FOXBORO, Massachusetts, 20 January 2004 — All that stands between the New England Patriots and their second American football crown in three years are the upstart Carolina Panthers, set to make their Super Bowl debut.
The Patriots stretched their win streak to 14 games by beating Indianapolis 24-14 here Sunday to reach the National Football League’s championship spectacular Feb. 1 at Houston.
The last prior NFL team to capture so many consecutive games in a season was the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only team with an unbeaten Super Bowl title run.
Carolina, which struggled to a 1-15 record two seasons ago, advanced with a 14-3 victory at Philadelphia. The Panthers, formed just nine years ago, began the season 5-0 and have won six in a row to reach the gridiron promised land. Las Vegas oddsmakers made the Patriots an early seven-point favorite in Super Bowl 38, but Carolina running back DeShaun Foster said the Panthers have already dispatched quality playoff rivals in Dallas, St. Louis and the Eagles.
“It’s another good team and they have been to the Super Bowl before,” Foster said.
The Patriots beat St. Louis 20-17 in the Super Bowl two years ago after two prior Super losses, to Green Bay 35-21 in 1997 and to Chicago 46-10 in 1986.
Dominating defenses powered New England and Carolina and should set the tone for the Super Bowl.
“Our game plan was basically just to bloody their nose up a little bit, just every play, make contact with the receivers, the tight ends, backs, whoever, and make them earn every yard,” Patriot linebacker Willie McGinest said. One player named Manning fought the Law and the Law won while another unrelated Manning thwarted the Eagles aerial assault.
New England cornerback Ty Law picked off Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning three times while Jarvis Green sacked the Colts star three times as the Patriots forced a season-high five Colts turnovers.
“This is probably the most simple game plan that we had, just go out there and stick them and beat them up at the line of scrimmage,” Law said. “If you watch those guys put up those big numbers, you see a lot of guys run through the secondary and we were not going to let them do that to us.”
Carolina’s Ricky Manning Jnr intercepted Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb three times. Manning, a rookie, shut down the Eagles’ offense by denying McNabb, who left the game after three quarters with a rib injury. New England’s Adam Vinatieri matched an NFL playoff record by kicking five field goals. The man whose last-play kick brought a title in 2002 booted field goals from 34, 31, 27, 25 and 21 yards.
Tom Brady threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to David Givens. Brady, the Most Valuable Player of New England’s Super Bowl 36 triumph, completed 22 of 37 passes for 237 yards without being intercepted.
Pre-game hype about Peyton Manning’s prowness peeved the Patriots.
“All that did was fuel the fire,” Patriots safety Rodney Harrison said. “It was all about ‘Mr. Inhuman.’ Every time you watched on TV, it was all Peyton Manning. Man, we got tired of hearing it.”
Added Law, “We wanted to go out and put a little silence on the situation.”
Carolina’s Jake Delhomme, who made just two NFL starts before this season, tossed a 24-yard touchdown pass to Mushin Muhammad 4:48 into the second quarter and DeShaun Foster scored on a one-yard run 10:49 into the second half for the Panthers’ points. Reaching the Super Bowl is a lifetime achievement for Carolina linebackers coach Sam Mills, a retired Panthers linebacker who has been diagnosed with cancer. As much as he has inspired Carolina players, they have motivated Mills.
