TALES FROM THE TAILGATE
Patriots 16, Raiders 13 OT (1/19/'02): Today is the tenth anniversary of the greatest day in the history of Foxborough, Massachusetts -- a.k.a. KraftWorld.
The tenth anniversary of the greatest event I was fortunate enough to have a ticket for. (Sorry Bono. Sorry Bruce).
No chronicle of the past 25 years of tailgating would be complete without the last game ever played at Foxboro Stadium. Pats' fans know it as "The Snow Bowl." Most other football fans know it as "The Tuck Rule Game.'' Raiders' fans know it as the "Game We Got Screwed!" This was the start of an incredible change in the team's fortunes and when Mark and I arrived in the lot that day ten years ago we had no idea how different being a Patriots fan was about to become.
The team, in its second year with Bill Belichick as head coach, had won eight of their last nine games of the regular season -- often in fantastical fashion -- to unexpectedly win their division and qualify for the playoffs. And with sixth-round draft pick Tom Brady leading the way. You don't get more famous than Brady is right now. GQ cover boy. Gisele. Hair. But back in the winter of '02 he was just some little-known skinny guy from Michigan who came off the bench for an injured Bledsoe in Week 2. And he hasn't left the field since. I can still hear my friend Shep yelling "Tom Bra-dy! Yes! Tom Bra-dy!" with a mix of delight and disbelief game after glorious game.
It lived up to my imagination.
Mark and I arrived at the lot around 4 p.m. under a gray but snowless sky. You could feel the anticipation for the game -- and the storm. We kicked into set-up mode with the tables, chairs, coolers, and grills and were sitting there with our first drink in hand as Shep joined us. "Maybe the snow's gonna miss us," Shep said. No sooner had those words left his mouth than the first flakes started falling. And they kept falling. Within a half hour everything was coated in snow and shortly after that we were pretty much in white-out conditions. It could not have been more fun.
There were large mounds of dirt in the parking lot from the nearby construction of the new stadium. Soon those mounds were covered in snow and men and women were sledding down them (without sleds) like school kids on a snow day. After a while the snow became worn down and it was more dirt than snow ... but that didn't stop the sledding. And the laughing. It was a great atmosphere. Billy and Bergs got stuck in the traffic caused by the storm and arrived later than their usual six hours before the game. But it did not take them long to catch up in the celebrating. Billy in particular made quick work of his Raspberry-flavored Stolis (some tailgates would ban a guy for bringing fruit-flavored booze but we're a tolerant crowd). Maybe too quick. By the time we were getting ready to make our way through the snow to the stadium he was more unsteady than usual. But there was a big playoff game to see so why worry about that? As we walked away from our parking space I made my usual mental note of landmarks and rows to remember where the car was.
We got to our seats and I turned and looked at the field. For some reason I was expecting to see a mostly plowed field with some light snow cover. It was my first snow game so what did I know? Not much. The field was covered in three inches of snow with the only spots of green being long squiggly lines where the grounds crew had used leaf blowers to clear away the yard lines. "This is gonna be great!" Mark said as we cleared the snow off our aluminum bench. And great it was.
The game was close the whole way with both teams struggling to make any plays in the snow. Brady was getting knocked around and the offense couldn't get going. The Raiders took a 7-0 lead into halftime. The crowd was covered in snow and quietly concerned. We loaded up on beers for the second half and stood there in the cold and snow drinking and talking about what the Pats should do to get on the scoreboard. It's too hard to pass. Brady is getting killed. They should run more. That was the conclusion we came to. It seems that in the Pats' locker room they came to a different conclusion (maybe because they weren't drinking). Brady and the Pats came out throwing. Brady ended up throwing 52 times in the game. 52! That's a lot for a dry, sunny day. It's crazy for a blizzard.The Pats trailed 13-3 entering the fourth quarter but they were moving the ball. Brady completed nine straight passes to lead them inside the 10-yard line. He dropped back to pass but there were no open receivers. So, just like he had all year, he found a way to make a play. He took off for the end zone, putting a move on a Raider defender who slipped in the snow, and dived across the goal line. Touchdown! Pats are back in it! Brady staggered to his feet and slammed the ball to the ground and he followed it, tumbling head-over-heels into the snow. All I remember is jumping out into the aisle, slipping, and sliding down about five steps. Laughing all the way. Just like Brady.
The Pats got the ball back trailing by three with just a few minutes left in the game. One more score and they would go to the AFC title game. "We're winning this game," Bergs said. Of course he always says that but this time I totally agreed with him. The Pats were winning this game. They moved across midfield with just under two minutes to go. Brady dropped back one more time to pass. He raised his arm. Raider cornerback Charles Woodson came out of the snow and nailed him. The ball fell out of Brady's hand and for a few eternal seconds bobbled along the frosty turf. A Raider fell on it and the whistle blew. Raiders' ball. Brady got up and looked dazed. We were all dazed. A Raider took the ball and kicked it high into the air to punctuate the moment. What just happened? Fumble? The Raiders began celebrating in the snow. The fans stood there in silence, all thinking the same thing. "We lost? How could that happen? Not this time. Not with Brady."
And then the replay flashed on the not-so-big scoreboard screen. "Hold on!" Bergs said. "That could be an incomplete pass." Notice that he didn't say "That was an incomplete pass!" He said it could be. That's the beauty of replay. Anything is possible. By the 10th replay the crowd was convinced it was an incomplete pass. Just as Brady was hit his arm was moving forward to pass and then he started to "tuck" the ball back into his body. A tuck looks just like the motion of a forward pass. Although it clearly isn't. But rules are rules. As the crowd waited nervously to hear if the play would be reversed, "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins played over the loudspeakers. It was the perfect soundtrack. The ref walked to the middle of the field and began " After reviewing the play, the quarterback's arm was going forward..." I couldn't hear the rest above the roar of the crowd. I'm not sure if he explained the "tuck rule" or not. I didn't care.
The old stadium shook as the fans began stomping on the aluminum benches. The Pats were alive again. "We're winning this game!" Bergs yelled. Now I was sure of it. The Pats drove the ball into field goal position, with Brady and the receivers making a few more great plays. Adam Vinatieri walked calmly onto the field with 27 seconds left. Everything seemed peaceful in the swirling snow. A 45-yard field goal in horrible conditions. Is it possible? We all looked around at each other nervously. Will this surprisingly fantastic season come to an end right here?
The ball was snapped. Vinatieri swung his leg and as the ball passed over the line of scrimmage it began wobbling. It looked bad. I dropped my head thinking it was going to be short. The next thing I remember I was at the bottom of a pile of Mark, Bergs, Toph, Shep, and what seemed like the entire 309 section. Maybe it was good? It was! The kick (as I saw on the replay) just made its way over the crossbar and the game was tied. It's the greatest kick in NFL history. Period. Vinatieri would make his second memorable kick not too long after that. This one a 23-yarder with eight minutes to go in overtime. The last game at the stadium that saw so many heartbreaks ended with one of the most memorable games in NFL history. And this time my team won. I stood there as the stands emptied out and took one last look at the place where I had made a lot of lifelong friends and memories. Like the old Garden, the place was a pit and sometimes I miss it.
Heading into the parking lot I remembered that it had been snowing hard the last four hours. Every car looked the same. Every row looked the same. Everything looked the same. So much for my mental notes. Where the hell are we parked? "I think we're over by that dirt pile," Mark said. "Or maybe that one. Or that one?" Me, Mark, and thousands of lost souls wandered around the lot looking for our cars. Billy had brought a guy he called Cousin Benny with him. Cousin Benny was a huge Raiders fan. I'm not sure if Cousin Benny was actually Billy's cousin. Cousin Benny was among those lost souls. It was his first time at a Patriots game. He got separated from us in the post-game celebration and started wandering down Route 1 looking for the south lot we were in. Trouble was... he was walking north. For about two miles. By the time some stranger finally helped Benny figure out he was going in the wrong direction we were all long gone. I haven't seen him since. Whenever I'm driving near the stadium I still keep an eye out for Cousin Benny.
Mark and I finally found where we parked. Bergs was already there when we arrived. And Shep. But no Billy. Where was Billy? "You'll never believe it," Bergs said. Turns out Billy felt sick in the first quarter and walked outside the stadium to get some air. At an outdoor stadium. And he couldn't get back in. So he went back to his car and turned the game on the radio and "fell asleep." That's passed out to you and me. "When I finally found the car," Bergs said. "It was locked. I scraped away the snow and could see Billy sleeping in there." Bergs knocked and knocked and finally woke Billy up. He opened his eyes and rolled down the window. "What happened?'' he asked. "Did they win? Was it a good game?" Yes, Billy. It was a really good game.
The first in what would be a decade of really good games.
I came across this video from the tuck rule moment... it is just like I remember it.
No comments:
Post a Comment