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Patriots claim they've earned their good fortune

Lucky, sure, but New England says it's a product of hard work.

By BRUCE LOWITT, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 24, 2002

It can be inspiring or devastating, bringing sudden, surprising success or having it snatched away at the last moment.

Remember Warrick Dunn beating St. Louis in November with an out-of-bounds run the Rams couldn't challenge? Or Martin Gramatica, wide right in Green Bay little more than a year ago?

And that's just the Bucs.

Good or bad, it's called luck, and the New England Patriots have amassed a nice bit of it on their journey to Sunday's AFC Championship in Pittsburgh.

"Everything happens for a reason," linebacker Bryan Cox said. "If we get a break, hey, it means we've done something to earn it. This team earns everything it gets. Nothing is handed to us."

Not even the Patriots' overtime playoff victory over Oakland. Sure, there was quarterback Tom Brady's fumble that wasn't (referee Walt Coleman overruled himself after a challenge and changed it to an incomplete pass).

It was not unlike a play Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel made for the Steelers against New England in the AFC playoffs five years ago. Late in the fourth quarter he sacked quarterback Drew Bledsoe and forced a fumble that Pittsburgh recovered to preserve a 7-6 victory.

"I don't know if that would have been a fumble today," Vrabel said. "They probably would have looked at it for about 15 seconds and said it was an incomplete pass. Then Drew may have taken them downfield."

Saturday night, the Patriots still were trailing with 1:43 to play when Rule 3, Section 21, Article 2, Note 2 gave the ball -- not the game -- to New England.

"Yeah, the call that happened was questionable," Patriots receiver Troy Brown said. "Call it what you want, but when the call was overturned on (the Raiders) 42-yard line, they still had a chance to stop us."

They didn't, and Adam Vinatieri kicked field goals to tie and win the game.

"It's not about whether they've been having luck or there's some kind of magic in the way they've been winning games," Steelers linebacker Joey Porter said. "I don't want to call it luck. They've just been flat-out winning football games."

Well, yes, but what about:

Brown's third-quarter touchdown catch Nov. 4 at Atlanta. Brady threw to triple-covered David Patten. Cornerback Ashley Ambrose leaped over Patten and knocked the ball away, and into his own knee. The ball bounced to Brown, who took it 22 yards for a touchdown. "Just like we drew it up," coach Bill Belichick said.

Patten's overtime catch Dec. 16 at Buffalo. He came down with it at the sideline, was leveled by safety Keion Carpenter and fumbled the ball, which Bills cornerback Nate Clements recovered. But when Patten landed, his head was out of bounds and his feet, inbounds, were touching the ball. Enter Rule 3, Section 20, Article 2, Paragraph C. Dead ball, referee Mike Carey said. Patriots ball. Two plays later, Vinatieri won the game with a field goal. "Thank you, rule man," Patriots personnel director Scott Pioli said.

John Hall's field goal Jan. 6 at Oakland. The Patriots season was over, but the Raiders were playing New York in a late game. If Oakland lost, New England would get the second seed (and a home game) in the playoffs. But the Jets hadn't won in Oakland since 1962. Enter Hall. Former Patriot Tom Tupa controlled the low snap and positioned the ball and Hall kicked a winning 53-yard field goal with 59 seconds left. Thirteen days later, Oakland had to fly to Foxboro. Into the teeth of a snowstorm -- and the Patriots', um, luck.

"That's always part of the game," Brown said. "You get calls that go your way and get calls that don't go your way. We lost games when we didn't have calls go our way, and we won some when they did. It's not a new thing to us. ... It's not about destiny. Anything we get, we earned it."

"People say destiny," Vinatieri added. "I say it's a lot of guys working extra darn hard to get the job done. There are a lot of blue-collar guys here, guys who don't give up, and make plays."

-- Information from the Boston Herald was used in this report.

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