me, Pittsburgh would have won last week if New England’s special teams didn’t bail them out with two, yes two, touchdowns. While I don’t think the Rams’ special teams are that special, they won’t give up two touchdowns in the big game!"
Murphy: Rams 30-17