As The Ball Bounces: Super Patriotic Tidbits

This is a little departure from our usual theme on Tuesday's potpourri yarns. This is all Patriots, and all about Super Bowls. This is like a Super Bowl chop suey for the Patriots, and it should be delicious. So, we'll begin it this way: Jake Delhomme is dropping back to pass. In comes Mike Vrabel from right end. He hacks Delhomme on the throwing arm, and the ball pops loose. The pig rolls on the ground, and it is finally covered at the Panther 20-yard line by…

This amazing stat is from an Internet poster. I wish it had been mine.

The Patriots have scored ten Super Bowl touchdowns in franchise history. All by ten different players.

Irving Fryar. Keith Byars. Ben Coates. Curtis Martin. Ty Law. David Patten. Deion Branch. David Givens. Antowain Smith. Vrabel.

Adam Vinatieri has kicked all but one of the Super Bowl Patriot field goals in history.

Tony Franklin kicked the other one.

Which happened to be the earliest score in Super Bowl history.

Tom Brady completed only 16 passes in Super Bowl XXXVI.

Against a tougher defense in Super Bowl XXXVIII, he completed a Super Bowl record 32 passes.

The only other players to win multiple Super Bowl MVPs?

Bart Starr. Terry Bradshaw. Joe Montana. Joe won three.

If this is it for Smith (the Pats could still bring him back at less money), let it be known that he rushed for 92 and 83 yards in both his Patriot Super Bowls.

The longest Super Bowl touchdown passes in Patriot history are eight yards each. Brady threw one. Who threw the other?

Steve Grogan.

The Patriots have never allowed a 100-yard rusher in a Super Bowl.

But in three of their four Big Games, the opposing quarterback has gone over 100 passer rating points.

The highest? Delhomme.

You all know that Super Bowl XXXVIII was the first Patriot Super Bowl to not be in New Orleans.

But it also was the first Patriot Super Bowl with a head coach who had been there before with the Patriots as head coach.

It was also the first time that the Patriots wore a uniform jersey color in which they had worn in a previous Super Bowl.

Raymond Berry remains the only Patriot Super Bowl head coach who hadn't previously been a Patriot assistant.

Number of Super Bowls won by Bill Belichick without Bill Parcells: two.

Number of Super Bowls won by Bill Parcells without Bill Belichick: none.

Number of Super Bowls participated in by Bill Parcells without Bill Belichick: none.

How important is the quarterback? Brady's Super Bowl quarterback ratings are 86.2 and 100.5. The next highest is Grogan at 57.2. Brady is 2-0 in Super Bowls. The others are winless.

Let's look at some quarterbacks and how they fared on last second drives in other Super Bowls:

Steve McNair (XXXIV) - one yard short. Brett Favre (XXXII) - ran out of downs. Jim Kelly (XXV) - he can't kick 'em. Joe Montana (XXIII) - bingo. Ken Anderson (XVI) - too far behind. Roger Staubach (XIII, X) - he either doesn't play on the hands team when they onside kick or he runs out of time. Billy Kilmer (VII) - ran out of downs. Johnny Unitas (V) - bingo.

So, who other than Brady finishes off game-winning Super drives? Montana. Unitas. Good company.

Some Patriot veterans who won their first ever Super Bowl as a Patriot:

Rodney Harrison. Christian Fauria. Ted Washington. Tyrone Poole. Larry Centers. Dedric Ward. Brian Kinchen. Wilbert Brown.

Inactive: Mike Cloud. J.J. Stokes. Injured: Rosevelt Colvin. Fred McCrary.

They bless the day they became Patriots.

Dante Scarnecchia is the only Patriot common to all four Super Bowls. But Belichick, Romeo Crennel and Charlie Weis are right behind with three.

As are Adam Vinatieri, Troy Brown, Willie McGinest, Ted Johnson, Ty Law and Tedy Bruschi.

Okay, Brown was inactive for Super Bowl XXXI. So what. It still counts.

Too bad Gil and Gino aren't on that "common to all four" list. No, John Carlson and Jon Morris called Super Bowl XX.

For all the lousy work they do, CBS does bring good luck to Boston sports teams. The Patriots are now 1-0 on CBS in championships. The Bruins are 2-0. The Celtics are 5-2.

How good were the Panthers? They ran up just 21 fewer total team yards on the Patriots than the Patriots themselves surrendered to the Bears in a 46-10 blowout in Super Bowl XX.

Brady wants three. That's as many rings as Larry Bird and his pals won here.

Finally, if you watched the parade on Tuesday and all you could think about was Grady Little not lifting Pedro Martinez in the eighth inning of Game 7, you are in need of some heavy psychotherapy. If you can't afford a shrink, then go pound your head against the outside walls of Fenway Park, and never darken Gillette's gates again.

The Patriots are World Champions. Even die-hahd Red Sox fans have to be thrilled to death. When it comes to championships, baby, we all win.