Here’s the topic. Who is the best Super Bowl winning team featured on this picture? You can make a case for each team on here. Before I give my opinion, let’s look at some of the storylines following some of the teams.
– 1999 Rams: Trent Green goes down in the preseason, Dick Vermil gets to the podium says these words: We will rally around Kurt Warner and we will play good football. Kurt’s story is remarkable. He comes in and anchors one of the greatest offenses in NFL history which is now known as “The Greatest Show on Turf”. Kurt led the Rams to a division title and was named MVP of the league that year. The Rams escaped a battle from the Tennessee Titans to win the Super Bowl that year.
–2000 Baltimore Ravens: One of the greatest defenses I’ve ever seen play. Each week, you couldn’t move the football on this group. Anchored by Ray Lewis, this Ravens team was a force. They gave up only 970 yards rushing (60 yards per game), five rushing touchdowns all season long and 165 total points all year long. The secondary also handled business intercepting 23 passes to give the defense a total of 49 turnovers forced that year. Unbelievable. They capped it all off with a Super Bowl over the New York Giants in Tampa Bay, Florida.
–2001 Patriots: This was what started their dominant run. Drew Bledsoe suffers a sheared blood vessel during the regular season and because of that injury, we were introduced to a young man named Tom, get where I’m going with this? The Patriots were heavy underdogs against a Rams team that many considered to be the best in the league. The rest is history after all of this.
–2006 Colts: The Colts were on a mission after a disappointing end to the 2005 season. They were the first team in NFL history to start consecutive seasons 9-0. After some struggles, everyone was throwing the towel in on them. The defense struggled to stop the run and there were even questions about Tony Dungy losing the locker room. What sparked this team was the return of Bob Sanders who was the heart and soul of the entire football team. The Colts defense got better, handed Kansas City a loss in the Wild Card round, beat a good Baltimore team the following week and got over the hump to beat the Patriots in the AFC title game. The Super Bowl win against the Bears gave Peyton Manning that elusive ring that he coveted.
– 2007 Giants: I remember their final game of the regular season when they faced the Patriots. I told myself that if they were to meet again, the Giants would get them. This team went on the road and won three straight playoff games. They beat a good Dallas team, a solid Packers team in frozen Wisconsin at Lambeau which would be the last we saw of Brett Favre in a Packers uniform. Two weeks later, the Giants and Patriots met. It was a different ball game. That Giants defensive line controlled the line of scrimmage and made life miserable for Tom Brady. The Giants shocked the world and ended the undefeated quest of the Patriots.
I could go on and on about so many of these teams. The Saints and how they shocked the Colts, the Packers winning it all over the Steelers, the Ravens going on a run for Ray’s final run, the Seahawks and the Legion of Boom. How about those Eagles finally winning one? But here’s the question I was asked: Who’s the best?
In my opinion, the 2004 New England Patriots are the best Super Bowl winner featured on this pic. They were so complete in every phase of the game from coaching to special teams. Bill Belichick was building his reputation as one of the best coaches in the league, they added Corey Dillion from the Bengals to give them a consistent ground attack, Tom Brady became one of the best quarterbacks in the league and the defense was stacked across the board. What I remember about this team was them winning 21 games in a row dating back to the previous season in 2003. This defense consisted of Richard Seymour, Mike Vrabel, Tedy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison and a young corner named Asante Samuel. They finished with a 14-2 record, the two seed in the AFC that year and when playoff time came around, they shut down the league’s best offense that season in the Indianapolis Colts and held Peyton Manning who threw a then-record 49 touchdown passes in a single season to three points. The following week, they go back to Pittsburgh where a young man named Ben Roethlisberger ended their winning streak in the regular season. It was different come playoff time as New England won the AFC title in back to back seasons and two weeks later, they beat the Eagles to win their third championship in four seasons. This team was stacked. Brady threw 28 touchdown passes and 3,692 yards on the season. They became the first franchise since the Dallas Cowboys to win three Super Bowls in four seasons.
