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2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

The game recap

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It's finally here! The big game in the Big Easy. Join the brothers as they talk about John Madden, the Super Bowl logos and some fun facts that you'd probably forgotten by now. It's Super Bowl 36, the introduction to a dynasty (right Ricky Proehl?).


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Game Info

Patriots

20
vs
Rams

17
1 2 3 4 Final
New England Patriots 0 14 3 3 20
St. Louis Rams 3 0 0 14 17
Total Downloads 167

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 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

And with us today, we have, no offense to our other guests, but probably our most famous guest, I would say, former Patriots linebacker and three-time Super Bowl champion, Matt Chatham. Matt, thanks for joining us. Well, thanks for having me on. This is fun, and I'm glad it worked out. This is quarantine time, so we've all got a lot of time on our hands. Yes, we do. It has been okay so far, at least for me. I don't know how it's been for you, Matt, but it's actually starting to finally drag this

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

This podcast really worked. It was the perfect timing for it. If only we had planned it that way. I thought it would get easier once the weather got nicer, but now I just sit outside and do nothing instead of sitting inside and doing nothing. Literally running out of shit to do. I wanted to get into the Super Bowl 36 in 2001. The first one, I want to touch a bit on you and your journey as a pager.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

What does that mean? Do I have a chance at the next? All that kind of stuff. I went to my version of the Senior Bowl at FCS level. They have this. It no longer exists, but it was called the Snow Bowl back then. It was inside North Dakota State. They've actually had ESPN Game Day has gone there in the last couple of years. They're kind of a wagon, right? It's insane. Yeah, because me and Greg both went to UNH, so we kind of have an idea of the... Oh, Lord. North Dakota State, year after year after year. I've told this on...

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

kind of just through my agent's guidance, choose the Rams in part because we thought that was the most vulnerability outside linebacker kind of thing where maybe you could make a roster. And I was there in 99. And that was my rookie season. That's the year the Rams won the Super Bowl. And I was a really goofy story. Leonard Little was a really good player for them. The first round draft pick the year before in 98. And Leonard had unfortunately gotten in that deal with the drunk

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

without an opportunity to actually make a team so I left which is weird and so you know I went to Charlie Army who was the GM at the time and I had a pretty good relationship with Coach Vermeule I mean I think he liked me that was one of the places much like New England that keeps a lot of undrafted guys London Fletcher is one example but the Rams brag about how many undrafted guys they bring up much like you know the Patriots do they find a lot of

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

I didn't see it that way as a young kid. So I went back to school. So in 99, I still was under full ride scholarship at USD and I wanted to finish out my degree. So I left camp. I left camp and they have a designation sort of where they kind of continue to hold your rights like a futures contract kind of thing. And so 99, which would have been my rookie year, I went back to school. And so then, you know, Charlie's calling in like November and my agents calling and they're saying, okay, do you still want to

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

you're a team that is affiliated with you. You know, even if you're out as far as Western. I mean, you're part of New England. You have a team. You live in Iowa. You don't have a team. You kind of, Iowa is the Iowa Hawkeyes. I mean, Hayden Frye, you know, that sort of storied college place. Much like Nebraska, Nebraska Cornhuskers. If you live in Nebraska, your pro team is your college team kind of thing. It's like an Alabama type idea. Iowa's very much the same way. So there's a lot of my friends.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

I lived in Sioux City, Iowa. It's comparable size. It's just short of 100,000. It feels a little Worcester-ish. It's a very blue-collar town. Comparable in size, I guess, to that. You have just a blend of people because you kind of sit in the middle. There are NFL fans, but some are Chiefs fans, some are Vikings fans, some are Bears fans, some are Packers fans. Sioux City actually sits in three states. It's Iowa, South Dakota, and Nebraska, depending on what part of town you're in.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

some of those people, because they sit in Nebraska, will be Broncos fans. So, again, another long-winded way to say you kind of don't have anything. You kind of just cheer for who you cheer for, because we sit literally in the middle of maybe four or five markets, you know, six hours in every direction. So, I was a Raiders fan, which is kind of goofy, which has nothing to do with any of that. But I was a big guy. I like Howie Long quite a bit. You know, he was a defensive lineman stud guy that I just kind of dug his game.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

But I was a safety number 42. Ronnie Lott wore that obviously for a while. I kind of dug Ronnie and I was a big tall skinny kid that played safety initially before I got I grew and became a linebacker. So yeah, I was kind of a Raiders fan, which for me was was neat because my very first preseason game wasn't regular season game. Unfortunately, my first my first time where I got to wear an NFL uniform in game situation and go against another team. It was against Raiders first preseason game there for the Rams. So that was cool. Tim Brown's out there running around the field and you're just like,

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

to the Steelers since you clearly just went on like a revenge tour in 2001. Yeah, right. No Steelers love whatsoever. Yeah, I don't you know what I would say this though when you're like a kid from non NFL world, you know, like if you're here locally, you can grow up in Framingham, you can grow up in Dorchester or whatever you're a Franklin kid or whatever you're from some small area here you can maybe even if it's just once a year once every two years three years four years whatever it is you can go to Schaefer Stadium or Patriot Stadium or whatever Sullivan's all

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

You can have sort of brushes with NFL life. You can go to an NFL stadium. You can drive by an NFL stadium. So you're around it. At least you're aware of it. Out there, just even the sight of those iconic helmets give you goosebumps. You walk on the field and it's just that old steel curtain look. And it's just so cool. Those are the things I've only seen on TV. And I never had been to an NFL game in my life until I played in one.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

It's that feel. So yeah, so my whole point of bringing that up is just when you are a kid like me without really any NFL sort of brushes, you see a Steelers helmet across me. You see a Raiders helmet across me. You see a Niners helmet, a Packers helmet. I mean, those things just, it just, it gives you goosebumps. It's just such a cool thing, even if you didn't necessarily cheer for one of them or cheer against. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Did you have like a favorite away stadium to go to?

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

So this is a corny as hell kind of story, but I still laugh about it because it was my one moment. So I played. I don't think I got to go to Lambeau where the Packers are at until well into my career. I think I played there. I ended up playing there a few times, maybe once or twice with the Jets. Once, I think maybe just once with the Patriots. Those Patriots were six years, and I feel like maybe we had one trip there in the six. Maybe none.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

I know we play the Packers at home, but I hadn't been there a lot. So I feel like, you know, I'd been in the NFL for a handful of years by then, four, five, six years, something like that. And I think it was my first trip to Green Bay. And I think the first one was actually a preseason game. Then we came back and played there later in the regular season. I think that's correct. But anyway, it was my first time in Lambeau, right? And that's kind of like a big deal again to like a football fan, because even if you, you know, if you're ambivalent with the Packers thing, cheer for him, not cheer for him, still just being in Lambeau is kind of, you know, it's like a Fenway kind of thing for baseball.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

So I just remember this is corny as hell but back in the early days I'll give Tom Brady credit for this Brady was one of the very first guys that I knew actually our strength coach Mike Wojcik and Tom were the two sort of forefront guys on this that had iTunes libraries on their laptops this is before even like the iPod stuff got started but Tom had like iTunes library really really early he'd always be on his Apple and this is before Apple computers were really cool.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

or new or whatever. This was kind of just like the early days of Apple. And Tom would be up at like ungodly hours downloading songs and making these playlists. And this is, you know, during the 2000 season. This is like right when iPod, I think, came out. The iPod, the handheld thing came out like after the 2000 season. I think it was like the 2001 offseason. And anyway, so yeah, somewhere in that range. And, you know, I have like an extensive CD collection and cassettes and all that kind of stuff.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

the Patriots weight room, if you could get your own playlist in there, you could sort of control the thing. And it's not because obviously Tom had seniority at any time like that. He was just a guy who had a playlist. And everyone else is fucking popping in a cassette tape or something. So he did that. And it kind of incentivized a lot of us to go out and like figure this shit out. So we went and bought iPods. I started to make my own stuff and ungodly amount of hours he'd spend where I remember, what is that? That ghetto boy.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

I remember downloading that song overnight. My office was upstairs in the loft. It was downloading the song. From the time I went to bed, it took me till morning to download that single song. You better hope it was the right song and not just the file that was named that way. This is the closest I've ever felt to Tom Brady in my life, I have to say. It would just play. I'd be sitting there half asleep at one o'clock

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

2 o'clock, 3 o'clock, whatever. And it would pop on. And like the songs partially downloaded and would start playing and you wake up like, what the fuck is it there? But anyway, so I had this like, I'd gotten to the point where I had, you know, had a pretty robust library and had had my pregame playlist exactly as I wanted. It was still on that first or second sort of generation iPod. And I had it with me and I always took it out to pregame warmups. And we were now in Green Bay for this first time that I've ever been to Lambeau.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

on shuffle. So no particular playlists, ready rolls. So every one of the 800 ish songs or whatever could possibly pop up at any moment. And I had hit play and I started walking down this like windy thing. I don't remember exactly what song was on, but as I hit that, uh, as I'm walking anyway, but as I come down that final tunnel stretch and I pop right out the, the, the tunnel, you look and you see the field for the first time. Um, looks like we made it pops on that.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

like we made it. It's corny as hell, you know, like 70s. Oh my gosh, I built the whole story up and I can't think of his name. But that was kind of my like, oh, you know, like the angels, whatever kind of looks like we made it. And I'm walking out in the Lambo and just I will always remember that I just get a kick out and chuckle every time I think of it because the way the song timed up right as I hit this iconic sort of football.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

Barry Manilow. Barry Manilow. Barry Manilow. There you go. Barry Manilow. Yeah, we'll dub that into this. Oh, yeah. Over my singing. So you mentioned South Dakota State. They were a rival of yours at the time. Is that right? Yeah. So so Venatieri is a few years older than me. I think he was a senior when I was a senior when I was a freshman, I believe, or either senior softball.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

or something like that. He's a couple years out ahead of me. And that's our rival. Yeah. So South Dakota State, another guy you might may or may not know this is going to take some hardcore NFL fan this but Steve Hyden was a tight end for the Browns played about the same amount of years as I did somewhere that eight nine ish range something like that. Steve was Steve was alongside Kellen Winslow when he was there. So Winslow, Junior, whatever. He was a Winslow and Hyden were their two tight ends.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

and Hyden and I are the exact same age. So he was at State all four years that I was at U. And so he's an NFL prospect. I'm an NFL prospect. We played against each other all four. So we've had it surprisingly. So there was another running back James White. James. Oh, my God. I heard him. Why can't I literally can't think of the back's name. Holy shit. It's terrible of me. USD had another running back that was small, kind of like James bodyweight James body type.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

So they're very, very similar that way. But anyway, gosh, it's so bad. I mean, to go on air and not know this. But we had a running back that was really, really good that went to South Dakota, from South Dakota that went to the Browns also around that time. And once again, this, you know, I'm sure that'll come to me later. But the point was, you know, we have a handful of NFL guys come through there. There's some brushes with South Dakota. But you didn't have any beef with Adam when you were on the Pats? Not really. I mean, I kind of give him a hard time now. You know, he's a kicker, so I don't think he would get real, real into it.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

the whole rivalry stuff. He just does his job. Does it exceptionally well, obviously. I gave him some shit. Two years, I call games for ESPN. Generally, I'm up here doing maybe it used to be UMass games, then BC, then Syracuse, UConn. I kind of stay regional. I don't travel much because of NFL obligations. Generally, I'm doing games up in this Northeast. When it comes to playoff times, I'll end up doing a UNH game, Maine, go down to James Madison, things like that.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

I went backstate so like behind sort of the scenes they always have a production room where you were foods available for crew and staff before any game really at the NFL or college level but I went down to sort of the the officials room and where all the food was being served and I was going to grab a few plates and take it back up to the booth and in the hallway is this whole crew of the South Dakota State cheerleaders so there's you know 15 of these young girls and they're like blue and yellow stuff and I'm like they're not gonna these girls are young as shit I'm in my early 40s not gonna have any idea

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

It snapped and I sent it back to Adam and had some fun with that. But unfortunately, once the game got going, I'm being facetious. I would say it's called a straight game. I would almost be accused of maybe being too complimentary for State on that. Yeah, that's how it happens. It does. We have no love loss for South Dakota State either because they beat the crap out of you. Oh, really? Okay. Back in 2017.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

of those games, there's always a dead jackrabbit. They're really big. It's not like your regular bunny. It's like a large jackrabbit thrown on the field, thrown on the court, whenever we'd have any kind of thing. But I think they got in some trouble for that. Probably an animal rights thing or something. Yeah, it makes sense. I just made the realization that Yote in your Twitter bio is coyote. I was going to ask you about it, and I googled it, and it said it was the past tense of yeet. And I was like,

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

The Metrodome was a bigger version of this back in that day. The Silverdome in Detroit. All these kind of 80s, more 80s, 70s, 80s builds have kind of come and gone. But the Dakota Dome is still there. They put a solid ceiling over the top of it now, so it's not the old bubble top. But they're putting solid seating on both sides. So anyone who's bored listening to this podcast, we got all this time on our hands. When you jump off here and go to, I think it's like, I don't know, USD's website.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

They've got this stadium progression thing right now. They're putting solid seating on both sides. So now you've got this like 20,000 seat gorgeous pack to the Gills FCS program that looks like nothing in the country. And I'm just like, gosh, I want to go. Can I go back to school? It's sick. I mean, you're obviously familiar with UNH. You know what that venue's like. It's nice. It's not the same. No, it's not the same.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

and Maine is solid enough, but it's just the big metal stands kind of thing. You see this venue and you're like, holy shit, that's an FCS school? I mean, I do BC games regularly throughout these years and that's Alumni Stadium, but it's a 40-ish thousand state aluminum stands kind of thing. It's pretty basic. This is sick. Oh my God. I got it up on Google right now. It's unbelievable. It's ridiculous. It's supposed to be ready for the season, but I don't know if it's going to

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

It's first class. The Rams were in this place called, their training facility is in Earth City. So Earth City is like this gorgeous, like, you know, full training facility out in the burbs kind of thing. So glass facility, racquetball courts, indoor field, basketball court. You know, it's just gorgeous. Meeting rooms are sick. Like, everything's really nice first class. The field looks like a golf course. Like, it's just like nothing I've ever seen in my life. And I'm like, that's the NFL.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

That's what it's supposed to be like, I guess, right? And then, you know, the dome is downtown, the TWA dome. And those are like the facilities that like, I've made it. I'm in the NFL. Yeah, this is what it's supposed to be like. And then when I got released and you're shuffled off here and I get I stayed out at the Weston at the airport. So, you know, they fly into Logan, stay overnight at this really nice Weston next to the it's not a Weston anymore. I think it's Hilton now. But anyway, the one right next to the airport. So it's like, okay, I'm in downtown Boston. This is cool. And this is a badass hotel.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

This is nice. Okay. Drive down 95. We all do. And then I get out and I'm like, wait, that like old Patriot Stadium. And it's like, ah, it's still kind of a college bowl. So that's big. It's still big and that's cool and everything. But, and then I get, instead of staying any more nights in the nice West End, we're put up in the end zone, the end zone motel across the street from the stadium. And, uh, God bless.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

kind of thing. The rooms weren't really divided. We had the standing rolling partitions and seats that roll up. I'm like, holy shit, this is the NFL. For me, I would say the facilities weren't that much better than what I knew at South Dakota. There was two good years of that, though. It was still cool. On game day, the stadium from the field looks pretty sweet, but the facilities aren't nearly as nice. When they built the new thing, it was called CMGI Stadium.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

Yes. Before the Gillette. You remember that? The Gillette flip. But I have a bunch of, I have a box somewhere with a bunch of CMGI logoed stuff because that, you know, announced launch. Their CMGI was running all over everything. They were like the, the, the, like Yahoo of the Northeast at the time, I think. Like they were a big deal and they, they went under in the dot com bubble. Exactly. Yeah. So did you do training camp at, at Bryant or was it at,

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

Yeah, I think I did two training camps at Bryant, maybe three. At one point, Coach Belichick flipped it to up here, and we started staying at an extended stay, or what are those called, like the residence inn or something like that over in Foxborough, so that we could, you know, so instead of the on college, we were staying back here in the woods in Foxborough, and then we'd come over here and do it at the stadium. But yeah, we were, I think we got maybe three or four camps here at the stadium, and

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

because I'm looking for shit to watch right now. I don't know. Maybe it's one of those ones you can find online, but it was one of those reality shows that follows an arena team around. And the old joke, you know, it was like Gene Simmons owns a football team. And like, you know, it was, anyway, it was crazy. But House was the defensive coordinator for that team. He's my old coach from way back when, but House is from New Hampshire. So House has got the accent, not, not, not, not hardcore. He's Boston, but like still a New England. It's going to sound very New England to a South Dakota kid.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

So, I'll get into the story quickly. So, I'm at training camp at Bryant, like you mentioned. I'm out there on the field in 2000, head spinning. Oh, it couldn't have been 2000. I'm sorry, it had to be 2001 because I missed training camp in 2000 because I was in St. Louis.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

So I'm out there on the field and the way it always works is you only do autographs. They kind of still do this now. You only do autographs by position group. So they don't let, you know, today's running backs, today's linebackers, today's tight ends, today's quarterbacks, whatever it is. So when you're walking off the field, coach would encourage you. It's like, if it's not your day, don't go over and do it because then everyone will be expected to dive in. So they did it sort of in sequences. So I, it was one of those days where I knew,

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

Just screaming my name throughout the practice. Big barrel chested guy. He's hammered. Probably shot him, shot him, shot him, shot him, shot him. Like he's trying to get my attention the entire time. Although the linebackers are busting my balls like who the fuck is that that just won't stop saying your name. And then when we went by, I may have, I don't know if I waved or acknowledged, but I certainly didn't stop because we were pulled out. You know, I'm doing what I'm pulled. It's not our day. We can't stop the sign. Well, anyway, that guy was Tom Jenkins.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

New Englanders throughout my four years. So it was always a little piece of that in my life even before I knew really what this was all about out here. He should have tweeted at you with like a big chunk of meat or something. Yeah, but again, this is pre-social media. I maybe had a cell phone. Yeah, I probably had a cell phone in a one. Yeah, probably like right towards the end of college. I think midway through college in like 97 or 8, I think I got my first big chunky cell phone. But it's not like, you know, you didn't text people really that much then. And maybe it was the email.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

I believe at Iowa that went on to play for a couple years in the NFL but his knees got really jacked up but House was you know how reality shows are like they always try to hone in on a few of the big big personality guys and House is just wild a screamer they're just good good dude all the players love him probably has a dip in at all times big cat lover like he's just he's a he's a very eccentric guy one of my favorite coaches of all time smart football guy but House was like this you know I'm again I'm coming from some two

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

with us. Man, I love it. He used to actually come up to Patriots camp. And when, you know, the arena is obviously trying to, arena football is trying to pick at guys that look like may not make a roster, you know, like there's something to them that can still play. They're good players, but they're going to get snipped on 53 and they might be a part of that next 10. So he was always, he was always up here in those later years evaluating, trying to, hey, Chatham, who's, who's not going to make it, but do you like?

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

I love that stuff. It's great. It's like Kurt Warner, right? He was a, he's an Iowa guy too, isn't he? Did you, did you interact with him when you, when you were at the Rams for that little bit? Very little. So remember 99s, the, that off season when, uh, when the ACL gets blown out, Trent Green's ACL gets blown out. And, uh, so by my little story earlier about how, when I left camp, that was, I left camp, uh, the week of the first preseason game. So this announcement had come right around.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

The time when I was there, Kurt was just a backup quarterback. And my draft class, or my class, I wasn't one of the undrafted guys, but Joe Jermaine was in that group. Do you remember him from Ohio State? Joe Jermaine was the other, could he be the second, could he be the third? So at the time I left, it wasn't the Kurt Warner story yet. So had a few interactions with him, but not a ton. But obviously a super decent guy, but I didn't get to see him be the kind of player he became until I was finished.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

He was the second best undrafted Iowa. Yeah, but that was another school. He went to the University of Northern Iowa and that's another school sort of in the FCS, same conference as USD now. So that's a competitor. Cool school. I went to there for a recruiting trip and it was one of my coolest memories. There was, you remember Offspring? You remember the band Offspring? Oh yeah, my first ever CD. Ixnay on the Ombre.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

So that that I'm blanking on that one song it I'm terrible about bringing up song names but I do not remember the name but I remember on that recruiting trip it was one of those like you know almost like Johnny B. Good that old movie like one of the sickest recruiting trips I ever remember you go into this house party after we'd left the game and they had actually opened the back door and then open the front door and they ran a slip and slide.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

all throughout the home. And they had kegs at one side where they had opened the tap of the keg and were letting that run down the slip and slide. So whatever that song was from Offspring, that da-da-da-da-da, it was their hit early on there in the mid-90s. Yeah, no, not keeping separated. You'd hear it. You're gonna do well. Whatever it is.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

And you know the pace of the week, you know, based on the one we had Houston and Jacksonville, those next couple, that's kind of what it's supposed to feel like. But you'll remember, the Rams had an incredible advantage, I would say, not incredible, but a nice one. Because they won at home against the Eagles to go to the Super Bowl. We won on the road against the Steelers. And you'll remember, this is the 9-11 year. So we've lost a week of the season where the NFL paused things during the year. And

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

Philly, you're at least homes. And then the guys all go back to their houses, grab their bags, and you probably meet the next morning to take off on a flight for New Orleans. We had to fly back. So we had to fly back in the middle of the night. Obviously, the drinks are flowing. We're having a blast. You're making it to the Super Bowl. But we have to, you know, late night flight from Pittsburgh back to New England. But everyone's got to be back the next morning with their bags packed at the stadium. And Ops is, you know, the guys that work on operations over the team are trying to put together a Super Bowl plan on the fly.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

to New Orleans. So it was quick. It was a whirlwind. You did not really have an opportunity to let it all sink in. But then that evening, and I think Monday night, I would imagine we touched down maybe sometime that afternoon or something like that. We went, there was a group of 10, 12 of us, something like that. Emerald Lagasse has this restaurant called NOLA and was hosting a handful of us. And so we ate at Emerald's place and he kind of hosted dinner. It was really cool.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

and go way better than New Orleans. New Orleans was like, whoa, that came quick. Like it just, you know, you're into a game plan, like basically the very next day and just trying to get up to speed really quickly and play a game. Wow. That's crazy. Yeah. It doesn't take a lot of time to study that Rams walk through tape either. You know, all their practices. Exactly. It's almost as if that didn't happen. I read that article on the athletic that you wrote about that. So I was like, we got to bring that up.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

Blah, blah, blah, blah. Like it was so incredibly helpful for us to have played them really tight and lost at that. You know, remember that home game that we had with them in November, December, what it was with Rams. That was so helpful to kind of flesh through what really worked for us that we can now build a game plan around it. Also look at, you know, all the times Rams have been just smoking people and allowing their receivers and backs and tight ends to just run off the line untouched. That was to me, one of the first real hardcore Belichick game plans that was,

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

You know, Ernie Conwell, stud, big blocking tight end, very athletic. And Williams, the other tight end, they've got really good athletic tight ends. All those receiver groups, Isaac Bruce to my draft class or my rookie class, Torrey Holt. And, you know, Horn, I think Horn was still there. I'm blanking on the other third receiver's name. But Ricky Polt, well, obviously, yeah, obviously Marshall and Ricky Prohl. And, you know, it's just an incredibly talented group.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

He's my, Patrick's my neighbor on virtually everything I did as a pro at special teams. So on the kickoffs, I'm the L3. Patty is the L2. So he's right next to me on punt team. I'm the guard. Pat's the tackle. So Pat and I were kind of like, I don't know, my wingman or whatever, something like that. And just about everything we did, we were always alongside one another, coordinated really well together. So Patty still lives down here in Rhode Island. I think he's a Lincoln guy. So I do see him some, you know, I wish saw more. Joe Andrews, he's local.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

So, uh, Copan has got his place down in, uh, in East Greenwich. He opened up that line cider brewing place. So he's incredibly busy with that. Yeah. Cope isn't doing as much media anymore. He skipped his toe in that did for a few years of media, but he's really involved in that brewery. And it sounds like it's pretty bad-ass. I usually just, I actually physically haven't been down there, but I've, I've gotten cases of his stuff. It's really good. So highly recommended if anyone's going down there that line, Cope's got his hands on that stuff. But yeah, Russ Hochstein, Russ Hochstein is, uh,

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

is a Nebraska kid. Went to the University of Nebraska and grew up in Hardington, which is a town not too far from where I was in Sioux City. But Hoekstein is, I'd say Russ is kind of the preeminent example of what happens to a lot of guys in the NFL. You go to your host city or the city that you kind of grew up in. You settle there. Russ is two towns away. And I see Russ once or twice a year. He's a great dude. We get along really well. Our families get along great.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

But you just end up, I live in Rentham and I basically see Rentham people now. It sucks. Kay Falk was here for years, but now he's moved back down to Louisiana. I think El Fourier is obviously doing radio, so he's local. Who else is still here? Wiggins. It's kind of it. Yeah, Wiggy's still here. Obviously, he and I worked for years together on Nessun, but now he's doing all radio and no TV anymore.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

But all those names that I mentioned, we're all around here. But we're all kind of living in different towns. We see each other a little, but not a lot. Brewski's obviously a brew, but Brew is down in Bristol a few days a week. But he lives in North Outerboro, so he's not too far away. So yeah, honestly, even though you're here-ish, I think we talk through text messages more than we do in person, which is, I think, just more life. Yeah, I think that's a common thing. So, I mean, we have to ask the obvious question of like, do you have the phone number?

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

stuff, which is us, linebackers, and maybe the D-line. No, D-line's more heavy. So mostly linebackers and tight ends and maybe the fullbacks or whatever we work out together. So whatever music Troy's listening to, we're probably not in lifting groups right now. So it's more your body type guys. He's probably listening to classical. He's from West Virginia. I don't know. I don't know Troy's musical taste necessarily.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

of meant to be kind of the go-between and enforce her a little bit. And so, Brian, I actually had a little tension because I'd gotten in trouble for a couple. I had two personal fouls in one game against the Broncos early. And Cox had laid into me in postgame. And then Cox said something to me in the locker room. And we didn't get the blows, but it was tense between

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

And I'm telling you this because I love Brian. He's a great guy. And we were tense then because he was the sort of the older guy towing the line of the coaches. And I was the just leave me the fuck alone guy. I'm trying to do my job here. I'm not trying to fuck up. It's just, you know, I had a couple of bad calls. But anyway, so it's funny because then as I grow and become a vet and then Cox moves into coaching, Brian was my coach. So he was in New York when I was in New York. So he was brought down there with Mangini.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

So it was funny because that one year Cox was, you know, you know, the hit he has against Indianapolis that really turned the tide of that game, one of the big blow up shots over the middle. And, you know, Cox was just such a stud for that early group of us, emotional leader kind of guy. But he was also, I think one of the biggest lessons I got from Brian was his toughness and just that he played with one of the worst injuries I've ever seen. He basically had a broken foot. You know, when you break your foot, you can't fucking run. And he would put, you know, like, you'll

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

the offensive linemen will do that like club thing where they put the giant club on a hand and you know maybe it's even a closed fist and they don't have fingers and they're able to you know they're able to play a semblance of the normal game Cox did that with a foot and like I've never I've never seen that before like he's getting a shot up if you look at the way he had it taped his foot was like a club foot like he had so much tape on his ankle and he or foot I don't know exactly where the break was but he had a break somewhere there down in his foot and he was so big you know in the mid season

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

out there and B Cox went out and played on a broken foot and I was similarly limited you could tell B Cox was limited too but his whole thing was off the ball middle linebacker by that point he's like I can still take three hard strides hit the shit out of the guard in front of me I can't cover anyone at this jump strike I can be able to pass rush but what can I still do with my body limited this way and I just I don't you always was a good example for me because I remember he figured it out he played through the pain take what you got to take to get out there and I had a very similar situation to that

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

I believe is what. Yeah. Hamstrings suck, man. I hate those things. I've gone through that because it sounds like such a, it sounds like kind of a pussy injury. Oh, you're hammies. But like once you pour in one of those things, they never heal. And if you happen to have a job, which requires you to open up, open up and go full speed. I covered kickoffs obviously for my whole career. Hamstrings suck. Like you, like you would, you literally rather just break the arm, break the arm, break the bone, clean, clean break, let it heal. Hamstrings are kind of those things where you get a tear in them or they start to open up and they never heal.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

25-yard-out cut and then go down or 15. If your hammies are jacked up, it's a pain in the ass to say that much. Greg, don't you have hamstring issues? I have knee tendinitis stuff. That's right. I've been giving you crap for hamstring issues for no reason. My apologies. Greg used to play soccer at UNH. He's the closest thing we have to a match at him in our family. There you go. UNH,

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2

stuff, it's all their archive. Let's put it that way. Yeah, we'll throw a link in the show notes for that. Yeah. All right, Matt. Still doing Nesson? Nesson's the plug. There you go. So Nesson is, I think we're actually starting to, well, but this is going to be, the show will be shown later. So maybe not by then. Maybe by then it'll actually be on TV again. Who knows? But right now we're just doing the from home stuff. Oh, man. Beautiful. All right.

2001 Super Bowl: Patriots vs Rams - PART 2