here are two major stories we know about. One, that Matt Walsh, a former New England employee, admitted to filming the Rams during a walk-through practice at the Superdome before their improbable loss to the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI at the end of 2001 season.
I have always viewed the Rams' loss to the Patriots as the greatest upset in Super Bowl history. The Patriots were a young team with a second-year quarterback, Tom Brady, who had only one offensive threat, receiver Troy Brown. The Rams were loaded with potential Hall of Famers like Marshall Faulk, Kurt Warner and Isaac Bruce, to name three. Most casual fans say the Jets' upset of the Baltimore Colts was bigger, but if one analyzes that game, the Jets did have a great quarterback in Joe Namath and Hall of Fame receiver Don Maynard and many other excellent players. It was just that no NFL fan believed the AFL teams were any good.
McDaniels and Scarnecchia, the son of longtime New England offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia, met on the job in New England after that Super Bowl victory over the Rams.
My other story also relates to another Super Bowl, and it should surprise no one that the Patriots won this one, too. McDaniels and Scarnecchia were on the job in New England for this one.
To this day, some believe the Patriots taped their practices before the game. I always looked at it like sour grapes, but today I don’t. My sources had specific examples of plays the team worked on only the week before the game. They were changeup pass-and-run plays off of their predictable tendencies. “We were pretty pleased with ourselves because we thought we came up with something that would have worked and surprised their defense,” one source said. “But the Patriots shifted their defense, like they knew exactly what was coming. I believe they filmed our Super Bowl practices. I don’t know how they did it, but they did it. No coach is that good!”
I’ve worked as a pool reporter at many a Super Bowl and I can attest to how strict the security is at these practices. But if you have played in the game, I’m sure you know from experience what areas might be left unprotected or where there might be easier access to a team’s practice field. I’ve seen NFL security men patrolling parking garages and also wooded areas near team practice facilities. At times, I thought coaches and certain general managers were being pretty ridiculous with their security demands. Still, they had their own fears about their opposition and to what lengths some coaches would go to win.
