January 19, 2002: The New England Patriots play their last game at their old Foxboro Stadium, in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. It is also the game that establishes a dynasty that, 20 years later, is, more or less, still running.
With what would be named Gillette Stadium rising next-door, the Patriots hosted the Oakland Raiders in an AFC Divisional Playoff. These teams were both charter franchises in the American Football League, and there were priors:
* December 18, 1976: The Patriots thought they were headed for the Super Bowl, but a last-minute roughing the passer penalty by referee Ben Dreith against Ray Hamilton gave the Raiders new life. They capitalized, and went on to win the Super Bowl.
* August 12, 1978: Raider safety Jack Tatum clobbered Patriot receiver Darryl Stingley, paralyzing him from the neck down. In an exhibition game.
* January 5, 1986: The teams met in the postseason for the 1st time since the Ben Dreith Game. The Patriots won. Afterward, Patrick Sullivan, son of Patriots owner Billy, got into a shouting match with Raider linebacker Matt Millen, who was angry at Sullivan heckling defensive end Howie Long. Millen threw the first punch, but Sullivan held his own. He told a reporter after the game, "We're just getting back for Jack Tatum, and all the crap that their football team has put on our football team over the years."
With 16 years come and gone, and the Patriots having changed ownership twice in the interim, those moments shouldn't have mattered. And maybe they didn't to Patriots owner Robert Kraft, head coach Bill Belichick, and quarterback Tom Brady; or to their respective counterparts on the Raiders: Al Davis, Jon Gruden and Rich Gannon. But then, Al Davis was always going to be Al Davis, so who knew?
The Patriots were 11-5, and Champions of the AFC Eastern Division. The Raiders were 10-6, and had won the AFC Western Division. The Patriots had a 1st Round bye, while the Raiders had beaten the New York Jets. Neither team had an appreciable edge on experience. Cliché Alert: Home-field advantage is usually said to be worth 3 points, and the Las Vegas oddsmakers had made the Patriots 3-point favorites.
The game started at 8:05 PM Eastern Time, and it was 25 degrees with snow falling. Understandable weather for New England in January, unusual for Oakland anytime. (The Oakland Coliseum has been considered a cold place to play, but they've never had snow during a game, either baseball or football.) Also understandable, given the weather, there was no scoring in the 1st quarter. In the 2nd quarter, Gannon threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to James Jett, and the Raiders led 7-0 at the half. So, if the weather was affecting them, it wasn't much.
Adam Vinatieri got the Pats on the board with a 23-yard field goal. But Sebastian Janikowski kicked 2 for the Raiders, from 38 and 45 yards out. After 3 quarters, the Raiders led, 13-3. They still held that lead with 8 minutes left in regulation. The Raiders hadn't been to the Super Bowl in 18 years, but it looked like they were going.
With 7:52 left, Brady scored on a 6-yard run, to make it 13-10. With 2:19 left, the Raiders had to punt. The Patriots got the ball back on their own 46-yard line. Brady threw to Kevin Faulk for 7 yards. Then he ran for 5 yards and a 1st down. With 1:50 on the clock, and the ball on the Raider 42, the Raiders needed at least 10 more yards for a game-tying field goal. Then came the play that changed the history of the National Football League.
Brady dropped back to pass, but didn't see any open receivers. He pumped the ball, but the ball did not leave his hand. Then he was hit on his right by Charles Woodson, a fellow University of Michigan graduate. And at this point, the ball did leave Brady's hand, and fell to the ground. Raider linebacker Greg Biekert recovered. Raider ball.
Except referee Walt Coleman wasn't sure if it was a fumble or an incomplete pass. So he ruled it a fumble. A a call of "Fumble" would trigger an automatic instant replay review; while a call of "Incomplete pass" could not be reviewed. Whether that's fair or not, that was the rule of the time.
In 1999, the NFL instituted Rule 3, Section 22, Article 2, Note 2: "When [an offensive] player is holding the ball to pass it forward, any intentional forward movement of his arm starts a forward pass, even if the player loses possession of the ball as he is attempting to tuck it back toward his body. Also, if the player has tucked the ball into his body and then loses possession, it is a fumble."
If he was still moving the ball inward, to "tuck" the ball into his body when he lost possession, then this "Tuck Rule" would make the play in question an incomplete pass.
Beyond any question, Brady's arm had moved forward. Beyond any question, that movement stopped. If there was an attempt to pass, it had concluded. He then lost the ball.
In order to overturn a ruling, the replay must show that the ruling on the field was obviously wrong. The replay showed that the ruling on the field, a fumble, was absolutely correct. Therefore, the call should have stood, and the Raiders should have been given a 1st & 10, with good field position.
Instead, the ruling on the field was overturned: Incomplete pass. The Patriots kept the ball: 2nd & 10, on the Raider 42, with 1:47 to go.
Brady threw to David Patten for 13 yards and a 1st down. He threw passes intended for Troy Brown and Jermaine Williams, both falling incomplete. He ran up the middle for 1 yard. Belichick sent Adam Vinatieri in to kick a field goal. From 45 yards out. On natural grass. On frozen natural grass. In a snowstorm. With a little bit of wind. But the kick was good, and the game went to overtime.
The Patriots won the toss, and got the ball to start the overtime. They converted a 4th & 4 play, rather than attempt a game-winning 48-yard field goal into the wind. They got close enough for Vinatieri to try a 23-yard field goal with 6:35 left in the 1st overtime. It was good, and the Patriots had won, 16-13.
Under today's overtime rules, the team getting the ball first only kicking a field goal would not have ended the game. The Raiders would still have gotten the ball, with the chance to tie with a field goal or win with a touchdown. (This rule is designed to avoid long field goals giving a team a cheap overtime win, just because they won the coin toss. Had today's rules been in place then, and the Patriots scored a touchdown, the game would have been over immediately, and the Raiders would not have gotten a chance.)
The Patriots then beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, and upset the St. Louis Rams to win Super Bowl XXXVI at the Superdome in New Orleans. It was the 1st of 9 Super Bowls that coach Belichick and quarterback Brady got to together, winning 6 of them.
Before this game, the Patriots had played 32 seasons, made the Playoffs 11 times, won 6 Division titles, reached 2 AFC Championship Games, and won both of them, but hadn't won a Super Bowl.
In the 22 seasons since, they've made the Playoffs 18 times, won 17 Division titles, reached 13 AFC Championship Games, won 9 of them, and won 6 Super Bowls.
Raiders owner Al Davis was enraged, to the point that he fired coach Gruden for not protesting the call enough. He replaced Gruden with Bill Callahan, and he led the Raiders to the AFC title the next season, reaching Super Bowl XXXVII, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- who had hired Gruden as their head coach. The Raiders haven't been back to the Super Bowl since then, and neither Davis' death and replacement as operating owner by his son Mark in 2011 nor their move to Las Vegas in 2020 has affected this.
In 2013, the Tuck Rule was abolished, by a vote of 29-1. The Patriots abstained from the vote, as did the team then known as the Washington Redskins. The only team to vote to keep it was, with a small amount of irony, the next team the Raiders beat after the game in question, the Steelers.
One more thing: Given the shady incidents in their history, and not just against the Patriots -- the 1978 "Holy Roller" play against the San Diego Chargers comes to mind -- the Raiders and their fans were on shaky ground saying that the Patriots had won unfairly. Right message? Maybe. But wrong messengers.
Still... There has never been a serious accusation of an NFL referee being paid to throw a game from one team to another. Doing it through incompetence, yes; through corruption, no. But if it turned out that the officials made the incorrect call on the replay because the Patriots paid them to, would anybody be surprised?
Think of it this way: We have more proven instances of Belichick and/or Brady cheating, and the other benefiting from that cheating, than we have proven instances of them not cheating. So which is more likely: That these were the only times they cheated, or that they cheated in many more games?
In 2019, a poll ranked this game 15th on a list of the 100 Greatest Games of the NFL's 1st 100 years.
*
January 19, 2002 was a Saturday. In the other NFL Playoff game that day, the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Chicago Bears, 33-19. It was the last game at the old Soldier Field in Chicago, before it was demolished and replaced with the new stadium known as The Eyesore On Lake Shore.
There were 13 games played in the NBA that day:
* The New York Knicks lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 97-89 at the First Union Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.
* The New Jersey Nets beat the Houston Rockets, 99-90 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands.
* The Toronto Raptors beat the Charlotte Hornets, 91-89 at the Charlotte Coliseum.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Atlanta Hawks, 116-107 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.
* The Miami Heat beat the Indiana Pacers, 100-88 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.
* The Orlando Magic beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 119-103 at the Great American Pyramid in Memphis.
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Utah Jazz, 106-103 at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 98-81 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Boston Celtics, 94-91 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.
* The Washington Wizards beat the Chicago Bulls, 77-69 at the United Center in Chicago.
* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Golden State Warriors, 105-102 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 113-93 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Denver Nuggets, 104-77 at the KeyArena in Seattle.
And there were 13 games played in the NHL:
* The New Jersey Devils and the Carolina Hurricanes played to a tie, 3-3 at the Meadowlands.
* The New York Islanders beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-2 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. (The New York Rangers were not scheduled.)
* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Washington Capitals, 5-1 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-1 at the Ice Palace (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.
* The Atlanta Flames beat the Florida Panthers, 6-1 at the National Car Rental Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.
* The Nashville Predators beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 2-1 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.
* The Ottawa Senators beat the Minnesota Wild, 4-1 at the Corel Centre (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-0 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at the Savvis Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis. Keith Tkachuk scored the winner with 1:31 left in overtime.
* The Calgary Flames beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 2-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Edmonton Oilers, 1-0 at the Skyreach Centre (as the Northlands Coliseum was temporarily known) in Edmonton.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-1 at the America West Arena (now the Footprint Center) in Phoenix.
* And the Colorado Avalanche beat the San Jose Sharks, 3-1 at the Compaq Center (now the SAP Center) in San Jose.
No comments:
Post a Comment