I have never rewatched the whole game. Ever. I'm not a conspiracy theorist but the NFL had the underdog team playing in red, white and blue playing against the juggernaut Rams. 4 months after September 11. It is hard not to suspect that the fix was at least in to even the odds a bit. Such as instructing the refs that they "didn't want to see a bunch of flags on the field - let them play" which while supposedly neutral was definitely going to hurt the timing-based finesse passing attack of the Rams far more than the Patriots.
After the game, the one Patriot to get called for a blatant defensive holding call was pissed about it - "I didn't do anything different on that play than I did all game!"
Yeah. We know. Faulk was tackled without the ball on every play. Warner was brutalized. The (apparently unironic) cover of SI the next day showed Warner getting clubbed in the helmet - a play which was not called on the field and which led to an interception.
And thus was born the evil dynasty.
Not sure I will ever watch that one again.
