Patriots finally able to give Belichick a Gatorade bath

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – There have been more imposing dynasties. Flashier ones, to be sure. But move over, Vince Lombardi and Green Bay. Make room, Terry Bradshaw and Pittsburgh. Scoot over, Joe Montana and San Francisco.

Here come Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. It began with a stunning upset four seasons ago against the Rams and the Greatest Show on Turf in Super Bowl XXXVI. It continued with another dramatic victory over upstart Carolina a year ago in Super Bowl XXXVIII.

And now, the Patriots have won their third Super Bowl in four seasons, with a 24-21 victory over Philadelphia in Super Bowl XXXIX on Sunday at ALLTEL Stadium.

All three victories have come by three points, but this one wasn’t nearly as close as the 20-17 victory over the Rams, or the 32-29 triumph over the Panthers. Technically, Adam Vinatieri provided his third consecutive game-winning field goal in a Super Bowl. But this time, his 22-yard field came with 8 minutes 40 seconds to play.

Four seasons ago, he beat the Rams on a 48-yarder as time expired. Last season, he beat the Panthers on a 41-yarder with 4 seconds to play.

Sunday’s boot gave New England a 24-14 lead. Philadelphia managed to make things interesting with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Donovan McNabb to Greg Lewis with 1:48 to play.

Even though it got the ball back one more time, Philadelphia was pinned at its 4 with 46 seconds to play and no timeouts. On third and 9 from the 5, McNabb threw his third interception of the game. Patriots safety Rodney Harrison picked it off, his second of the game, and the Eagles were finished.

That allowed the Patriots to do something they weren’t able to do in their previous two Super Bowl victories – douse Belichick with a Gatorade jug filled with ice water.

“Man, that’s something we just hadn’t been able to do,” Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi said. “The last two came down to last-second field goals.”

Moments earlier, Belichick engaged in a group hug with his two veteran coordinators, Romeo Crennel (defense) and Charlie Weis (offense). It was a goodbye hug, because Weis has accepted the Notre Dame head-coaching job, and Crennel will be named the new head coach of the Cleveland Browns, perhaps as early as today.

“I’d like to take my hat off to Charlie and Romeo,” Belichick said. “I’m extremely grateful to them. They’re two of the best coaches I’ve ever been around, and it’s been a pleasure to work with them.”

So Crennel and Weis are moving on. And so are the Patriots – right into the history books. Only Dallas, with Super Bowl titles in 1992, ‘93, and ‘95 has won as many Super Bowls in such a compact period of time.

Pittsburgh won four Super Bowls in a six-season period between the 1974 and ‘79 seasons. San Francisco won four Super Bowls in the 1980s, but it took nine seasons to do it.

In typical Belichick form, he refused to nibble on the dynasty topic. Referring specifically to Sunday’s victory, he said, “We’re happy that we did it. We’ll leave the comparisons and the historical perspective to everybody else.”

Quarterback Tom Brady, who threw for 236 yards, two touchdowns and a 110.2 passer rating, also echoed the party line.

“We’ve never really self-proclaimed ourselves anything,” Brady said. “That’s really not our style. We just love playing ball.”

The Super Bowl victory marked New England’s ninth consecutive postseason victory, tying Green Bay for the NFL record.

Patriots wide receiver Deion Branch was named Super Bowl MVP with 11 catches for 133 yards. The 11 catches tied a Super Bowl record shared by Cincinnati’s Dan Ross and San Francisco’s Jerry Rice.

“Branch had an outstanding day, made some big catches,” Belichick said.

Philadelphia got the better of the things in the early going. New England didn’t reach Eagles territory until midway through the second quarter. And the Patriots didn’t succeed on a third-down conversion until just 3 1/2 minutes remained in the first half.

But it was a big conversion – a 7-yard pass from Brady to Branch – keeping alive the Patriots’ only scoring drive of the first half. That third and 3 play gave New England a first down at the Philadelphia 23.

Four plays later, the Patriots were in the end zone on a 4-yard pass from Brady to David Givens. Brady did a masterful job of looking away Givens, holding cornerback Lito Sheppard’s attention. While Sheppard was looking inside, Brady threw to Givens in the right corner of the end zone for a touchdown, tying the score at 7-7 with 1:10 left in the opening half.

As a result, for only the second time in Super Bowl history, the score was tied at halftime. In Super Bowl XXIII in Miami 16 years ago, San Francisco and Cincinnati were tied 3-3 at the half.

The Eagles had scored the game’s first points early in the second quarter, when McNabb threw the first of his three TD passes – on a 6-yarder to tight end L.J. Smith.

Each team scored a TD in the third quarter, but New England took the lead for good on Corey Dillon’s 2-yard TD run on the third play of the fourth quarter. Vinatieri’s field goal came five minutes later, and the Patriots were off to dynasty status.