JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - They did it again. The Patriots got away with another one, made it look hard, made you want to say, "This is the dominant team of our time?"
Hey, dominate somebody if you're so great. Or, not.
They hadn't done it that way in the previous two Super Bowls. Adam Vinatieri's late field goals helped the Patriots win their previous two Super Bowls, and that fact is practically an afterthought with this team. Almost without exception, the Patriots do just enough to win, especially the last game.
With less than two minutes left last night, it was, again, a one-possession Super Bowl. You could count the games like that in the first 35 Super Bowls on one hand, but this bunch is redefining "dynasty" game by white-knuckle game. Three championships by a total of nine points. If you're a Patriots fan, you've got a commemorative ulcer to go with each of the three trophy ceremonies.
Everybody in New England will enjoy the latest ulcer as much as the other two. The Eagles will walk away asking the same questions the Rams and the Panthers have asked before: What if?
If Terrell Owens had played on two healthy legs?
If Donovan McNabb had thrown one or two fewer inexplicably bad passes?
If Andy Reid had brought a greater sense of urgency to the fourth-quarter drive that cut a 10-point lead to three?
If Deion Branch could have just been Deion Branch instead of Swann and Stallworth and Rice and Taylor all rolled into one unsung package?
Every year, the Patriots watch the questions pile up, along with the confetti.
They have never dominated any Super Bowl from start to finish the way the Packers, Steelers, 49ers or Cowboys did. This might have been the shakiest win of all, which is saying something. Tom Brady botched a handoff in the red zone. The line false-started twice anticipating the Eagles' blitz. The defense committed two penalties on one drive to take the Eagles to the shadow of the goal line.
And that was just in the first half.
Yet at game's end, the Eagles had no trophy but plenty of ifs. Turnovers, dropped balls, little mistakes "killed us today," said Brian Westbrook. The Patriots are winless the last four years; the other team always beats itself. Ask the Rams and Panthers; a break for them here and there, and "Dynasty" would be just another old prime-time soap.
