Game Summary
The two teams' defenses seemed to dominate most of the first half. The Rams started the game out strong by taking the opening kickoff and marching to the Tennessee 17-yard line. But on third down, safety Blaine Bishop pressured quarterback Kurt Warner to throw an incomplete pass. Then the ensuing field goal attempt failed when punter/holder Mike Horan fumbled the snap. The Titans responded by moving the ball to the St. Louis 29-yard line, aided with running back Eddie George's 32-yard reception. But they also came up empty after kicker Al Del Greco missed a 47-yard field goal attempt.
For the rest of the half, the Titans were forced to punt on all of their possessions. In contrast, the Rams were able to reach inside the Tennessee 20-yard line on all 4 of their remaining drives before halftime, but on each one, the Titans defense forced St. Louis to settle for field goal attempts from kicker Jeff Wilkins, who was successful in making 3 of them, but missed one attempt from 34 yards. The Rams ended up leading at halftime, 9–0, but their scoring margin over the Titans seemed somewhat small considering they drove into scoring range on every one of their first half possessions and outgained Tennessee in total yards, 294–89.
Both teams' offenses started to get going in the second half. The Titans took the opening kickoff of the third period and drove 43 yards to the St. Louis 29-yard line. But Tennessee remained scoreless after defensive back Todd Lyght blocked Del Greco's 47 yard field goal attempt. After that, Rams quarterback Kurt Warner threw a 31-yard strike to Isaac Bruce and a 16-yard completion to tight end Ernie Conwell before finishing the 68-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Torry Holt, giving St. Louis a 16–0 lead. On the completion to Conwell, Titans cornerback Blaine Bishop made the tackle, but suffered a spinal injury and had to leave the game. The game was delayed for several minutes while Bishop was being treated.
Tennessee wide receiver Derrick Mason returned the ensuing kickoff 35 yards to the 34-yard line. From there, 5 runs by George and two completions from quarterback Steve McNair to tight end Frank Wycheck advanced the ball to the St. Louis 29-yard line. Then McNair scrambled 23 yards to the 2-yard line, setting up a 1-yard touchdown run by George two plays later. The touchdown cut the Titans' deficit to 16–6 after McNair's pass to Wycheck on the two-point conversion attempt fell incomplete.
The Titans first score sparked them to rally. After forcing the Rams to punt on their ensuing possession, a pair of 21-yard completions from McNair to tight end Jackie Harris and wide receiver Isaac Byrd aided a 13-play, 79-yard drive that was capped by George's 2-yard touchdown run to cut the score, 16–13. The Tennessee defense then forced the Rams to a three-and-out, and Horan's 30-yard punt gave them the ball back at their 47-yard line. The Titans offense then drove only 28 yards on their ensuing possession, but it was close enough for Del Greco to attempt a 43-yard field goal. This time, Del Greco's kick was good, tying the score 16–16 with just 2:12 left in the game. The 16-point deficit was the largest deficit to be erased in a Super Bowl and the first greater than 10 points, but the Titans only tied the game and never gained the lead. It was also the first time in any Super Bowl a team down double digits in the fourth quarter had tied the game.
However on the Rams' first play of their ensuing drive, Warner threw a long pass that was caught by Bruce at the Titans' 38-yard line, who then ran it all the way into the end zone for a 73-yard touchdown completion to give St. Louis a 23–16 lead. Warner's touchdown pass to Bruce was his only completion of the fourth quarter.
The Titans took over the ball at their own 12-yard line with 1:48 left in the game after committing a holding penalty on the ensuing kickoff. McNair started out the drive with a pair of completions to Mason and Wycheck for gains of 9 and 7 yards to reach the 28-yard line. Then after throwing an incompletion, defensive back Dre' Bly's 15-yard facemask penalty while tackling McNair on a 12-yard scramble gave the Titans a first down at the St. Louis 45-yard line. On the next play, St. Louis was penalized 5 yards for being offsides, moving the ball to the 40-yard line with 59 seconds left. McNair then ran for 2 yards, followed by a 7-yard completion to wide receiver Kevin Dyson. On the next play, Tennessee nearly lost the ball when Bly stepped in front of a pass intended for Mason, only to have it go right through his arms. Two plays later, with the Titans facing 3rd down and 5 to go, McNair was hit by two Rams' defenders, but he escaped and completed a 16-yard pass to Dyson to gain a first down at the Rams 10-yard line. Tennessee then used up their final timeout with just six seconds left in the game, giving them a chance for one last play. This final play has gone down in NFL history as simply "The Tackle".
Read more about this topic: Super Bowl XXXIV
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