Super Bowl memories and Patriots-Rams Week 11 news and notes
FOXBORO -- In the heart of every New England Patriots fan, there is a special place for the Rams organization. The Patriots dynasty started with a Super Bowl victory over the St. Louis Rams, and effectively ended with a Super Bowl victory over the Los Angeles Rams.
The L.A. Rams won their own Super Bowl a few years after their Super Bowl LIII defeat to Tom Brady and the Patriots, while New England hasn't won a playoff game since that evening in Atlanta. The two teams will meet for the first time since the 2020 season at Gillette Stadium this weekend.
Here's what you need to know about Sunday's tilt -- plus a little trip down memory lane to relive some of the best moments in New England Patriots history.
Patriots vs. Rams
- The Patriots have won seven of their 13 regular-season matchups against the Rams. Sunday will be their first meeting since the 2020 season when the Rams won, 24-3, at SoFi Stadium on Thursday Night Football.
- The Patriots are 2-0 against the Rams at Gillette Stadium. They are one of eight teams the Patriots are undefeated against at home in the regular season since the stadium opened in 2002. New England beat Los Angeles, 26-10, the last time the Rams came to New England during the 2016 season. They also beat the Rams, 23-16, at Gillette during the 2008 season.
- The Patriots won the first-ever matchup with the Rams with a 20-14 victory at Schaefer Stadium in 1974.
- Including those two Super Bowls, the Patriots won six straight over the Rams from 2002 to 2019. Two of those wins came at Gillette Stadium, one was at the Edwards Jones Dome in St. Louis, and one was a 45-7 win by the Patriots at Wembley Stadium in 2012.
- Matthew Stafford and the Rams head into Sunday's game with the eighth-best passing offense in the NFL, averaging 234.6 passing yards per game. The Patriots are last in the league at 156.8 passing yards per game.
- The Rams didn't score a touchdown in their Monday night loss to the Dolphins. It was the first time they were kept out of the end zone since Week 9 of last season when Brett Rypien started in place of an injured Stafford.
- Los Angeles is averaging just 94.1 rushing yards per game (26th in the NFL) and 328.7 yards or total offense (17th). The Patriots are 32nd in total offense at just 271.1 yards per game.
- The Rams rank 20th in the NFL at 20.6 points per game, while the Patriots are 31st at just 16.0 points per contest.
- The Patirots' defense is tied for 13th at 22.0 points allowed per game, while the Rams are 22nd at 24.1 points allowed per game. New England has only allowed 24 touchdowns this season, while Los Angeles has surrendered 44.
Patriots-Rams Super Bowls
OK, now it's time to have some fun. At least if you're a Patriots fans.
Super Bowl XXXVI is one of the greatest Super Bowls ever played and was one of the greatest upsets until ... well it's still one of the greatest upsets in Super Bowl history and we'll leave it at that. The Patriots were 14-point underdogs against Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and The Greatest Show on Turf, but Tom Brady and Bill Belichick stunned St. Louis and the NFL with a 20-17 victory at the Superdome in New Orleans.
The Patriots held the Rams to just a field goal in the first half, and New England took a 14-3 lead into halftime off a Ty Law pick-six and an 8-yard touchdown pass from Brady to David Patten with 30 seconds left in the half.
The New England defense punished Warner and his receivers all game. It looked like the Patriots had taken a 24-3 lead early in the fourth quarter when Roman Phifer crushed Warner and caused a fumble, which Tebucky Jones scooped up and returned it 97 yards for a touchdown. But Willie McGinest was flagged for a defensive hold, and two plays later Warner scored a two-yard touchdown to make it a 17-10 game.
It stayed that way until Warner hit Ricky Proehl for a 26-yard touchdown with 1:37 left, and all of a sudden the Patriots and the Rams were tied at 17. With no timeouts and the New England offense going three-and-out on both of its previous fourth-quarter drives, John Madden famously said that the Patriots should just take a knee and go to overtime. But Tom Brady had other plans.
He picked the Rams apart with three short passes to J.R. Redmond for 24 yards, and then a 23-yard connection with Troy Brown to move New England into St. Louis territory. Jermaine Wiggins added a six-yard reception after that, and two plays later, Adam Vinatieri kicked a game-winning, 48-yard field goal to give the Patriots a 20-10 victory and the franchise's first Super Bowl title.
That kickstarted the New England dynasty, as the Patriots would add two more Super Bowls over the next three seasons.
Fast forward to 2019, when the Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams met in Super Bowl LIII. It was the third straight Super Bowl appearance for the Patriots, but they were matching up against a Rams team that went 13-3 in the regular season and averaged 32.9 points per game.
But the Patriots were no slouch on offense after turning into a dominant running team late in the season, and also had a stout defense that had held opponents to 20.3 points per game. New England was also flying high after an emotional overtime win over the Chiefs in Kansas City in the AFC Championship Game.
Super Bowl LIII was a low-scoring affair between the two teams, as New England led 3-0 at halftime. Sony Michel scored the only touchdown of the game midway through the fourth quarter to put the Patriots on top 10-0, and Stephon Gilmore picked off Jared Goff with a little over four minutes to play to essentially seal the win for New England. Jason McCourty also had a massive PBU in the third quarter to prevent a Los Angeles touchdown.
The Patriots won 13-3 for the franchise's sixth Super Bowl title, tying them for the most Super Bowl victories with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Patriots-Rams Connections
- Patriots linebacker Ochaun Mathis was a sixth-round pick by the Rams in 2023 and played eight games for Los Angeles last season as a rookie.
- New England Special Teams Coordinator Jeremy Springer was a special teams assistant on Sean McVay's staff from for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
- Rams Tight Ends coach and Pass Game Coordinator Nick Caley had an eight-year run in New England, serving as an Offensive Assistant from 2015-16 and as the Patriots Tight Ends coach from 2017-22.
- Former Patriots offensive lineman Conor McDermott -- who had two stints in New England after being drafted in the sixth round in 2017 -- is currently on IR for the Rams.
- Former Patriots QB Jimmy Garoppolo is now backing up Stafford in Los Angeles. The Rams are Garoppolo's third team over the last three years.
- Patriots receiver Kendrick Bourne and Rams receiver Cooper Kupp were teammates at Eastern Washington from 2013-16.
Patriots-Rams fun facts
- Drake Maye has 233 rushing yards on his 25 attempts this season, good for an average of 9.3 yards per rush. The highest rushing average for a quarterback in a season is the 8.5 yards per attempt that Michael Vick had when he ran for 1,039 yards during the 2006 season for the Atlanta Falcons.
- Hunter Henry leads the Patriots with 40 receptions for 428 yards this season. He has two eight-catch games this season -- Week 9 at Tennessee and Week 7 against Jacksonville -- and with one more he'll become the first Patriots tight end with three eight-plus reception games since Rob Gronkowski in 2017.
- Following his two-sack effort against the Bears last week, Deatrich Wise is up to five sacks on the season. The Pats captain needs just 2.5 more sacks to tie his career-high, which he set in 2022.
- Both Brenden Schooler and Dell Pettus recorded their first career sacks last weekend against the Bears. If either gets another against the Rams, they'll be the first Patriots defensive back to record sacks in back-to-back games since Kyle Arrington did so during the 2013 season.
- Marcus Jones has racked up 311 yards on his 20 punt returns this season, and leads the NFL with a 15.6 yards per return average.
We'll get you ready for Sunday's Patriots-Rams clash Sunday morning with Patriots GameDay at 11:30 a.m. on WBZ-TV! After the game switch over to TV38 for full reaction and analysis on Patriots 5th Quarter!