| NEW ORLEANS — While the Rams clearly have much better
overall talent than the Patriots, there is one area in which New England appears to have a
significant advantage. The Pats’ special teams rock.
If not for a unit led by the likes of PR Troy Brown, PK Adam Vinatieri and special-team
lifer Larry Izzo, the Patriots would almost certainly be watching the Super Bowl in the
comfort of their living rooms this Sunday.
Vinatieri has kicked four game-winning field goals this season, including a memorable
23-yarder through the snowflakes in New England a few weeks ago that gave the Patriots a
16-13 overtime victory in their playoff game vs. the Raiders. His game-winner was preceded
by a 45-yarder with 27 seconds remaining in regulation that sent the game into overtime.
One week later against the Steelers, it was Brown’s turn to be a hero. Brown
scored on a 55-yard punt return in the first quarter and was also the middle man on a
60-yard return of a blocked field goal that put New England ahead 21-3 early in the third
quarter.
"They are probably the best group that we have seen on special teams so far,"
Rams head coach Mike Martz said in his Wednesday interview session with the national
media. "They are obviously very well-coached. You have to love their intensity
because special teams have so much to do with attitude and intensity. They fly around and
make things happen. They create turnovers, and they put the ball in the endzone, which is
pretty unusual."
Martz is especially concerned about Brown, who returned two punts for TDs in the
Patriots’ final four regular-season games. "We’ve got to make sure we do a
good job of hemming him in and making sure that he doesn’t get started on one of
those returns," Martz said. "That’s a big challenge for us."
Patriots special-teams coach Brad Seely is well-aware of how unique a weapon Brown has
become. One of the Pats’ three Pro Bowl selections, Brown ranks fifth among NFL
receivers with 184 catches over the past two seasons, in addition to finishing the season
as the NFL’s top punt returner with a career-high 14.2 yards per return.
"One of the things that sets him apart is that here is a guy who really is a focal
point of our offense as well as our special teams, which you don’t see very
often," Seely said.
Seely’s counterpart, Rams special-team coach Bobby April, knows his unit will have
its work cut out for it this Sunday trying to hold Brown in check.
"The last few weeks with all the touchdowns that have turned the games around, I
think certainly Troy Brown is a catalyst, and he’s given them that inspiration,"
April said.
"He takes them to another level, to a different mentality, and to a belief that no
matter what, they are going to do something, and do something explosive."
The Rams, meanwhile, have gotten a lot less returns for their money.
They started the season with Az-Zahir Hakim and Trung Canidate as their respective
punt-return and kickoff specialists, but it was no secret that Martz cringed every time
they returned a kick — especially Hakim, whose Brown-like explosiveness was offset by
his penchant for fumbles.
This Sunday they will be starting PR Dré Bly and KR Yo Murphy, both of whom have been
adequate but far from spectacular. Yet, despite the fact they can’t compare with
Brown, both Martz and April believe the Rams’ special teams have shown steady
improvement.
"I feel good about where our special teams have gotten to at this point,"
Martz said. "I think at midseason it was a big concern for us, but since then we have
been on a very sharp incline, and I think we are playing very well right now. I think
special teams this Sunday will have a very huge impact on field position, as they always
do. It’s a critical issue for us to address."
Said New Orleans native April, "The players have really stayed focused, and they
have been real pros. The highest compliment you can give somebody is that they are a pro,
and they have been professional about everything through the adversity. We had a lot of
shortcomings, and they just kept battling and kept getting better. They kept working, kept
studying and kept trying to improve, because we want our last game to be our best game.
"And that game is coming up soon." |
