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2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

The Drew Bledsoe Renaissance

( 2:09:00 )

Our plucky underdogs travel to Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, PA to take on the 10-point favorite Steelers team. This game was many things, but nothing exemplified it more than the renaissance of Drew Bledsoe. Join the wine-addled brothers as they discuss the 2001 AFC Championship game.


Since this is a long one, we're gonna try some chapters. Hopefully they work like they're supposed to:


(1:00) Interview with Good Steve the Steeler fan.

(31:06) The Brown brothers review their wine

(39:59) Finally get to the game review


Here's Greg kissing the clown picture, as promised: https://patriotsdynasty.info/sites/default/files/2020-06/greg-kissing-clown.jpeg


The Belichick Breakdown of Troy Brown's PR TD: https://www.patriots.com/video/belichick-breakdown-top-plays-from-week-5-vs-tampa-bay-310211


Enjoying the podcast? Can't stand it? Let us know: https://ratethispodcast.com/patspod

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Game Info

Patriots

24
at
Steelers

17
1 2 3 4 Final
New England Patriots 7 7 7 3 24
Pittsburgh Steelers 0 3 14 0 17
Total Downloads 327

Episode Transcript

This is Christine Brown. And while I have to listen to this podcast as my motherly duty, you have the choice not to. My sons, and of course Michael, sometimes say some naughty things when they're trying to be funny. But really, they're just being stupid. You still want to listen? Go right ahead. I am not your mother.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

So, Steve, thanks for joining us. No problem. And you are, as we said, a Steelers fan. That is correct, right? You haven't been lying to everybody? 100%. No, he's not a Steelers fan. His dog is named Hines. Indeed. After Hines Ward, not after the stadium. Dude, that was what I was wondering, actually. Not after the catch-up? Yeah, it's the catch-up.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

It's not the ketchup. The dog does love food, Steve. He does love food. This is true. But what dog doesn't? So he's named after Ben Roethlisberger. No, that's the next dog. Oh, Jesus. You're going to name your next dog Big Ben or something like that? I mean, if I have my way, yeah. But probably not going to happen. God, you got a few. It carries a negative connotation these days. Yeah, a little bit. Stop pumping my leg, Big Ben. It makes it even worse because I'm going to

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

for like a semester too. Yeah, I did go there for a semester. Yeah. I know how that goes. I went to Penn State for a semester. That didn't last long. All right. So that's, I say that's reasonable. We've had some other fans on here. We had a, last week we had a Raiders fan on who became a Raiders fan because of hip hop. Yeah. Whoa. Okay. Yeah. We don't, we don't fan base.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Yeah, he did not last long. So do you remember watching this game live, Steve? Yeah, I do, actually. I remember watching that whole playoff live. Like the week before we had beaten the Ravens, they were the only loss we had had in Heinz Field that year. And that was actually Tony Saraguso's last game for the Ravens. And it were all time, actually, period. He retired after that season. And then, so we were the number one seed. And I remember thinking for sure we were going to, you know, go to the

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Yeah, it is. So I would clean dishes in commercial breaks. So this is actually the first time I watched this full game. Really? Yeah, I didn't realize, but I'm like, I don't remember any of this. I've seen the highlights and stuff, obviously, a bunch of times. I don't remember half of these plays. Yeah, because that was the thing, too. You couldn't really look up games after the fact there. Now we can just show it on NFL replay. You can find it online. But back then, you missed the game. You're fucked. You can watch

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

on Sunday night, but I'll give you like a four minute clip. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Just highlights. Yeah. The beginning of the game, Gil and Gino, the radio announcer said something along the lines of, I'm happy to report that despite all the prognostications of doom, the Patriots have shown up here today and will take the field against the Steelers. And that was like how he led into this because of how heavily favored the Steelers were. Yeah. I mean, that's a pretty, that's a pretty good,

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

I was a huge fan and then he had that great season kind of fizzled out and ended up in Kansas City and didn't really pan out there and he only played like four or five years in the league actually what other players on that team do you have jerseys of I had a Cordell Stewart jersey um had a Heinz Ward jersey which I still have actually um seen that I think that's it from that from those years actually all right oh and Jerome Bettis actually oh really yeah I was

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

I was looking at the roster. I'm like, oh, good. He didn't have a Bettis. And then you said that. Yeah, I had a Bettis. I don't anymore. That was when I was way smaller. But yeah, he said a Bettis jersey. What is your general memories of Jerome Bettis? Because he's a vintage-type player, you know? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, I actually got to meet him once at a Steelers-Jaguars game. I think it might have been that year, actually.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

It was like, so the Steelers were in Jacksonville, and we hung out near the buses after the game and got to shake his hand and got his autograph on a football. But I remember, I was pretty young at the time, but I just remember how massive he freaking looked. Like, his legs just looked like tree trunks. And just like, I mean, he definitely wasn't like the prettiest running back, but he was good to get you, you know, three and a half to four yards of carry. Just straight up the gut. And one of my favorite memories, I remember when he just absolutely trucked Brian Urlacher. Oh, really? In a game in Chicago.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

He definitely had a few games like that towards the end of his career. Yeah. What are you going to say, Greg? You want me to give you a play-by-play of the stat check? Sure. Sure. We're in the snow here from the five-yard line. Roethlisberger hands it off to Bettis. Erlacher fills the gap and he just gets trucked. Bettis just stood him up and then just kept churning until he looked like a meat grinder.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

You just got caught underneath the bus. That's what happens. Yeah, what a great nickname. One of the all-time great football nicknames. One of my memories of this game actually was like, I was like 10 years old. And the bus was the big nickname going around. And I remember thinking like, oh, the school bus doesn't run on Sundays. I was like the cleverest little shit.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

I was like, Dad, I'm going to make a poster board. Did you? I don't think I ever did it, but I would do. Yeah. I mean, he was wearing yellow, so. And it was going to be like a picture of like a broken down bus. I had a whole thing that I was going to do. So, oddly enough, he's not even the Steelers all-time leading rusher. Wait, all right, let's trivia this. Let's trivia this. We can get this, guys.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Franko Harris would be my guess. Yeah, it's Franko Harris. Oh, it is? Okay. Yeah, the bus played his first three seasons with the Rams. Oh, that's right. He did. I forgot about those years. I had no idea about that. The LA Rams. Yeah, that's when he was called the battering ram. Oh, wow. What also a great name. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, he was.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

It was a round mound of rushing yards. It didn't rhyme. Yeah, round mound of touchdown. Jeez, Andy. That doesn't rhyme either, you fucking idiot. Is it does? What do you mean it doesn't rhyme? It doesn't end with a D. Okay, Andy. That's how rhyming works. It is, you fucking goddammit. Golly. I'm not even going to look up the wire, but fuck it. You want me to stat check? No. Stat check.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

All right. Good Steve. Less shitty Steve. He was until you guys started shitting on me. That was good Steve. I like him better the more I talk to you. As a Steelers fan, what's your view of the Patriots? Because we've got a bunch of answers when we ask this question.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Yeah, I mean you even look at the two years that the Steelers won the Super Bowl with Roethlisberger, we didn't play the Patriots because they got knocked out I think one year by the Ravens. I'm not sure of the other year. How has knowing me changed your opinion of the Patriots? Not for the better. Oh, it's made it worse.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

That's 100% true. Wow, the Patriots have only ever played the Steelers since the Belichick-Brady era in the AFC conference game. In the AFC championship game. No. That can't be right. Steve have been to two games in Pittsburgh. Yeah, and they're both. It was 2001, 2004, and 2016. In the playoffs. Yeah, in the playoffs. I think that.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Playoff games the pages have played against Steelers have been in the AFC championships. Which is probably why for Steve it hurts that much more because it's that last game to get in the Super Bowl. Yeah. I think two of those games were in Pittsburgh maybe. They were. I know this one was 0-1. Yeah. 0-4 was as well because that was that cold game when you guys had it was Roethlisberger's rookie year I think. Rookie year yeah they went 15-1. Yeah.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Yep. 15-1. I mean, I'm not going to complain too much because they came back and won it the next year, but yeah. That's right. It would have been nice to get that one. That year, we beat the Patriots and the Eagles, and I think it was within three weeks of each other. Both games are in October. The Steelers' victory over the Patriots was the one that broke their 21-game win streak. Oh, yeah. I remember that game. On Halloween. Yes.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Yep. How much candy did you eat, Greg, to get over that? I don't know why I remember that it was Halloween. I don't either. But you said that more than once, I think. Oh, boy. All right. So I got a question for good Steve. I thought he was less shitty, Steve. He was. He's growing on us. Bill Cowher or Mike Tomlin? Who are you taking?

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Oh, that's tough. Honestly, I'm a big Mike Tomlin fan. I mean, I love Cower, but you know, I think it's, especially after everything that came out with Antonio Brown this year, I have a lot of respect for Mike Tomlin and like him just keeping that under wraps for as long as he did. That's fair. So yeah, I still think he's pretty young. I think he's got more Super Bowls ahead of him. Yeah, I mean, as far as like keeping a culture together,

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Outside of the Pats. Yeah. It's, you know, you talk about like spanning more than 10 years with having like consistently winning seasons. Yeah. I mean, Patriots, Steelers, Colts, Tomlin or Chuck. Yeah, I mean, obviously, what's that? Tomlin or Chuck Noll. Well, I wasn't alive during the 70s, so I'm going to, I mean, obviously, Noll had a lot more success than Tomlin's had, but.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

I can't even really comment on that. I don't really claim those. Lance Allworth. Well, considering my dog after Heinz Ward, I'm going to go with Heinz Ward. Like, best blocking wide receiver in NFL history. Yeah, I have to say, after watching this game, I remember the fury that he would instill in me. He was one of those guys that I think, kind of like the Rodney Harrison of the team, where you fucking love him.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

where you're like, yeah, I don't want to see it happen to anybody, but if it was going to happen to someone, that's the guy. That asshole. That's a good one, Greg. I like that. It's a deep cut, but you got there. I was worried. That's why I had to interrupt. Whoever interrupted. I appreciate it. All right. Let's see. All right.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

I mean, we're 15-1. I thought we were going all the way. Yeah. I mean, even in 2001, this Steeler team was a fucking wagon. Yeah. Yeah, defense is legit. Yeah, I had it here. They were first in rushing yards and rushing defense in both yards and touchdowns. Like, they were fucking unstoppable on the ground. And yet, in this game, it felt like

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

They just didn't even run it for whatever reason. Like they came out slinging the ball. Yeah, I don't. Yeah, I mean, Cordell threw three interceptions, I think, in that game. Yeah, we'll get there. You want to know my favorite Patriots Steelers game? Yes. 1996 Fog Bowl. Oh, remember that? No. Barely. I do not know. It was the Patriots first ever home playoff game.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

True Bloodso and Tyree Glenn. Yes. Versus Neil O'Donnell in the Steelers. Holy shit, Neil O'Donnell. The guy didn't have enough to live. Yeah. Greg Lloyd. Remember Greg Lloyd, the linebacker for the Steelers? Linebacker. Yeah. Dude, Steelers linebackers, they're a different breed, I feel like. Because they always have that cool predator face mask. They all do. The black helmets. Yeah, and they're just like fucking

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Oh, shit. I forgot about the Matavers-Brian thing. Man. So, basically, the Raiders are where wide receivers go to die, basically, right? Yep. Yeah, Rainy Moss. Rainy Moss as well, yeah. And Jerry Rice, to a certain extent. Yeah, he was good in that. Yeah, but I think he had, like, still a thousand-yard season while there, I'm pretty sure. He did, yeah. This is 2001 season, actually, yeah. Yeah. So.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

I think we had to go back and get all my shit from Penn State. So we drove down there, packed up the van, and we're driving back. We stopped at like the fucking steakhouse or something like that on the way. And it must have been, I don't even think it was in the Pittsburgh area because Pittsburgh's west, western Pennsylvania, right? Because yeah, Philly's east and Pittsburgh's west. It's only 45 minutes from Ohio. Yeah. So we were in this steakhouse and I was wearing my Troy Brown jersey. And I was in the bathroom at the urinal and some guy walks in and sees it.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

talking shit to a college kid in a urinal. I bet he doesn't. I bet he doesn't even remember it. Yeah. But I felt vindicated, which is all the first game that we went to. We met these guys standing in line behind us. One was a Steelers fan was a Patriots fan. We were waiting for Permanian brothers like the sandwich place quicker. We all sat together, ate lunch and then like we ended up like tailgating with them and drinking a bunch of beers out the whole weekend. And the next year we got the Airbnb with them as well. So.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Like, everyone's like super chill there. Yeah, and then they all fucked each other. Just one big gay orgy. Steve loves it in Pittsburgh. Yeah, I can imagine why. You're so friendly. Yeah. Yeah. So I think this is probably the perfect time to explain why this is the Drew Bledsoe, what did I call it? Renaissance game? So,

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

True Brown plans tend to go. I'm the only one that actually found True Blood So Wine because it is very prevalent in New Hampshire liquor stores. You can find it in almost all of them, actually, believe it or not. And for anybody who doesn't live in New Hampshire, the liquor stores are directly off the highway, so they're very easy to get to and to leave. In a car? Yeah, exactly. We say we don't promote drunk driving, yet we put all the liquor stores directly off of it.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

So I was able to find it and this is quite literally the most money I've ever spent on a bottle of wine. It is Flying B, not V, but B for Bledsoe, the Cabernet Sauvignon 2016. And for those of you, it is delicious. And I know nothing about wine, but I decided to prime my palate over the past week.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

with a bottle of wine that my boss gave me that was supposed to be super fancy and I drank it and it was pretty good. This one's better. So Drew Bledsoe. That's not you just gassing up Bledsoe. That's a legitimate take. Yeah. No, Drew Bledsoe, not great on third and long. Great at squishing grapes and making them ferment. How dare you? Oh, we'll get to it. Don't you worry. We'll get to it. So I found Drew Bledsoe.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

And so I have been drinking that steadily throughout this. How about you boys? I have a, um, it doesn't have a year on it. Good start. Good sign. Um, it doesn't know that pregnant women shouldn't drink it though. Okay. A 25th anniversary, California Cabernet Savignon with a massive Panthers logo on it from the, the Durham.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

That's a nice nose it has. It's delightful. Is that elderberry? No, that's blackcurrant. Oh, okay. That you're smelling. Yep. It's a nice earthy aroma, you know? Yeah. Is that mocha? I think there's a layer of mocha in there now that I'm... Yep. Yep. So for reference, I took Greg Brown to a beer festival once.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

How dare you? She's an Australian LPGA golfer who's in the World Golf Hall of Fame. Dummies. I work at a golf company and there was some stupid team building event and one of the prizes was wine. And I answered a question, got a bottle of wine. I said, I'll never drink this. And here we are. Yeah, it was a question. Give us the gist. How many Super Bowls does Tom Brady have? So of course I knew it.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

It was three. It was three back then. Gregory getting booed at his Christmas party for wearing a Pat's Santa hat. I got booed by the entire company. How many people in that company? There was like 160 people booing me. Jesus. I'm sure you handled it well. Oh, yeah. Of course. Yeah. I feed off the hate, you know? I agree. I'm the same way. The hate nourishes me.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

I think it's a brown family thing. I drink it up. Like wine. Like Drew Bledsoe wine. So to Drew Bledsoe, everybody, for those drinking at home. Hopefully not in their commute. See if we can hold. Can you hear that? Yes. Can you tell that I'm spinning the bottle as I pour it? Yes. It is slightly presumptuous. Ooh. Animately palatable, though.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

You can smell it first? Overall, an amusing firewater. Ooh. Ooh, this is quite fragrant. Have you actually tried it yet, Greg? No, dude, come on. Are you an amateur? You gotta smell that shit for like 10 minutes before you do anything. I've already had like two glasses, though. Yeah, me too. You gotta look at the color, you know? Yeah, you gotta see how, like, the legs of it. What are the legs like? I'm in my car. I can't see the color. It just looks dark. Ooh.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

And then you gotta like spin your glass to see how it ripples off shit. You know, it's called legs. I was just saying that Jesus Christ. All right. So I got, I got some ripple. I have to say this is actually a really good wine. Steve probably couldn't even tell the difference between a Malbec and a Cabernet. It's pronounced Cabernet. Do you guys remember that time we were in that French restaurant in Brooklyn with Ellie when she first moved there? I do.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

I've never seen her that embarrassed. Ellie doesn't get embarrassed, but she was embarrassed that one night. And Greg was just taking it all the way to the max. He ordered a peanut grigiot, I remember. Yes. Your finest peanut grigiot in the chicken parmiagana. The waiter was like one of those Brooklyn hipsters who was taking his job super serious.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

You haven't even drank it yet. Shut up. Yeah, well, of course not, Andy. It's letting it air create. Letting it breathe. We'll do a halftime wine review of Greg Brown's Panther wine. Okay. All right. Because let's get into this game. 2001 AFC Championship game. Even Gil and Gino are joking about how the Patriots actually finally showed up, even though nobody expected them to. And it starts off...

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

as expected, I would say. I don't know. What was expected? These kids are playing awesome D. You know, actually, yeah, no, I take that back. I think what was expected was that the Steelers would run down the Patriots' throat because that's... If there's one criticism of this Patriots' defense that we've seen is that fucking no names are running down. What was the Panthers' guy's name? Do either of you remember? Ooh.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Let me think for like two seconds. Quiz time. Huntley? Yeah, Hunt. I'll take your word for it because I don't remember it either. Yeah, I think it was Huntley. But just some random ass dude. And then last week was Charlie Garner, who, mediocre. He was good after this year, but not this year. Remember Jerome Bettis was hurt though, right? He had missed like the previous six or seven games. So yeah, that was my question too, is that,

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

I'm going to sit on this couch and watch it. I'm going to smoke this bowl of meth and then I can watch every single run. I don't think that's necessarily prescribed painkillers, Steve, unless you're going to a doctor I don't know about. This is 2001. Yeah, you're going to combine drugs. Is that right, Greg? It's football. You're not just doing one. I mean, that's fair, yeah. I mean, HGH, I'm sure, right? I love that shit. I'll fuck you up. Just ask Peyton Manning's

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

And even if he breaks it past the line of scrimmage, he'll look for somebody to hit sort of thing. But also, it just looked like a tree trunk. Like, he's just a thick boy. Yeah. But Jerome Bettis, he was kind of like round. He had like legs and then it was like... A slimmed down Vince Wilford. Ooh, that's not bad. Yeah. Because they have the very same kind of body shape where Vince was. He was also very round. Yeah. But moved quicker than you expect him to. Exactly. Like, Jerome Bettis is making people miss. Yeah, yeah. Exactly.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Yeah. Yeah. When they throw him a screen at one point. Yeah. I was like, oh my God, they throw it to a line. And they started running. I was like, oh, nevermind. That's just Bettis. So, but I, and I mentioned it before when we were talking to good Steve, but the stat lines for Jerome Bettis are fantastic. And this one was no exception. He had, anybody want to guess this stat line? Like 15 carries, 40 yards in a touchdown. Oh, it's so much.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

better than that. Nine carries, eight yards, one touchdown. Wow. Longest run, four yards. Ugh. Yeah. Plus don't run on Sundays. Put it on the poster board. Really doesn't. I think we should... Well, let's not gloss over the lightning of that thunder and lightning backfield. Aim is zero away?

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

was scoring a goal and he just goes, that's one dark Chilean. We were like, what the fuck? So then from then on, that's been a part of our vernacular. I've heard you say it multiple times, but I didn't actually know the backstory to it. That's fantastic. Oh, good Lord. I'm pretty sure Chelsea would kick the shit out of Chile, by the way. That's true. Easily.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

is watching Cordell Stewart play quarterback. Especially when he had Heinz Ward and Boxco Burris as his receivers. He's throwing it short or he's throwing it into coverage and they're making a play. The dude can bounce a football into somebody, into a wide receiver like no other. He looked nervous. He did. He did. But you say that, but both of those wide receivers were over a thousand yards. And I'll get into the best, which I think is...

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

before that had a penalty on it. So they punted it and Troy Brown kind of messed it up. Yeah. I should have caught it and stepped out of bounds or something like that. And he just let it go and it bounced and it kept going down the sideline. And it was on the Patriots 25. It was a 60 something yard punt. Yeah. Yeah. There was a booming punt with a flip field position, but yeah. Cause the guy's the end zone ran out of bounds. Didn't try and get back in. So they threw a flag and made him repunt it. Yeah. Troy took it right out the gut to the house. Yeah. And then on the next play,

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

He actually didn't get off the line. And when you watch the replay, the guy that's being blocked by two guys and falling over in his own end zone, that's the same guy. Yeah, I didn't remember his name. Troy Edwards is his name. But this whole game made me start hating him. I have no way in the fourth quarter, I love seeing Troy Edwards fail. Why? And he did it a lot because he was the kicker turner too. Yeah, I just like seeing him fail. We'll get to that.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Who am I thinking of the receiver from Browns? Braylon Edwards? Braylon Edwards. Yeah. He was shitty. I was thinking of the same thing, too. Didn't he play for the Steelers, too, at one point? Might have. Oh, fucking no. Stat check. No, I'm already looking up Corey Edwards. Yeah, fuck it. All right. All right, then I'll do my best and worst. Ooh. What? All right. He finished his career the Graham Rapids

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

So if any of us see that, or any of our listeners see that, send us a picture and we will buy that man a drink. Or woman. Yes, it's just us. Who knows? Because no one's listening to this, let's be honest. Hey, we get some listens. Nobody from our family, though, apparently, we found out recently. Literally none of our family members listen to this podcast. They're smart enough. Unlike you idiots. I don't like to keep them around. Great.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

They needed to happen. It wasn't a huge offensive production day, but when they needed to have a play, they got it. And so this was, to me, the perfect execution of the Belichick system. All right, what was your worst? Every other player besides Troy Brown. My worst was the offense, having said all that. Yeah, I guess one gets you short-term amnesia. I guess so. All right, Greg, what about you?

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

I love that you nailed that first time too. Dude, I love him. He's an all-time name. And then my worst on names is Matt Stevens. Like, brutal name. And for some reason, I don't, like, I've seen him show up a lot this year, and I don't even think I remembered him at all. Me, I thought the same thing. I remember, like, he started week one, and I had a note there, and I was like, who the fuck is Matt Stevens?

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

No, I think my favorite player name is Stephen Gregory from the Patriots. Oh, yeah. My brothers. Mine is Chris Brown because I love my mom. Hey, nicely done. Mine's Vincent Brisby just because that's an awesome name. Vincent Brisby was the man. He was my first favorite Patriot. Literally because his name rhymed with Frisbee. And I was like seven.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

The Seals offense, the best running offense in the league, was 29th in the NFL. Yeah, I saw that too. I didn't really put that all together. How the fuck does that work? I think a lot of their rushing yards came from Stewart, though. Maybe. I mean, he wasn't... He had like... Bettis only had 1,000 yards in the year. Stewart had like almost 600. So I think it was like a combination running game more so than like a groundwork.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

and pound running game. They did try a bunch of design quarterback runs in this game. And they did not work. No, that one worked. The early one works, but nothing else after that did. Richard Seymour sniffed that out almost every time, it seemed like. Yeah, he had a great game. Like he's drinking a fine wine, right? He's just getting those aromas up in there. So yeah, the play went, Jerome Bettis run for no gain, like right up the middle. And then it was,

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

It wasn't a design run. It was actually a pass play that Cordell Stewart took a sack and they threw an incomplete pass when he tried to like scramble again and there was like an offensive holding on the play and it was a shitty mess so they kicked their field goal. Now it's 7-3. And then not much happened in the second quarter other than the Pats actually started to get into a bit of a rhythm.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

They had a completion overturned on third and long to Troy Brown, where Phil Simms almost guaranteed that it was a completion. Dude, fuck Phil Simms and his replay guesses in this goddamn game. Welcome to the darkness, Stephen. Every fucking time. Every time. Whoa. He was. And he was like, Greg Gumbel's like, oh, remind me not to take you to Vegas next time.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

whatever as long as the guy makes a catch at some point and has two hands on the football it's a catch and that's it or we go back to we actually talked about this back i think in the saints game it was ages ago um whenever there was a challenge this year early on some of the the stations would would you were allowed to vote so you could i don't know if you like text in almost like voting for um what's that singer show

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

American Idol. Yeah, it's almost like American Idol. So you can actually vote. And as they were reviewing the play, they would show the voting of America. And like, oh, those 7,000 votes and 62% say this call should stand. And I think it was, I think it may have been Greg who said that they should just use that and whatever the population votes is what the call is. Well, I want them to do that, but not with fans. I want them to have like a room full of refs.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

So we ended up with Donald Trump. See, it doesn't matter. Solutions don't matter because someone will always complain. That's true. Even if they got voted in by a, by a, you know, a democracy, we go, Oh, it wasn't the popular vote. It's never been the popular vote. So. Yeah, there were a lot of,

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Replays in this a lot of overturn calls yeah because there was that there was that Troy Brown call that got overturned which probably legit it was borderline but Troy Brown was still like you hit the ground it kind of moved a little bit whatever great so pages punt and then the pass to Heinz Ward where he caught it just over the fingertips of Troy Brown Troy Ty Law and it was a nag it was a sick catch

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Every time the refs would get on the stadium mic, there was that feedback loop, which made it awful to listen to. That hits even closer to home now that I'm Zooming or Skyping every call for work. I'm like, dude, just figure out your microphone situation. Fucking mute. Everybody mute right now. The one guy who's not paying attention is the one guy who's got the feedback.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Xavier Drew Bledsoe, who I am... To the rescue....out in my car. To the rescue. Literally to the rescue. Thank you very much. Yes, that's exactly what I was looking for. I was looking for somebody who cheers me. Thanks. And Bledsoe comes in and here is the... It happened so fast, too. It did. It feels like, you know, looking back, I was like, oh, man, that must have been such a dramatic thing. But they were just like, Brady's down. And Bledsoe's in. Yep.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

was David Patton because he hadn't caught a pass yet this game and all of a sudden this is the David Patton drive because he caught all three passes including the touchdown with 58 seconds left which look vaguely familiar to a play we'll see next week in the Super Bowl in that back corner of the end zone yeah so so Bledsoe comes in with a minute 40 left and it's zip 15 yards cranked out of bounds zip 10 yards zip touchdown four

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

He got clocked right in the chin. He split his chin open. Now he's got like a band-aid on his chin. And he's just like fucking badass. And his reaction to throwing the touchdown was sick too. He just stares at the sidelines and he gives a look, who, me? It was just like... It was like clamming around him. Yeah, it was so... That was some fucking cool hand Luke shit. What else did you expect? Yeah, of course I'm going to throw a touchdown. What do you think? It was so cool.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

So then the ceiling of the ball back. Well, do you remember mom's reaction to that? No. Cause mom was, I was working. Remember? Yeah. She was a hard blood. So fan. So like this whole season, she was like, kind of like torn. Like, yeah. I remember my dude blood. So, but, and as soon as Brady got hurt, she was like immediately panicked and was like, but you know, she like hides in the background. She was hiding behind the couch.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

So funny. How did she feel about that Bledsoe touchdown? Exactly what you'd expect. She was hyped. She was whooping up a storm, I'm sure. Oh, yeah. So I thought the end of the half was actually pretty interesting. I had forgotten about the end of the half as well. Yeah, the Steelers actually had, what, 58 seconds left, I think? Something like that. So under a minute. And they actually had all three timeouts, so they moved the ball down.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Still. The Hail Mary. The one thing you got to do is throw in the fucking end zone. Apparently not. I remember hating Cordell Stewart. And re-watching this game. Really made me realize why I hate him because he's so bad in this game. I never hated him. I was so bad for him for some reason. I don't know why. It's like the quarterback you're waiting for the other shoe to drop, right? Like, oh, they're due. Yeah.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

I guess. Are we doing best and worst? My best was the offensive pass interference that Otis Smith managed to pull. And my worst was the dirty hit on Tom Brady that caused him to get injured. Fuck you guys. My worst was Jason Gildan. Gildan, yeah. He was a wrecking ball in this game.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

He killed a drive with a sack. He almost had to pick six. Especially in that first half. Actually, the whole game, he was in the backfield. Constantly. Yeah. And then my best is out here. I think when Brady came in and you see all the players around him that were excited, right? They were ready to go. They were amped up. If he'd been in the D.Va situation the whole year and had been

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

My worst is I think this is in the second quarter when they were showing Brady going back to the locker room and he was kind of limping. And one of the commentators was like, he actually looks like he's walking better than he was before. And they start hopping on his good leg.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

All right, so we're at halftime, Greg. Do you want to do your wine review? I sure do. All right, give it to me. All right. How is a Carolina Panthers wine? Well, it's got a nice syrupy texture. It's got a great nose, definitely some earthy oak, nutty tones. Does it hurt to drink? No. Okay, that's a good sign.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

It slides down the throat very smoothly. That's what she said. Oh, we're going to isolate that. That's going to be the quote from this game. It's certainly less underwhelming than the Carolina Panthers. I'll say that. How would Cam Newton rate this?

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Newton Newton Newton. I bet he is a wine guy, right? Because that's like LeBron. By the way, that's the worst. If we can talk about how shitty LeBron is. Of course, I'm always down to that, yeah. Yeah, it's a Boston podcast. Sorry. Apparently Greg has finally drank the wine.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

I have to throw it so smoothly. There's so much pollen here. It's ridiculous. I feel like I'm eating pollen every day. Oh my God. Spring came early. It must suck. It happens like three times a day where I get this fucking. It's gray radio. Yeah, but LeBron. Fuck LeBron. And he's like thinking he's cool. You know what? The thing that LeBron did that I hate the most. What's that?

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

There was like, I don't know if you've ever seen how he like pretends to be a reader. And he's like always reading The Godfather, the book. There was a situation one time where he was, you know, they're like when they do like the pregame stuff, they show the players coming in from the bus. Yeah. Well, there's one time he was walking and reading The Godfather, right? Which first of all, on his face is just reading.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Yeah, it is. Nobody reads and walks. Nobody. He saw the camera up and he flipped the book open. Exactly. He knew he was getting filmed, so he flipped his book open to be cool book reading guy, which is a douchebag move. Because anybody that's tried to walk and read knows that it's like damn near impossible. Your head's shaking. You can't focus on the words. Yeah, it doesn't work. It doesn't work. But then to make it worse, there was video of him earlier in the day at a practice session.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

And after the practice session, he was reading the book on the sidelines. And some internet sleuths look into it. And when he was reading it on the sidelines, fake reading it, obviously, he was further along in the book than when he was reading it getting off. Of course he was. Because he just opened to a random page. Fucking typical. Who the fuck brings a book to practice? Oh my God. Like if that isn't a look at me move, then. Oh, it 100% is.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Hines Ward fumble overturned. Yeah, the head touching one. Yeah, exactly. Which Phil thinks as well. Of course he did. That's definitely a fumble. It has to be overturned. There's no way you can not overturn it. In his defense, they ruled it a fumble on the field. There's nothing to overturn it. I agree with him on that one, but still, fuck Phil Simms and his shitty commentation. Do you like his son? Have you heard him at all? I've heard him, no.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

What's his name? Chris Sims. He played quarterback for a little bit. He does commentary stuff for PFT. Pro Football Talk? Yeah. With Florio. He's one of my favorite football commentators going right now. Really? Okay. He's a bit of a prick, but I really like him a lot.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Do you identify with him, Greg? No. Well, like the good... He's got to go back and forth with Florio, who's like a lawyer. So he was always like shitting on him for being a nerd. So I can associate with that. Fair enough. Being a bit of a prick. Yeah. Nerds. I feel that. Who's your favorite commentator going right now? Tony Robo. Yeah.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Well, I mean, like an analysis guy, like postgame analysis guy. Brian. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Baldy. Yeah. I love break down. So good. He just loves him some good blocking. And that's amazing. It just warms my heart. He's got an amazing like gravel voice, too, which like makes it love even better. Yeah. He always sounds hyped up when he's like doing his breakdowns. Oh, yeah.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

I thought the intentional grounding call was bullshit. It was. It was actually a guy that was running back in the vicinity. And like the only reason it was intentional grounding is because they hadn't seen him play for so many weeks. Like he'd been playing all year. But yeah, it's just Bledsoe. He knew there was a guy there. Yeah, but it just it didn't happen. So they go three and out and it's fourth and seven.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

He did his part. He had his time in the sun and now he can go back into the... I have a note here. Honest question. Honest question. If Brady says he wants to give it a go, start of the third quarter and you're the coach, what do you do? That was my question here. Was the third quarterback even dressed? It was Damon Hewitt. I saw him on the sideline. I don't know if he was active or not for the game. I believe. And if Bledsoe got hurt, would they put Brady back?

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

because he looked okay in that second half-ish. He was throwing passes on the sideline. But with a bad ankle, you can do that. That's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can play on a bad ankle. You just can't do anything. You can stand there and throw it. Yeah, you're not scrambling or anything. You're just doing shotgun. It's going to limit your playbook, right? Oh, absolutely, yeah. But just from riding the momentum of the end of the first half,

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

And the pass interference, there's a whole bunch of defensive penalties on the drive. They get in a field goal range, and this is the field goal that gets blocked, where Troy Brown scoops it up, laterals it to Antoine Harris, and he returns it for a touchdown. I actually Snapchatted this to Steve when I was watching this game the other day, right before it, where Willie drops the pick. They try to do a little quick out route, and Willie McGinnis is right there, hits him right in the hands, and he almost has a second chance at it.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

No, no, this is right before the field goal. That was that third down. Oh, fuck, you're right. Yeah, because the interception got broke back. In that same drive, we had the pick. That was negated by the offsides. Yep. And then Willie McGinnis had a sure pick in his hands. Hits him right in the hands. Twice. Yeah, hits him in the hands. He knocked it down to his knees. Bounces up and he still doesn't catch it. Yeah, because I noticed in one Snapchat of him dropping the pick and then the field goal block.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

And he still agreed to come on this podcast. What a guy. Poor bastard. But let's get into that blocked field goal because it's an absolutely incredible play by Troy Brown. Is it the best Troy Brown play ever? This game, the punt return, the only thing we had going in the first quarter, and then obviously this play is just peak, peak Troy Brown.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

And I encourage listeners to go back and look at the video again because I like my memory wasn't what it was like he like that the kicker is like a yard away from him when he goes to anything anything outside an absolutely perfect scoop he's fucked he's getting tackled and I know just like scoops it doesn't even break stride and then laterals it like without a thought in the next second like a perfect

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

and that gets dropped and the Steelers recover. Are they first down from there? Is that considered like change of possession? Yeah, I think so. If the Madden video game has taught me anything, then yes. Okay. I think to Greg's point of like, I don't even know if it had been like that because it was so close between him picking it and lateraling it. True. It wasn't like he ran 10 yards. It was like he took one or two steps, if that. Yep. He was getting tackled.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

as a defensive back. Yeah, I mean, that was cool for like posterity reasons, but in the meaningfulness of the game, that's fumble against the Chargers. It was just a heads-up play. All of them. This game itself, though. He's got 14 points on the board here. Yeah, all by himself. By himself. And not on offense. Yeah. Also, shout out Antoine Harris.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

I've never heard Heinz field. So, so quiet, which is fucking phenomenal. I have after that blown touchdown by Roethlisberger when he fakes, spiked it into a pick. But that was what? 14 years later, 13 years later. Yep. Yeah. But it didn't last because the Steelers would score two touchdowns in this, this quarter. A Jerome Bettis touchdown, which actually should have been a,

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Zaraway. Yeah. He had Zaraway. There it is. Easy. Yeah. These referees were garbage. And this is actually when I wrote down the referees, these referees are garbage, was because it was clearly a touchdown. But like, oh, no, he stepped out at the two. And it was blatantly, obviously, it didn't. Almost similar to the Nikila Harry touchdown against the Chiefs. It was more blatant than that, that he didn't step out of bounds.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Yeah, it was close. Because of how many bad calls there have been in this game, or even close calls, if you will, the Steelers didn't have any more challenges. They couldn't challenge, they had to run a play, but they were at the two-yard line anyway, and the bus ran in for a touchdown. So the bus's actual legitimate stat line was what, minus one carry, minus two yards, minus one touchdown? Yeah, this was notable in that he gained positive yards. Right, yeah, and scored a touchdown on it. Yeah. I don't even know if he got in.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Fuck you got sacked. I have that. God damn it. Happy feet. Bloodsoe. Bloodsoe, fatty cake, then shitty punt coverage because they returned that punt to like the 35. That's when they got that second touchdown. Yep. So they returned the punt. And actually, I will shout out the punter. Lee? No, not Lee Johnson. It was Ken. Ken Walter. Yes. Thank you. Such a punter name, Ken. Yeah. He really is. I bet he's a single father.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

doing his best here. My friends call me Kenny. In professional circumstances, I go by Ken. I go by Kenneth. Yeah, it just feels more professional. Yeah, so Ken Walden, but he was fucking hustling. He's the one that actually ran the partner turn out of bounds, but ran out of bounds at the New England 32. So a few plays later, Amos, famous Amos scores a touchdown. This game's getting a little close.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Cookies for everybody. That's a good, like, Steve, you want to hear some marketing shit right now? If Zaraway scores a touchdown, free cookies for everybody. Famous, famous cookies in the stands. You like that, Steve? What about maybe if they miss two extra points in the fourth quarter, free cookies for everybody? What? What the fuck are you talking about? You're in a basketball game where they, if you miss both free throws,

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

It was, yeah. Steve, care to comment? There's a block in the back that the rest missed. That's all I got. No worse. Fuck worse. Your worst is the Pittsburgh crowd going silent. Fuck them. Yeah. Battle for adversity. Jesus Christ. You're fucking Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. You've been through worse. I actually have two bests and two worsts. How about that?

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

I guarantee Belichick was like, I don't give a fuck about that penalty. That was worth it. He barely touched him. It was a flop. I have on here this note over and over again, and it kept getting in bigger and bigger caps of so many home calls. There seemed to be a lot of hilarious home calls. No, there weren't home calls. There were just bad calls on both sides of the ball. I don't believe in home calls. I do, but not in this game.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

In professional sports, dude, these guys, they don't do home calls. I disagree. I had a worse where right after the turnover, the karma turnover, Bledsoe take the shot to the end zone, the same one there they got the touchdown on. Oh, yeah. And just sales it like a whole other dude over the guy's head. Four yards out of bounds. It sounds great. He's throwing away. There was a sneaky.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Heads up play on that third down before the failed fourth down conversion where he got strip sacked and it's that kind of like right on the edge strip sack or might have been strip sack and you watch that Patriots player just like come flying in from nowhere and jump on the ball. I don't know who it was but I wrote it down as Troy Brown because it felt I looked it up. I had to like rewind it and pause it. It was Johnson. It was Charles Johnson. Yeah. Oh shit. All right. I thought he was Bethel Johnson the whole game.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Charles Johnson who used to play for the Steelers which I think is why he put so much fucking effort into this game and he's on the list of touchdown catches from Brady with one he is yeah we saw it I think it was in the Saints game yeah and it was a fucking laser by Brady yeah we should do a live um sporkle for Brady like TD recipients all right you've already done it once I've seen you

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Yeah. It's super hard because there's fucking 70 something of them. Yeah. And it's just interesting like going through 20 your whole sports fandom of players and being like, all right, how many receivers can you remember of your sports fandom? Yeah. That's basically what it is. Is there so many obscure people too? And then you'd be like, Johnson, it'll bring up like three Johnsons. Like, oh, yeah. Oh, all of those. That's right.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

like jumping up and down with his hands on his head but on one leg it was phenomenal i love brady he was so pumped up for this game i'm so pumped up for like drew bledsoe and everything that was happening he was so pissed he wasn't in there but he was like in a good way it was amazing i got a i got a worst that i missed from earlier in the game the um i think it was in the first quarter the the fourth and one situations where they bring the people

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

the offense out and do the hard count and call timeout. I fucking cannot stand that. Why not? Because it never works. And it's a tease. You're like, all right, you're going for this. And then you get hyped up and then you're like, that was lame. As a defense, you're so relieved though, right? Like if it's the pages on defense and they do that, you're like, oh, fuck, nobody's going to fall for that. Fuck off. I guess. Yeah. But I just think it,

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Well, has it ever been where everyone in the stadium thinks that they're not going to go for it, and then all of a sudden, with two seconds left in the play clock, they snap it? That's a fucking good call, Steve. They should do that. They should do a shift, a motion, a hard count. And then the quarterback walks off the field and they direct snap it to the fucking running back. Yes! That's genius. You should email Belichick. No, you should email, what's his name, the Pink Strapes guy. Oh, yeah.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

What the fuck's his name? Ernie Adams. Yes. We should send him. If anybody who's listening knows Ernie Adams' email. Ernie Adams is not listening. Seeing if he can get an advanced scouting report. Ernie Adams, if you're listening, hit us up at PatriotsDynasty2001 on Twitter. Yeah, and let's just send him an email. It won't have any words. It'll just be like play sheets. Yeah, 100%. Oh, yeah. No, we've got plenty of plays that we can write up for you.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

offensive interference. That's two in the game, which I don't think has ever happened before that I can remember. Two offensive pass interference on the same wide receiver. But this was, again, going back to Otis Smith just kind of owning shit. And he was lined up on Plaxico Burris and Ty Law was lined up on Hines Ward just the entire game. Wherever they went, it was just shadowing them. But neither of those wide receivers had a good game. No. Especially Hines. I think Ty Law did an amazing job on him.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

He just signed a contract, I feel like. That feels right, yeah. Because everyone's like, what's going to happen with this contract? Because he's going to jail. I can't believe he did go to jail for that, right? Yes. That's outrageous. He shot himself. But still, this is America. He discharged a firearm in a building. Yeah, but that himself.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

He didn't go, Joe. Allegedly. Bringing that right the fuck down. Good job. So speaking of orbital bones, I guess, fourth quarter, I thought the miss of the game was Jules Bledsoe going deep in his own territory to David Patton. And Patton was half a step short. It was a touchdown. Actually, he wasn't even short, but Bledsoe

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Bledsoe actually underthrew him. And whoever the defensive back was just barely got like a fingertip on it and made Patton bobble it. And if Patton caught that, he's walking in for a touchdown. He should have caught it. That's it. He should have caught it. I agree. That's the classic Bledsoe upside though, right? That was such a beautiful ball. Off his back foot. Yeah, Bledsoe chucked it like 60 yards off his back foot because that's all he knows how to do. He just spun it. Yeah, he just

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

For every throw over his head on third and seven that he gets intentional grounding for, he then uncorks a ball like that. Yeah, exactly. But they convert a couple third downs and eventually punt the ball, just running off clock at this point. And now we get into the Cordell Stewart interception section of the podcast. Brigade. Yeah.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

I wrote a note right before this. Because again, like Andy, I'd watched a lot of the highlights. And I had watched that Troy Brown, like kick return and all that a bunch and the field goal block. I hadn't watched the whole game. And my whole perception was like we kind of hung on at the end. Yeah. Which, I don't know, Bledsoe made some plays. But I also remember like hating Cordell Stewart out of this. And I have a note on here. Has Cordell thrown a pass more than 14 yards?

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

And then immediately after it, tries it, dot, dot, dot, throws a pick. And then immediately throws another one. And both of the picks were just. So, yeah, both of them, he just overthrew his wide receiver. Neither of the wide receivers were open. No, the first one, this guy was so open. Well, the first one he was actually, you're right, yeah. Heinz Ward had like nobody within five yards of him. And he was like 10 yards deep. And he threw it so far over the,

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

And that invalidates the kick against the Steelers or the Raiders because they don't make the Super Bowl. True. Yeah. Right? And then this whole like lore of Adam Vinatieri being the best clutch kicker in the history of the game is like kind of thrown out the window. It's very true. So it's just like entirely built on circumstances. So like that's the argument I was trying to make. It's not that Vinatieri sucks. It's just like, yeah, he's like an average kicker but great.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

in the circumstances he got and he made some big kicks. Yeah. And but give me one field goal that Stephen Gostkowski has even had the opportunity to make to win a game. The Rams Super Bowl. And that was to win the game. That was just go up a couple. Yeah. The Giants game. That's it. Like he hasn't had one where he's had to win it. Yeah. I mean, he's got he's had a few with it. Like you're talking about like a tough kick.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Antoine Smith, who has averaged maybe one less than two yards a carry so far, on second and like eight runs for 12 yards, gets the first down, game over. Did you see how hyped everyone was when he got that first down? Oh my God. Literally everybody. Mark Edwards was there. They were just like, they knew it. It was awesome. The entire Patriots defense went and stood up on the bench and started waving white towels at the crowd. Yeah, I saw that.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

My favorite moment of this entire game. Yeah, that's amazing. Drew in that final huddle in the kneel down looked like he was about to cry. He was like blinking like every second. Ah, it was so good. Yeah, that was awesome. Yeah, I mean, they were 10 point dogs in this game. They were and they won it. I'm surprised it was that low. I was too, actually. Like the Steelers were a wagon playing at home. 10 points is a lot of points for a playoff game. Yeah, for

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

AFC Championship game? Especially in a low-scoring league like this place. Yeah, that's true. So give me your best and worst for this game now. Oh, we got a quarter. Let's go the whole shebang. Whole game, baby. Steve Brown. My best. I mean, there's absolutely no argument you can make against the best not being the Bledsoe story. Fair enough. Just the way he handled himself.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Was it like in the fourth quarter? Yeah, that was pretty sick. Like huge third down to keep that kind of drive churning and eating up the clock. Like he actually had some bigger plays than I remembered. Yeah. Yeah, I remember just like kind of hanging on in spite of blood. So, but that's definitely not the case. Yeah, because of blood. So. All right. So my worst is this wine.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

What do you expect from the Caroline Panthers? I was bullshitting at the beginning. I don't like red wine to begin with. How much did it cost? Neither do I. You know, I didn't even look at the price. No big deal. I want to say it was more expensive than I thought. I think it was like $35 or something. I probably should have checked the price, but I was like, ooh, big NFL logo. That thing's got to be like $12.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

that raisins were just like dehydrated grapes. What? Yeah. And, dude, pickles? Oh, no. Pickled cucumber? Yes. You know what the thing is? I love pickles. I don't like cucumbers. I've always thought that, though, like, why are pickles called pickles? And, like, it's pickled onions, pickled radishes, pickles, all of this. That's the point I brought up when we were

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

Why not call a raisin dehydrated grape? Well, it's like dehydrated other stuff, you know. I mean, it's fine. I get that. They have new names. Raisins are called dehydrated cranberries. For what? They're called cranberries. They're called craisins. Or that. I'm just saying. I'm just saying, you know, I feel like

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

It's not my fault. It's society's fault. Not just for this, but for everything. And for all my flaws. You know? My worst is Greg Brown's flaws and also the referees in this game. Yeah. I don't beat my wife because I'm an asshole. It's because society raised me this way. Yeah. Jesus Christ. It's one I have got you. Just kidding. Cut that. On that note, Steve Brown, what's your best in the world?

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

The worst is that last comment. Fair. Best was definitely peak Troy Brown. Well, not definitely. I agree with Greg on the Drew Blanchard redemption story and all that. If I had. Up there though. This is peak Troy Brown. I mean, there's other plays you can pull out, right? Of like Troy Brown being this and he's always been my favorite Patriot, but like this game. Best game. Yeah.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

through his contributions real quick. Yeah. What was his staff? Okay. So he had eight catches for 120 yards. Damn, son. He had the scoop and toss. Yep. For the touchdown. Yep. And he had three returns, 80 yards and a touchdown. Yeah. For 26 and a half yard average. So a touchdown, a touchdown,

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

100 yards and a touchdown pass. Essentially. Touchdown lateral. That's a fucking Troy Brown stat line. Yeah. That is the prototypical Troy Brown stat line. And he didn't make the initial Pro Bowl. Garbage. And like they were talking about setting the Steelers single season record with like 90 something catches. And I was like, wait, didn't Troy over 100? Yeah, he had more than that.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

So, Steve Brown, what's your worst then? Troy Edwards? Gotta be, right? No. I think watching Cordell Stewart and try to play quarterback, man. Yeah, as soon as he got bottled up, he struggled. Yeah. What's the Bills guy right now? Tyrod Taylor. No. He's for the Saints now. Chargers now. Josh Allen.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

The moment the heartbeat before the block in the back, so I guess that doesn't count. But it didn't, though. I don't think it did. I think if you reviewed that, you would have found out. And fucking Plaxico Burris high steps away from that whole situation like a fucking goon. Yeah, he did. Fucking dirty. Bad refs plus Plaxico being an idiot. The only thing could have been if Troy had to come up and chest-bump them or something.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

I love it all right well I think we've done this game justice and next week we have what I'm doing we're doing spirits Jesus Christ imagine that'd be awesome next week I think I'm hoping we have a special guest so we will see you for that one when the Patriots have made the Super Bowl

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers

for their third time ever. Going for their first ever Super Bowl win against the Greatest Show on turf. So we will see you next week for that. Gentlemen, have a good evening. Have fun at Media Day. Hell yeah.

2001 AFC Championship: Patriots at Steelers