Rams victorious in dose one,
Warner gets the nod for MVP
■ By a final score of 23-16,
St. Louis caps its Cinderella
season with its first
Superbowl win ever
By Dave Goldberg
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — The St. Louis
'Rams rediscovered their offen
sive firepower just in time, and
the Tennessee Titans came up
just 1 yard short.
Kurt Warner’s 73-yard touch
down pass to Isaac Bruce with 1
minute, 54 seconds left gave the
Rams their first Super Bowl win
Sunday, 23-16.
The TD capped an improbable
turnaround for St. Louis, which
was 3-13 a year ago and 13-3 this
season as they scored 526 points,
third best in NFL history.
But Steve McNair and Eddie
George almost led Tennessee to
another miracle finish, rallying
them from a 16-0 deficit.
On the game’s final play with
six seconds left, McNair’s pass
was caught by Kevin Dyson at
the Rams 5. He scrambled for the
end zone only to be stopped just
short by Mike Jones, as Dyson’s
outstretched arm held the ball to
ward the goal line in vain.
"I always believed in myself,
and had a whole bunch of people
who believed in me,” said Warn
er, the Super Bowl MVP who did
a victory lap around the Georgia
Dome.
“We’re the world champions!
How about the Rams!”
Warner, a former Arena League
and NFL Europe quarterback, fin
ished 24-of-45 for 414 yards and
two touchdowns.
' The Rams dominated for much
of the game but had to settle for
three field goals to take a 9-0 lead
before finally scoring a touch
down.
St. Louis seemed to have put
the game away when Warner
threw a 9-yard pass to Torry Holt
with 3:59 left in the third quarter
to take a 16-0 lead.
But suddenly the Titans’ of
fense came to life, and the St.
Louis defense began to wear
down behind the battering of
George and short passes from
McNair.
Tennessee scored on its next
two possessions, both on 1-yard
runs by George to make it 16-13
with 7:21 left. It would have been
16-14, but the Titans chose to go
for two points on their first TD
and failed.
Al Del Greco’s 43-yard field
goal tied it with 2:12 left. Then
the Rams’ quick strike for a
touchdown set up one of the
most exciting finishes in Super
Bowl history. The Titans, howev
er, just didn’t have enough at the
very end.
m***
“We’ve
been doing
this off
and on
during the
year. We
knew we
had an op
portunity
to go on in
and
score,” McNair said of the game’s
final play on Dyson’s near-touch
down lunge. “We said on the
sideline when they scored that the
only fault they did was scoring
too quick. We fell just short.”
Dyson almost became a big
hero for the second time this sea
son. He was the key player in the
miracle finish that beat Buffalo in
the wild-card game, taking a lat
eral and going 75 yards for a
touchdown on a kickoff return
with three seconds left.
The Rams’ victory was vindi
cation for coach Dick Vermeil,
who returned to coaching in
1997 after being gone for 14
years. He had lost his only other
Super Bowl appearance, in 1981
with Philadelphia.
“You know I’m an emotional
guy but right now I feel so good
and so proud of this football team
and organization,” said Vermiel,
known for shedding a tear or two
at times. “To be able to bring this
home to St. Louis, such a won
44 We're the world
champions! How about
the Rams!
Kurt Warner
Superbowl MVP
St. Louis Rams
derful city. I know they appreci
ate us a little more right now.”
The Rams outgained the Titans
294 yards to 89 in the first half,
but led just 9-0.
The first three possessions
ended with field-goal attempts
and the Rams holding a 3-0 lead.
St. Louis took the opening
kickoff and drove from its own
31 to the Titans 17, twice con
verting third and long plays. But
holder Mike Horan fumbled the
snap on what would have been a
35-yard field-goal attempt and
Tennessee got the ball at its own
29.
The Titans then moved to the
St. Louis 26 on a 32-yard screen
pass from McNair to George.
But a delay of game penalty
stalled the drive and Del Greco
missed a 47-yard field goal.
Warner then hit two quick
passes, 32 yards to Torry Holt
and 17 to Marshall Faulk. But
that drive stalled at the 9-yard
line and Jeff Wilkins hit a 27
yard field goal to give St. Louis
the lead.
The Rams got another chance
when Warner found Faulk all
alone for a 52-yard completion to
the 17. But Wilkins missed a 34
yard attempt 12 seconds into the
second quarter.
The Titans kept the Rams out
of the end zone again after St.
Louis drove 73 yards from its
own 16 to the Tennessee 11. This
time Isaac Bruce dropped a pass
in the end zone and Wilkins end
ed up kicking a 29-yard field goal
to make it 6-0.
The Rams then went 67 yards
in 13 plays but ended up again
with just a field goal, a 29-yarder
by Wilkins.
lhe litans reached the St.
Louis 27 on the opening posses
sion of the second half. But Del
Greco’s 47-yard field-goal attempt
was blocked by Todd Lyght.
The Rams followed the block
with a 68-yard, eight-play drive
for the game’s first touchdown.
It came two plays after the
game was delayed for about 10
minutes while Titans safety
Blaine Bishop was treated for a
strained neck.
On third-and-goal from the 9,
Holt slid inside of Dainon Sidney
and Warner sidearmed the ball to
him through the Tennessee pass
rush and it was 16-0.
But the Titans came back, dri
ving 66 yards for their first score,
a 1-yard TD run by George with
14 seconds left in the third quar
ter.
The key on that drive was Mc
Nair’s 23-yard scramble to the 2,
the first time he broke loose all
day.
But McNair threw wide of an
open Frank Wycheck on the 2
point conversion attempt, so it
stayed 16-6.
Titans’ 2 TDs in 7:35 span not enough
By Teresa M. Walker
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — The Tennessee
Titans ran out of miracles on the
1-yard line.
Eddie George’s two touch
downs in an eight-minute span of
the second half almost sparked
one of the greatest rallies ever, but
the Titans fell a Tennessee two
step short, losing to the St. Louis
Rams 23-16 Sunday night in the
Super Bowl.
Tennessee trailed 16-0 before
the Beast took over.
The 1995 Heisman Trophy
winner was a non-factor in the
first half, nearly ignored, carrying
the ball only seven times and
gaining just 18 yards.
But then came the third quarter,
and he flashed the form that made
him one of only four backs to gain
1,200 yards or more in each of his
first four NFL season.
First, he capped a 12-play drive
with a 1-yard TD run with 14 sec
onds left in the quarter.
That was nothing compared
with his fourth-quarter perfor
mance.
He carried seven times on the
Titans’ next possession, the final
one a beauty.
Tennessee had second-and
goal from the 1, and George just
couldn’t be stopped.
He broke not one, not two, but
three tackles to reach the end
zone, getting some help from offi
cials, who failed to rule the play
dead when his left knee touched
the turf short of the goal line. An
other burst put him over the line
and the knee was overlooked.
Then George, who became the
Titans’ head cheerleader this sea
son, stood up and screamed for
his teammates to get going.
But on the final drive, which
began with 1:54 remaining, there
wasn’t enough time for a ground
game, so the Titans turned to
Steve McNair.
George had one last chance to
help. But after catching 47 passes
in the regular season, he failed to
turn around for a pass from Mc
Nair with half a minute left, and
the ball bounced off his elbow.
With six seconds left, McNair
almost came through, finding
Kevin Dyson over the middle just
inside the 5 on what would be the
final play. McNair spun toward
the end zone, trying and trying to
reach it as time expired.
But Mike Jones was there to
hook his hip and bring him down.
No touchdown. No tie. No more
miracles.
George could only watch. *
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