Best Super Bowl Team

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Best Super Bowl Team

Super Bowl XXXIV (34) featured the National Football Conference (NFC) champion St. Louis Rams and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Tennessee Titans in an American football game to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1999 regular season. The Rams (16–3) defeated the Titans (16–4), 23–16, to capture their first Super Bowl win and their first NFL championship since 1951. The game, played on January 30, 2000 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, was the fourth Super Bowl to be held a week after the conference championship games (the previous time this happened was Super Bowl XXVIII, and like this game was also played on January 30 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta).

The Rams entered their second Super Bowl in team history after posting an NFC-best 13-3 regular season record, and making their first playoff appearance in 10 years. The Titans also finished the regular season with a 13–3 record, but advanced to their first Super Bowl in team history after entering the playoffs as a wild-card team because they finished in second place in the AFC Central Division.

The first two quarters of Super Bowl XXXIV were largely a defensive battle. Despite outgaining the Titans in total offensive yards in the first half, 294–89, the Rams only held a 9–0 halftime lead off of three field goals. St. Louis later scored their first touchdown midway through the third quarter to go up 16–0. Tennessee then responded by scoring 16 unanswered points to tie the game with 2:12 left in the game, the largest deficit to be erased in a Super Bowl and the first greater than 10 points. However on their ensuing drive, Rams quarterback Kurt Warner completed a 73-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Isaac Bruce to take the lead again. The Titans then drove to the St. Louis 10-yard line with six seconds remaining, but on the final play of the game, Rams linebacker Mike Jones tackled Tennessee wide receiver Kevin Dyson one-yard short of the goal line to prevent a potential game-tying touchdown. This went into NFL Lore as One Yard Short. The play later became known as simply "The Tackle."

Warner, who completed 24 out of 45 passes for 414 yards and 2 touchdowns, was named the Most Valuable Player. His 414 passing yards and 45 pass attempts without an interception were both Super Bowl records. Warner became the sixth player to win both the NFL Most Valuable Player Award and the Super Bowl MVP award during the same season. He follows Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, Emmitt Smith and Steve Young.

Background

St. Louis Rams

Further information: 1999 St. Louis Rams season

The Rams, who shocked the NFL in 1999 with an NFC-best 13–3 regular season record, were making their first playoff appearance in 10 years and only the second Super Bowl appearance in team history. In the previous year, the Rams had a 4-12 record. They were led by undrafted quarterback Kurt Warner, who was originally the backup to Trent Green, lost to an injury suffered in the preseason. Warner previously played for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League and the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe.

In his first NFL season in 1998, Warner had played only one game and threw just 11 passes. But in 1999, he had one of the most spectacular seasons ever at his position by recording a passer rating of 109.2, completing 65.1 percent of his passes for 4,353 yards, 41 touchdowns, and just 13 interceptions, earning him the NFL Most Valuable Player Award. Warner was not the only player on the team that was recording significant statistics. Running back Marshall Faulk, in his first year with the Rams after spending 5 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, won the NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award. He scored 12 touchdowns, rushed for 1,381 yards, and recorded a team leading 87 receptions for 1,048 yards. In all, Faulk gained over 2,000 yards (2,429, the NFL record for yards from scrimmage in a single season until Tennessee's Chris Johnson broke it in 2009) for the second year in a row, and became just the second running back ever to gain over 1,000 rushing and receiving yards in one season (Roger Craig was the first).

Warner also had several other weapons to throw to in addition to Faulk. Veteran receiver Isaac Bruce was the top Rams receiver with 77 receptions for 1,165 yards and 12 touchdowns. On the other side of the field, rookie wide receiver Torry Holt recorded 52 receptions, 788 yards, and 6 touchdowns. Even the team's third wide receiver, Az-Zahir Hakim, was a big contributor by catching 36 passes for 677 yards and 8 touchdowns, while also returning punts for 461 yards and another touchdown. The Rams' offensive line was led by Pro Bowlers Orlando Pace and Adam Timmerman. Timmerman was a recent acquisition from the Green Bay Packers who had previously assisted them to a championship win in Super Bowl XXXI. On special teams, receiver Tony Horne returned 30 kickoffs for 892 yards and 2 touchdowns, giving him an NFL leading 29.7 yards per return average.

Overall, St. Louis' offense led the league in total yards gained (6,639), scoring (526 points), and passing touchdowns (42).

The Rams' defense led the league in fewest rushing yards allowed (1,189) and fewest rushing touchdowns allowed (4), while giving up just 242 points. Overall, the defense ranked 4th in the league in fewest total yards allowed (5,056). Their line was anchored by Pro Bowl defensive end Kevin Carter and defensive end Grant Wistrom. Carter led the league with 17 sacks; while Wistrom recorded 8.5 sacks and 2 interceptions, returning both for touchdowns for a combined total of 131 yards. Behind him, the Rams had 3 linebackers: London Fletcher (66 tackles and 3 sacks), Mike Jones (4 interceptions for 96 return yards and 2 touchdowns, and 2 fumble recoveries for 51 return yards and 1 touchdown), and Todd Collins (72 tackles, 1 sack, and 2 interceptions for 16 yards). The secondary was led by Pro Bowler Todd Lyght (6 interceptions), Dexter McCleon (4 interceptions), and rookie Dre' Bly (3 interceptions).

Tennessee Titans

Further information: 1999 Tennessee Titans season

The Titans advanced to their first Super Bowl in team history. From 1960 to 1996, the team was known as the Houston Oilers , an original charter member of the American Football League (AFL). Houston, Texas businessman Bud Adams owned the Oilers since its inception and guided the team through the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger. With Tennessee's Super Bowl appearance, every AFL team played in the Super Bowl. This includes the original eight AFL teams and the two AFL expansion teams, the Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals

But by 1995, Adams was lured to move his team from Houston to a new stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. Since this new stadium was not ready until the 1999 season, Adams decided to move his team to Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee in 1997 after playing before small Houston crowds in 1996. However, the renamed Tennessee Oilers also played before sparse Memphis crowds, and thus spent the 1998 season playing at Nashville's Vanderbilt Stadium. After the new Adelphia Coliseum, now known as LP Field, was completed in 1999, the team's name was changed to Tennessee Titans .

The 1999 Titans were led by quarterback Steve McNair and running back Eddie George. McNair had missed 5 games due to injuries during the season, but he was still able to put up solid numbers, throwing for 2,179 yards and 12 touchdowns with only 8 interceptions. Despite his injury problems, McNair finished the season as the second leading rusher on the team with 337 yards and scoring 8 touchdowns. George also had an outstanding season, rushing for 1,304 yards, and catching 47 passes for 458 yards (his receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns were all career highs). In all, George scored a grand total of 13 rushing and receiving touchdowns, and was selected to play in the Pro Bowl for the 3rd consecutive year.

Another contributor on the Titans offense was fullback Lorenzo Neal, who frequently served as George's lead blocker and was widely considered one of the best blocking backs in the league. The team did not have any outstanding deep threats, but wide receivers Yancey Thigpen recorded 38 receptions for 648 yards, Kevin Dyson had 54 receptions for 658 yards, and tight end Frank Wycheck gained 69 receptions for 641 yards. Up front, their line was anchored by Pro Bowl tackle Bruce Matthews.

Tennessee's defense was also extremely effective. Pro Bowl defensive end Jevon Kearse anchored the line recording 14.5 sacks to go along with 10 forced fumbles and was named Defensive Rookie of the Year. The linebacking core was led by Eddie Robinson, who recorded 64 tackles and 6 sacks. Their secondary was led by cornerback Samari Rolle, who led the team with 4 interceptions.

The Titans finished the regular season with a 13-3 record (including a home win over the Rams), but finished second behind the 14-2 Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Central. The Jaguars' only two losses were to the Titans, but Tennessee's three losses forced them to enter the playoffs as a wild-card team.

Playoffs

For more details on this topic, see NFL playoffs, 1999-2000.

Playing in his first ever NFL playoff game, Warner threw for 395 yards and 5 touchdowns, with 1 interception, as the Rams defeated the Minnesota Vikings, 49-37, by scoring 35 unanswered points in the second half. Bruce caught 4 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown. Faulk gained 101 combined rushing/receiving yards and scored 2 touchdowns. Although Vikings quarterback Jeff George threw for 423 yards and 4 touchdowns, 3 of

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