Article:Super Bowl Winners/Losers Tournament: 21st Century First Round Edition 1

BBB15 here bringing you the first round matchups for the “Super Bowl Tournament” featuring the winners, and losers from Super Bowls 35-42. In case you missed it, here’s the LR post in which I introduced Armchairgm to my idea ( http://www.armchairgm.com/Lockerroom:Another_WIS_Idea). Don’t worry, I will be doing this for every Super Bowl winner and loser…eventually.

Seedings:


Winners

1. 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

2. 2004 New England Patriots

3. 2006 Indianapolis Colts

4. 2003 New England Patriots

5. 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers

6. 2000 Baltimore Ravens

7. 2007 New York Giants

8. 2001 New England Patriots

Losers

1. 2007 New England Patriots

2. 2001 St. Louis Rams

3. 2004 Philadelphia Eagles

4. 2003 Carolina Panthers

5. 2006 Chicago Bears

6. 2002 Oakland Raiders

7. 2005 Seattle Seahawks

8. 2000 New York Giants

Today is day one of the first round, and don’t worry, there is a lot of action coming your way.

Game 1 (winner’s bracket)
2001 Patriots 6, 2002 Buccaneers 34

Can the underdog New England Patriots upset the defensive-oriented Tampa Bay Bucs?? The answer is no, they cannot. Tampa’s defense picked off the young Tom Brady twice, and Brad Johnson had a lot of success through the air. In fact, Johnson threw for 295 yards, and 4 TD’s. Tampa’s offense outscored New England 20-3 in the second quarter, as Johnson threw half of his TD passes to Joe Jurevicius. Tampa dominated the time of possession, as well. Holding the ball for nearly 35 of the 60 minutes of football.

http://whatifsports.com/NFL/boxscore.asp?GameID=554217&nomenu=1&teamfee=-1&theme=-1

Game 2 (winner’s bracket)
2005 Steelers 12, 2003 Patriots 17

Thanks to two Tom Brady TD passes, the Pats took a 14-3 halftime lead, and the Pats never looked back. They went on to win the game 17-12. Pittsburgh’s attempt at a comeback was fueled by a 41-yard TD run by Willie Parker. Big Ben Roethlisberger couldn’t handle the pressure of facing the 14-2 Patriots. New England rolls on as Pittsburgh is forced to go home.

http://whatifsports.com/NFL/boxscore.asp?GameID=554248&nomenu=1&teamfee=-1&theme=-1

Game 3 (loser’s bracket)
2000 Giants 15, 2007 Patriots 20

Personally, I think this one is a no-brainer. The 2007 Patriots are, by far, the best Pats team out there, despite being without a SB ring. Three Jaret Holmes field goals for New York is what kept the game close. New York’s only TD came on a 4 th quarter TD pass from Kerry Collins to Ike Hilliard. New York did a pretty nice job stopping Brady, allowing just 179 yards through the air, and 1 TD. But, New England found a way to pick up the win anyway.

http://whatifsports.com/NFL/boxscore.asp?GameID=554267&nomenu=1&teamfee=-1&theme=-1

Game 4 (loser’s bracket)
2006 Bears 6, 2003 Panthers 9 (OT)

Carolina came out on top today with a game-winning 39-yard FG kick by John Kasay as time expired in overtime. The game was extremely low-scoring, the final score was 9-6, as Rex Grossman continued to struggle. Grossman completed just 9 of his 28 pass attempts, and threw 2 INT’s. Chicago’s defense, which is the whole reason they reached the Super Bowl in ’06, couldn’t stop Carolina from hitting the game-winning FG, and will be going home early because of that.

http://whatifsports.com/NFL/boxscore.asp?GameID=554278&nomenu=1&teamfee=-1&theme=-1

Tomorrow's first round matchups: '07 Giants/'04 Pats, '00 Ravens/'06 Colts, '05 'Hawks/'01 Rams, '02 Raiders/'04 Eagles