Mike Martz Doesn’t Sound Totally Over Patriots’ Super Bowl 36 Gameplan

The third episode of “The Dynasty” concluded the Patriots’ three Super Bowl title runs, but there still seemed to be lingering feelings from the birth of New England’s reign.

After chronicling the beginnings of the Patriots with the Tom Brady-Drew Bledsoe saga, the Apple TV+ series moves onto the beginning of the Patriots dynasty with Super Bowl XXXVI. Rare behind-the-scenes footage was shown, and there was a note about how much the game meant to New England since this was in the same season the 9/11 attacks occurred. “Team” was the theme of the third episode, but the then-St. Louis Rams still had a clear goal in mind.

“I don’t know what it meant to America,” Mike Martz said. “I do know that when I stood on the sideline and looked up there and saw all the red, white and blue and Patriots fans all over the place, I thought ‘Oh, for crying out loud.’ America loves an underdog. I get it. But that being said, it pissed me off more than anything else. We’re gonna shove it up their rear end, no matter what.”

Of course, New England pulled off the huge upset as double-digit underdogs when it took down the “Greatest Show on Turf” Rams. The Patriots had a clear gameplan against Kurt Warner and company.

“They were a more skilled football team, but we didn’t think they were a very tough team,” Ty Law said. “I was like, you know what? I’m tired of hearing about the track team. I’m tired of hearing about how fast, how athletic they are. This is football. We about to rock ya’ll’s ass.”

Rules weren’t as stringent during the 2001 season as they are in the modern NFL, but 20 years later Martz still felt like the Patriots got away with their physical gameplan in Super Bowl XXXVI.

“There’s something that happened in that game, and Bill was really good about this,” Martz said. “According to his players, he said to latch on to the receivers and hang on. They’re not going to call holding or pass interference in the Super Bowl. They’re not going to do it. And when they do, all right, stop doing it and then go back and do it a little while later. So that’s what they did.

“I never said anything about it, and you know why. Cause then you do it, and it’s all ‘Martz (whiney voice), you’re gonna cry’ and all that kind of stuff. But it’s a fact, and if you can get away with it, get away with it. And he did.”

The ex-Rams coach was self-aware enough to know the reaction he’d get if he did complain, which he sort of did in “The Dynasty,” but it’s understandable. Martz was one of the architects of the “Greatest Show on Turf” and had a chance to win the Super Bowl as a head coach, which could have been the beginning of the Rams dynasty. Instead, they were on the outside looking in and suffered over a decade of mediocrity before moving back to Los Angeles.